I practiced flying in the wind (3 Batteries) it was well worth it....Mavic Mini, nice little unit...

[silverdragon]

I made up a flight plan. MODE 2... I waited for the right wind conditions ( Wind blowing 5 - 30 mph) with an occasional 35 mph gust

I ascended to 80 feet above my take off point and let the wind take her away. It did..... so the first thing first....DO NOT PANIC....

In P mode I pushed Right stick forward the drone continued to drift away from me. Still calm and able to think clearly. I then switched to S (Sport) mode. I then pushed right stick forward and the drone without hesitation move in the direction I commanded. Good practice...

I then went up to 120 feet and that's were everything changed. The wind took the drone and the drone was free to fly anywhere the wind so desired.... STILL CALM and able to think clearly.... I dropped my height back down to 75 - 80 feet and back into sport mode and flew forward and decended as I was flying toward the home point.

I practiced 3 whole batteries with different height levels all above 120 feet and practiced until I felt comfortable with that particular situation.. Not Panicing got me through this without losing my drone to the wind...

 

[old man mavic]

well done the only real way to gain confidence in your equipment is hands on flying ,after you have read the manual, and listened to others who have already been there done that
and thats where this forum comes in

 

[bmwbob]

I just fly into the wind in sport mode. Forward speed fluctuates drastically, but never goes backwards in gusts to 20 mph. I don't let the battery get to low just in case, but RTH reaches speeds over 33 mph!

 

[silverdragon]

well done the only real way to gain confidence in your equipment is hands on flying ,after you have read the manual, and listened to others who have already been there done that
and thats where this forum comes in

I have to admit, even though I said stay calm I still felt anxious, I still had butterflies in the gut.... but what made me believe in myself is actually going through it with no real surprises... So to you new pilots that are in your infant stages.(no pun) if your planning on flying on windy days the day you go out to fly and it is windy take advantage of using the Winds as a learning platform, as a tool at will.... then the day that you get surprised by the wind you be in charge, not the wind in charge of you.....Take Control.....

 

[mcoulter]

Maybe this is a weird analogy, but I can't help but think about lessons learned downhill skiing here on the east coast were conditions can be miserable. I truly believe that skiing in tough conditions (ice, "machine groomed granular", thin and bare spots, ice, etc.) ultimately makes you better at the sport. I also enjoy target shooting (airguns) and wind plays a major factor in that sport too. If you avoid "bad" conditions entirely, you'll never get better in them. Your controlled testing seems absolutely the BEST way to get over the jitters and panic that would result in bad outcomes. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Carb63]

Yes I agree. Don’t panic. Be aware of your surroundings , learn to Maneuver your craft in those low altitudes and practice and watch how your aircraft handles the wind gust. I did the the same thing when I was in Florida. Wind was ranging from 20-38 knots at 20 ft. -150 ft. Lots of trees around. Kept her low while I guided her my way , although the gust were winning the battle at times , learning to stay calm is key and turning your bird certain ways to adjust taught me how to bring her back.

 

[StubbornSwiss]

Golden Rule - DO NOT PANIC

Easier said than done.

Only comes with practice and actually experiencing those situations.

Good job

 

[Xanadu]

I really admire you trying this out. You can only benefit from this type of practice/training. Never tried that out with my previous drone and all I did was to try and mentally prepare myself to stay calm if wind picks up and takes control of the drone.

As the other members have said, not to get panic alone is half of the work done (not only when it comes to drone flying but pretty much in any "emergency" situation).

 

[Dave Maine]

Good controlled experiments. I often fly when the wind at higher altitudes trigger the wind warnings on my Mavic Air. Dropping altitude has been quite reliable here in windy Maine.

Note that sport mode is not a fail safe solution. It only allows for more wind before being blown away.

The pic is always responsible for his decision making.

 

[Vapor069]

I made up a flight plan. MODE 2... I waited for the right wind conditions ( Wind blowing 5 - 30 mph) with an occasional 35 mph gust

I ascended to 80 feet above my take off point and let the wind take her away. It did..... so the first thing first....DO NOT PANIC....

In P mode I pushed Right stick forward the drone continued to drift away from me. Still calm and able to think clearly. I then switched to S (Sport) mode. I then pushed right stick forward and the drone without hesitation move in the direction I commanded. Good practice...

I then went up to 120 feet and that's were everything changed. The wind took the drone and the drone was free to fly anywhere the wind so desired.... STILL CALM and able to think clearly.... I dropped my height back down to 75 - 80 feet and back into sport mode and flew forward and decended as I was flying toward the home point.

I practiced 3 whole batteries with different height levels all above 120 feet and practiced until I felt comfortable with that particular situation.. Not Panicing got me through this without losing my drone to the wind...

I’m pleasantly pleased about how capable the Mini really is, no regrets selling my Spark for this!

 

[Dmascot]

When i have to fly home in a stiff wind I sort of attackThe wind like I’m sailing and go into the wind at an angle. My Mini seems to handle the wind much better that way. It is a longer flight but my Mavic doesn’t seem to struggle as much.

