40 stories up

Hovtech · May 24, 2014

My friend lives in a 40 story condo building. He has asked me to come up to his roof and fly my bird. He looks out over Lake Michigan so I'm hoping to get some great video. Has anyone else flown off a tall building? Do you have any tips that would be helpful?

kgarrison · May 24, 2014

Shouldn't be any issue, just be aware that the wind at 400' can be a lot higher than at ground level.

RedRyderMedia · May 24, 2014

Two things to think about. One is RTH. If you lose contact and the Phantom initiates RTH, it will go up 60' and try to land where it took off. If it is below the roof where it took off, will it crash into the building trying to return to the roof?

Second, be sure the antennas are pointed toward the Phantom. You normally fly with the phantom above you and so the antennas are pointed up. If you fly lower than the roof, the antennas need to be pointed down.

RedNax · May 24, 2014

RedRyderMedia said:
Two things to think about. One is RTH. If you lose contact and the Phantom initiates RTH, it will go up 60' and try to land where it took off. If it is below the roof where it took off, will it crash into the building trying to return to the roof?

Second, be sure the antennas are pointed toward the Phantom. You normally fly with the phantom above you and so the antennas are pointed up. If you fly lower than the roof, the antennas need to be pointed down.

When it's over 20 meters in height it will rth on it's current level. Only when it's lower will it change it's altitude to the minimum 20 meters. So as long as you stay higher than your launchpoint on the roof, you should be ok.

When using the stock antenna, do not point it at the phantom. The radiation patters looks like a doughnut (any flavour) positioned at 90 degrees around the antenna.. When you point the tip of the antenna at the phantom it will loose the connection faster since teh radiationpattern doesn't cover it.

RedRyderMedia · May 24, 2014

RedNax said:
When it's over 20 meters in height it will rth on it's current level. Only when it's lower will it change it's altitude to the minimum 20 meters. So as long as you stay higher than your launchpoint on the roof, you should be ok.

When using the stock antenna, do not point it at the phantom. The radiation patters looks like a doughnut (any flavour) positioned at 90 degrees around the antenna.. When you point the tip of the antenna at the phantom it will loose the connection faster since teh radiationpattern doesn't cover it.

Is that true for the range extender antenna as well?

RedNax · May 24, 2014

RedRyderMedia said:
Is that true for the range extender antenna as well?

My comment was about the controller antenna. The extender should be pointed at the craft.

RedRyderMedia · May 24, 2014

RedNax said:
RedRyderMedia said:

Is that true for the range extender antenna as well?

Click to expand...

My comment was about the controller antenna. The extender should be pointed at the craft.

Thanks!

plasmo · May 25, 2014

Post vid after you are done!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Phantom_Menace66 · May 25, 2014

Hovtech said:
My friend lives in a 40 story condo building. He has asked me to come up to his roof and fly my bird. He looks out over Lake Michigan so I'm hoping to get some great video. Has anyone else flown off a tall building? Do you have any tips that would be helpful?

Have a look at this short video. If you set the home position on top of a building & for whatever reason it goes into failsafe/RTH mode, it will slam into the roof building because it will try to get to GROUND LEVEL not the home point set on top of the building!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cd9DQO9w0Q

RedNax · May 25, 2014

Phantom_Menace66 said:
Have a look at this short video. If you set the home position on top of a building & for whatever reason it goes into failsafe/RTH mode, it will slam into the roof building because it will try to get to GROUND LEVEL not the home point set on top of the building!!!

This is rather strange... What is standard groundlevel? It's different everywhere. What's the difference between a 40 storie building or a hill the same height?

Dirty Bird · May 25, 2014

I am not sure the test in the video is accurate. He didn't actually take off from the ladder. In fact, I didn't even see him start the motors. If that is the case, the Phantom recorded its launch point when he sat it back down on the ground and took off. For his test to be conclusive, he has to actually launch from the higher elevation.

MikesTooLz · May 25, 2014

Tip of controller antenna should NOT be pointed at the phantom.
The tip of the controller antenna puts out the weakest signal.

MikesTooLz · May 25, 2014

Phantom_Menace66 said:
Hovtech said:

My friend lives in a 40 story condo building. He has asked me to come up to his roof and fly my bird. He looks out over Lake Michigan so I'm hoping to get some great video. Has anyone else flown off a tall building? Do you have any tips that would be helpful?

