Question regarding negative heights...

[acurth]

Hello everyone, sorry if this is a basic question, but I prefer to ask here and avoid an unexpected behavior.

I walked up a mountain, and launched my Mavic from the top of a cliff. Based on the reading, the height was measured in meters starting from that point, so as long as I went up from there, the reading was positive - all fine. What I didn't want to try without fully knowing what to expect is how will the Mavic behave if I go below what was set as 0m (clearly I didn't want it to think it was ok to land, right in the middle of nothing / AKA further away in the cliff).

In summary, my question is: is it ok to fly below the 0m reading from the starting point?

 

[stratos]

well as you said, the height is calculated relatively from where you take off. If you go lower that point it will count as minus height. That is not an issue, as remember that you still have all the downward sensors to measure your clearance to the ground.

Have flown a couple of times with negative altitude and even trigger RTH to test. There are no issues, the craft climbs to the programmed height with respect of the takeoff location.
So no issues there, and you can even land in lower altitude terrain.

 

[msinger]

His it ok to fly below the 0m reading from the starting point?

Yes. The altitude will be negative in DJI GO when you do that. When RTH is initiated, the Mavic will climb to 0 feet and then to your RTH altitude before returning home.

 

[cheekymonkeyman]

I had similar when using waypoints to film a lighthouse 400ft below the cliffs I was on... it worked ok bar the repeated height warnings provided I started the first waypoint on top of the cliff then descended for the rest... just be sure to clear the cliff and any other obstacles before hitting 'apply'!

 

[acurth]

All, Thanks so much for your feedback. I'll be able to try this out soon.

 

[MrMavic]

Sometimes it's easier to see it in a drawing. Also, if you climb higher (positive Alt) than your take off point, the Mavic will go home at that altitude and descend once it reaches the home point co-ordinates.

 

[mlutti]

so will the mavic initiate landing by accident automatically if in negative altitude?

 

[ac0j]

no

 

[acurth]

so will the mavic initiate landing by accident automatically if in negative altitude?

Hi @mlutti I was able to confirm that it will not initiate landing if in negative altitude. It just shows a negative value for the height where it is flying.