Long range fliers - share your tips of flying long range?

[ShonnyRotten]

My favorite thing is flying long range.
Here are the things that come to the top of my head, how to get maximum from my flight:
- Turn off the obstacle avoidance sensor, to get more battery juice.
- Start low, and increase altitude slightly, every time when the RC signal bar decreases.
- Check the wind and consider that the Forced RTH spot, might not be enough and you need to RTH earlier than that.
- Do not press sticks to increase the speed, during RTH, because that drains battery faster.
- Do not fly in sports mode. Battery will drain faster.
- If you really going for LOOONG distance, make sure to set up a new, safe, home point somewhere along the way. So in case you will have to do emergency landing, and drive to pick up your bird - you know where it is, and it's safely landed.

What else, what other advice do you have for achieving maximum range on the long range flight?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Welllllllll your doing all the right things for extended flights which are fun, but frowned upon by the FAA as you may no , but what are you doing to Avoid Birds ?

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water.

 

[old man mavic]

@ShonnyRotten in answer to your post above ,the best advice i can give you, is dont get caught doing it ,and dont post it on the web

 

[Dusty DJI]

My favorite thing is flying long range.
Here are the things that come to the top of my head, how to get maximum from my flight:
- Turn off the obstacle avoidance sensor, to get more battery juice.
- Start low, and increase altitude slightly, every time when the RC signal bar decreases.
- Check the wind and consider that the Forced RTH spot, might not be enough and you need to RTH earlier than that.
- Do not press sticks to increase the speed, during RTH, because that drains battery faster.
- Do not fly in sports mode. Battery will drain faster.
- If you really going for LOOONG distance, make sure to set up a new, safe, home point somewhere along the way. So in case you will have to do emergency landing, and drive to pick up your bird - you know where it is, and it's safely landed.

What else, what other advice do you have for achieving maximum range on the long range flight?

I'd say make an appointment with an ophthalmologist or optometrist. See how far you can see clearly. That should be your maximum flying range.

 

[mavic3usa]

I have buzzers and strobes but I don't regularly use them. If I were in Mexico and wanted to fly long range, I would activate them for that flight.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

THis made me wonder, what is the range of RID and will it still transmit the location of the controller or takeoff point if the drone is flown out of control range?

 

[mavic3usa]

THis made me wonder, what is the range of RID and will it still transmit the location of the controller or takeoff point if the drone is flown out of control range?

I could be wrong but I believe the controller coordinates go from the rc to the drone (no matter how far it goes as long as it is connected) and the the rid from the drone contains both the rc location and the drone location only a short distance to an rid receiver.

So if someone is underneath my drone while I happen to be flying 2 miles out, they should be able to grab my location where I am standing using standard RID.

 

[NoBozos]

Staying close to the drone with the RC while you go long distance. That’s worked for me.

 

[MavicRoolzOK]

?! Four letters. VLOS.

 

[Ancient Aviator]

Boy...I'm not sure that's worth risking your FAA rating...

 

[Crashdummytest]

My favorite thing is flying long range.
Here are the things that come to the top of my head, how to get maximum from my flight:
- Turn off the obstacle avoidance sensor, to get more battery juice.
- Start low, and increase altitude slightly, every time when the RC signal bar decreases.
- Check the wind and consider that the Forced RTH spot, might not be enough and you need to RTH earlier than that.
- Do not press sticks to increase the speed, during RTH, because that drains battery faster.
- Do not fly in sports mode. Battery will drain faster.
- If you really going for LOOONG distance, make sure to set up a new, safe, home point somewhere along the way. So in case you will have to do emergency landing, and drive to pick up your bird - you know where it is, and it's safely landed.

What else, what other advice do you have for achieving maximum range on the long range flight?

One thing that has bothered me a couple of times is when you loose connection at max range (several km away) due to some pilot error, and the connection is not restored automatically until the ac is just a couple of km away. That is something to be aware of with the M3. It depends on conditions probably.

 

[GFields]

My advice is just don't do it. Maintain VLOS and follow all other Airspace rules and regulations.

 

[Droning on and on...]

THis made me wonder, what is the range of RID and will it still transmit the location of the controller or takeoff point if the drone is flown out of control range?

According to the spec it will continue to broadcast the last location of the control station if disconnected.

 

[PMF23]

As already mentioned by others, per FAA regs you should be staying within VLOS (unless you have a waiver). As Greg at Pilot Institute is fond of saying, “Don’t be that guy!”. While you may “get away with it”, if you are indeed caught in the future, you could face some significant penalties. While you may not agree with the FAA regs on drone use, you should certainly comply with them.

 

[Droning on and on...]

As already mentioned by others, per FAA regs you should be staying within VLOS (unless you have a waiver). As Greg at Pilot Institute is fond of saying, “Don’t be that guy!”. While you may “get away with it”, if you are indeed caught in the future, you could face some significant penalties.

Not usually for simple BVLOS violations with no other issues, especially if the flight isn't over urban development but the flight path occurs over rural, undeveloped areas.

Usually a warning letter.

That's not to say you should do it.

