why 1400 ft max altitude?

[Meta4]

Why would you be maxing out at 1,600 ft? How is that determined?

He wouldn't be able to go any higher when he reached 1640 ft.

 

[Yaros]

Why would you be maxing out at 1,600 ft? How is that determined?

It is a limit set by DJI in firmware.
1640ft Above Takeoff Height.

 

[FLDave]

It is a limit set by DJI in firmware.
1640ft Above Takeoff Height.

All drones or specific models? Where an one find the details?

 

[BigAl07]

All drones or specific models? Where an one find the details?

DJI aircraft

 

[sar104]

All drones or specific models? Where an one find the details?

All DJI drones.

What do you mean by “find the details”? There are no other details. In the DJI GO 4 and Fly apps you can set maximum flight height - just like you can set maximum flight distance. The maximum allowed value is 500 m (or 1640 ft).

 

[FLDave]

All DJI drones.

What do you mean by “find the details”? There are no other details. In the DJI GO 4 and Fly apps you can set maximum flight height - just like you can set maximum flight distance. The maximum allowed value is 500 m (or 1640 ft).

It took a lot of questions but, in a roundabout way you provided the details: It's the max altitude in the Fly apps. That's all I wanted to know from my first post.

 

[Meta4]

It took a lot of questions but, in a roundabout way you provided the details: It's the max altitude in the Fly apps. That's all I wanted to know from my first post.

It's the max altitude that's baked into the drone's firmware.
The app just allows you to adjust it between 0-1640 ft.

 

[spamgnome]

Why would you be maxing out at 1,600 ft? How is that determined?

Reading the thread, above, that's DJI's somewhat arbitrary limit?

 

[Recoveryone]

§107 rules do not apply to Recreational pilots. Those flying under USC 44809 are allowed to fly up to but not exceed 400’ AGL.

@akdrone DJI drones have a hard ceiling of 500m (1640 feet) above the takeoff point built into the firmware (or software). This means if you are flying along a 1400’ mountain you will only be able to clear it by 280’ if you take off from the base of the mountain.

@akdrone do not let people confuse you with rules that §107 pilots have to follow make sure you follow the rules set forth in USC 44809 the exemption for recreational pilots.

Recreational pilots are not allow to fly above 400 period. That is why I posted the part 107 rules as he should know to fly above 400 you need to be part 107.

 

[HoozierDroneDaddy]

So that's 400' above ground level, including a hill or mountain, correct?

An obstacle in this situation would be man made construction (cell tower, water tower, building, etc.) correct? So if flying up the incline of a mountain, it would still be okay, since you're 400' from the 'ground' of the mountain incline?

I honestly don't know and am curious.

Thanks,
Rob

He needs to also keep in mind, the 400' above the height of the obstacle must also include he must be within 400' laterally from that obstacle.

 

[RH009]

It is a limit set by DJI in firmware.
1640ft Above Takeoff Height.

So, theoretically, you could update the RTH location halfway up the mountain and gain another 500 meters. I, for one, wouldn't do it, but it could be done in order to go further up the mountain, correct?

Rob

 

[Cymruflyer]

I think is closer to 16,000 ft the Max Limit that we have seen posted on the forum, ,
None the less DJI places restriction based on Air Space , and you may very well have a ceiling that DJI has desigated in your area. So DJI does play Nanny as my maxium Height i can push to 480 ft because of my air space.

Seeing that you are in the North Pole that does seem a little Restrictive but check your map and see what zone your flying in as DJI could be making the rules.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain and Snow

He's in Alaska, just the town is called north pole.

 

[Rich QR]

So, theoretically, you could update the RTH location halfway up the mountain and gain another 500 meters. I, for one, wouldn't do it, but it could be done in order to go further up the mountain, correct?

Rob

Not just update the RTH location, but in order to reset the takeoff altitude, you've got to actually land and take off again. Theoretically possible, but perhaps challenging to find a flat spot halfway up the mountain where you can land while maintaining VLOS. And it's not just the VLOS rule you need to worry about, there's the practical matter of maintaining a good enough radio signal to take off after landing. Otherwise you may need to hike halfway up the mountain to retrieve your drone.

I've landed on my own home's roof and took off again, just to see how the altitude resets. It works.

 

[Rich QR]

Consider, if it were based on VLOS, why would they then let you set "Max Distance" to No Limit?

Sometimes people fly from moving vehicles, such as boats. Being a long distance from your original launch point doesn't necessarily mean the drone is far from the current location of the controller. I suppose in theory you could make a similar argument about the altitude limit, as it's possible to drive up a mountain, but such a scenario doesn't seem likely in practice. Anyway, as others have said, this limit came purely from DJI, and they also allowed you to set "Max Distance" to no limit, so you'd have to ask them for the authoritative answer.