Click to expand...

Have a look at this short video. If you set the home position on top of a building & for whatever reason it goes into failsafe/RTH mode, it will slam into the roof building because it will try to get to GROUND LEVEL not the home point set on top of the building!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cd9DQO9w0Q

This is false information.

midwestjeff · May 25, 2014

You can try but I've tried a few times and I've always had the "compass re-calibrate" issue. It will want you to calibrate the compass and when you do it, it won't work. So you can fly but it's risky. I tried from a 3 story roof deck and ended up having to launch from the ground to get an accurate gps lock and flight. If you can fly in attitude mode that's the only way really.

Good luck!

midwestjeff · May 25, 2014

If you can get past the compass issue, then you can try a column lock by flipping the left switch 5 times while hovering on the deck and that may work for RTH

Phantom_Menace66 · May 25, 2014

RedNax said:
Phantom_Menace66 said:

Have a look at this short video. If you set the home position on top of a building & for whatever reason it goes into failsafe/RTH mode, it will slam into the roof building because it will try to get to GROUND LEVEL not the home point set on top of the building!!!

Click to expand...

This is rather strange... What is standard groundlevel? It's different everywhere. What's the difference between a 40 storie building or a hill the same height?

That I couldn't tell you & I've no idea why it would try to go to ground level or how it even knows where ground level is. I guess it doesn't record altitude when it sets home point & relies on GPS to tell it where the ground is in a particular area. It obviously doesn't know where trees or buildings are!

Phantom_Menace66 · May 25, 2014

MikesTooLz said:
Phantom_Menace66 said:

Hovtech said:

My friend lives in a 40 story condo building. He has asked me to come up to his roof and fly my bird. He looks out over Lake Michigan so I'm hoping to get some great video. Has anyone else flown off a tall building? Do you have any tips that would be helpful?

Click to expand...

Have a look at this short video. If you set the home position on top of a building & for whatever reason it goes into failsafe/RTH mode, it will slam into the roof building because it will try to get to GROUND LEVEL not the home point set on top of the building!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cd9DQO9w0Q

Click to expand...

This is false information.

I just went outside & climbed on the roof of the garage, about 12ft off the ground and it wouldn't even set a home point. Put it on the ground and it set home point!? Weird...

doug86 · May 25, 2014

Phantom_Menace66 said:
If you set the home position on top of a building & for whatever reason it goes into failsafe/RTH mode, it will slam into the roof building because it will try to get to GROUND LEVEL not the home point set on top of the building!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cd9DQO9w0Q

Not so. The video doesn't reset the home point correctly. I have reset the home point a number of times at altitude, and the phantom comes home at 20 meters ABOVE that altitude.

If your theory was correct, then taking off from the side of a hill and flying down into a valley, the phantom would just crash into the hillside if it was in RTH. It doesn't do that, it climbs to 20 meters above the home point and flies home at that altitude. If your home point is on top of a building, it's not an issue, assuming you actually set the home point up there.

RedRyderMedia · May 25, 2014

Phantom_Menace66 said:
Hovtech said:

My friend lives in a 40 story condo building. He has asked me to come up to his roof and fly my bird. He looks out over Lake Michigan so I'm hoping to get some great video. Has anyone else flown off a tall building? Do you have any tips that would be helpful?

Click to expand...

Have a look at this short video. If you set the home position on top of a building & for whatever reason it goes into failsafe/RTH mode, it will slam into the roof building because it will try to get to GROUND LEVEL not the home point set on top of the building!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cd9DQO9w0Q

I think this video is incorrect. My experience is, if you set a home position, then move the Phantom before taking off, the Phantom sets a new home position where you took off. I did this test and each time I did it, the Phantom set a new home position from where it took off from. If you move the Phantom three times before taking of, it sets a new position three times. However, the test I did was a different horizontal position, not a different altitude position.

rich-s · May 25, 2014

Whilst I have not tried to fly from a tall building, I'm absolutely sure the Phantom will know its home point altitude. In fact it is quite ridiculous to think otherwise, as we all take off from different altitudes everyday. I have a large hill next to where I normally fly, I'm **** sure if I went up to the top to take off, it would not crash into the hill on a return to home. In fact I'll try it next time I fly and post the result here.