 

[PMF23]

Yeah, warning letter is most likely for first offense - but no guarante, and I personally would not want to test those waters. YMMV, though.

 

[DARKSeifer]

As noted here, your drone is emitting Aeroscope/RID from the drone and can be picked up as far as 50Km, although a common phone/tablet won't go longer than 3.5Km or so and the portable Aeroscope unit tops around 5Km.

I've been long ranging/travelling/exploring for around 580 hours of flight time, most of which have been BVLOS usually in the range of 1,000 to 3,000 meters. My record is reaching 9,040 meters and coming back, but I usually perform this test only once to see the capabilities of the drone whenever I pick a new one, and then stay under a comfortable 4Km radius for the most part.

All that time I've been flying a drone (except the Autel, but it died at just 60 hours) it has been emitting Aeroscope (Mini 2, Air2S, Mavic 3), and since the last year, also RID, I've never been caught mainly because I live in a sparse populated area under uncontrolled airspace, but 30 minutes of flight is plenty of time to hunt anyone down with Aeroscope/RID.

I also never had an incident... yet, **** happens so it's just a matter of time that a prop goes off, or a motor dies midflight, but I try to minimize risks as much as I can.

My main tip is simple, pick a Mavic 3, hack it with the latest hack that removes Aeroscope/RID and enjoy your time as a photographer/videographer/hobbyist. Flying is fun, chilling and probably the safest hobby on earth, so there's no reason to be more royalist than the king with all that nonsensical overregulation.

Spoiler

 

[BigAl07]

Boy...I'm not sure that's worth risking your FAA rating...

Let's ALL keep in mind that this is an INTERNATIONAL forum and many of our members are from areas well outside of the FAA's control.

 

[Rockowe]

My favorite thing is flying long range.
Here are the things that come to the top of my head, how to get maximum from my flight:
- Turn off the obstacle avoidance sensor, to get more battery juice.
- Start low, and increase altitude slightly, every time when the RC signal bar decreases.
- Check the wind and consider that the Forced RTH spot, might not be enough and you need to RTH earlier than that.
- Do not press sticks to increase the speed, during RTH, because that drains battery faster.
- Do not fly in sports mode. Battery will drain faster.
- If you really going for LOOONG distance, make sure to set up a new, safe, home point somewhere along the way. So in case you will have to do emergency landing, and drive to pick up your bird - you know where it is, and it's safely landed.

What else, what other advice do you have for achieving maximum range on the long range flight?

Your tips are GOOD !
... Id Add - Generally try to do this in a No wind condition - or if a slight wind - start with flying into the wind - (The RTH condition is based on your flying style - it doesnt really calculate wind)

.... also Remember that all batteries deteriorate -
... with the caveat of "flying a battery close to zero deteriorates it faster !"
The Percentage remaining - is Just a Check mark for emergency conditions - Try not fly your battery lower than 20% (build this in).

.... The next one goes without saying... but I'll say it ANyway... Point your controller towards the drone...

.... Try fly in an area that does not have much interference - (The less the better). You can check this in your settings... under transmission
Doing this range test near a city, voids the POINT of the test. (Too much interference from local RF radios, repeaters, wifi, 4G, 3D towers.)

If you have the facility... Put the drone on speed control. (see your drone settings) .... instead of using the control sticks - Set this at 90% the Max speed for the flight mode (ie if Max is 54km/h set Cruise control to 49km/h)

If its Range you are are testing then the aforesaid are great tips...
BUT if you are testing flight time... The most efficient way to test longevity of the battery - is to fly a)AUTONOMOUSLY (ie waypoints) b) at 60% of Max speed c) in large radius circles (and Repeat) till the RTH triggers...
Then Check your time. Note: Each battery may produce a different result - based on how many recharge cycles / Age.

Hope this answer helps ...
(directed to the original question) ...

 

[StevenBrodsky]

My favorite thing is flying long range.
Here are the things that come to the top of my head, how to get maximum from my flight:
- Turn off the obstacle avoidance sensor, to get more battery juice.
- Start low, and increase altitude slightly, every time when the RC signal bar decreases.
- Check the wind and consider that the Forced RTH spot, might not be enough and you need to RTH earlier than that.
- Do not press sticks to increase the speed, during RTH, because that drains battery faster.
- Do not fly in sports mode. Battery will drain faster.
- If you really going for LOOONG distance, make sure to set up a new, safe, home point somewhere along the way. So in case you will have to do emergency landing, and drive to pick up your bird - you know where it is, and it's safely landed.

What else, what other advice do you have for achieving maximum range on the long range flight?

Here are a some suggestions:
-if wind is a problem once you reached you max height and distance, Keep lowing the drones altitude on the way home, just enough to keep radio signal. You want to get out of the higher altitude winds as much as possible.
-fly away from your home point in the direction of the headwinds. This will give you a tail wind on the way back, assuring you have enough battery to get home.
-If you choose to fly with a tail wind to get max distance, you may not make it home due to the headwind, so put a flasher with a high decibel sound maker on your drone, so you can find it at the pre-RTH spot you made during the flight.
-Lastly, I hope you get board of doing range tests soon. I personally haven't. And, I haven't lost a drone yet.