Mini 2 in wind

[hchen]

Mini 2 is my first drone for two weeks. I am still learn how to fly. I tried to fly in 14 mph wind at 2-10 feet high in my yard. Although there was no strong wind alert on the console of DJI Fly app, I could see the drone was drifted by wind, and pretty hard to control. I had a few crashes when the drone hit plants and fence. Fortunately, there was no damage on the drone, even there was no a single scratch. Thanks to the nice quality!

 

[DanMan32]

Because of its size and weight it may seem like it's struggling in shifting winds and not having inertial mass to dampen the effects but should do ok. It may drift a bit within a foot or so, less when in motion.

 

[vindibona1]

First, congratulations on your first drone! The Mini 2 is a great first drone.

The Mini 2 is much better in wind than the Mini 1 because of increased power and maximum pitch angle. But as @DanMan32 said, the Mini 2 can drift a bit in higher winds. In any conditions, as a new flyer you don't want to get too close to stuff. In addition to general wind drift, if you get too close to a solid object your Mini might shift due to it's own air blast against the object. Always leave more margin for error than you think necessary, especially when you have the drone facing you and left/right/forward/backwards stick movements are reversed to your visual orientation.

After you crashed did you inspect the props for nicks or other damage? Even a slightly damaged prop blade can make your Mini fly less precisely. In addition to visual/tactile inspection, a good check is to let your drone hover for a bit. If it wants to naturally drift without any stick input (in low/no wind) then you should double check your props for damage and screw tension. I find that running my fingers along the prop blades checking for smoothness is a good way to check.

Again, congratulations and good luck.

 

[ICHOTT]

So you’re new to drones, it’s windy, your low level, in a yard, near plants and fences, the crashes were simply a matter of time in seconds or minutes ???

 

[bumper]

You are fortunate no apparent damage. Ic_hoTT is spot on, you might want to reexamine your risk tolerance. Start off learning in an open area and in calm conditions. There's an oft repeated saying in aviation, "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots". Of course when you crash an unmanned vehicle, you don't get to be an unwilling passenger. But you do often get to be first on scene to survey the damage.

 

[DanMan32]

Reminds me of when I first got my P3A. I thought I could just power it up and lift just a few inches off a table indoors then land back down. That was a huge mistake. Ended up flying into a lamp due to inexperienced piloting.

On hind sight, good thing it didn't hit me or my dad.

 

[hiflyer201]

Your back yard can have very gusty winds that the drone might not handle well..plus the fact that your stirring up the air a little with your drone. I would guess that the percentage of prop strikes in the back yard is pretty high.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Mini 2 is my first drone for two weeks. I am still learn how to fly. I tried to fly in 14 mph wind at 2-10 feet high in my yard. Although there was no strong wind alert on the console of DJI Fly app, I could see the drone was drifted by wind, and pretty hard to control. I had a few crashes when the drone hit plants and fence. Fortunately, there was no damage on the drone, even there was no a single scratch. Thanks to the nice quality!

Keep in mind that when you see those flying in 20 mph winds its because we are compensating for those winds quite a lot and know the amount of drift they need to settle into place.

The drone by itself in the wind will not do well without constant piloting of the drone and the more you fly in the wind the better pilot you will become as the wind is constantly changing .

My advice get up in the wind as much as you can so you can master that aspect of flying your drone.


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

 

[DanMan32]

Keep in mind that when you see those flying in 20 mph winds its because we are compensating for those winds quite a lot and know the amount of drift they need to settle into place.

The drone by itself in the wind will not do well without constant piloting of the drone and the more you fly in the wind the better pilot you will become as the wind is constantly changing .

My advice get up in the wind as much as you can so you can master that aspect of flying your drone.


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

Bad GPS and VPS issues causing you to fly in ATTI?

 

[Buel]

First, congratulations on your first drone! The Mini 2 is a great first drone.

The Mini 2 is much better in wind than the Mini 1 because of increased power and maximum pitch angle. But as @DanMan32 said, the Mini 2 can drift a bit in higher winds. In any conditions, as a new flyer you don't want to get too close to stuff. In addition to general wind drift, if you get too close to a solid object your Mini might shift due to it's own air blast against the object. Always leave more margin for error than you think necessary, especially when you have the drone facing you and left/right/forward/backwards stick movements are reversed to your visual orientation.

