Why the Pro behaves so differently in strong winds from the Air

[Ian in London]

I saw your video a while back, since you observed that, why dont you make another video experimenting with the Mavic pro and the sensors being off in higher wind to educate us on if this is actually true?

I plan to, but I'm away this week and these videos take half a day to shoot and over half a day to edit

 

[Cut.Aussie]

I don't usually fly in Sports Mode and had often noticed the Pro to be struggling or even drifting in moderate wind, requiring me to flip it into Sports to regain its speed or direction.
So the other day I did a test. And sure enough in a strong head wind, keeping it in standard mode, it ground to a near halt and was then being blown sideways.
When I flicked it into Sports Mode, it flew absolutely fine. Wind was no issue.

This came about as I was doing a comparison video between the Air and the Pro, so I was confused when the Air managed to fly straight and fast in high wind despite not being in Sports Mode.

From some of the comments of that video, it seems the Pro would be fine in standard mode if I turned off Obstacle Avoidance.
I noticed the AIR often brings up a warning notice that 'Attitude is too large - Rear obstacle avoidance sensors turned off' when flying fast in strong winds.

So is it literally a case that the AIR auto-disables the OA system to let it fly at a steeper pitch to overcome strong winds, whilst the PRO just sits there and struggles until you manually disable the OA or flip into Sports Mode?

This seems bad. Some people do not fly in Sports Mode; knowing it disables the sensors and increases the speed is enough to keep some cautious people away from it. And if you've never enabled Intelligent Flight Modes, then Sports Mode isn't even available in your moment of need without diving into the app settings.

I just wonder if others had noticed this, and why the Pro isn't updated to handle high winds the same way as the Air?

Cheers
Ian

The Air does not disable the forward or rearward sensors, they simple don’t point in the right direction if the attitude is too steep a angle speeds.

 

[Ian in London]

The Air does not disable the forward or rearward sensors, they simple don’t point in the right direction if the attitude is too steep a angle speeds.

Hi Aussie;
Where do you get that information from? The warning message states '... is not functioning', but the whole discussion on this thread is how disabling the sensors enables faster flight. I get that there is unlikely to be a technical reason to actually disable the sensors, so it would be good to know whether the message means "... is not functioning because of the pitch". or ".. is not functioning becuase they've been switchwed off as they're ineffective at this pitch" Doesn't make much difference either way; the AIR moves much faster than the PRO when the OA is left on, not in Sports Mode.
Ian

 

[Ron_Dog]

I fly my MP in P mode in high wind all the time! If the wind is really strong I sometimes switch the sensors off, giving it more speed! If it really turns into a hurricane, it get's put into "Sport Mode" to get back home!

 

[Lake_Flyer]

First. try to avoid risk where possible. If not try to mitigate/minimise it. Not the other way round.

Totally agree with you,

Don't fly away from the sun (dawn/dusk) cos it could mess with OA on RTH

however facing the sun while flying is not a good idea and is one of the risks you would also need to mitigate. Better to switch off OA with any low sun. Don't get blinded by the sun while having to bring it in manually (in case RTH doesn't work or it switches to Atti, or you took off from a tight spot), I use RTH only for emergencies BTW, but that's just me it seems.

I made that mistake only once (5 years ago), and actually had to rely on RTH because there was no way I would have been able to see my Phantom1 against the low morning sun even with shades on. Couldn't see the screen anymore, my eyes started to really hurt and tears ran over my cheeks. Having the drone autoland back on the balcony where it took off, was hazardous but I had no choice. Took minutes for my vision to return after landing.

Ideally I always keep the sun in my back and if possible the wind in my face (not always possible).

 

[dirktwa]

One of my main gripes with the Mavic Pro is how poor it is in windy conditions unless it's in Sport mode. I've often had to flip it into Sport mode to get it back to me. Without doing that I would have lost it to a fairly moderate wind.

A big concern of mine is that in RTH mode it doesn't ever switch to Sport mode. So if you lose signal in windy conditions and it attempts a RTH, and cant' make it through the wind, it'll never make it back to you. It's not intelligent enough to realise it needs to switch into Sport mode to fight the wind.

This wouldn't be a big concern if it wasn't for how poor the Mavic Pro handles with wind in normal mode.

I'm glad to hear the Air is better in this respect, but at the very minimum I'd like to see an option on the Mavic Pro to be able to enable RTH in Sport mode.

