Too overcautious about wind conditions?

[vindibona1]

We've all heard about fly-aways and other incidents because of ignoring conditions. I know how to do the math, but don't have much practical experience flying yet. I've been very conservative when it comes to wind conditions, perhaps overcautious, causing me not to fly on days when I might have. I live about 3 miles from Lake Michigan, which has a few good scenic opportunities.

I have a Mini and a M2 Pro, the latter of which I bought because I thought the wind gusts kept me out of the air too many days. But now with the M2, I feel like I may still be too overcautious of the conditions. I need some common sense imparted from you more experienced guys. It may be important to know that right now I don't fly very far, I think 3600 feet has been my distance threshhold and am not ready to test range. I guess I need a shot of encouragement and common sense to help me understand when it's safe to fly and when it become "iffy".
I'm attaching a screen shot of today's conditions.... Would you go flying today? Times to avoid, if any?

 

[Pushkur]

I bought a handy little wind meter,obviously different wind speeds the higher you go,but a useful guide.
I try to always make sure I have the wind behind me,when heading home.

 

[vindibona1]

Is getting my drone to return mostly the only thing I have to be concerned with? I would suspect that my M2, which can get up to 45mph in sport mode could handle most moderate wind conditions. Until I get more comfortable and confident I don't see myself sending it out much further than 3500 feet. More than 1000 feet, even if it is in LOS, I can no longer "see" it, though still in plain sight.

 

[dronerdave]

With my MP I feel the red zone is when steady winds reach 20MPH. Also depends on how gusty it is and I take precautions on days that might have wind shear. Terrain is another issue. At one spot I fly the winds reverse direction almost every day around the same time. Knowing how the predominate winds react from day to day or season to season helps in some situations. In higher winds I keep closer to home than normal and well withinVLOS.

 

[Kyle76]

I was pretty pleased to find that the Mini handles steady 15-mph winds pretty well. The MA2 can easily go to 20, probably higher, but I haven’t experienced it yet. I’d take the MA2 up in any of the conditions on your chart and at least test whether I get a warning.

 

[Meta4]

I'm attaching a screen shot of today's conditions.... Would you go flying today?

There's a lot more involved than a number in a windspeed forecast app.
It's only a forecast and there are lots of reasons that it might not acurately predict the actual wind where you want to fly, when you want to fly.
Also you have to consider how the wind is going to affect your flight, particularly the flight home.
Direction is as important as speed.
A 10 mph wind won't be much of a problem to fight against at short-medium distances, but could mean a lost drone at a greater distance.
A 20 mph wind will be a problem if you have to fight it to come home, but it's acceptable flying if you are flying upwind or only a short distance from home.

 

[TreeHugger]

We've all heard about fly-aways and other incidents because of ignoring conditions. I know how to do the math, but don't have much practical experience flying yet. I've been very conservative when it comes to wind conditions, perhaps overcautious, causing me not to fly on days when I might have. I live about 3 miles from Lake Michigan, which has a few good scenic opportunities.

I have a Mini and a M2 Pro, the latter of which I bought because I thought the wind gusts kept me out of the air too many days. But now with the M2, I feel like I may still be too overcautious of the conditions. I need some common sense imparted from you more experienced guys. It may be important to know that right now I don't fly very far, I think 3600 feet has been my distance threshhold and am not ready to test range. I guess I need a shot of encouragement and common sense to help me understand when it's safe to fly and when it become "iffy".
I'm attaching a screen shot of today's conditions.... Would you go flying today? Times to avoid, if any?

View attachment 112584

I have flown in as heavy a wind as possible. It's the wild side where I test things. Zoom / Pro have had no worries. Will post when I've met my match / with approximated conditions. Your graphs aren't showing prohibitive conditions IMHO.

 

[itsneedtokno]

I have flown in 30+ mph gusts, with no warnings.

20+ steady with the occasional warning.

I have flown in the rain, in 100% humidity and 100°F.

Your conditions are fine.

 

[vindibona1]

I guess I have to just stop being such a worried wuss. I'm not ready to send my quads out very far yet as my FPV skills need both honing and a confidence boost. So I suppose there is only one way to get there. Thanks guys.

 

[brett8883]

We've all heard about fly-aways and other incidents because of ignoring conditions. I know how to do the math, but don't have much practical experience flying yet. I've been very conservative when it comes to wind conditions, perhaps overcautious, causing me not to fly on days when I might have. I live about 3 miles from Lake Michigan, which has a few good scenic opportunities.

I have a Mini and a M2 Pro, the latter of which I bought because I thought the wind gusts kept me out of the air too many days. But now with the M2, I feel like I may still be too overcautious of the conditions. I need some common sense imparted from you more experienced guys. It may be important to know that right now I don't fly very far, I think 3600 feet has been my distance threshhold and am not ready to test range. I guess I need a shot of encouragement and common sense to help me understand when it's safe to fly and when it become "iffy".
I'm attaching a screen shot of today's conditions.... Would you go flying today? Times to avoid, if any?

