Mavic Mini handles winds like a champ

[bfindlay]

Hi all,

Did quite a few flights with the drone today and probably being too risky already but wanted to test the handling of the drone in the winds (sport mode).

I flew the drone in winds about 20 knots gusting 30 so around 35-50kmh. Despite the several wind warnings, it did hold its position perfectly and landing it wasn't too bad either.

I did make a rookie mistake (did it with the phantom before too). I fired the drone up and then took off, I forgot to wait for GPS to be enabled so I was stuck in atti mode for a good 20 seconds fighting those winds manually which was a great challenge. Scared me at first because I didn't realize what had gone wrong lol.

Hopefully an eye opener for everyone because its so easy to miss something like that when you're too excited to get flying.

 

[dirkclod]

I would not recommend flying in high winds unless you
are proficient with flying in ATTI. I used to practice it alot
with my Phantom in it and am comfortable with it but to all
the new flyers we have with this MM work up to it. Been
reading to many sob stories because of folks not knowing how and crashing or flat out losing theirs .
I took mine up yesterday after several days of storms here
and was bad windy just to see how it did being I just got mine. Though it did ok I did have almost have a steady high wind warning and also at one point my gimbal went to twitching several times when in a cross wind. Figure it was just the wind and will see the more I get to fly it.
Sorry for the long post but flying as much and as long as
i have I would Not recommend it ...not that you did....to
any new flyers.

 

[Antshill]

Just wondering, did you have an anemometer? Was it 20 knots at ground level? The mini shouldn’t have been able to handle 22-23mph winds. Unless you somehow have a freak mini?

I agree with @dirkclod all mini owners should not be messing with18mph+ (29kph+) winds. It’s a recipe for disaster

 

[TheRock]

I got high wind warning 3-4 times during a couple weeks of flying on a trip to West Papua. My Mini also did very well in the winds but I di believe it burned through the batteries faster than on the calm days.

 

[TDZHDTV]

I agree, flown the mini carefully in strong winds, even practiced a few returns once the mini was caught by wind at higher altitudes (of course I wouldn’t recommend this). For it’s size there is nothing wrong with the mini.

 

[Sticksandgrips]

flew mine today with 20mph winds this morning. Handled it just fine. Newbie here also. Was up around 150 feet above a golf
Course which the winds where a lot worse up there. But overall was not bad at all.

 

[bfindlay]

Just wondering, did you have an anemometer? Was it 20 knots at ground level? The mini shouldn’t have been able to handle 22-23mph winds. Unless you somehow have a freak mini?

I agree with @dirkclod all mini owners should not be messing with18mph+ (29kph+) winds. It’s a recipe for disaster

I use reported winds from a nearby airport. I used to fly my Phantom in ATTI mode in the winds all the time in a large open field. I remember taking the P3S up in gusting 60 kmh winds. Obviously with the mavic mini being significant lighter i wouldn't push my luck to far on that.

 

[raymacke]

My personal opinion is unless you use an anemometer at YOUR location you should not quote wind speeds. There is just no way to know if it is accurate. I watched a recent video claiming 20 mph plus wind but watching a nearby flag fly I am fairly sure it was not more than 12 mph ( OK outside chance it was 15 but not likely ). This can be a big disservice to pilots, particularly new ones giving them a false sense of safety.

 

[mavicn00b]

Yes very exceptional in the Wind -

Seems the MM is cheap enough to some so much so that some pilots are simply replacing it with a new one

 

[bfindlay]

My personal opinion is unless you use an anemometer at YOUR location you should not quote wind speeds. There is just no way to know if it is accurate. I watched a recent video claiming 20 mph plus wind but watching a nearby flag fly I am fairly sure it was not more than 12 mph ( OK outside chance it was 15 but not likely ). This can be a big disservice to pilots, particularly new ones giving them a false sense of safety.

who carries a anemometer with them though and frankly interpolating the winds between locations around you is quite accurate and pilot do it all the time when going into an airport without a METAR or an AWOS.

