Couple of questions

amrflyingdude · Jan 2, 2014

Guys,

I am sure you will clear my mind on these 2 questions I have:

1 - How many satellites do you usually get?
I have been getting 9 to 11 but today for some reason I had mostly 6 to 7 and sorta freaked me out. Thoughts?

2 - Wind. How much is too much wind?
I tried to fly today but is was pretty windy, 20 to 30kts and some gusts, some times i fly like the phantom was going to fly away so I landed half a battery in to the flight and called it a day, the bird worked it out but man was pretty scary, what is your personal limit on how windy does it have to be for you to call your session off?

Thanks in advance.

Byroman · Jan 3, 2014

Depending on my location I'm seeing anywhere from 7 to 10 satellites. I live in a pretty heavily wooded and mountainous area in Montana where there isn't always a lot of available sky.

As for wind...20 to 30 knots is a good push. I haven't flown in anything beyond maybe 10mph so not sure I'm much help (my vision flew fine). Gusts of 30kt might get a little spooky. :shock:

LeoS · Jan 3, 2014

I take off as soon as I get 6-7 satellites (takes 30 seconds to acquire them), and usually it peaks at around 11-12 sats after flying awhile.

Few days ago I went to a mountain (about 100 miles away, with elevation of around 5000'), and on my first flight it took a LONG time to get the minimum number of satellites. Was just stuck at 3-4 satellites for maybe nearly 5 minutes. After that initial flight, it acquires the 6-7 satellites quickly as usual though.

Btw, I got plenty of fogging issue on the camera there; even though I left the Phantom outside when I was not flying.

Jdacal · Jan 3, 2014

I've had as many as 13 here in South Florida. Take off with 6. Cloudy days you get less sats.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Pull_Up · Jan 3, 2014

As regards wind, I've flown with the wind speed at ground level in the mid-teens mph. Once you're up over about 100ft that will increase as you climb out of the friction layer near the earth's surface, possibly by 150% or more. I wouldn't fly in anything higher than that personally. The maximum straight line speed I've got in GPS mode without wind was 30mph, the maximum speed I've got in GPS mode with a tailwind is 49mph, and coming back from even short downwind runs was slow.

Always fly upwind of you if it's breezy, that way if your battery starts to drop you've got a wind-assisted return journey - especially if you have a control loss as the RTH speed is a bit nailbiting if it's fighting a headwind.

Bottom line - if you're not sure if it's too windy... it's too windy! Better to have the Vision on the ground and you wanting it to be up there than the other way around.

gpauk · Jan 3, 2014

Latitude affects sats too.. Here in the far north there are always fewer in view... However, it's not sats in view that's the most important thing for precision, it's the spread in the sky... For example, 6 sats all in one bit of sky isn't very good, 3 sats spread well in the sky can give a better fix! At a simple but useful level GPS receivers provide a measure of the quality of fix info, the "DOP" parameters, dilution of precision, which should always be used to qualify gps data.

BenDronePilot · Jan 3, 2014

You have to keep the maximum speed potential of the aircraft in mind when determining the max wind you could possibly safely fly in. Let's say you have a 10 mph wind. For the Phantom just to hold position it has to fly into that wind at 10mph. The max speed of the Phantom is about 50mph. In theory you could have up to 50mph winds and the Phantom would be able to hold GPS position. For flying you need to do more than just being able to hold position. You could probably fly around okay in 30 to 40 mph winds if you really really badly wanted to fly.

Tho the whole point of this hobby is both fun and safety. I personally wouldn't fly in ground level winds much beyond 20 mph. I have flown many times in winds between 15 and 20 without problem tho my personal preference for flying is below 12mph. The heavier the winds the shakier the video feed. Also in high choppy winds sometimes it can almost be scary the level shakiness that can happen. So flying in sub 15mph winds is the way to go for most of my flights. That's still a far cry from what I could do safely with my Parrot AR Drone 2.0 which could fly off on you in winds over 10mph if not careful.

GPS satellites I usually get around takeoff in New York is 6 to 7 and that number often increases sometimes over 10 when in flight away from ground level interference.

gunslinger · Jan 3, 2014

BenDronePilot said:
You have to keep the maximum speed potential of the aircraft in mind when determining the max wind you could possibly safely fly in. Let's say you have a 10 mph wind. For the Phantom just to hold position it has to fly into that wind at 10mph. The max speed of the Phantom is about 50mph. In theory you could have up to 50mph winds and the Phantom would be able to hold GPS position. For flying you need to do more than just being able to hold position. You could probably fly around okay in 30 to 40 mph winds if you really really badly wanted to fly.