View attachment 112584

I think to become a really great drone pilot you have to push the envelope, find the limit, and and not be afraid to crash. Crashing is part of the process and if you are afraid to crash you are gonna miss out on opportunities.


I crashed on the way home from taking this shot due to high wind. I knew I probably wasn’t gonna make it back when I went out and ultimately had to ditch into a bush. I had to walk through the snow to find it but I got the shot and the drone wasn’t damaged. It could have turned out differently but I took a chance and went for it and it one of my proudest most fulfilling moments

 

[NOLADG]

I also believe like brett8883 I have tested the boundaries of my Mavic Air 1 by flying in the outskirts of a tropical storm. Flying on the edge of Tropical Storm Cristobal UAV Forecast showed wind gust of 46 mph. I took my risks smartly by flying up wind with a large emergency landing area downwind that had "wind breakers" and watched the drone the entire flight. Mainly it was a straight up and down flight. Though I did reach close to 400 feet in altitude. It was truly amazing how well the Mavic Air handled.

 

[Deleted member 114292]

I think to become a really great drone pilot you have to push the envelope, find the limit, and and not be afraid to crash. Crashing is part of the process and if you are afraid to crash you are gonna miss out on opportunities.

View attachment 112634
I crashed on the way home from taking this shot due to high wind. I knew I probably wasn’t gonna make it back when I went out and ultimately had to ditch into a bush. I had to walk through the snow to find it but I got the shot and the drone wasn’t damaged. It could have turned out differently but I took a chance and went for it and it one of my proudest most fulfilling moments

Interesting. I did not know that crashing makes you a great drone pilot.
Guess I’ll just have to settle for less than great.

 

[Scottalmas]

Get the State Farm personal property insurance on it. It was super cheap, covers everything but commercial use and Interestingly, one premium payment covered my MM, MA, M2 Zoom and Anafi. All for the same price, not the premium amount for each drone. I know fly with much more confidence.

 

[JoelP]

I have a Mavic Air and routinely fly at 25mph which it handles just fine with that amount of wind, but will occasionally show a wind warning. The MA in Sport mode will do ~40 mph in still air. That said, I pay attention to flying out against the wind and to understanding the wind profile from UAV forecast. It’s one thing to have 25 mph at 400 ft and another to have that wind speed at the ground. If the wind is only strong at altitude and the terrain allows for you to drop to an elevation with less wind then it is far less risky. It only took one experience where I couldn’t fly home to educate me. Fortunately, I was able to retrieve my drone 1/4 mile away. This did force me to fly the battery to 0% and it never recovered, so my tuition for this education was $80.

 

[volition]

You have to go over the limits sometimes to know where they are. You can always do it smartly too.

Nothing like the feeling of pushing yourself and coming up trumps, or the redemption afterwards.

 

[brett8883]

Interesting. I did not know that crashing makes you a great drone pilot.
Guess I’ll just have to settle for less than great.

That’s not what I said and you know that. Don’t twist my words around.

 

[itsneedtokno]

Interesting. I did not know that crashing makes you a great drone pilot.
Guess I’ll just have to settle for less than great.

I mean, it's like driving...

You don't have to have perfect vision to drive, but you do have to pass the vision test. Some people wear glasses, some people don't.

You don't have to crash in order to be a great pilot, but some people do.



I was very lucky to make it back from this one. The outflow was pushing 40 mph at 150'... I have 90' tall pines around. That leaves not much room to drop under the headwind. Landed with 3%

 

[itsneedtokno]

Oh yeah, but I've crashed. Orbiting a boat.

Lost everything. Even the cached footage

 

[Dave Maine]

There is no reason to break limits to get good video or pictures. Far more important is understanding what makes good images or video. Think about image framing, light, proper exposure etc. Drones are no different than any other camera, and the same guidelines apply.

 

[old man mavic]

@vindibona1 your post is quite interesting ,in a way because all the answers that get given ,are really personal opinions that others have
how you fly your drone is really down to each individual pilot to do what they feel happy and confident with,
the drones we fly are for many quite a large financial investment ,and people's circumstances will vary on what that investment means in terms of loss
every time your take to the air, you do so having weighed up the pros and cons of the flight,the risks involved and the chances of a successful outcome
thats all anyone can do ,mitigate risk as much as possible ,but no matter how much you do that ,you have to be prepared for the unexpected happening
and deal with it to the best of your ability ,and that ability comes with practice and airtime ,and learning your crafts capabilities
the real trick here is not to become complacent and think that it will never happen to me ,because thats when it will