After you crashed did you inspect the props for nicks or other damage? Even a slightly damaged prop blade can make your Mini fly less precisely. In addition to visual/tactile inspection, a good check is to let your drone hover for a bit. If it wants to naturally drift without any stick input (in low/no wind) then you should double check your props for damage and screw tension. I find that running my fingers along the prop blades checking for smoothness is a good way to check.

Again, congratulations and good luck.

Quick one: Your signature Assuming is not knowing. Knowing is NOT Understanding. There is a difference between compassion and wisdom. Compassion cannot supplant wisdom. Feelings alone often make for terrible decisions
is quite brilliant. Did it come from anywhere....or is this just your experience?

 

[vindibona1]

Quick one: Your signature Assuming is not knowing. Knowing is NOT Understanding. There is a difference between compassion and wisdom. Compassion cannot supplant wisdom. Feelings alone often make for terrible decisions
is quite brilliant. Did it come from anywhere....or is this just your experience?

Thank you. It's actually a mash-up from Dennis Prager, Ben Shapiro and myself, certainly influenced by others. There is a tag line that I took out because forum management said my signature was too long... "Facts don't care about your feelings"- Ben Shapiro.

The whole train of thought goes deeper. I am mortified to see that we as a society at large are promoting a culture of emotional weaklings, especially in our young people who "feel" so strongly" about things but don't have the emotional stamina to look at anything or hear anyone that might demonstrate that what they feel doesn't jive with the facts. So they are willing to ignore, truncate or "alter" facts in fear their feelings being counter to where the facts and truth (not "THEIR" truth...whatever that is) lead, bolstering the membership of the Collective Church of the Willfully Ignorant. JMO

Sorry for getting so far off topic.

 

[Buel]

Thank you. It's actually a mash-up from Dennis Prager, Ben Shapiro and myself, certainly influenced by others. There is a tag line that I took out because forum management said my signature was too long... "Facts don't care about your feelings"- Ben Shapiro.

The whole train of thought goes deeper. I am mortified to see that we as a society at large are promoting a culture of emotional weaklings, especially in our young people who "feel" so strongly" about things but don't have the emotional stamina to look at anything or hear anyone that might demonstrate that what they feel doesn't jive with the facts. So they are willing to ignore, truncate or "alter" facts in fear their feelings being counter to where the facts and truth (not "THEIR" truth...whatever that is) lead, bolstering the membership of the Collective Church of the Willfully Ignorant. JMO

Sorry for getting so far off topic.

Absolutely brilliant. My concern these days is more that the vast majority, not minority, don't understand the influence that emotions play on decisions they make. Worse is when they have it explained....and still choose to ignore. It's the wilfully choosing to ignore that really gets me.

 

[vindibona1]

Absolutely brilliant. My concern these days is more that the vast majority, not minority, don't understand the influence that emotions play on decisions they make. Worse is when they have it explained....and still choose to ignore. It's the wilfully choosing to ignore that really gets me.

Thank you. I'd love to continue this and got side tracked because of your question. I appreciate your comments.

 

[NG Wildman]

Assuming everything is working correctly, and there is no reason to believe the drone is not; the drone really shouldn't be moving so much in the air. My Mini2 it quite stable, even in 25 MPH winds. Although I don't recommend flying when it's that windy out. Flying that low to the ground is not a great idea for a new pilot.
With drones, altitude is your friend. Always make sur your compass in calibrated and set your RTH higher than the tallest object around. Once you are familiar with the rules and 400' limit etc. try flying in an open area and take it up around 25-30'. You will have more relaxed fun. If you want to fly low or possibly inside; invest in prop guards. They work great. And , as stated above, always inspect your props after an crash and before EVERY flight. I am sure you will love the hobby. Fly safe and have fun.

