Strong Wind RTH

[13_Dragons]

I always try to fly into the wind on outward leg, That way I come back to home point with the wind. Add to that I keep a Close eye on Battery power left. I fly very Conservitive when it comes to my drones. The Only one with Care refresh is my Mini 2, the Two Air units do not have any kind of coverage, except for my own good judgement.

 

[Dale D]

I've said it before and I will keep saying it. If you fly in strong winds, you may lose your drone or damage it trying to return and land it…

When I suspect wind, I lift off and turn my drone directly North. Then I rise up to 50' and check the Atti Gauge and see if my drone I struggling to stay in place, then to 100' and then again check the Atti Gauge for hints of the drone having to heave over to stay in place or it looks like it is flying at full speed to stay in place. I keep going higher if it's safe and keep checking, it the drone is struggling; I'm not going to fly down wind to see if I have enough battery power to fly back when the headwind is near the max speed of the drone. And if the headwind is higher than your max speed, your drone will be flying backwards going full speed forward.

Besides using UAV Forecast, I also use Windy - Weather Forecast available in the App Store. Here is a screen shot I just took…

View attachment 155571

And here is the link to the App…

Windy.com - Weather Forecast - Apps on Google Play

Weather radar, satellite, wind, waves, ocean and hurricane forecasts.

play.google.com

Just looked at your map- I was the ophthalmologist at LAFB 1968-1970 and lived on Marcella Road in Hampton. We loved the Tidewater area.
Dale

 

[SkiProiii]

One excellent point in reading these posts is that in your flight planning you should always try to plan to fly into the wind, and if not possible, take time to evaluate the flight conditions carefully or you might not see Dronie again! Also best to know the drone characteristics well before pushing the limits.

Much like scuba diving, were you always dive ahead of the bow of the boat at anchor, into the current, with the theory that if you get tired or into trouble, the current will assist to get you back to the safety of the boat. If that current is too strong for you (the motor) to swim into, abort the dive and look for another location.

Lots of videos on YouTube of pilots getting the new DJI drones and flying out with the wind only to lose the drone with scenarios in this thread!

 

[Meta4]

If the winds are so strong that your drone will not perform a RTH, and you lose connectivity, then your drone will hover and do it's best to stay in position.

This is misleading.
Your drone won't give up and hover.
It would always attempt to come home in RTH.
Whether it gets home depends on how far it is from home, how strong the wind is, direction of the wind, remaining battery level etc.

 

[LoudThunder]

I was the ophthalmologist at LAFB 1968-1970 and lived on Marcella Road in Hampton.

Hi Dale, I remember you. We've spoken before when you wanted to sell a drone and I sent you a how-to with a copy of my Craigslist. Did you sell your drone; my teak yard furniture did not sell…

If I remember this too, you were lucky to be sent to Langley, you had orders to Vietnam, but were diverted here, but you had to cover Eustis and the Navy folks in Norfolk…

When we were stationed at Langley the second time in '85 to'87, we could have been neighbors (if you had still been here…), we lived on Westbrook Drive, one street south of Marcella.

If you remember the woods behind the Fire Station and Army National Guard station on Marcella, where there were trails, ponds, and several old family grave yards; well, that all gone now (the woods…), that has all been replaced by a Sentara Careplex Hospital.

As for the wind today, there is just enough breeze to keep it comfortable… Try Windy, it will give you more information about the weather than any mortal being should know. I wish the local weather personalities on TV used it, we might have more accurate weather predictions.

I also looked at your web site, Dale Davis Photography, if all those photos are yours, you wasted your time as an ophthalmologist, you should have been a photographer for national Geographic…

 

[LoudThunder]

This is misleading.
Your drone won't give up and hover.

I will not say you are wrong, but I disagree with your assessment that "it will not give up and hover."

When I performed this experiment, the drone was in a "high-speed hover" and it was not trying to return home, when I took control, and gave it full speed forward and I did scream at the wind, "**** the torpedoes, Full Speed Ahead…" the drone did fly forward, perhaps 7 to 10 MPH, so it is "give up the ghost" as far as returning to home…

When looking at UAV forecast, should I be concerned too much about wind gust speed?

I recently got a Mini 3 Pro and been using UAV forecast (app) to see when its a good time to fly and when its not I've noticed alot of times, the wind will be like 3-7 m/s but gusts will be 10-12 m/s Is that bad weather for flying or is it ok if gusts are higher speed since they're not usually...

mavicpilots.com

 

[Meta4]

I will not say you are wrong, but I disagree with your assessment that "it will not give up and hover."

