Strong wind warning: how far is it from crashing?
- Thread starter lomposlapos
- Start date
Can't be done. Heed the warnings. Anything else is at your own risk!
Hand catching in extremely gusty conditions is much more difficult.
Slow and steady, with lots of clearance all around, in case you need to ditch land instead!
A strong wind won't crash your drone.
Worst case, if the wind is faster than the drone can fly, is that the drone is blown away and you can't make headway against it.
The Strong WInd Warning shows when the drone measures the wind speed at >7 metres/sec = 15.6 mph
Consider teh direction of the wind and how that affects your possible flight, particularly how it might affect your return flight.
You don't want to find the drone a long way from home and have to battle against a strong headwind for the return flight.
It it's really strong (20 or 30 km/hr isn't really strong) having shelter to land behind might be helpful.
Last edited:
Yes, I've been using cars, big rocks or just hovering above hand until the windgust calms momentarily.
Sir Maxwell Greene
Well-Known Member
Yaros
Well-Known Member
I heard in some articles that the maximum wind you should fly in is 2/3 of the maximum drone speed in Sport Mode.
However, DJI drones can fly in much stronger winds than that, especially with new or modded batteries. Older batteries tend to have voltage sags, and the drone has to limit the power to avoid an auto landing or a crash.
I remember that a year ago I flew my Air 2 in 80 km/h gusts, and it was holding fine, the batteries were new, yes, I had strong wind warning and the gimbal wasn't very stable, although the drone was holding up surprisingly well. The Mavic 3 would probably be able to fly in even stronger gusts of wind, but a week ago I went to fly, and the wind was about 50 km/h, I thought it will be no problem, as before I used to fly in much stronger winds, but I was wrong. As soon as I took off the drone started drifting towards and into the sea, even in sport mode full stick wouldn't return it, the battery is old and has 200+ charge cycles now, which caused high resistance and voltage sag, the drone limited the power and thus was flying away, in a minute or so, the battery warmed up, and luckily had the power to fly against that wind in Sport mode and going down at the same time.
So yes, it really depends on the state of your battery, but unless the battery is bad or old, a strong wind warning wouldn't really be close to a crash. Although it might have trouble returning to home automatically if you lose signal as it can only do RTH in Normal mode which limits the speed.
Also, you have to be very careful to return with plenty of battery left as when it reaches a certain percentage (about 8%) it limits significantly the speed to about half of Normal Mode speed, so if you previously couldn't fly in Normal mode against that wind, if it reaches that limit and the drone limits the power, it might fly away.
Of course, it also depends on the model of DJI drone you're flying.
I think that the Strong wind warning is triggered when the motors are working at some high percentage of load during a long enough period of time, but I'm not sure. Because sometimes I get a strong wind warning without the wind actually being strong (even according to the attitude indicator when hovering).
However, DJI drones can fly in much stronger winds than that, especially with new or modded batteries. Older batteries tend to have voltage sags, and the drone has to limit the power to avoid an auto landing or a crash.
I remember that a year ago I flew my Air 2 in 80 km/h gusts, and it was holding fine, the batteries were new, yes, I had strong wind warning and the gimbal wasn't very stable, although the drone was holding up surprisingly well. The Mavic 3 would probably be able to fly in even stronger gusts of wind, but a week ago I went to fly, and the wind was about 50 km/h, I thought it will be no problem, as before I used to fly in much stronger winds, but I was wrong. As soon as I took off the drone started drifting towards and into the sea, even in sport mode full stick wouldn't return it, the battery is old and has 200+ charge cycles now, which caused high resistance and voltage sag, the drone limited the power and thus was flying away, in a minute or so, the battery warmed up, and luckily had the power to fly against that wind in Sport mode and going down at the same time.
So yes, it really depends on the state of your battery, but unless the battery is bad or old, a strong wind warning wouldn't really be close to a crash. Although it might have trouble returning to home automatically if you lose signal as it can only do RTH in Normal mode which limits the speed.
Also, you have to be very careful to return with plenty of battery left as when it reaches a certain percentage (about 8%) it limits significantly the speed to about half of Normal Mode speed, so if you previously couldn't fly in Normal mode against that wind, if it reaches that limit and the drone limits the power, it might fly away.
Of course, it also depends on the model of DJI drone you're flying.
I think that the Strong wind warning is triggered when the motors are working at some high percentage of load during a long enough period of time, but I'm not sure. Because sometimes I get a strong wind warning without the wind actually being strong (even according to the attitude indicator when hovering).
bmwbob
Well-Known Member
Attempting to fly in gusty winds has negative consequences. What’s the purpose of attempting to do so?