 

[EyesWideShut]

When i have to fly home in a stiff wind I sort of attackThe wind like I’m sailing and go into the wind at an angle. My Mini seems to handle the wind much better that way. It is a longer flight but my Mavic doesn’t seem to struggle as much.

I'm really liking the "tacking" against the wind. Going to practice both head-on and tacking and height in an area that is appropriate (large, wide open, no trees) in case I run into any trouble. Might consider presetting the RTH to land if I can't control a manual return or landing as backup.

 

[BushWacker]

I just fly into the wind in sport mode. Forward speed fluctuates drastically, but never goes backwards in gusts to 20 mph. I don't let the battery get to low just in case, but RTH reaches speeds over 33 mph!

Is your point being that you don't fly in winds over 20 mph?

 

[mullern88]

....I often fly when the wind at higher altitudes trigger the wind warnings on my Mavic Air. Dropping altitude has been quite reliable here in windy Maine.....

Recently I was flying some training flights in Finland. Open field area of about 300x300m, surrounded by trees of about 30m on all four sides. Calm inside the "bowl" but tree tops visibly moving. Going over the tree tops immediately triggered the high wind warning. Lesson learned for me: in such conditions, I stay over terrain I can use to descend the drone quickly and don't go over the forest with no options to go lower into less windy altitude.

 

[bmwbob]

Is your point being that you don't fly in winds over 20 mph?

Use common sense and don't fly down wind.

 

[raymacke]

A while back I was flying from the shore over a 3-mile wide lake. There was next to no wind. The water was not glass but fairly smooth. To my back were trees and an uphill rise to several two and 3 story buildings. Flying out at 25 or 30 ft high and everything was normal. I then popped up to 150 feet and things changed. Trying to return in P mode I found I could only make about 2 mph. In S mode I could make decent and positive headway so I decided to play with it. Drop down and all was well. Climb and the higher I went the more the wind slowed things down. Obviously, my launch was benefiting from the wind "shadow" created by the building and low location.

This definitely showed how conditions can sometimes mask themselves. In this case, it was not a problem as there was always a safe zone provided by the wind block. BUT if I had ventured farther offshore things could have been very different.

I'm really liking the "tacking" against the wind.

I honestly do not believe is a workable answer with a drone. A sailboat has the side resistance of the water that allows this to work. An aircraft does not.

Think of it this way. You are swimming upstream in a river. The current is moving exactly as fast as you can swim. Would zig-zagging back and forth diagonal to the current allow you to make any headway? No, in fact, you would be pushed downstream. Stop tacking and swim straight and you would at least hold your position.

 

[JY-tek]

I fly in the wind quite often since we live in mountains. One thing to think about is that if you get in trouble with the wind taking away the drone, it isn't always good to hit RTH! In these mountains I have to keep RTH height pretty high to avoid the hills, so RTH could possibly take your drone up higher than you want (considering the wind). Keeping a cool head and getting lower is always the best policy, but just be careful that you don't run into mountains while navigating home.

 

[silverdragon]

I fly in the wind quite often since we live in mountains. One thing to think about is that if you get in trouble with the wind taking away the drone, it isn't always good to hit RTH! In these mountains I have to keep RTH height pretty high to avoid the hills, so RTH could possibly take your drone up higher than you want (considering the wind). Keeping a cool head and getting lower is always the best policy, but just be careful that you don't run into mountains while navigating home.

Excellent information, you make a absolute true point.

 

[Dmascot]

A while back I was flying from the shore over a 3-mile wide lake. There was next to no wind. The water was not glass but fairly smooth. To my back were trees and an uphill rise to several two and 3 story buildings. Flying out at 25 or 30 ft high and everything was normal. I then popped up to 150 feet and things changed. Trying to return in P mode I found I could only make about 2 mph. In S mode I could make decent and positive headway so I decided to play with it. Drop down and all was well. Climb and the higher I went the more the wind slowed things down. Obviously, my launch was benefiting from the wind "shadow" created by the building and low location.

This definitely showed how conditions can sometimes mask themselves. In this case, it was not a problem as there was always a safe zone provided by the wind block. BUT if I had ventured farther offshore things could have been very different.


I honestly do not believe is a workable answer with a drone. A sailboat has the side resistance of the water that allows this to work. An aircraft does not.

Think of it this way. You are swimming upstream in a river. The current is moving exactly as fast as you can swim. Would zig-zagging back and forth diagonal to the current allow you to make any headway? No, in fact, you would be pushed downstream. Stop tacking and swim straight and you would at least hold your position.

Going into the wind at angles (or tacking) was the only way I was able to bring my drone home a couple of times. Flying straight into the wind was not working, in "P" mode or "S" mode. My drone was actually being pushed backwards when a "Lake Effect" snow storm blew in. But I was able to bring it home by approaching the wind at an angle.

 

[Gkinghrn]

I confess to also flying a few times ‘just to experience’ how it works ... I’ve sent it far away beyond VLOS , turned it round a few times , enough to have no idea which way it was facing then used the telemetary map to bring it back ... also done the wind thing and yep you get butterflies but feels good knowing you brought it back .. good job..