When I performed this experiment, the drone was in a "high-speed hover" and it was not trying to return home, when I took control, and gave it full speed forward and I did scream at the wind, "**** the torpedoes, Full Speed Ahead…" the drone did fly forward, perhaps 7 to 10 MPH, so it is "give up the ghost" as far as returning to home…

High speed hover?
I think you've completely misinterpreted what actually happened in your "experiment".

From analysing the recorded data from hundreds of flight incidents, including many where the drone was blown away by strong winds, I can assure you that DJI drones in RTH against strong winds will never give up attempting to RTH.
If they are fighting a wind that is too strong, they might not get back, but they never give up an hover..

If you think you've seen a case where that happened, post the recorded data which shows it.

 

[LoudThunder]

If you think you've seen a case where that happened, post the recorded data which shows it.

I do not have that data any more as I've had to reload the Fly Apps that did not agree with my older Galaxy S2 Tablet. The reason I disagree is that the drone was just hovering and the and it was really straining, and it was in its "racing posture" (nose down, tail up…), but when I moved the stick to full speed forward, it flew forward. Like I said, it moved about 7 to 10 mph forward. I presume that if it was still in RTH mode, it would have made slow progress, not just maintain the status quo.

Any case, when I did this, I knew what to expect as it was all controlled as I kept it nearby but 20 yards away from the Home Position so RTH would work and I could have landed it at any time as I walked along with the drone so I was never more than 10-feet away. It might have blown over on landing, but it was over grass and the worst that could have happen would have been some prop damage. It landed safely and I post my results for all to see.

 

[Meta4]

I do not have that data any more as I've had to reload the Fly Apps that did not agree with my older Galaxy S2 Tablet. The reason I disagree is that the drone was just hovering and the and it was really straining, and it was in its "racing posture" (nose down, tail up…), but when I moved the stick to full speed forward, it flew forward. Like I said, it moved about 7 to 10 mph forward. I presume that if it was still in RTH mode, it would have made slow progress, not just maintain the status quo.

It's really hard to understand what you are trying to explain, but if you think your drone gave up RTH and was just trying to hold position, you are mistaken.

Once you initiate RTH, no matter how strong the wind is, the drone will continue in RTH, trying to make headway towards the home point, even if it is being blown backwards.
I've seen this many times in recorded flight data of blown-away drone incidents.

 

[LoudThunder]

if you think your drone gave up RTH and was just trying to hold position, you are mistaken.

OK, I'll accept your explanation as I cannot say definitively that I did not accidently cancel RTH. I'm not going to try to repeat the experiment and when the wind is strong, I do not fly. Thanks for taking the time to respond. As I said, I do a multi-stage "rocket" checking the ATTI for indications of strong winds aloft (above trees, hills, buildings, etc…) and if my drone is struggling, I do not fly.

 

[frcaloy]

Good advice above. I just want to point out that while I did experience high wind warnings when I had my Mini1, I’ve never seen one during the many flights of my Air2 and later, my Air2S. If a pilot is getting these warnings too often, he/she might want to reevaluate his risk assessment procedures. I’m just pointing this out for the benefit of new pilots and not the OP.

True. Whenever I fly in the hours between 19 am to 3 pm, I always experience gusty conditions and turbulence.

I flew at 1 pm at that time and conditions were gusty. Density altitude was probably high, didn't calculate. I have a hand held anemometer and it was 4 knots per hour ground level. I usually fly at around 530 am (sunrise) or 7 am but flew at that hour because it rained in the morning.

I flew at 300 feet agl, then 400 feet agl when the message of strong winds was issued.

There were tall buildings and towers in the area. Had to fly high.

Anyway, the warning came early in the flight and I had 70% battery. I went home immediately.

 

[Meta4]

I flew at 300 feet agl, then 400 feet agl when the message of strong winds was issued.

DJI's strong wind warning comes on when te drone detects a wind of 7 metres/sec (13 knots).
That's not a particularly strong wind and you see it regardless of the direction of the wind, relative to your homepoint.
It seems pretty silly getting the poorly worded warning that the drone won't be able to RTH when the (not very) strong wind is behind the drone and blowing it towards home as it was here:

 

[frcaloy]

Flew the Mini 2 a few minutes ago. Took off around 1715. Sunset is 1745. Just noticed that the ground speed of the Mini 2 halved when battery was at 30%.