Tho the whole point of this hobby is both fun and safety. I personally wouldn't fly in ground level winds much beyond 20 mph. I have flown many times in winds between 15 and 20 without problem tho my personal preference for flying is below 12mph. The heavier the winds the shakier the video feed. Also in high choppy winds sometimes it can almost be scary the level shakiness that can happen. So flying in sub 15mph winds is the way to go for most of my flights. That's still a far cry from what I could do safely with my Parrot AR Drone 2.0 which could fly off on you in winds over 10mph if not careful.

GPS satellites I usually get around takeoff in New York is 6 to 7 and that number often increases sometimes over 10 when in flight away from ground level interference.

Just an FYI... I can't see any stock Phantom Vision doing 50 MPH without a fairly serious tail wind. On a calm day, you'd be hard pressed to get it up to 35 MPH. Other than that, I agree. I've set 15 MPH ground winds as my upper limit of tolerance. Even then, depending on how daring I am on any particular occasion, I might pack it in at 15.

-slinger

BenDronePilot · Jan 3, 2014

[/quote]

Just an FYI... I can't see any stock Phantom Vision doing 50 MPH without a fairly serious tail wind. On a calm day, you'd be hard pressed to get it up to 35 MPH. Other than that, I agree. I've set 15 MPH ground winds as my upper limit of tolerance. Even then, depending on how daring I am on any particular occasion, I might pack it in at 15.

-slinger[/quote]

Last time flying my vision in GPS mode I hit around 35mph or so. Atti mode is where you can see more of the flight potential and people have routinely hit right about the 50mph mark. So you would be right if you were talking about doing normal controller flight in GPS mode but when it comes to holding position the phantom will use its full potential to make that happen which is right about 50mph give or take 1 mph.

amrflyingdude · Jan 3, 2014

15mph winds loos like a good number. Yesterday it was about 20 to 30 and I saw the phantom fighting hard but also doing a great job. It was also gusty which adds risk so I decided to land and call it a day.

gunslinger · Jan 3, 2014

amrflyingdude said:
15mph winds loos like a good number. Yesterday it was about 20 to 30 and I saw the phantom fighting hard but also doing a great job. It was also gusty which adds risk so I decided to land and call it a day.

Good point. Gusts adds another element of danger, especially because, by definition, you don't know when a strong gust is going to hit.

Another good point re: ATTI mode: I've got to try that next time out. You're right, Ben, I was referring to GPS mode.

-slinger

themosttoys · Jan 3, 2014

Just an FYI... I can't see any stock Phantom Vision doing 50 MPH without a fairly serious tail wind. On a calm day, you'd be hard pressed to get it up to 35 MPH. Other than that, I agree. I've set 15 MPH ground winds as my upper limit of tolerance. Even then, depending on how daring I am on any particular occasion, I might pack it in at 15.

-slinger[/quote]

Last time flying my vision in GPS mode I hit around 35mph or so. Atti mode is where you can see more of the flight potential and people have routinely hit right about the 50mph mark. So you would be right if you were talking about doing normal controller flight in GPS mode but when it comes to holding position the phantom will use its full potential to make that happen which is right about 50mph give or take 1 mph.[/quote]

In my experience, 38mph is the top (level flight) speed of the P2V. I have been able to get into the 40's (46mph is the best I've seen, but that was with some tail wind and losing altitude.) Those top speed records are NOT the true top speed of the P2V, they are the top speed with the P2V when you trade off lift for forward momentum (or have a tail wind). The problem with that is the ground, trying to sustain over 40mph (without a tail wind) on a stock P2V will result in a landing (of one type or another) as you will need to trade lift for velocity.

gunslinger · Jan 3, 2014

In my experience, 38mph is the top (level flight) speed of the P2V. I have been able to get into the 40's (46mph is the best I've seen, but that was with some tail wind and losing altitude.) Those top speed records are NOT the true top speed of the P2V, they are the top speed with the P2V when you trade off lift for forward momentum (or have a tail wind). The problem with that is the ground, trying to sustain over 40mph (without a tail wind) on a stock P2V will result in a landing (of one type or another) as you will need to trade lift for velocity.

I was able to get it to 37mph a few days ago, with about a 5mph tail wind, over a 100 yard sprint... 37 doesn't sound all that fast, but... I was about in the middle of the field, around 50 yards away, when I kicked in full throttle. This thing passed me so fast I think my jaw dropped...

-slinger

Butcher99 · Jan 3, 2014

I've flown in 15-20 with gusts and the Phantom handled it but it definitely increased my pucker factor. I was told by Colin Quinn that it could fly in 25mph 'no problem'.
Video below shows a 15-20+gusts day in Northern Virginia. Original video was very shaky, but after applying the Youtube stabilizer and slo-mo functions I ended up with some usable shots. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ybe-VgI9Pg&list=PL4aG0mwOeLsjMbBMbCM4W_5Ui-fBujrEN