New to drones - why can’t my Mavic 3 cine go more than 1-1.5 miles?

[dirkclod]

Ok guys I have deleted a handful of post that were ether off topic
or irrelevant. Please stay true to the thread, Educate our new member but please stay civil.
Thanks.
dc

 

[orionshooter]

I think yo

If visibility is 6-10 miles (we can see to the moon but we can't really see across a city) and the drone is 1.5 miles out and I have full view of where it is then I consider that I am within VLOS. The

This is probably a topic that would (and probably already has) fill a thread of it's own, but I believe that there is room in the middle for reasonable lack of adherence (whether or not it fits the rules of current written laws) .

Pushing aside the boneheads that purposefully don't bother trying to keep VLOS, how about this example:

1. Launch into the air
2. Fly out to some fair distance where the craft is tiny in the sky, but you kept your visual lock on the craft with your eyes
3. Stop the aircraft there, still being able to see it
4. Look down at the controller (as we must from time to time)
5. Look back up, but cannot find the aircraft again with your eyes, even though it has not moved and (as you can see from the feed on your device) has not fallen out of the sky.

At that point, you just can't see it—at least not right away and without a lot of effort—because the craft is small. YES of course at that point you could and should come back until you reacquire VLOS, but for that moment, you are out of compliance to the VLOS rule. Are you irresponsible and reckless (even though technically illegal)? Not in my mind.

Now take a fantasy scenario where some fictional official drone cop comes up and asks you to point into the sky to prove you know where the drone is, but you can't so he gives you a citation with a fine. I believe that in this fantasy, you could probably make a case in a court of law that you made all reasonable effect to keep VLOS.

Al, I'm not disagreeing with you, but making the case for there being a middle ground here, showing that it's not always black and white. Because I've experienced the above "look down and it's gone" scenario countless times.

Eh?

Chris

drone is a tiny speck and I meet the FAA goal to ensure that I can see where my drone is and be able to avoid aircraft.

I think in your fantasy scenario, you would be liable. I would argue that looking at your controller is a foreseeable event for which you should have been prepared.

But, suppose you lost VLOS because it was the cop who interrupted you?

 

[BigAl07]

If visibility is 6-10 miles (we can see to the moon but we can't really see across a city) and the drone is 1.5 miles out and I have full view of where it is then I consider that I am within VLOS. The drone is a tiny speck and I meet the FAA goal to ensure that I can see where my drone is and be able to avoid aircraft.

I'm afraid that is NOT within the VLOS. That tiny speck does NOT satisfy the Federal Requirements to meet VLOS. And I am pretty confident that you can't see and distinguish your M3 at anywhere even NEAR 1.5 miles out.

You have to be ABLE To determine location, direction of travel, orientation AND be able to See & Avoid and
seeing a speck" isn't going to cut it. The very minimal profile of the Mavic series is going against you every foot you get away from Home Point and to insinuate you can meet the above requirements at 1.5 you have Super Human Eyesight.

 

[KB9Radio]

Thank you all for the responses. I live in a populated city but I am on top of a hill so when I fly my drone out a mile I hit water and it is there I am hoping to go out another one to get some cool videos and photos. Sometimes I can go out 1.5 mile and other times not even a mile. The weather is great, no issues, good visibility, and technically i am within line of sight (of course, kind of hard to see a drone that far out -- but there is no obstruction.. so i can see the sky surrounding the drone).

So the only negative is maybe there is interference with all of the homes and electricity and everything? does that really make sense when you are 200' above all of this stuff? Are there any tweaks or settings? I wasnt expecting to go 9 miles out.. but i really thought I could go 2 miles which would get me some real cool video and pics. I am an avid photographer and I bought the 3 cine for the video and the range. Video seems to be great.. but i need to be comfortable that it can go out 2-3 mile so i can actually use it. I really hope i can tweak some setting somewhere?

Why don't you just go out and locate your take off location closer to where you want to take the photos. That would put you closer for VLOS and minimize your chances of losing your drone. I know, what a concept That said, many times if you go a little higher (400' limit), it will increase the range.

