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Newbie Question... Taking off from a cliff...

cavenger

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Take off point on cliff... When I get out into the valley I hit 600 feet, I am technically illegal, right? Also, if I return from home, I have to set the return from home height high enough to crest that cliff. Anyone have any other tips from taking off from a cliff?
 
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Take off point on cliff... When I get out into the valley I hit 600 feet, I am technically illegal, right? ...
Right. You have to use your best judgement to maintain 400 feet or less above ground.
...Also, if I return from home, I have to set the return from home height high enough to crest that cliff...
The home point starts at zero and you need to set RTH height above anything in your flying area. If you fly below your home point the height numbers will show negative values. RTH will rise up to zero and then continue up to your RTH height setting before returning.
... Anyone have any other tips from taking off from a cliff?
Three things:
1) Try to maintain VLOS and 400 feet above ground. Small planes may fly up valleys and over a saddle in the ridge line.
2) Be mindful of winds that can change direction and velocity.
3) GPS reception may degrade if flying in a canyon.
 
Take off point on cliff... When I get out into the valley I hit 600 feet, I am technically illegal, right? Also, if I return from home, I have to set the return from home height high enough to crest that cliff. Anyone have any other tips from taking off from a cliff?
yes if you went up 10ft from your take off point and then flew out 600ft if the cliff was more than 400ft high then you would be in breach of the 400ft AGL rule,but if you flew out over a cliff that was only 200ft high then you would be able to go up to around 190 ft from your take off point and still be with in the rules, the RTH height is the height above the take off point so you set it so as not to hit any trees or buildings that might be in the verscinity, as you descend you will get a negative height reading in the app, and make sure that you have VLOS from the controller to the drone and be carefull near the edge
 
Thanks for the replies! Very helpful. I will have to test this functionality the next time. I lost the thing in the trees and knew I had to bring it back but then I was worried it wouldn't make the cliff so I took it WAY up to 400 feet above my original launch point and couldn't find it anywhere but I could faintly hear it. So I did RTH and it was right above me and landed perfectly.

Not sure how much I can fly off that cliff. Maintaining VLOS of with the drone that low is difficult. I don't have a strobe yet and the sun was very bright today. It was also impossible for me to see how low I could go because I couldn't walk out that far. Trees are pretty but a major issue around here.
 
Take off point on cliff... When I get out into the valley I hit 600 feet, I am technically illegal, right? Also, if I return from home, I have to set the return from home height high enough to crest that cliff. Anyone have any other tips from taking off from a cliff?
For grades and mountains you must remain within 400 feet of the cliff wall, mountainside, or grade that you are flying beside and be no more than 400 feet above TO point for cliffs or from the ground below on slopes.
 
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For grades and mountains you must remain within 400 feet of the cliff wall, mountainside, or grade that you are flying beside and be no more than 400 feet above TO point for cliffs or from the ground below on slopes.
Your post is extremely confusing to me in the way that it is worded.

For recreational pilots the only parameter to look at is vertical distance from the ground directly below you. That distance cannot be more than 400 feet.
 
If I take off from the top of a 1000 foot cliff and descend will I get a 400 foot warning at minus 400 feet? And If I land on the valley floor will the Mavic climb to home point and above?
Not having any 1000 foot cliffs handy hinders my research.
 
If I take off from the top of a 1000 foot cliff and descend will I get a 400 foot warning at minus 400 feet? And If I land on the valley floor will the Mavic climb to home point and above?
Not having any 1000 foot cliffs handy hinders my research.
no the 400 ft warning is from the take off point at the top the drone only knows its height from the home point you would have a problem to keep a connection from the controller and the drone at 1000ft down a cliff unless you were out over the edge on some sort of platform
 
Assuming you don't lose connection on valley floor 1000' down from cliff, when you land down below, assuming by land you power off the motors, when you take off from down there, your home/take off point will be at the bottom of the valley. That makes the cliff top 1000' up which is above default altitude limit.
 
Perhaps with the image attached, let's clarify the matter. I still don't know for sure. In the image you will see a kind of plane with a takeoff and different heights. In blue, it reports the height that the application marks, from when it takes off to where the drone is. As the height rises, it increases with respect to takeoff. But where the drone goes, there is a mountain, and from the ground of that mountain to the drone, then a few meters. All imaginary obviously.Legally, the height marked by the DJI GO 4, that is, from the tarmac to where it is located, 120 meters (at least in Spain).But and in these cases we went up with the mountain mavic up?
 

