Air 2 Would you fly your drone in this wind?

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Thanks Sar ... so for most flight situations involving wind, the weight of the drone makes no difference and all that's important is how fast the drone can fly.

Any testing done then should be made in maximum flight performance mode (eg sports) to get maximum pitch and performance.
There will almost always be wind gusts in general though, so testing this between drone models is like trying to test battery endurance with prop brand changes, there're just too many variables to make testing in such circumstances reliable.

 

[BigAl07]

Thanks Sar ... so for most flight situations involving wind, the weight of the drone makes no difference and all that's important is how fast the drone can fly.

 

[sar104]

Thanks Sar ... so for most flight situations involving wind, the weight of the drone makes no difference and all that's important is how fast the drone can fly.

In a steady wind, yes, that's correct. Of course winds are often not steady though.

 

[Meta4]

In a steady wind, yes, that's correct. Of course winds are often not steady though.

Most of the time they are steady enough for it not to make enough difference that you'd notice.
A little variation here or there in speed or direction doesn't make much difference when you are just trying to get from A to B.

 

[sar104]

Most of the time they are steady enough for it not to make enough difference that you'd notice.
A little variation here or there in speed or direction doesn't make much difference when you are just trying to get from A to B.

It may depend on where you are. Coastal or plains winds can be very steady. Up here in the mountains the wind is almost never steady, with significant terrain-induced gusts and turbulence.

 

[BigAl07]

Most of the time they are steady enough for it not to make enough difference that you'd notice.
A little variation here or there in speed or direction doesn't make much difference when you are just trying to get from A to B.

I'm calling absolute crapola Meta! You're trying to put your "spin" on all of this and it's not going to fly (pun intended).

This whole thread is about a video posted and asking "would you fly your drone in this wind".... the OP even went so far as to state "43mph avg with gusts over 60mph". That's not "a little variation" that's a sudden increase (aka gust) of roughly 40%.

My reply was specifically related to the OP's question etc. You can't take the original topic/question and then suddenly start changing the parameters to justify your incorrect statement. Of course if you change enough parameters/variables your statement would eventually be correct but the fact of the matter is we weren't discussing calm/steady air at all.

 

[Meta4]

I'm calling absolute crapola Meta! You're trying to put your "spin" on all of this and it's not going to fly (pun intended).

This whole thread is about a video posted and asking "would you fly your drone in this wind".... the OP even went so far as to state "43mph avg with gusts over 60mph". That's not "a little variation" that's a sudden increase (aka gust) of roughly 40%.

My reply was specifically related to the OP's question etc. You can't take the original topic/question and then suddenly start changing the parameters to justify your incorrect statement. Of course if you change enough parameters/variables your statement would eventually be correct but the fact of the matter is we weren't discussing calm/steady air at all.

Sorry Big Al ... I'm wondering what you are so hot and bothered about.
All I was doing was addressing the popular misconception that heavier drones can better deal with strong winds, because of their weight.
When you said:

No one? It just depends on the weight of the aircraft, available power to overcome the wind, parameters of the flight controller, and the skills of the pilot/operator.​

That suggested that you subscribe to that idea too.

As Sar104 confirmed:

In a steady wind field (which is the case that @Meta4 is referring to) the mass or weight of the aircraft has no effect on its ability to hold position or progress against the wind because no acceleration is involved - it's entirely governed by the maximum airspeed of the aircraft in steady flight.​

That's just basic physics and if you don't like it, that's just too bad.
The weight of your drone won't help you get home (or even hold position) if the windspeed is faster than the drone can fly.
It's the ability of the drone to push through the air (its speed) that matters, not it's weight.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Ok, so what about drone design ?
Shape, 'blockiness', profile to the wind, that has to have some bearing surely (perhaps again only with gusts).

Like a shape as such . . . >
versus . . . i=i

With wind coming from the right.
Even if the second shape was faster the the wedge shape, surely the profile and drag / wind forces should affect the second more.

I'm thinking MP style vs Phantom styles.

 

[Meta4]

Ok, so what about drone design ?
Shape, 'blockiness', profile to the wind, that has to have some bearing surely (perhaps again only with gusts).

Like a shape as such . . . >
versus . . . i=i

With wind coming from the right.
Even if the second shape was faster the the wedge shape, surely the profile and drag / wind forces should affect the second more.

I'm thinking MP style vs Phantom styles.

All of that is already factored into the maximum speed a drone can push through still air.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

All of that is already factored into the maximum speed a drone can push through still air.

Only gusts affecting then, like with mass would be steadier in gusts.

 

[Meta4]

Only gusts affecting then, like with mass would be steadier in gusts.

What's a gust?
It could be all kinds of things.
I don't think you can generalise like that.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

What's a gust?
It could be all kinds of things.
I don't think you can generalise like that.

..

Wind gust - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Meta4]

..

Wind gust - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Obviously I understand the definition of a wind gust.
But what does a gust mean to your particular drone flight at a particular place on a particular day.
There's no end to the possible variations in that.
I'm not able to make any generalisation that would be at all useful about wind gusts, and it's just a distraction from the main issue anyway.
If the wind is stronger than your drone can fly, your drone is going to go backwards.
If your drone is pushing directly into a headwind that's half the speed that your drone can fly, your drone will only make half its normal speed over the ground.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Obviously I understand the definition of a wind gust.
But what does a gust mean to your particular drone flight at a particular place on a particular day.
There's no end to the possible variations in that.

Of course, test like these wind tests we see in these threads could vary in the time it takes to insert a new battery and get airborne again.
Nothing is really measurable in drone flight circumstances.

 

[Droniac]

It may depend on where you are. Coastal or plains winds can be very steady. Up here in the mountains the wind is almost never steady, with significant terrain-induced gusts and turbulence.

It’s like watching (reading) verbal drone ping pong.

 

[Droniac]

Ok, so what about drone design ?
Shape, 'blockiness', profile to the wind, that has to have some bearing surely (perhaps again only with gusts).

Like a shape as such . . . >
versus . . . i=i

With wind coming from the right.
Even if the second shape was faster the the wedge shape, surely the profile and drag / wind forces should affect the second more.

I'm thinking MP style vs Phantom styles.

Love the graphics. Sorry.

 

[sar104]

It’s like watching (reading) verbal drone ping pong.

Yes - it's one of those cases where two people can be making correct statements but, without a common baseline to the discussion, appear to disagree.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I'm just happy to read the different views, and also be happy not to fly in anything too strong for decent stability.
Not much use trying to take photos or video with a drone buffeting about, and yeah it is amazingly stable even when it is getting jolted about a bit.

 

[Proffy]

Powerfull!!!!

 

[Beamie]

So a few hours before this video I flew my drones at the coast, but within 2hrs the winds picked up so much I stopped after the wind blew my sunglasses off into the surf. My wind meter displayed 43mph avg with gusts over 60mph.

The Oregon Coast

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Yes! I fly all my dtones in the wind to practice and test my skill level, but probably not in 60mph gust.