Large Landscape Altitude Change during Flight

wolfy7810 · 2025-06-29T20:17:44-0400

It looks like the drone measures the flight altitude based on the altitude of the home point. When Iaunch my drone in a valley, 1600 ft above sea level, and I try to take images of a mountain summit which is 3000 feet high then I can only fly up to an altitude of 2000 feet? Is this correct?

If I would climb that mountain and start the drone from the top, then I should not have that problem because my home point has an altitude of 3000 feet?

1gratefulflyingdawg · 2025-06-29T20:21:45-0400

wolfy7810 said:
It looks like the drone measures the flight altitude based on the altitude of the home point. When Iaunch my drone in a valley, 1600 ft above sea level, and I try to take images of a mountain summit which is 3000 feet high then I can only fly up to an altitude of 2000 feet? Is this correct?

If I would climb that mountain and start the drone from the top, then I should not have that problem because my home point has an altitude of 3000 feet?

I will let a professional explain.

wolfy7810 · 2025-06-29T20:46:21-0400

1gratefulflyingdawg said:
I will let a professional explain.

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This is a great explanation. Thank you!

1gratefulflyingdawg · 2025-06-29T21:24:56-0400

wolfy7810 said:
This is a great explanation. Thank you!

You’re welcome

GadgetGuy · 2025-06-29T22:33:24-0400

wolfy7810 said:
It looks like the drone measures the flight altitude based on the altitude of the home point. When Iaunch my drone in a valley, 1600 ft above sea level, and I try to take images of a mountain summit which is 3000 feet high then I can only fly up to an altitude of 2000 feet? Is this correct?

If I would climb that mountain and start the drone from the top, then I should not have that problem because my home point has an altitude of 3000 feet?

DJI assumes the earth is flat, but the FAA uses AGL, which DJI cannnot measure. DJI does not impose a 400 foot height limit above the Home Point. By default, the max limit above the Home Point has always been a 500m limit, but is now 1000m on all Mavic Series 3 and 4 and the Air 3S. Not sure about the Air 3. However, the FAA requires you to stay under 400 ft AGL, so you can still mountain climb, until you reach DJI's max above your Home Point. There is no maximum on altitude descent, so flying from the summit to the base is unlimited, but defeats the purpose of using a drone to mountain climb without physically summiting it, especially if the summit is inaccessible.