By the way Ian I subscribe to your Youtube videos and really enjoy them. Keep them coming.

Logic should be RTH in sports mode IF wind is too strong to fly home without sports mode AND altitude is higher than x, where x should possibly be a setting.

 

[wee dode]

I don't usually fly in Sports Mode and had often noticed the Pro to be struggling or even drifting in moderate wind, requiring me to flip it into Sports to regain its speed or direction.
So the other day I did a test. And sure enough in a strong head wind, keeping it in standard mode, it ground to a near halt and was then being blown sideways.
When I flicked it into Sports Mode, it flew absolutely fine. Wind was no issue.

This came about as I was doing a comparison video between the Air and the Pro, so I was confused when the Air managed to fly straight and fast in high wind despite not being in Sports Mode.

From some of the comments of that video, it seems the Pro would be fine in standard mode if I turned off Obstacle Avoidance.
I noticed the AIR often brings up a warning notice that 'Attitude is too large - Rear obstacle avoidance sensors turned off' when flying fast in strong winds.

So is it literally a case that the AIR auto-disables the OA system to let it fly at a steeper pitch to overcome strong winds, whilst the PRO just sits there and struggles until you manually disable the OA or flip into Sports Mode?

This seems bad. Some people do not fly in Sports Mode; knowing it disables the sensors and increases the speed is enough to keep some cautious people away from it. And if you've never enabled Intelligent Flight Modes, then Sports Mode isn't even available in your moment of need without diving into the app settings.

I just wonder if others had noticed this, and why the Pro isn't updated to handle high winds the same way as the Air?

Cheers
Ian

 

[wee dode]

I don't usually fly in Sports Mode and had often noticed the Pro to be struggling or even drifting in moderate wind, requiring me to flip it into Sports to regain its speed or direction.
So the other day I did a test. And sure enough in a strong head wind, keeping it in standard mode, it ground to a near halt and was then being blown sideways.
When I flicked it into Sports Mode, it flew absolutely fine. Wind was no issue.

This came about as I was doing a comparison video between the Air and the Pro, so I was confused when the Air managed to fly straight and fast in high wind despite not being in Sports Mode.

From some of the comments of that video, it seems the Pro would be fine in standard mode if I turned off Obstacle Avoidance.
I noticed the AIR often brings up a warning notice that 'Attitude is too large - Rear obstacle avoidance sensors turned off' when flying fast in strong winds.

So is it literally a case that the AIR auto-disables the OA system to let it fly at a steeper pitch to overcome strong winds, whilst the PRO just sits there and struggles until you manually disable the OA or flip into Sports Mode?

This seems bad. Some people do not fly in Sports Mode; knowing it disables the sensors and increases the speed is enough to keep some cautious people away from it. And if you've never enabled Intelligent Flight Modes, then Sports Mode isn't even available in your moment of need without diving into the app settings.

I just wonder if others had noticed this, and why the Pro isn't updated to handle high winds the same way as the Air?

Cheers
Ian

 

[DougBlueSkies]

Hi Ian, thanks for the info. I had thought after viewing the early part of the video that the reason for the difference in speed against the wind was due to the ‘air’ creating less resistance due to smaller size, but after the sport mode test and the little fella also flying faster downwind it would seem I was wrong. I was also interested in the difference in the video footage. Again it would seem that the ‘air’ is superior in this respect also.
Would I therefore be correct in assuming that as we in the UK are governed by ANO 2009 and must maintain VLOS at all times that even with the lesser range the ‘air’ is capable of versus the MP it is in fact the better drone all round?
I took delivery of a Mavic Pro 3 weeks ago, purchased to obtain aerial footage, but due to our lovely winter conditions and bl*#dy flu bug only managed 1 flight so far. Yours isn’t the first video I’ve seen showing the ‘air’
appear to provide better video footage.
Thanks again. Nice work

 

[Quad808]

As a pilot, you need to know your craft, and everyone should test flight with OA on and off on all their craft to see how it affects performance. There is this little parameter you can adjust very easily on the Mavic to increase RTH speed. g_config_go_home_gohome_idle_vel = 13.5 This will set the RTH speed at optimal for battery consumption, and g_config_control_dyn_tilt_min 28, plays an also important role in maximum speeds, especially flying with a tail wind. My suggestion is to fly with OA off, unless you are in close quarters. If you don't know how to adjust parameters, well....you have some digging to do.