 

[SkySteve83]

If visibility is 6-10 miles (we can see to the moon but we can't really see across a city) and the drone is 1.5 miles out and I have full view of where it is then I consider that I am within VLOS. The drone is a tiny speck and I meet the FAA goal to ensure that I can see where my drone is and be able to avoid aircraft.

Sorry but I don't think a Mavic 3 is visible at 1+ miles away. Maybe a tiny spec if your eyes are amazing but I doubt it would meet the legal criteria of VLOS.

 

[BigAl07]

Sorry but I don't think a Mavic 3 is visible at 1+ miles away. Maybe a tiny spec if your eyes are amazing but I doubt it would meet the legal criteria of VLOS.

You are correct with both statements

 

[scodav]

If visibility is 6-10 miles (we can see to the moon but we can't really see across a city) and the drone is 1.5 miles out and I have full view of where it is then I consider that I am within VLOS. The drone is a tiny speck and I meet the FAA goal to ensure that I can see where my drone is and be able to avoid aircraft.

Actually, no you haven't met the FAA goal. That's a ridiculous statment to make. Are you an FAA affiliate, employee, lawyer, administrator, etc.? I doubt it and moreover would you be allowed to post what you did and not loose the association by which you had. BIGAL07 is correct here and you are giving incorrect information. I see and am involved with these dealing daily. VLOS is now and until the end of time to those making the decisions within the FAA is this "if you can't see which direction the aircraft is going from your home station, with the telemetry on your remote covered up", you are NOT flying with the guidlines the FAA has intended for VLOS. It's that simple. Spread your misinformation and get people in trouble. From the advice you give, I suspect you don't follow the regulations, you follow your own intrepetation of those regulations. You are part of the reason we have stricter regulations, just follow the rules and don't try to slice out every detail dude.

 

[KLRSKIR]

This is probably a topic that would (and probably already has) fill a thread of it's own, but I believe that there is room in the middle for reasonable lack of adherence (whether or not it fits the rules of current written laws) .

Pushing aside the boneheads that purposefully don't bother trying to keep VLOS, how about this example:

1. Launch into the air
2. Fly out to some fair distance where the craft is tiny in the sky, but you kept your visual lock on the craft with your eyes
3. Stop the aircraft there, still being able to see it
4. Look down at the controller (as we must from time to time)
5. Look back up, but cannot find the aircraft again with your eyes, even though it has not moved and (as you can see from the feed on your device) has not fallen out of the sky.

At that point, you just can't see it—at least not right away and without a lot of effort—because the craft is small. YES of course at that point you could and should come back until you reacquire VLOS, but for that moment, you are out of compliance to the VLOS rule. Are you irresponsible and reckless (even though technically illegal)? Not in my mind.

Now take a fantasy scenario where some fictional official drone cop comes up and asks you to point into the sky to prove you know where the drone is, but you can't so he gives you a citation with a fine. I believe that in this fantasy, you could probably make a case in a court of law that you made all reasonable effect to keep VLOS.

Al, I'm not disagreeing with you, but making the case for there being a middle ground here, showing that it's not always black and white. Because I've experienced the above "look down and it's gone" scenario countless times.

Eh?

Chris

Good post, great points and most of all, "real-life" scenarios. I fly in central PA in the Appalachian Mountains. Radio interference is non-existent where I am. When I'm able to push the distance limits of my own vision, I always use strobes which greatly improve the visibility of the aircraft when I look back up from the controller.

I will say that when I file a flight plan with AirMap when I'm flying close to my local airport (always with strobe), it seems that within 30 minutes of approval I have a few trainers wander over my approved airspace WELL under 500' AGL (and have been reported). No, they're not on approach, nor departure. AirMap has proven to be better bait than Salmon eggs!

 

[scodav]

This is probably a topic that would (and probably already has) fill a thread of it's own, but I believe that there is room in the middle for reasonable lack of adherence (whether or not it fits the rules of current written laws) .

