Out of signal range waypoint missions
- Thread starter shb
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Well, I'm still working on my out of signal range missions. Of course I start each mission fairly high, to avoid hitting anything. Then after watching the video, I adjust the waypoints, to get closer to the ground. But this is a very tedious process, because there is no way to accurately estimate how high you are over an object, by watching the video. I'm wondering if anyone knows any tricks, to get a better estimate of your height above objects, strictly by watching the video, so I can use fewer iterations to get my mission perfected. Thanks.
Here's an example of one of my out of signal range waypoint missions. I screwed up the music, and played the same song twice, oh well.
It's an old thread and I just stumbled on to it because I was having a waypoint issue... but anyway, only because I didn't see anyone actually say it...
In the US, which you're not (I get it), what you're doing is against the FAA rules. First rule is basically: unmanned flight yields to manned flight. Period. Doesn't matter if the airplane is breaking the rules or not or whatever. Just because a plane or helicopter shouldn't be so low (which there are plenty of valid reasons they can be), if they're hanging out at 50ft, you need to yield to them. That necessitates you be in VLOS and in immediate control of your drone.
That's why everyone's reacting so harshly. I'm sure you get it. So enough of that from me.
I watched your video. I'm honestly amazed and doubtful that's a waypoint mission. You're flying so close to trees, bridges, power lines, etc, I don't see how a waypoint mission can be reproduced with such fidelity that it's successful three times a day, over and over. If that's truly waypoint, you're frankly pretty lucky. Wind or any of a handful of natural occurrences could cause that mission to fail.
On the other hand, if you hand flew that whole thing, that's some pretty impressive range for such a low altitude mission. There were pauses and adjustments I saw periodically that suggest to me that it was hand flown. Maybe you just did a crap-ton of waypoints. Regardless, your local laws and regs aside, that whole thing seems pretty reckless to me to fly waypoint. Were it hand flown, less so, but still not safe in my book. The only safety in this, if it were hand flown, is that you're always going forward and can avoid what you see in front of you. Basically, the same mentality as someone speeding on the freeway on a motorcycle. Keep the only danger in front of you. Fortunately, motor cycle riders never die, so it's all working out pretty good all around.
Anyway, have fun. Be safe. Definitely don't fly like that if you come to the US.
Love Vehicle. Ides of March doesn't get the air time it should these day.
I see those, and wonder about them myself. They sure look like obstacle avoidance adjustments, even though DJI claims they're aren't any. Go figure. It's not as risky as it looks. Two things I worry about, are electrical wires, and these little kids flying homemade kites, which would definitely be the end of my drone, if it got caught on a string. The kids have also thrown stones at me several times. I want to fly as low as possible because it looks better. I like coming as close as I can to obstacles. It took me 45 iterations to get it where it is now. I've probably had at least 10 RTH's do to obstacle avoidance. I'm toying with the idea of trying to go under that bridge. Glad you like Vehicle. I think that's the only great song Ides of March had.
As a 25 year commercially rated helicopter pilot, I can say unequivocally that you haven't a clue as to how manned aircraft operations are conducted and have no business making such statements. Those H-60 helos were operating in a TFR at appropriate altitudes and probably the only reason they even saw and tried to avoid that Phantom drone was because the pilot saw the anti collision strobes in the reduced lightning conditions. I can assure you that even birds are very difficult to identify and avoid, but their wings flapping lend motion to the equation, something a drone in a constant attitude does not, unless encountered as near right angles. The speed of the H-60 was irrelevant, they can operate from a hover to Vne, so your inference that the helo pilots may somehow share any responsibility for this collision is preposterous! Your assertion of
is ridiculous! Would you feel the same if you were the pilot that took a 3 lb drone through the windscreen in the face or suffered a control surface failure because of a drone impact?
