Slope Lift

[Rchawks]

Has anyone tried flying their Drones in Slope lift? Certainly a lot of people live in areas where they could take advantage of that.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

What is it ?
What DJI drone is it on ?
Or is it an app ?

I've never heard of it.

 

[FoxhallGH]

Has anyone tried flying their Drones in Slope lift? Certainly a lot of people live in areas where they could take advantage of that.

Do you mean slope-soaring in updrafts like gliders do??

 

[Rchawks]

Yes, I admit the question is odd. But, when a Drone is flying is it not floating on a pillow of air from the downburst from the props? I fully realize that except for the props there is no airfoil in play to create lift. With gliders they utilize the updraft created by the slopes without any props or motors. Simply air current. When someone is flying high in the air on a hot summer day and the Thermals are popping isn't that assisting the height on a drone as well (again pillow of air). Someone a while back asked the question if there was software that could be used to mimic the nature of a glider on a Drone. Man, that would be cool huh. Putting all this aside, wouldn't be interesting to see just how the flight would go just for the fun of it?

 

[Magilla Gorilla]

I think you would have to be in ATTI mode with no GPS positioning or altitude hold and the result would be a drone that has been blown away.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Ah.
Yes a drone would benefit from airflow / lift around a hillside, so too thermals.
I guess I’d avoid hills though as if you were making use of them, you would most likely be getting taken away from your position, and winds in such locations can be very swift and powerful.
Thermals would be different, but then descending and stability might be a problem there.
If you ever do this, ensure you’re recording video, and take note of just how much less motors might be working when getting assisted lift, and of course speed as it gets into hillside wind.
I think speed records could be broken before a drone was lost in such a scenario.

 

[Rchawks]

I was wondering about how much longer the flight could last under these conditions tool Maybe 31 mins, lol. As far as avoiding hills and lift I'm not so sure I agree. Doesn't sport mode allow stronger forward flight? I would think as long as you stay out ahead of the ridge and pushed forward (with lift you'd be going up} you could keep up on having it right there with you. As far as the powerful wind goes consider something like a mavic pro ect to do this kind of flying. Also extreme wind velocity is not needed in order to maintain lift. Slope lift can be utilized in as little as 10 mph depending on the slope and aircraft used.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Agreed an M1P or better would be best, maybe the Air could handle it, but no Minis, lol.
Yes, sports mode is best to battle wind.

I just think as you'd likely be flying with the wind away from your location, a situation most drone pilots try to avoid in normal flights, but also throw in unpredictable wind speed / gusts / tunnel effect etc, you have to be very sure of your flight, and be prepared to lose a drone.

As even with wind in normal terrain, the wind speed / direction on the ground can be vastly different even a couple of hundred metres up.
Hills and wind tunnelling / lift make a risk like this not easily calculated.

 

[Rchawks]

Thank you for your input. Seeing how I have a MM and no slopes without lots of trees I'll have to put that theory to rest (for now).

 

[FoxhallGH]

You may actually find that trying to slope-soar a Mavic will eat the battery faster? I consider slope-soaring as a flight model where you are doing figure-eights back and forth across a slope in wind blowing up-slope. If that's the case, the Mavic is always going to want to fight the wind from the side, and is going to be rolling into the wind to do it - which kind of negates the lift you'd gain from having the Mavic perpendicular to the wind like a parachute. It depends on how 'in-control' you want to be I guess ...

 

[Rchawks]

Well now that's an Angle I never considered, lol. Thanks. I did wonder how the self righting feature would play into that. With a plane or glider it banks with ailerons or rudder. Where the Drone wants to stay flat. That must be why Magilla Gorilla mentioned ATTI. Hummm.

 

[brettbrandon]

Well now that's an Angle I never considered, lol. Thanks. I did wonder how the self righting feature would play into that. With a plane or glider it banks with ailerons or rudder. Where the Drone wants to stay flat. That must be why Magilla Gorilla mentioned ATTI. Hummm.

ATTI mode still has self leveling. It just dosen't have gps so it will drift with the wind but stay level...