Pushing aside the boneheads that purposefully don't bother trying to keep VLOS, how about this example:

1. Launch into the air
2. Fly out to some fair distance where the craft is tiny in the sky, but you kept your visual lock on the craft with your eyes
3. Stop the aircraft there, still being able to see it
4. Look down at the controller (as we must from time to time)
5. Look back up, but cannot find the aircraft again with your eyes, even though it has not moved and (as you can see from the feed on your device) has not fallen out of the sky.

At that point, you just can't see it—at least not right away and without a lot of effort—because the craft is small. YES of course at that point you could and should come back until you reacquire VLOS, but for that moment, you are out of compliance to the VLOS rule. Are you irresponsible and reckless (even though technically illegal)? Not in my mind.

Now take a fantasy scenario where some fictional official drone cop comes up and asks you to point into the sky to prove you know where the drone is, but you can't so he gives you a citation with a fine. I believe that in this fantasy, you could probably make a case in a court of law that you made all reasonable effect to keep VLOS.

Al, I'm not disagreeing with you, but making the case for there being a middle ground here, showing that it's not always black and white. Because I've experienced the above "look down and it's gone" scenario countless times.

Eh?

Chris

This is good discussion. I'd like to offer some issues that will arise... At the point that you go to this fantasy court, you are now tasked with the burden to prove what you state. Did you have video footage of you operating the aircraft or just the telemetry logged? Court gets costly, more times than not, you loose even if you win. What I posted in another post I stand by, they make the rules, they set the guidelines for enforcement as well as the penalties. Middle ground can be discussed amongst those who fancy discussion, but the FAA will still throw the hammer down on you if your drone is 1.5 miles away from you and it hits something, or falls out of the sky because it ran out of battery charge, or a Bald Eagle attacks it, you can't see it properly to evade, the eagle dies as a result... I mean hundreds of fantasy scenairos could be imagined that can all happen in those few seconds you look down. These things could easily happen 100 feet away as well, but you'd have an absolute better chance in people beleiving you did everything you could to evade a disaster at 100ft vs over 1.5miles away.

 

[Lasidora]

I can easily see my Mavic 3 at 1-2 miles, in fact here's a pic of me flying mine to that range today!

 

[Jigsaw43Bravo]

My experience has been that when flying in areas with heavy wifi traffic (such as built up residential developments) really clobbers signal range. I find that the further I am from these areas, the better the signal quality/range.

 

[EsaT]

My experience has been that when flying in areas with heavy wifi traffic (such as built up residential developments) really clobbers signal range. I find that the further I am from these areas, the better the signal quality/range.

That's because Wifi uses same frequency range.
Actually whole lots of wireless things use same 2.4 Ghz area.

5 GHz again doesn't penetrate much anything keeping "radio noise" inside buildings.
Hence why 5.8GHz can give longer range in cities.

 

[Sergio1943]

If visibility is 6-10 miles (we can see to the moon but we can't really see across a city) and the drone is 1.5 miles out and I have full view of where it is then I consider that I am within VLOS. The drone is a tiny speck and I meet the FAA goal to ensure that I can see where my drone is and be able to avoid aircraft.

AhAhAh ..... try to explain this to the officer that will give you a fine ....

 

[akdrone]

Also: a common mistake to make (I still make it) is improper antenna orientation. This can reduce transmission performance. Be sure the flat sides of the antenna blades are toward the aircraft, not the points.

Chris

DJI controllers are made so that the controller is held flat, horizontal to the ground. It would be awkward to hold the controller vertically so I don't see that as a common mistake for DJI controllers...

 

[akdrone]

I think that DJI controllers are part of a mind-control-of-your-thought experiment wherein they are able to sense how guilty you feel for going BLOS. It's all part of the search for world domination by the elite drone manufacturers....(not the little drone manufacturers...)

 

[KLRSKIR]

DJI controllers are made so that the controller is held flat, horizontal to the ground. It would be awkward to hold the controller vertically so I don't see that as a common mistake for DJI controllers...

My guess is that he is mostly referring to the SC and/or RC Pro. On top of it all, the antennas on the SC open in the opposite direction of the RC Pro.

 

[sarimento1]

I've had my Mavic 3 out 4000-5000 ft, albeit in clear remote areas, no signal loss.