Maximum Hieght Question

[Mossiback]

... I reviewed the flight data when I got back and found that I had gone over 400ft by 7ft. In the app I have it set to 400ft max, so my question is why would it of flown over the max hieght ...

Don't worry about it. 400 feet is the max height limit above the homepoint but this setting is entered as meters (in my version) so feet measurement will be approximate. Go 4 will try to stop climbing at that setting but I have never seen my MP stop at exactly 400 feet. Since the Mavic height (not altitude) is measured above the home point and the 400 foot rule is the measurement above the ground, you always need to be aware of the ground terrain and adjust accordingly.

 

[ac0j]

It's a common misconception that airplanes have to stay above 500 ft but this is not true.
There are many situations where planes can legally fly lower than 500 ft.
Here is the US FAA rule relating to this. Note C & D

§ 91.119 Minimum safe altitudes: General.
Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes:
(a) Anywhere. An altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface.
(b) Over congested areas. Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons, an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft.
(c) Over other than congested areas. An altitude of 500 feet above the surface, except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In those cases, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.
(d) Helicopters, powered parachutes, and weight-shift-control aircraft. If the operation is conducted without hazard to persons or property on the surface—
(1) A helicopter may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed in paragraph (b) or (c) of this section, provided each person operating the helicopter complies with any routes or altitudes specifically prescribed for helicopters by the FAA​

I dont see proof of your statement in your own evidence. LOL!
MANY reasons for airplanes to legally under 500' ?
You posted; Take off, landing, and emergency landings. Thats it. All no brainers.
Everything else says 500 to 1000 feet minimum, except over water IF no humans, or vessels are in the area. Area, in that context I would assume means several miles. A drone pilot is a human, and would always be within miles of his drone.
Helicopters have a little more leeway due to the heliports in proximity to population, but It is STILL not a free for all under 500 feet like pilots want you to believe.

 

[Congoblue]

In some areas of the uk such as the Lake District we often get military aircraft on training flying below 400ft.

 

[DanMan32]

I did this Shoot yesterday, and I reviewed the flight data when I got back and found that I had gone over 400ft by 7ft. In the app I have it set to 400ft max, so my question is why would it of flown over the max hieght and especially as I was at see lever as you can see in the footage.
Thanks in advance, AndyD

The first question I have is how you determined you maxed out at 407ft. My assumption is that you saw 407ft on your telemetry display. Since the telemetry display and height limiter are using the same reference, the difference between AGL/ASL/AHL doesn't matter as the AC is referencing the same starting point as the limiter. Unit of measure is different, but that should only be a error difference of less that 1ft.

 

[andyd01275]

Are you sure you have the maximum altitude set to 400 feet and not 400 meters?

Yes a change the setting to ft.

 

[beachcombing]

Yes a change the setting to ft.

I'm not sure what you are trying to say here, but you can't change the the maximum height setting to feet. It's always in meters.

 

[Meta4]

I dont see proof of your statement in your own evidence. LOL!
MANY reasons for airplanes to legally under 500' ?
You posted; Take off, landing, and emergency landings. Thats it. All no brainers.
Everything else says 500 to 1000 feet minimum, except over water IF no humans, or vessels are in the area. Area, in that context I would assume means several miles. A drone pilot is a human, and would always be within miles of his drone.
Helicopters have a little more leeway due to the heliports in proximity to population, but It is STILL not a free for all under 500 feet like pilots want you to believe.

Then get someone else to read it to you slowly.

 

[Meta4]

Yes a change the setting to ft.

As someone said back in post #2, if you are interested and want to know what was happening, how about looking at what the recorded flight data says?

 

[ac0j]

Then get someone else to read it to you slowly.

I read fine. I dont see MANY anywhere. You pointed out specifically C. And D.

"(c) Over other than congested areas. An altitude of 500 feet above the surface, except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In those cases, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure."

Not many drones in those areas aye? If there was a drone and PILOT its back above 500' for the plane, or the plane should be at fault in a drone strike. But, no one at FAA has decided that yet.


"(d) Helicopters, powered parachutes, and weight-shift-control aircraft. If the operation is conducted without hazard to persons or property on the surface—"

No mention of planes here.....
BUT isnt a drone property? and a drone pilot a person? I can be in 400', so that should mean heli cannot. Again, doesnt work that way! YET.

So, Take off, Landing, Crashing, and IF it is all by itself over water or unpopulated land.
if you are steadfast about FOUR things being MANY. I will stand down.

 

[Meta4]

I read fine. I dont see MANY anywhere. You pointed out specifically C. And D.

Ever been to the beach?
Are sparsely populated areas a difficult concept for you?
I don't know what your problem is but the over-simplified idea that you won't encounter light aircraft and helicopters below 500 feet is not valid.

 

[ac0j]

Ever been to the beach?
Are sparsely populated areas a difficult concept for you?
I don't know what your problem is but the over-simplified idea that you won't encounter light aircraft and helicopters below 500 feet is not valid.

I know that, but it SHOULD BE valid.
Do you know what "sparsely" means? That means VERY few people. What beach are you talking about? I suppose planes and Helo's could be buzzing the Beaches all they want in the Carolinas right now then.....So you win.

