Setting Max Altitude

[Kjac]

I have an M3 and will be flying in Class B airspace. I have authorization through LAANC to fly to 50' (15m). In the settings under Safety and Max Altitude, the lowest number I can set is 65' (20m), that's as low as the slider will go. Is there a way to lower this so I fly no higher than 50'?

 

[mavic3usa]

If it is anything like the FPV settings, that's all you get and as the PIC you'll just need to control your drone by yourself and make sure you don't exceed. Otherwise, chose a value that is less than the maximum allowed.

 

[GFields]

Greetings from Birmingham Alabama USA, welcome to the forum! We look forward to hearing from you!
You will just need to keep an eye on the height within the app.

 

[old man mavic]

welcome to the forum
i dont think @mavic3usa quite got what you were saying ,in his reply ,just keep a check on your height thats all you can do ,and remember the height shown on the screen display is only that above the take off or home point ,and that can vary, so stay just below the 50ft max to allow for this , but unless something goes badly wrong during the flight then you have done your best to comply with the authorisation

 

[mavic3usa]

welcome to the forum
i dont think @mavic3usa quite got what you were saying ,in his reply ,just keep a check on your height thats all you can do ,and remember the height shown on the screen display is only that above the take off or home point ,and that can vary, so stay just below the 50ft max to allow for this , but unless something goes badly wrong during the flight then you have done your best to comply with the authorisation

Oh I got it alright. It's a big complaint in the DJI PFV community that you cannot set the exact height by using a slider. They've been asking for it for years. Because there is no 400 feet in the list. Closest is 6xx. When you are flying FPV, it's easy to zoom right past the limits I guess.

 

[Kjac]

Appreciate the info. I was trying to use some of the QuickShots like Asteroid. I do promotional videos for client companies. It's become my signature sign-off shot because everyone loves it. I may have to go without this time. Thank you!

 

[Droning on and on...]

Opinion: Set it to 500m and forget about it. Learn to manage height continuously as part of your routine flying behavior. Do not rely on the height limit to keep you in compliance.

The reason is this: You may encounter a situation where you may need to exceed the authorized ceiling to avoid a collision with a manned aircraft. Or less critically, suddenly need to ascend to avoid crashing.

In the heat of the moment, you will not think about the max height setting. Instead you'll be in a panic trying to avoid the problem and not understanding why your aircraft is not responding to the left stick.

IMO the max height setting is among the stupidest "features" DJI put in the system. The max height should be fixed at 500m, unchangeable via setting. If you can't maintain a ceiling simply with flying skills you shouldn't be flying at all.

 

[mavic3usa]

Opinion: Set it to 500m and forget about it. Learn to manage height continuously as part of your routine flying behavior. Do not rely on the height limit to keep you in compliance.

The reason is this: You may encounter a situation where you may need to exceed the authorized ceiling to avoid a collision with a manned aircraft. Or less critically, suddenly need to ascend to avoid crashing.

In the heat of the moment, you will not think about the max height setting. Instead you'll be in a panic trying to avoid the problem and not understanding why your aircraft is not responding to the left stick.

IMO the max height setting is among the stupidest "features" DJI put in the system. The max height should be fixed at 500m, unchangeable via setting. If you can't maintain a ceiling simply with flying skills you shouldn't be flying at all.

Perhaps but as I mentioned with the FPV drone, it moves so quickly and it's sometime pretty difficult to keep it under the limit when you are freestyle flying in controlled airspace. I have been known to bounce off the 190 foot ceiling a time or two. I know when you change the max height, it will also pair down your rth height automatically so it's just one setting for me to worry about. But anyway, correct me if I am wrong about this, I dunno:

There are times when you see an airliner claim they just passed a drone at 1,200 feet while they were landing. I often think these drones are flyaway since no one has any reason to fly that high in controlled airspace. If you set the max height to 200 feet and you have a disconnect and a flyaway, will that rogue drone carry away (in the wind or whatever) possibly over 200 feet high? Is this max height programmed in the drone so even if there is a problem, at least your drone won't float away into the heavens and instead preferably land somewhere quickly? I'm thinking mostly mini drones.

Sure I think it's fine to set it and forget it if you're that kind of pilot but I think having an adjustable option is more flexible and might actually help some flyers. I'm not a letter of the law type of person so a few feet over doesn't bother me. But I know some people hate it when cruise control first came out and you set it at 55mph it may drift to 57 or 58 and people didn't like that.

 

[Kjac]

I did the shoot and stayed below the 50' by flying it myself, so it was basically a low-show. The lowest max altitude I could set on the M3 was 65' so that wasn't going to work. I couldn't use DJI Quickshots because they would take me too high, but flying manually I thought worked out well. If you interested or have any feedback, here's the Vimeo link to the final 2 minute video

Thanks to all for your input and suggestions!

 

[Droning on and on...]

@mavic3usa, you make good points. There's no "correct" answer to this, only opinion.

Mine is that it is critically important to safe flying to learn to effectively monitor and control altitude. This can't be fully realized if one depends on an automatic ceiling that comes into effect while flying. Having control over height, in my opinion, means you never find yourself anywhere near 400ft or 120m – depending on jurisdiction – unless you're deliberately that high for a reason (usually photos or videos.

As a fellow FPV pilot (homebuilt, iFlight A85 cinewhoop, DJI FPV, Avata), if you're accidentally finding yourself at the regulated ceiling, you need to put it away and put in more sim time. That's an opinion. Even 200ft is way up there in terms of how FPV is typically used. Save the soaring for the camera drones. FPV is for stuff like this:

 

[Ardenkablam]

Broke the max altitude.