DJI 3 Pro Height Limit

[happydays]

If you're planning on going high, make sure your battery is well charged. From 500m it will take 4 minutes and ten seconds to get back down. And that's after the climb to that height plus allowing you some time to take pics etc. Also, the alignment of the antennae should be changed if you're going straight up from the home point. I did it once - up to 500m in rural Ireland where nobody ever flies in a light aircraft or helicopter. The views were completely different from that height.

 

[SDODD]

Here in U.S. the FAA has set a limit of 400 ft. Some folks have said that there is no real advantage to going any higher, anyway.

That is not a height limit. It is an advisory. I have a lot of pictures from around 1,000 feet. Very nice. But this is very rough territory in Oregon on the west coast. Many f the hills and ridges are 2,000 feet to start with. So you can do 1,000 and still be below the top.

 

[adfischer]

That is not a height limit. It is an advisory. I have a lot of pictures from around 1,000 feet. Very nice. But this is very rough territory in Oregon on the west coast. Many f the hills and ridges are 2,000 feet to start with. So you can do 1,000 and still be below the top.

I think it depends on where you live. I am in a flat suburban area and regularly have police and medical helicopters fly over at 500'. As we saw in the news this week, they are not afraid to arrest you if you end up interfering with them. Be safe.


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[SDODD]

I think it depends on where you live. I am in a flat suburban area and regularly have police and medical helicopters fly over at 500'. As we saw in the news this week, they are not afraid to arrest you if you end up interfering with them. Be safe.


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We have a very strong Coast Guard ocean rescue airport about a mile away. They circle on approach all day. No would want to run a craft up into their turbines. But the hill behid is a lot higher than 500 feet.

 

[Msvet]

400ft in the US is an FAA guideline, so is line of sight. If you are above 400ft and anything happens that causes a problem in commercial air space and it's your drone that caused it. You will pay dearly. Probably cash and prison time. It will also screw it up for everyone who files safe and follows the guidelines. But I invite one of you idiots to test my theory. It's only a matter of time till one of you screws up and goes bye bye.

 

[3TailsMedia]

Since no one has decided to answer the OP question, I will. Answer: depends on your firmware and app you fly with. 1.4.1 on the bird and litchi 2.3.1 the height limit is your battery.

I live and fly predominately in the mountains--not hills. I can easily fly below 400 ft AGL guidance and still max out 1640 ft limit imposed by DJI'so app.

I know I know .. some will think i'm naughty for asking .. Does anyone know if it's possible to by-pass the height restriction?.

Here in the UK my drone is limited to 400ft which is a measly 120m. This is quite high but doesn't give me the flexibility I'd like.

Most websites i've read say the limit is 500m which is 1600ft .. I'd be happy with that .. is 500m a US limit ?

Thanks in advance

 

[John Decker]

It's a guideline -- not a law. However, I agree it's a great idea to follow their guidelines.

Here in NZ it's the law, so check your own country's regulations all you non-US folk. And you US types - enjoy it while you got it.

 

[JMFinch]

400ft in the US is an FAA guideline, so is line of sight. If you are above 400ft and anything happens that causes a problem in commercial air space and it's your drone that caused it. You will pay dearly. Probably cash and prison time. It will also screw it up for everyone who files safe and follows the guidelines. But I invite one of you idiots to test my theory. It's only a matter of time till one of you screws up and goes bye bye.

Not to mention what public opinion will do to drive congress to make it hard on the rest of us

 

[normr]

But there are some people here calling us the altitude police, they have this notion that rules don't apply to them, ( I know it's not a rule but a guideline) but if everyone keeps ignoring the guideline it will quickly become a rule or law.


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[ovyyus]

...From 500m it will take 4 minutes and ten seconds to get back down...

My P3P takes less than 3 minutes to descend from 500M.

 

[wee-wee]

Aviation Rule #1: Assumption is the mother of all f*ck ups ....

 

[Mark The Droner]

Yes. 400 ft altitude is a guideline, not a law. But if FAA can determine that a UAV pilot is "endangering the safety of the NAS", the FAA does have the power to "pursue enforcement action" against the UAV pilot. And that power is made possible by public law 112-95, per FAA document AC 91-57A.