 

[vindibona1]

Assuming everything is working correctly, and there is no reason to believe the drone is not; the drone really shouldn't be moving so much in the air. My Mini2 it quite stable, even in 25 MPH winds. Although I don't recommend flying when it's that windy out. Flying that low to the ground is not a great idea for a new pilot.
With drones, altitude is your friend. Always make sur your compass in calibrated and set your RTH higher than the tallest object around. Once you are familiar with the rules and 400' limit etc. try flying in an open area and take it up around 25-30'. You will have more relaxed fun. If you want to fly low or possibly inside; invest in prop guards. They work great. And , as stated above, always inspect your props after an crash and before EVERY flight. I am sure you will love the hobby. Fly safe and have fun.

Lots of good advice and experience from NG Wildman.

To expand on that a bit, while the increased stability of the Mini 2 is a huge plus over the Mini 1, it has to be recognized that as the drone itself has increased it's "wind threshold" there may be some minor drawbacks when it comes to filming. One of the techniques that DJI has employed, beyond more motor power it increased pitch angle. This can take the gimbal to the edge of it's capabilities and sometimes exceed them. But the plusses far outweigh the minuses as I would much prefer occasionally gimbal jerk or seeing props in the picture than having an underpowered Mini blown away in modest wind.

Prop guards can be an important training tool, but the best thing at the beginning is to stay far away from obstacles and structures. It takes time to learn not only how to fly a drone, but what the capabilities and limitations of not only your drone but of yourself as well. Where I find prop guards most helpful is practicing flying indoors. Being in confined spaces teaches precision that is hard to get outdoors. Don't get me wrong as you can use them outside too. but indoors the guards help keep you from breaking stuff. And if you live in a cold winter climate like here, you can still practice flying and working on precise control skills instead of being grounded by the weather.

 

[NG Wildman]

Lots of good advice and experience from NG Wildman.

To expand on that a bit, while the increased stability of the Mini 2 is a huge plus over the Mini 1, it has to be recognized that as the drone itself has increased it's "wind threshold" there may be some minor drawbacks when it comes to filming. One of the techniques that DJI has employed, beyond more motor power it increased pitch angle. This can take the gimbal to the edge of it's capabilities and sometimes exceed them. But the plusses far outweigh the minuses as I would much prefer occasionally gimbal jerk or seeing props in the picture than having an underpowered Mini blown away in modest wind.

Prop guards can be an important training tool, but the best thing at the beginning is to stay far away from obstacles and structures. It takes time to learn not only how to fly a drone, but what the capabilities and limitations of not only your drone but of yourself as well. Where I find prop guards most helpful is practicing flying indoors. Being in confined spaces teaches precision that is hard to get outdoors. Don't get me wrong as you can use them outside too. but indoors the guards help keep you from breaking stuff. And if you live in a cold winter climate like here, you can still practice flying and working on precise control skills instead of being grounded by the weather.

Great points. My Mini and Mini 2 are both fun. The Mini2 more stable. I experienced the increased pitch on video this Christmas while filming over Merck in Pennsylvania. I saw the horizon dip drastically after I received a high wind warning and reversed course. I never experienced that with the M2Pro.
Unfortunately, is often obtained JUST after you really needed it. That's why it's so important to share them with others, especially new pilots, to help maintain safety and grow this great hobby.

 

[DaveLlama]

I'm potentially moving from a Mavic Pro 2 to the Mini2 (for the increased freedom the new UK CAA regulations offer these legacy C0 drones) but concerned about wind performance and flyaway issues.

I see the Mini2's max speed in Sport mode is up to 16m/s (36mph) but obviously it's not advisable to fly in sustained (or even gusts) of that magnitude. So what IS the suggested max sustained wind speed to fly the Mini2 in, to avoid a flyaway situiation?

With the MavicPro2 I've never found the need to worry about it as any wind speed I felt was too high, meant i'd not even launch it, as it would hover without drifting.

With the Mini2 I know I'll need to be more cautious, so what sensible max sustained and gust speeds should I limit flights to?

 

[Repaid1]

With the Mini2 I know I'll need to be more cautious, so what sensible max sustained and gust speeds should I limit flights to?

This is a video from a buddy on another site he posted, seems like....well...whatever your comfortable with. I haven't really flown my M2Z in over 25 sustained...maybe once for a tropical storm blow threw. His notes:
Pushing the limits of the DJI Mini2 with force 7 winds. Logs showed max wind was at 36.2 mph (58.2kmph) and this was all at 135ft AGL (41m).Hit that max wind at 0:47 obviously!