Is this normal? I remember Yorkshire_pud saying that at low battery levels, the software starts limiting the power to the motor.

 

[Meta4]

Is this normal? I remember Yorkshire_pud saying that at low battery levels, the software starts limiting the power to the motor.

Was it due to a headwind perhaps?
The drone usually doesn't restrict speed until the battery is quite a bit lower than 30%.
If you post flight data, that may help find the explanation.

Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
That will give you a detailed report on the flight data.
Come back and post a link to the report it provides.

Or just post the .txt file.

 

[Chaosrider]

The wording DJI have there is misleading ... & it isn't quite like what you remembered either.

This is what's stated in the app ...
View attachment 155562

If you put in a "may be" between "Aircraft & unable" you get it correct.


If the headwind is faster than what your drone can achieve in the RTH mode it will be blown backwards while it continuously trying to make headway towards the HP, this will continue until the battery is depleted & the drone auto lands. Another scenario is that the headwind slows your drones ground speed down to the degree that the battery gets drained before reaching the HP & instead auto lands.

Tailwinds is normally no problem, your drone tries to keep it's max speed for the RTH mode through pitching up slightly to brake but it will reach HP without any drama.

That's completely consistent with my experience. I get the "strong wind" warning on my Mini-1 and Mini-SE all the time, and that's the message I get.

But I once had a low signal RTH directly after getting the high wind warning, and the little SE came home fine.

The only weird thing about it was that on the return home, it was flying into the wind, sideways, with the flight path 90º to the right of the direction that the nose was pointing...

 

[LoudThunder]

It seems pretty silly getting the poorly worded warning that the drone won't be able to RTH when the (not very) strong wind is behind the drone and blowing it towards home as it was here:

As a computer programmer, I would never write code to perform this function. It's a waste of processor power when you take all the dynamic variables that affect a traveling drone. Wind direction and speed is so variable, it changes with terrain and altitude. Since your premise is based on the pilot always return the drone to the original point of takeoff is not a viable solution.

Additionally, the wind is fickled beast… You take off from point "A" (light breeze at 2 knots from the North) and climb to 100', just over the tree line and the wind increases to a strong breeze at 6 knots and it's now from the West). You continue to climb and at 250' the wind is blowing at 10 knots, gusting to 17 knots and it's variable (direction chages…).

Trees, hills, valleys, buildings, towers, any structure (man-made or natural) will change the nature (direction and strength) of the wind.

Finally, in the photo you provide to support your point. I would ask you this. Let's assume that you are the pilot and also the captain of the boat. You launch your drone from the dock as you prepare to take your boat out so you can get some nice action shots from your drone. It's taken 20-minutes or so to get all those action shots. Your drone is running low on battery power, what are you going to do?

A. Fly your drone back to its original take off point (the dock)
because the winds are favorable?

B. Fly the drone over to your boat (the one in the photo)
against the wind and hope you have enough battery to reach your boat?

C. Anticipate your changing position as you move the boat around
and change the RTH position often during the flight as you keep moving
and hope the drone can find your last RTH position change?

D. Hover the drone as you race back to its position and try to land it in the boat?

So, as I've explained, you cannot trust the wind, it changes with altitude, with terrain (valleys, hills, mountains, etc…), and with every conceivable structure imaginable. Therefore, to include software in your drone to give the "false" impression that everything is going to be alright because at this moment, the wind is favorable could be very shortsighted.

 

[Meta4]

Your drone is running low on battery power, what are you going to do?

It's too late to think about what you are going to do when you find the battery is running low, there is a significant wind to deal with and you fly in an environment where mistakes mean lost drones.
You need to plan your flight
You need to know which way you are coming back and know how the wind will affect that.
You have to keep a comfortable safety margin and don't run the battery too low before thinking about getting back.

 

[frcaloy]

That's completely consistent with my experience. I get the "strong wind" warning on my Mini-1 and Mini-SE all the time, and that's the message I get.

But I once had a low signal RTH directly after getting the high wind warning, and the little SE came home fine.

The only weird thing about it was that on the return home, it was flying into the wind, sideways, with the flight path 90º to the right of the direction that the nose was pointing...

The wind was probably at 90 degrees relative to the direction of flight?

 

[frcaloy]

Can't find the flight record in my cellphone. Will try again.

 

[Meta4]

The only weird thing about it was that on the return home, it was flying into the wind, sideways, with the flight path 90º to the right of the direction that the nose was pointing...

That's rather unusual.
Do you have the flight data for that flight ?