If only there was a little more weight allowance after 250g!

[sbunting]

Become Category 1 Compliant — Advanced Drone Operations

Category 1 is self-certified by the RPIC and has two requirements the drone must adhere to. Also, could the DJI Mavic Mini be the ultimate Category 1 compliant drone?

www.advanceddroneops.com

interesting read…
Mini doesn’t require prop guards

 

[MS Coast]

Become Category 1 Compliant — Advanced Drone Operations

Category 1 is self-certified by the RPIC and has two requirements the drone must adhere to. Also, could the DJI Mavic Mini be the ultimate Category 1 compliant drone?

www.advanceddroneops.com

interesting read…
Mini doesn’t require prop guards

Very interesting. Thanks for posting this.

Ok, everyone. Read the article to find out what the FAA means by "lacerate" before quoting the regulation. It was enlightening. I just hope the conclusion to the testing mentioned is supported by the FAA.

 

[lookout]

Become Category 1 Compliant — Advanced Drone Operations

Category 1 is self-certified by the RPIC and has two requirements the drone must adhere to. Also, could the DJI Mavic Mini be the ultimate Category 1 compliant drone?

www.advanceddroneops.com

interesting read…
Mini doesn’t require prop guards

I'm thinking it was category 1 with prop guards and under 0.55 lbs. Since it added weight to do that after market, it would become category 2. But I'll see what I glean from the article.

Most of the time when blades hit something they tend to lose. Break apart and then it becomes a free fall rock. Maintaining that it is the free fall rock that is more of a problem than blades.

Free fall and blades are two separate problems, but have some effect on each other.

 

[lookout]

Keep that rock from falling.

 

[dart106]

So I add prop guards which is a payload, which puts me over the weight on a mm because there are no category 1, but it limits the range. So because I have prop guards on over people, and the range is limited, I just have keep flying over people. Brilliant.

You have to keep flying over people? How so?

 

[lookout]

You have to keep flying over people? How so?

Well its one of those bite my tongue spite my face situations.

If you fly over people, then you'd have to add the prop guards. But then if that limits your range, where you can't move out of a brick and a hard place, you have to be stuck flying over people whether you want to or not.

 

[dart106]

Well its one of those bite my tongue spite my face situations.

If you fly over people, then you'd have to add the prop guards. But then if that limits your range, where you can't move out of a brick and a hard place, you have to be stuck flying over people whether you want to or not.

Sure, it increases your weight, which decreases your flying time, which decreases your range. I’m not understanding your range issue though. What requires the range in your mission profile?

 

[lookout]

Sure, it increases your weight, which decreases your flying time, which decreases your range. I’m not understanding your range issue though. What requires the range in your mission profile?

With payload mode in Fly, it limits you to 100 meters or something like that.

 

[dart106]

With payload mode in Fly, it limits you to 100 meters or something like that.

You can go into advanced settings, turn the payload mode off, and have normal lateral and vertical distance available. I encounter this frequently with strobe(s) mounted on my Mini2.

 

[lookout]

You can go into advanced settings, turn the payload mode off, and have normal lateral and vertical distance available. I encounter this frequently with strobe(s) mounted on my Mini2.

So you can override it. I think someone said it didn't want to turn off.

 

[dart106]

So you can override it. I think someone said it didn't want to turn off.

I’ve been able to turn it OFF every time. Odd that sometimes with the same strobe mounted, it doesn’t go into payload mode.

 

[Captain Spock]

DJI mini 2 manual says that the drone will automatically go into payload mode if a load is detected, which has happened to me whether the payload was manually activated or not. Altitude and range were SEVERELY reduced: something like 46 ft height and 96 ft range (not actual numbers but close). Wondering how the mini 2 detects its own weight. Comments?

 

[SethB]

DJI mini 2 manual says that the drone will automatically go into payload mode if a load is detected, which has happened to me whether the payload was manually activated or not. Altitude and range were SEVERELY reduced: something like 46 ft height and 96 ft range (not actual numbers but close). Wondering how the mini 2 detects its own weight. Comments?

Speculating, the drone is going to know that it’s taking more throttle (RPMs on the props) to launch and hover than it should.

The effects of wind, which for position-holding or travel, which would also require more RPMs, would be a little different, requiring some pitch or roll, which the drone would also know.

So, I’m guessing the programming can distinguish these two types of events, and therefore know something about the payload weight the drone is carrying.

This is just deduction, unburdened by actual facts! I’m sure those clever engineers have thought up a few things I can’t even conceive of.

 

[Captain Spock]

Speculating, the drone is going to know that it’s taking more throttle (RPMs on the props) to launch and hover than it should.

The effects of wind, which for position-holding or travel, which would also require more RPMs, would be a little different, requiring some pitch or roll, which the drone would also know.

So, I’m guessing the programming can distinguish these two types of events, and therefore know something about the payload weight the drone is carrying.

This is just deduction, unburdened by actual facts! I’m sure those clever engineers have thought up a few things I can’t even conceive of.

makes sense, TY. i would wager the wind might affect it also cause the props to increase throttle. testing continues.

 

[Captain Spock]

I did some mini 2 experimental flying today with skids, prop guard, and two strobe lights installed and the battery of course: 315g. I ensured payload mode was off. The winds were light. The mini 2 T/O was ok and well-controlled so I gradually increased altitude and distance when the wind picked up and I got an alert for high wind/RTB (Return To Base). So this was NOT a payload on/off issue at all, but it indeed was the drone throttle increase to answer commands sent to it that set off the alert in the windy envirenment. I also noticed that the battery drained faster (more throttle). In a no-wind environment, I would expect the mini 2 to fly longer and higher. With that weight, orders to fly faster and higher might also trigger an RTB due to the throttle required.

I searched and found the max load for a mini 2 is 0.53 lb x 454 g/lb = 240g. There are some rather dramatic videos on youtube showing this.

Impressive for such a little flyer!

 

[finity]

I'm brand new here but I have one looming question...

How does anyone ever fly a drone in any even somewhat non-rural area and stay within the compliance of never flying over people? Even small towns will have the incidental person walking around that you can never anticipate not flying over even in transit.

Is anything that anyone ever uses in those situations just a small "toy" type drone that is <250 grams even with prop guards attached? There are lots of drone video's out there with some great footage with people all around.

I feel I'm missing something even with all of the research I've done over the last few weeks trying to get into this activity. It seems that this is a rapidly growing activity with lots of larger and expensive equipment that makes less sense if the restrictions on where someone can legally fly are so severely limited by this rule.