After having a great flight the other day, I've been desperate to get out, but the wind up here is really strong, with the lowest being 15m/s since I filmed this video.
Today the forecast showed 8m/s AGL pushing up to 12 at 50m but I thought I'd see how I got on. As soon as I stepped out in my proposed flight area, I knew that I would be pushing it, but, since I spent 10 minutes getting dressed and half an hour walking there, I decided to do some very controlled testing, just to see how the P3S handled the conditions and then share my experience here.
Conditions were 8m/s AGL NW with gusts of God knows what (they are pretty strong, but certain areas of the island are sheltered, didn't turn out that way today though)
-12C with windchill
0% snow.
Low humidity (very important as didn't want prop freeze)
Takeoff Location
In the interest of safety, I set myself a rough ceiling of 30m and was in a very wide open area. I keep the batteries inside my coat against my body so they stay warm.
Flew around a bit and noticed that some of the gusts were diverting the drone even though I was on GPS with 10+ satellites. I did fly up to ~70m at one point but it was really windy up there so didn't stay long. A bit later I also got the warning "Propulsion output is limited to ensure the health of the battery." which I've never had before, but guessed it must be a combination of having to cane the battery to combat the wind and the windchill. I brought it back at that point at 40% power after 13mins flying (minutes per battery on HD=27m36), not much worse than I get on a good day. Given I didn't fly very far, but I hand grabbed it rather than watching it descending before getting gusted bouncing off rocks and into the sea.
Lo and behold healthydrones log shows that there was a 'Major Deviation' on cell one. Should be okay though if I avoid these conditions again.
I've shared the HD flight log here for those who may be interested.
Sorry for the long post, but thought someone might be interested
Today the forecast showed 8m/s AGL pushing up to 12 at 50m but I thought I'd see how I got on. As soon as I stepped out in my proposed flight area, I knew that I would be pushing it, but, since I spent 10 minutes getting dressed and half an hour walking there, I decided to do some very controlled testing, just to see how the P3S handled the conditions and then share my experience here.
Conditions were 8m/s AGL NW with gusts of God knows what (they are pretty strong, but certain areas of the island are sheltered, didn't turn out that way today though)
-12C with windchill
0% snow.
Low humidity (very important as didn't want prop freeze)
Takeoff Location
In the interest of safety, I set myself a rough ceiling of 30m and was in a very wide open area. I keep the batteries inside my coat against my body so they stay warm.
Flew around a bit and noticed that some of the gusts were diverting the drone even though I was on GPS with 10+ satellites. I did fly up to ~70m at one point but it was really windy up there so didn't stay long. A bit later I also got the warning "Propulsion output is limited to ensure the health of the battery." which I've never had before, but guessed it must be a combination of having to cane the battery to combat the wind and the windchill. I brought it back at that point at 40% power after 13mins flying (minutes per battery on HD=27m36), not much worse than I get on a good day. Given I didn't fly very far, but I hand grabbed it rather than watching it descending before getting gusted bouncing off rocks and into the sea.
Lo and behold healthydrones log shows that there was a 'Major Deviation' on cell one. Should be okay though if I avoid these conditions again.
I've shared the HD flight log here for those who may be interested.
Sorry for the long post, but thought someone might be interested