 

[Meta4]

I know that, but it SHOULD BE valid.
Do you know what "sparsely" means? That means VERY few people. What beach are you talking about? I suppose planes and Helo's could be buzzing the Beaches all they want in the Carolinas right now then.....So you win.

It's really not that difficult.
Yes, I know what sparsely means.
Which beach am I talking about?
Any beach that has open water adjacent to it.
Is pointless arguing your hobby?

 

[ac0j]

It's really not that difficult.
Yes, I know what sparsely means.
Which beach am I talking about?
Any beach that has open water adjacent to it.
Is pointless arguing your hobby?

Not my hobby. But when you are trying to make it sound like planes can fly below 500 feet at a beach is dead wrong for you to imply. The rule you posted said ONLY if there are no people or vessels, or vehicles , and no structures. Which beach is that?
Other wise, they need to be more than 500' away from the closest thing to the beach. So if there are boats in the water, this extends to ANOTHER additional 500' away from that. So on any reasonable day, that says a plane has to be 500' above the beach, OR 500' farther away than the farthest boat or watercraft from the beach. That is EXACTLY what the rule reads. It IS NOT they can fly under 500' at a beach if they want to like your post implies from my view.
Not trying to argue with you, Just clarifying a misconception people may get from your statements. Whether that is your intent or not, it sounds like thats is what you are saying.
So I say again you gave ONE thing other than take off, landing, and crashing that says they can fly below 500'
I was wanting to hear the MANY things you promised.

 

[Meta4]

Not trying to argue with you, Just clarifying a misconception people may get from your statements. Whether that is your intent or not, it sounds like thats is what you are saying.

Do you have trouble with basic English?
I was responding to a post that said:

I have always assumed that the 400 ft AGL rule for drones was established based on the manned aircraft MINIMUM Altitude (in non-built up and un-populated areas) of 500 ft AGL.

I pointed out that contrary to a popular forum misconception, there is no blanket ruling that keeps planes and helicopters from flying below 500 feet and quoted the applicable regulation which clearly shows that.
Perhaps you've never been out of an inner urban area and have difficulty understanding the concepts of sparsely populated areas or open water but many countries have vast areas that are sparsely populated.
And most of the earth's surface is open water.
If you go to the beach and open your eyes, you might even see some.
There are plenty of places where you can encounter light planes and helicopters legally flying lower than 500 feet.

 

[ac0j]

Do you have trouble with basic English?
I was responding to a post that said:

I pointed out that contrary to a popular forum misconception, there is no blanket ruling that keeps planes and helicopters from flying below 500 feet and quoted the applicable regulation which clearly shows that.
Perhaps you've never been out of an inner urban area and have difficulty understanding the concepts of sparsely populated areas or open water but many countries have vast areas that are sparsely populated.
And most of the earth's surface is open water.
If you go to the beach and open your eyes, you might even see some.
There are plenty of places where you can encounter light planes and helicopters legally flying lower than 500 feet.

I couldnt live farther from an urban area.
This is a drone forum discussing DRONES VS PLANES, Obviously that is not really an issue out at sea, or 10000 feet deep into a cornfield in my back yard, or ANYWHERE that you point out aircraft can play dangerously, legally.

Where there are people and drones, is almost always populated and there are people, vehicles, vessels and structures. ALL THE things that suggest there will be NO AIRCRAFT below 500 or 1000 feet.
I am telling you you are exactly right, and sadly that it is NOT relevant to this discussion on a humans and drone populated area! No need to keep repeating the same things and remarking on my intelligence.
Get it NOW? Hope so, because I am finished.

 

[digital artist]

Isn't the 400' limitation heigh above ground, not height above starting point?

According to the rules, if you are inspecting object that let’s say it is 500’ high you can fly 900’ agl

 

[Dmbrody]

So there are some right and wrong answers in this thread. Just to sum things up with the correct information:

• Altitude is measured relative to your take off position.
  • If you fly off the side of a mountain, and then descend, you’ll see a negative altitude in DJI Go.
• The internal barometer is used to calculate altitude.
  • Unless you are close enough to the ground, in which case the downward Vision Positioning sensors are also used.
• GPS is not used to measure altitude because it is not as accurate as the barometer. Barometers may be old tech, but they are the most accurate.
• The barometer is automatically calibrated to 0 at launch.
• You can occasionally pierce the height limit with enough momentum.
  • When the drone is moving horizontally, it can stop itself almost on a dime by adjusting attitude (increase power to front motors, decrease to rear, pitching the drone back, then adjusting power to both).
  • When decending it can stop quickly by increasing thrust to all motors.
  • But when ascending the only way to stop is to decrease power - props don’t reverse direction. In other words, the only thing stopping your drone is gravity. So with enough speed, momentum can carry you above your limit.
• 400 feet is about 120 meters
• To ensure you will never pierce 400 feet, set your limit to 390 or 395 feet. (118m = 390 ft, approximately).

 

[lmel2005]

And it's not clear yet, if max height was set to 400 meters instead of 400 feet, because this setting is always in meters, and cannot be changed to feet.

 

[Mossiback]

And it's not clear yet, if max height was set to 400 meters instead of 400 feet, because this setting is always in meters, and cannot be changed to feet.

The setting is in meters but the readout is in feet (USA). Stupid DJI.

 

[Shaggy505]

Isn’t it possible that it was caught by wind, 7 variation isn’t much.