Chrislaf
Well-Known Member
Yesterday I went out to fly my Mavic 3 and my Mini 3 Pro to take pictures and panos of a stream that emptied into a frozen lake. Before I went out, I knew there was going to be gusty wind conditions but thought I'd see what it was like out there anyway. My launch spot was an open area out on the ice a 100m or so away from people and the parking lot. Usually it is windy out there but at that time the wind was ok. I flew my Mavic 3 first and it was obviously windier aloft but nothing the M3 couldn't handle.
I then flew my M3P but by this time the wind gusts had picked up and I got a wind warning and one saying that the AC could not return to home automatically and to lower my altitude. I was within VLOS and was not worried as I could see the drone and was flying at just over 20m. I had wanted to fly out farther to the stream area but with the M3P it would have been at the edge of my VLOS so I decided not to chance it as I didn't want to get into a situation where if I had a disconnect and lost my video feed or RTH initiated and the drone rose to my RTH height of 35M then I would have had a situation where I could have lost my M3P.
When I brought the drone back in, I did hand land but I turned my back to the wind to kind of shelter the drone and waited until the strong gusts died down before initiating the landing. When checking AirData the Max Gust Speed for that flight was 43.2km/h.
This past summer I was in Newfoundland and really wanted to fly my Mavic 3 over a scenic cliff area but there was a strong gusty wind. I ultimately decided not to fly and did not have an opportunity to go back to that spot due to rainy weather for the rest of the trip, but at least I still have my drone.
Chris
I then flew my M3P but by this time the wind gusts had picked up and I got a wind warning and one saying that the AC could not return to home automatically and to lower my altitude. I was within VLOS and was not worried as I could see the drone and was flying at just over 20m. I had wanted to fly out farther to the stream area but with the M3P it would have been at the edge of my VLOS so I decided not to chance it as I didn't want to get into a situation where if I had a disconnect and lost my video feed or RTH initiated and the drone rose to my RTH height of 35M then I would have had a situation where I could have lost my M3P.
When I brought the drone back in, I did hand land but I turned my back to the wind to kind of shelter the drone and waited until the strong gusts died down before initiating the landing. When checking AirData the Max Gust Speed for that flight was 43.2km/h.
This past summer I was in Newfoundland and really wanted to fly my Mavic 3 over a scenic cliff area but there was a strong gusty wind. I ultimately decided not to fly and did not have an opportunity to go back to that spot due to rainy weather for the rest of the trip, but at least I still have my drone.
Chris
I tried flying in the Columbia River Gorge last week with what turned out be more wind than I am willing to fly in. A local weather underground reporting station a couple of miles away showed 25-30mph wind gusts although in the Gorge wind speed can be highly localized and variable. I did get warnings that the wind was too high for the gimbal to properly stabilize and RTH was not possible but the given was that I was going to go straight up high enough to get a view over the trees (turned out to be 65') grab my desired photos (a vertical pano of a waterfall) and land. I could hear the drone motors going nuts trying to keep the drone in place and it was still wandering around a bit. When I tried landing I had to adjust the descent almost continuously to keep the drone on target and it was getting blown sideways even at 5' off the ground.
I see no basis for trying to fly in those conditions again. I did get some nice shots but the stress of potentially losing my drone isn't worth a repeat performance.
I see no basis for trying to fly in those conditions again. I did get some nice shots but the stress of potentially losing my drone isn't worth a repeat performance.
You can't rely on a single number wind speed for fly/no fly decisions.
You also have to consider distance and direction.
You could safely fly in fairly strong winds if you were not intending on moving far from the launch point, but lose your drone in winds only half that strong if you went too far downwind.
If that was the case, the drone was not having to deal with 80 km/hr winds.
The Air 2 has a max speed in Sport Mode of 68 km/h.
It could not hold position or make headway against a wind of 80 km/h.
Yaros
Well-Known Member
Yaros
Well-Known Member
Absolutely.
But I'm just stating what I heard from others and on the internet.
Yes, wind direction is very important when flying in wind, as you can fly with the wind much further than against the wind.
Actually, with a simple google search I found this:
Whoever said that doesn't know very much about flying in strong winds.
The wind speed is only a small part of what you need to think about before flying in strong winds.
Every AIRCRAFT has LIMITATIONS, if you fly Over Limit or Under Limit the responsibilities goes to pilot....!!!! Sorry for my English....
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