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Perhaps with the image attached, let's clarify the matter. I still don't know for sure. In the image you will see a kind of plane with a takeoff and different heights. In blue, it reports the height that the application marks, from when it takes off to where the drone is. As the height rises, it increases with respect to takeoff. But where the drone goes, there is a mountain, and from the ground of that mountain to the drone, then a few meters. All imaginary obviously.Legally, the height marked by the DJI GO 4, that is, from the tarmac to where it is located, 120 meters (at least in Spain).But and in these cases we went up with the mountain mavic up?
its really very simple you take off at the bottom of the mountain and you can go up to a geofenced maximum of 400ft from where you took off from then if you flew towards the mountain at the maximum height you would obviously get closer to the ground as it rises up the geofened max height ,of 400ft from where you took of from ,so at some point if the mountain was 600ft high then you would crash into the side of it, the only way to get to the top would be to land then restart the drone and take off and you could then go up another 400ft to get to the top,if you took off from a spot half way up at 300ft you could in theory fly to the top, and then fly to the bottom from the same spot and you would still be within the 400ft max ceiling
 
I don't know. Having just recently experienced a 50 second disconnect from my Mavic 2, popping the hood on the menus and changing things mid flight sounds a little too scary. Maybe later.

A line I read here had me thinking. It might be possible to fly to the top of a 1000 foot cliff by stair stepping up. Starting from the floor Zero.0 Homepoint. Then look for an out crop less than 400 feet above. Land there, I think Homepoint resets. Take off look for another higher rock and land on it, etc.. Then you're on top. That's the idea anyway.

Big fan of Home point. My Mavic 2 lost downlink with me. iPhone went black and the RC had no numbers. But the Mavic never lost GPS and came home on it's on. The movie shows it flying in the direction I set, then it stops, turns slightly, turn again slightly, then completes the turn points to home, goes to RTH height (set to 400 feet) . Just seconds before I heard it, the RC and then the phone came back to life. Let it land itself on the pad within a 1/2 inch of where took off. Like nothing at all happened.
 
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On a Mavic Air the AC elevation is all based on the elevation of the Home Point, you don't get any real time information regarding the altitude of the AC. If flying uphill you can go no higher than 400 feet above the take off point, not the ground beneath the craft. Regarding the holier than thou responses on maintaining a perfect 400' AGL, you will be automatically in violation and should immediately destroy your aircraft, remote controller and commit hari -kari as soon as you fly a contour at 400' any dip in the terrain makes you a criminal. The safest way is to fly no more than 2 feet AGL, 400 feet will no longer be an issue.:p
 
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On a Mavic Air the AC elevation is all based on the elevation of the Home Point, you don't get any real time information regarding the altitude of the AC. If flying uphill you can go no higher than 400 feet above the take off point, not the ground beneath the craft. Regarding the holier than thou responses on maintaining a perfect 400' AGL, you will be automatically in violation and should immediately destroy your aircraft, remote controller and commit hari -kari as soon as you fly a contour at 400' any dip in the terrain makes you a criminal. The safest way is to fly no more than 2 feet AGL, 400 feet will no longer be an issue.:p
you obviously got out of bed on the wrong side today there was no holier than thou comments in my responses , once you take off in mountainous terrain and fly out then the actual height shown on the app screen has no bearing on the actual AGL that the drone is at we all know that, if we have been flying for some time,and believe me where i fly a lot of in Wales it is nothing but mountainous terrain if you really want to try and be good and not fly to high,then i recommend an ordnance survey map which shows the relative elavation above sea level of different points so it is possible to know how high you are, relative to lower terrain from your take of point
 
you obviously got out of bed on the wrong side today there was no holier than thou comments in my responses , once you take off in mountainous terrain and fly out then the actual height shown on the app screen has no bearing on the actual AGL that the drone is at we all know that, if we have been flying for some time,and believe me where i fly a lot of in Wales it is nothing but mountainous terrain if you really want to try and be good and not fly to high,then i recommend an ordnance survey map which shows the relative elavation above sea level of different points so it is possible to know how high you are, relative to lower terrain from your take of point
I'm guessing mavic air head was poking fun at the posts
 
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