Question about; above ground height.

[Beet]

Hello Everyone, I picked up a mavic mini flymore pack on the 3rd of march, never flown a drone before, am very impressed with the mini.
my home is on top of a hill at 780 meters, if I launch and go up to 40 meters and then out to 1000 meters, the ground level will have dropped to 625 meters but the app screen still records the drone at 40 meters high, does that break their rules??

 

[bigswifty]

Im my jurisdiction (Australia), yes. I doubt anywhere else would be any different, but I'll wait to hear from others on that.

 

[msinger]

my home is on top of a hill at 780 meters, if I launch and go up to 40 meters and then out to 1000 meters, the ground level will have dropped to 625 meters but the app screen still records the drone at 40 meters high, does that break their rules?

Yes, that would probably be breaking two rules. The drone would be over 400 feet above ground level (the distance between the bottom of the drone and the ground) and you'd be flying BVLOS (beyond what your eyes can see).

You can find a list of AU drones rules here.

 

[Beet]

Im my jurisdiction (Australia), yes. I doubt anywhere else would be any different, but I'll wait to hear from others on that.

Ok, thanks.

 

[Beet]

Yes, that would probably be breaking two rules. The drone would be over 400 feet above ground level (the distance between the bottom of the drone and the ground) and you'd be flying BVLOS (beyond what your eyes can see).

You can find a list of AU drones rules here.

Ok thanks, so how do I know when the drone is above 120 meters when the screen says it's still at 40 meters?

 

[msinger]

how do I know when the drone is above 120 meters when the screen says it's still at 40 meters?

You won't know for sure since the drone does not display that information. Flying within VLOS might keep you safe though. You can check out the elevation differences in Google Maps to figure out about how far you can fly out before your drone will be too high.

 

[Beet]

You won't know for sure since the drone does not display that information. Flying within VLOS might keep you safe though. You can check out the elevation differences in Google Maps to figure out about how far you can fly out before your drone will be too high.

Ok, thanks again, where I am flying was mostly all burned out over summer and the background is dark, it makes it better for keeping it in sight.

 

[old man mavic]

Hello Everyone, I picked up a mavic mini flymore pack on the 3rd of march, never flown a drone before, am very impressed with the mini.
my home is on top of a hill at 780 meters, if I launch and go up to 40 meters and then out to 1000 meters, the ground level will have dropped to 625 meters but the app screen still records the drone at 40 meters high, does that break their rules??

the height limit is 120m AGL where the drone is, i fly a lot in hilly and mountainous terrain, and the trick is to descend as you go out from the home point as you descend you will see a negative height reading it works in reverse when your home point is in the valley, you go up and and follow the land contour and you will eventually, if the hill is high enough reach the 120m height GEOfence although the drone might only be 10m above the ground,the drone does not have an altimeter so it does not know how high it is from the ground except at the home point,
when it is below a certain height it relies on the downwards sensors to give it position relative to the ground ,above a certain height it relies on a barometer to give it the ability to hold its altitude

 

[bumper]

Not trying to preach, I fly power planes, a self-launch glider, and drones. There's good reason for the 400' rule for drones, as manned aircraft, in the USA, are restricted from flying closer than 500 feet from people or structures in most instances. This gives a 100' buffer to help avoid collisions, Drones can be near impossible to see and avoid when doing typical speeds or 60 to 200 mph or so (speed is limited to 250 knots or 288 mph below 10,000 feet).

 

[old man mavic]

just because there is a hard ceiling of 400ft, does not mean that no other aircraft will ever be in that particular airspace
there are many instances when the military, SAR, crop dusting aircraft and sometimes the police will be in that airspace for a variety of reasons
we are not the sole owners of that airspace it is just a designated height limit to help provide separation between UAS and manned aircraft
because of this,UAS has to fly VLOS so that if the 400ft airspace is required for manned aircraft then we need the ability to be able to take measures to get the hell out of the way
if you cant see your drone then you have no way of knowing if it is in the flightpath of another aircraft,the view you have from the camera is extremely limited to avoid a collision with a manned aircraft ,

 

[Mossiback]

Ok thanks, so how do I know when the drone is above 120 meters when the screen says it's still at 40 meters?

Experience. To add a safety cushion, fly up to around 110 meters and look down to see how large known objects like cars and houses or even trees look. Then try to maintain that size appearance or larger while flying.