You really need to, as suggested recently in another thread, sell your drone or better yet, educate yourself and get a copy of the FAR/AIM and figure out what manned aircraft are allowed to do and figure out a way to stay out of their way, now, not after you have an incident. Judging by your cavalier attitude toward drone regulations, that isn't too far off in your future. If you truly enjoy flying drones, then follow my advice, quit posting about your illegal flights, learn and follow the regs so as not to bring down even more regulations upon all of us.
Your effort to reply and respond to that person is commendable but to be perfectly honest I reckon that you and everyone else, myself including is wasting time on someone who is clearly an ignorant and incapable of listening let alone taking in any rational advice. We can only hope that relevant authorities in his country will deal with him before he causes a serious accident with his drone and his reckless flying
A responsible pilot will check before flying.
A responsible pilot will check before flying.
Here's the FAA's real time database of TFR's.
Unfortunately, not much good in the Philippines or in Thailand, where he flies his Waypoint missions.
Yes, I understand. I added the FAA link for the benefit of folks in the US who read the thread.
The OP doesn't seem to have read the Mavic 3 Pro manual, so I wouldn't expect him to check for TFRs anyway
Conservative Nihilist
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Because of the Mavic 3's 35-minute flight duration with a stock battery, its ability to cruise faster than the M2P, the 5.4K video resolution, and excellent nighttime performance among other upgrades the Mavic 3 sports in comparison to the Mavic 2 Pro, I am seriously thinking about auctioning off my mother-in-law to finance the purchase of a Mavic 3 Classic or Mavic 3 Standard.
Since I reside in a remote rural area of the Third World where drone legislation is still but a twinkle in the eyes of politicians, I intend to fly any Mavic 3 I acquire on Litchi waypoint missions of ridiculously long duration and distance. I would be grateful if you could be so kind as to reel off a few statistics about your long-range waypoint flights with the Mavic 3.
What is the longest flight time you have squeezed out of a Mavic 3 running on the stock battery? What is the mission cruise speed that you assign when planning your waypoint flight plans? How many miles round trip does your Mavic 3 cover on your longest-ever waypoint mission? What was the battery percentage remaining at the point of landing when your Mavic 3 returned from the longest waypoint missions that you flew? Thanks in advance for any data that you can share with this soon-to-be Mavic 3 owner.
Conservative Nihilist
Well-Known Member
Here's what DB was able to accomplish with the Mini 4 Pro Waypoints!
Specs and parameters and Pro Tips in the Description.
Conservative Nihilist
Well-Known Member
I've been following the work of Dirty Bird since way back when he sent up tight formations of Phantom 3 Standard quadcopters to surf the city skyline by day and by night. The man is a seasoned master of waypoint flight planning for drones, and the extremely tight spatial tolerances of his drones' sinuous trajectories in each video clip hint at the meticulous planning that goes into every flight path he conjures up.
It is only a matter of time before Hollywood consults Dirty Bird in search of insights to help them replicate this precise and exacting visual art form.
It is only a matter of time before Hollywood consults Dirty Bird in search of insights to help them replicate this precise and exacting visual art form.
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There is no doubt that this was Inspiring and yet terrifying at the same time. None the less , this may be the year to see how far the DJI wayponts can be pushed with the Mavic 3 / Air 3 . I think the part where he choose to fly between the buildings was the most jarring for me and yet executed nicely.
Time to Revisit Waypoints for a nice change of pace this year minus the Terrifying .
Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water and Way Point thu 2024
What is most impressive to me, aside from his cinematic creativity and perfected missions, was that he stated he was able to maintain 100% signal strength throughout the entire mission featured above using OS4 on the Mini 4 Pro with the RC2! He created all the waypoints by flying the mission under full control from a single elevated location! So, this could also be flown live, without needing the Lost Signal Mission Continues of a mission taking place beyond signal range, like all his earlier missions!
Is OS4 really able to maintain signal behind buildings and fly in between building corridors without any signal loss? If so, I may need to pick up a Mini 4 Pro and and RC2!
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