 

[Robbyg]

Has anyone compared the Mavic Air against the Mavic Pro in Super Sports mode? I would assume the Mavic Pro would be a lot faster in Super Sports mode.

Rob

 

[EarlyBird]

I have always kept mine in sport mode as I recall seeing a video not long after I bought my mavic that explained it coped better in the wind by switching off the OA. I only switch off sport mode if I'm taking off or landing in restricted space ( like in or out through trees)

Informative video thanks for posting

 

[EarlyBird]

Bugger! Thanks for that information I thought sport mode acted as a a toggle for OA

 

[Just_nick]

Has anyone compared the Mavic Air against the Mavic Pro in Super Sports mode? I would assume the Mavic Pro would be a lot faster in Super Sports mode.

Rob

There is no such thing as Super Sport mode. And I have yet to see verified speeds of the Mavic Pro when you modify the parameters. Not one video of it with a radar gun.

 

[Porto]

Has anyone compared the Mavic Air against the Mavic Pro in Super Sports mode? I would assume the Mavic Pro would be a lot faster in Super Sports mode.

Rob

Super Sport Mode only works with tailwind, and it will give the Pro an unfair advantage over the Air if the max speed is measured when flying with tailwind (I believe the Air can't be "unlocked", yet?). I wouldn't be surprised if the world's top speed record for Mavic Pro is held by @lolo780. If I remember correctly it was done under ATTI mode.

To see which one is really faster, both should fly with Sport Mode going against strong headwind.

 

[NestleQuik]

I plan to, but I'm away this week and these videos take half a day to shoot and over half a day to edit

But you know to be honest here about something,, the last time i flew my Pro 2-11-18, the wind was pushing it more than normally, and i try not to fly in high winds, it was 10 mph winds with 10 mph gust, i was wondering that day if it had something to do with the last upgrade. Because it always handled well, and i've flown in higher winds than that, i rarely fly in sports mode, probably only did it once the entire 1+ years that i have had it . So i was wondering if they jacked something up with that latest firmware. Something always changes with the updates. I am always nervous to fly after one. But maybe it could have been because i was flying in 19° F weather too, i dont know.....

 

[kcabpilot]

There’s a bit of a misconception about wind here. Regardless of how hard it’s blowing the craft will fly exactly the same speed through the air in any direction. The only thing affected is the ground speed which of course is all you or the Mavic are aware of since it only knows ground speed from the gps. But as far as the crafts attitude or relationship with the air goes it is part of the moving air mass and therefore knows nothing about “wind”

 

[Ian in London]

Super Sport Mode only works with tailwind, and it will give the Pro an unfair advantage over the Air if the max speed is measured when flying with tailwind (I believe the Air can't be "unlocked", yet?). I wouldn't be surprised if the world's top speed record for Mavic Pro is held by @lolo780. If I remember correctly it was done under ATTI mode.

To see which one is really faster, both should fly with Sport Mode going against strong headwind.

My understanding of the latest Go 4 update was to in effect disable the concept of 'super sports mode' for both the AIR and the PRO. If you are now flying down wind in a strong wind, you still only get up to the specs' stated max speed. This video was shot after I had updated the app and the firmware for both models, and in all cases, (both standard and sports mode) the return flights with strong tail wind are only ever up to the specs' stated speed for each model, and they don't exceed it. DJI have literally capped the speed to 45mph in all cases.
Ian

 

[Porto]

My understanding of the latest Go 4 update was to in effect disable the concept of 'super sports mode' for both the AIR and the PRO. If you are now flying down wind in a strong wind, you still only get up to the specs' stated max speed. This video was shot after I had updated the app and the firmware for both models, and in all cases, (both standard and sports mode) the return flights with strong tail wind are only ever up to the specs' stated speed for each model, and they don't exceed it. DJI have literally capped the speed to 45mph in all cases.
Ian

I believe it's the FW that capped the speed. Not so sure about Go4. I've not updated both in quite sometime and certainly won't.

Still, it would be interesting to see which one is faster doing Sport mode against strong headwind. If you do the test, please do tell us the result here

 

[Ian in London]

I believe it's the FW that capped the speed. Not so sure about Go4. I've not updated both in quite sometime and certainly won't.

Still, it would be interesting to see which one is faster doing Sport mode against strong headwind. If you do the test, please do tell us the result here

Sorry, yes, I meant I updated the app and the firmware of both..... It seems impossible to get over 45 mph now...

Ian.