 

[adfischer]

I look at it this way - it may "only" be a FAA guideline, but how will the jury view it when I am on trial for putting my Phantom through a plane or helos windscreen and kill someone?


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[lfaitas]

I leave in an area where a fly from sea level and there is a mountain just behind me with straight cliffs so it is impossible to start the drone from a little higher up. The mountain is just over 500m so i never managed to fly over it unfortunately.
Even if i fly over 500m i would still be almost at 0 ground level if you observe it from the mountain top.
So in this case the flight restrictions are prohibitive to get nice views from above without causing any dangers to planes and helicopters!

 

[Trackman1]

If you want to "test" flying high. Go out in the boonies. Do not post it on Utube. Those type of posts are killing this hobby.

 

[plasrobin]

If you're planning on going high, make sure your battery is well charged. From 500m it will take 4 minutes and ten seconds to get back down. And that's after the climb to that height plus allowing you some time to take pics etc. Also, the alignment of the antennae should be changed if you're going straight up from the home point. I did it once - up to 500m in rural Ireland where nobody ever flies in a light aircraft or helicopter. The views were completely different from that height.

you can't say that without sharing a pic hèhè , think that would look great!

 

[John Locke]

I often ascend above 400'when in the mountains, but never above 400' AGL. In fact when I explore the top of a mountain I try my best to stay below 150' AGL because helicopters and airplanes have a bad habit of flying low when cresting mountains. They think nothing is up there and they own the airspace, even though they know they are not following faa 500' guidelines for manned aircraft, not to mention it takes more fuel and time for manned aircraft to climb higher. So even if you are flying at 150' AGL, be careful in the mountains, especially if you're flying above 10,000' ASL.

 

[Cristo Colombo]

Before getting into the hobby I've done researches and read up on so many different issues and while some were most definitely the fault of the technology, however, I now see how many of those were simply user error; circumstantial. No offense to those asking these basic questions, but, how could you take it out flying already without knowing and defining these settings on the App? This is an advance piece of technology and you should invest in the time to read and learn everything you can to know about it. Go through every single menu and settings in the App and make sure the settings there are exactly what you intended. If you don't know what it is for, look it up. Learn how the RTH is triggered and the different circumstances; where, when, and how you may lose signal and RTH kicks in. I think this is where most destroy their Phantoms; proper setting is not in place for RTH for the environment they're flying in.

Don't get me wrong...these forums are for helping and sharing with each other and that's exactly what I am doing; sharing my thoughts from what I've seen with people not doing what they can to help themselves safe-guard their toy/investment.

Happy and safe flying!!

 

[kennedye]

biggest issue I see at that altitude (other then other aircraft) is the wind can be far higher than the surface. A 5 minute trip downwind may take most of your battery to return, not counting another 2 minutes descending for landing.

This. Even 400 feet up can represent a dramatic change in wind speed and direction, so if you're going above it* be real careful about letting it drift too far away. You might even consider one plain vertical ascent flight to check drift, and then a fresh battery for flying around. (I hope future Phantoms add some kind of airspeed measurement on the craft itself, but that's going to be complicated.)

* the wisdom of doing so is left as an exercise for the reader

 

[WetDog]

Since no one has decided to answer the OP question, I will. Answer: depends on your firmware and app you fly with. 1.4.1 on the bird and litchi 2.3.1 the height limit is your battery.

I live and fly predominately in the mountains--not hills. I can easily fly below 400 ft AGL guidance and still max out 1640 ft limit imposed by DJI'so app.

At 500 meters up slope, I'm not tempted to go any higher. Since it is a slope, I have to come down a long ways which takes a long time. I also fly down manually so I'm not at 500 m above the valley floor. That takes concentration and occasional stops to look around for trees and whatnot. After spending some few minutes taking pictures at that altitude, I end up with 30% battery left and that's actually a little lower than I'm comfortable with.

It's a pretty reasonable limit.