 

[Bigbird48]

I think many here have and use one to check wind speed. I do and carry it in my MA case. There cheap and no reason not to have one.

 

[raymacke]

frankly interpolating the winds between locations around you is quite accurate and pilot do it all the time

Accurate within 5 mph when it's blowing 20 mph? That is all the error it can take to lose your MM. You may have that skill level but most new pilots don't and it can easily end poorly as a result. Case in point - just read the numerous "My MM flew away on its own" post.

Call me overly cautious but I prefer facts not estimates when advising others on something critical.

 

[Deleted member 109934]

Here is one tip, I learned a few days ago.
Fly always against or with the wind (be careful with the second), do not fly having strong wind on your left or right. 2 days ago in P mode having 30km/h wind with gusts up to 50km/h MM came to almost stall and drift. I had full throttle and MM was moving only 2km/h by changing direction just slightly and pushing him against the wind it moved to 12km/h (not usual 28, but was moving) I can see how strong side wind while executing RTH might take MM away in some uncontrollable drift.

 

[Vapor069]

I have 40+ hours of flight time in the Spark, and was amazed by how it handled 23+ mph winds. I recently sold the Spark and bought the Mini, so far I'm impressed by how stable it is. I flew it over water in 18 mph winds the other day with a few warnings, but it never once felt out of control. I was able to bring it back and hand land it every single time. I didn't realize how challenging flying the Spark in a straight line was until flying the Mini!

 

[Ian in London]

Hi all,

Did quite a few flights with the drone today and probably being too risky already but wanted to test the handling of the drone in the winds (sport mode).

I flew the drone in winds about 20 knots gusting 30 so around 35-50kmh. Despite the several wind warnings, it did hold its position perfectly and landing it wasn't too bad either.

I did make a rookie mistake (did it with the phantom before too). I fired the drone up and then took off, I forgot to wait for GPS to be enabled so I was stuck in atti mode for a good 20 seconds fighting those winds manually which was a great challenge. Scared me at first because I didn't realize what had gone wrong lol.

Hopefully an eye opener for everyone because its so easy to miss something like that when you're too excited to get flying.

Unless you uploaded your flight data to somewhere like Airdata.com and had the wind speed encountered actually calculated, you're literally sticking a wet finger in the air and saying "Yep, seems like 50 kmh"...
Even if you have a pocket anemometer, you're only measuring ground wind which is usually half to third that of wind at 200 feet.
I love my Mini, but it absolutely does not handle wind like a champ which is why so many are being lost to high wind flyaways... But don't take my word for it, just keep flying it in strong wind..... ?
Don't want to sound like a jerk, but lots of new flyers are seeing posts like this and youtube videos stating it can handle strong wind fine, then finding out the hard way that it can't and they lose it, with $400 blown away, and I think that's a real shame....
Ian

 

[bfindlay]

Unless you uploaded your flight data to somewhere like Airdata.com and had the wind speed encountered actually calculated, you're literally sticking a wet finger in the air and saying "Yep, seems like 50 kmh"...
Even if you have a pocket anemometer, you're only measuring ground wind which is usually half to third that of wind at 200 feet.
I love my Mini, but it absolutely does not handle wind like a champ which is why so many are being lost to high wind flyaways... But don't take my word for it, just keep flying it in strong wind..... ?
Don't want to sound like a jerk, but lots of new flyers are seeing posts like this and youtube videos stating it can handle strong wind fine, then finding out the hard way that it can't and they lose it, with $400 blown away, and I think that's a real shame....
Ian

I understand what you're saying but you have to understand its all relative. If someone says the mavic mini handles wind like a champ, we're basing it on the size of the drone. Its a tiny drone and I explained the winds my drone can handle. End of story, all I am doing is showing that my drone was able to hold it position very accurately in those winds