 

[vindibona1]

I'm potentially moving from a Mavic Pro 2 to the Mini2 (for the increased freedom the new UK CAA regulations offer these legacy C0 drones) but concerned about wind performance and flyaway issues.

I see the Mini2's max speed in Sport mode is up to 16m/s (36mph) but obviously it's not advisable to fly in sustained (or even gusts) of that magnitude. So what IS the suggested max sustained wind speed to fly the Mini2 in, to avoid a flyaway situiation?

With the MavicPro2 I've never found the need to worry about it as any wind speed I felt was too high, meant i'd not even launch it, as it would hover without drifting.

With the Mini2 I know I'll need to be more cautious, so what sensible max sustained and gust speeds should I limit flights to?

I have both the Mavic 2 Pro and the Mini 2, and formerly the Mini 1. The Mini 2 is really a good little drone but it's not a Mavic 2. Wind "resistance" and stability are not the same things. And while the Mini 2 has very good wind resistance it does not have the stability of the Mavic 2. A lot depends on how you're flying into the wind, with the wind or with a crosswind. Flying and filming are inter-related, but while the Mini 2 flys fine in a lot of conditions, there are some filming constraints beyond the fixed aperture and smaller sensor.

One of the things that allows the Mini 2 to fly in stronger winds is increased maximum pitch. I think on occasion the pitch exceeds the gimbals full range of motion. Also, at high speed the gimbal can be blown around, which I have seen only on occasion on my Mavic 2 Pro.

But here's the thing that leaves me scratching my head about what I consider an arbitrary weight cutoff for classification... As soon as you add something (that I consider necessary) such as leg extensions or even something as basic as a decent strobe it puts you over the weight limit, if only by a handful of grams. Even a 300 gram threshold would provide all the headroom one migh need for necessary accessories. That extra 50 grams is only 1.8 ounces. When you think that the next category up (at least in the US) takes us all the way up to 55 POUNDS (about 30KG) this weight cut-off seems ludicrous. I guess what I'm saying, is that if you're ditching your Mavic 2 to downsize for regulation, I would suggest that perhaps the regulation is so restrictive that it might make more sense to jump through the regulatory hoops to continue flying your Mavic 2?

 

[DaveLlama]

I have both the Mavic 2 Pro and the Mini 2, and formerly the Mini 1. The Mini 2 is really a good little drone but it's not a Mavic 2. Wind "resistance" and stability are not the same things. And while the Mini 2 has very good wind resistance it does not have the stability of the Mavic 2. A lot depends on how you're flying into the wind, with the wind or with a crosswind. Flying and filming are inter-related, but while the Mini 2 flys fine in a lot of conditions, there are some filming constraints beyond the fixed aperture and smaller sensor.

One of the things that allows the Mini 2 to fly in stronger winds is increased maximum pitch. I think on occasion the pitch exceeds the gimbals full range of motion. Also, at high speed the gimbal can be blown around, which I have seen only on occasion on my Mavic 2 Pro.

But here's the thing that leaves me scratching my head about what I consider an arbitrary weight cutoff for classification... As soon as you add something (that I consider necessary) such as leg extensions or even something as basic as a decent strobe it puts you over the weight limit, if only by a handful of grams. Even a 300 gram threshold would provide all the headroom one migh need for necessary accessories. That extra 50 grams is only 1.8 ounces. When you think that the next category up (at least in the US) takes us all the way up to 55 POUNDS (about 30KG) this weight cut-off seems ludicrous. I guess what I'm saying, is that if you're ditching your Mavic 2 to downsize for regulation, I would suggest that perhaps the regulation is so restrictive that it might make more sense to jump through the regulatory hoops to continue flying your Mavic 2?

Thanks for the info, all gratefully received The restrictions are changing so hugely here in the UK that the 'downgrade' to a Mini2 really does look like a great option, even for licensed CAA approved drone pilots like me, particularly flying in built-up areas!

I think my main question is what wind speed figure to keep in my head when deciding whether to even risk flying the Mini2. I know that figure will be lower for the Mini2 than the Mavic Pro2, but I'm happy enough with working under those limitations, especially considering the ease of flying (and lower expense for training and CAA renewal fees).