 

[Chaosrider]

It's my understanding that FAA allows my our drones to be 400AGL. If there is a hill ahead I can fly 400 above it legally. Why, then, if there is a 1400foot hill next to me, can't I fly above it? I can see my drone over 1500 ft away but if I recall from a flight some time ago in this exact situation, my drone will not get above something like 1400feet. I realize the drone does not know AGL from WTF but it seems odd for DJI to play nanny. Am I missing something?

I fly in a canyon, so I'm very familiar with exactly that issue!

When I fly to the other side of the canyon, I'm regularly at 1500 ft ATO (above take-off), but solidly under 400 ft AGL.

The actual hardware limit is 1643 ft. However, there's an additional user-configurable max height that you can set in the "Safety" settings. You can set it up to 1643 ft, or set it lower. The key thing to know is that it usually comes set to something well below 1643 ft. So if you want to fly over a ridge that's 1500 ft ATO, you need to make sure that the max height in the Safety settings is set to the max, 1643 ft, so that your Mini-2 can be all that it can be.

I think, but have not confirmed, that the reason DJI does this is that some governments (not an issue in the USA) will only approve drones for sale in their countries if they have a hardware limit of 1643 ft (500 m). They don't want it as a SW limit, or even a FW limit, because they assume, probably correctly, that some droner nerd would crack the code if it wasn't in the hardware.

I think the only way that an American drone company could ever hope to compete with DJI in the consumer space would be to produce drones without that and other nannyisms. The FAA has no such requirements, so if they were only for sale in the US, there would be no legal issues around that.

I haven't seen such a consumer drone. Perhaps, we could get the Feds to fund one. Maybe through DHS...

;-)

TCS

 

[Chaosrider]

yes....it's the "above the structure" part that is of interest. If the structure is 1380 feet I can't fly 300 feet over that. Is that just DJI making up it's own limitation for an unknown (to me) reason? 1600ft is still within VLOS for many people...just curious here.

A Mini-2 is easily visible at 1600 ft, if it has a flashy little Arc V butt!



TCS

 

[Zbip57]

Sometimes people fly from moving vehicles, such as boats. Being a long distance from your original launch point doesn't necessarily mean the drone is far from the current location of the controller.

There's a funny youtube video out there somewhere (can't find it again) of someone flying a Phantom from a Coast Guard icebreaker. The Phantom had been configured with a maximum range set to some finite distance. He didn't realize that's measured from the Home Position where the drone was launched, NOT from the current location of the controller.

So he, onboard the ship, is happily flying his drone around documenting the ice-breaking process when suddenly the drone comes to an abrupt stop and can follow the ship no further! The drone is stopped dead, while the ship chugs off into the distance. Eeek!

Lucky for him, the flight was officially being conducted on behalf of the Coast Guard so he manages to convince the Captain to turn the ship around. However, before all that can be accomplished, the battery runs out on the Phantom and it descends in auto-landing. Again lucky for him, it didn't descend to land in the open water channel, but by fluke it landed on the solid ice surface.

The GoPro camera hanging from the Phantom continued to record as the icebreaker ship eased ever closer, breaking a new channel through the ice as it got nearer. And just as the ice under the drone gave way, someone on the ship managed to grab the drone with a long boat hook right as it was sliding off the edge of the ice floe.

Wish I could find that video again. But I saved a couple of still images at the time.

 

[Chaosrider]

Where did you find the 1,600 ft limit? Is is part of the Fly app? Which drone?

In the Mini-2, the hardware limit is 1643 ft (500 m). In the Safety tab, there's also a user-configurable max altitude, which you can set to any value up to the 1643 ft HW max.

It's not advertised, but most Mini-2s ship with the Safety tab max altitude set well below the 1643 HW max, so you need to go in and bump that setting to the max, if you want to use the full 1643 ft.

So far the only DJI drones I've flown have been Mini-2s. I strongly suspect that all DJI drones have the same limit, since unlike 1643 ft, 500 m is a nice, round number.



TCS

 

[Zbip57]

Sometimes people fly from moving vehicles, such as boats. [...] they also allowed you to set "Max Distance" to no limit, [...]

Another thing to watch out for, even if the "Max Distance" is set to no limit, there still is an effective battery limit that is calculated based on how much battery is needed to return to the Home Point.

Flying from and following a moving car or boat, the drone suddenly decides it's time to turn around and head for Home!

Of course you can simply cancel RTH and land the drone manually. But in the panic of not understanding why the drone turned around and flew off all by itself, people sometimes don't react logically. There are plenty of Youtube examples of that too.

 

[Chaosrider]

The hardwired max altitude limit is 1640 ft and DJI have never explained how thay settled on that number.
You'd have to ask them.

1643 ft = 500 m.

I think, but have not confirmed, that some non-US governments require the 500 m limit be a hardware limit, to allow drones to be sold in their countries.

TCS