How far/high have you been

[GrammatonxXXxCleric]

Has it always given you the option to rth?

Yes. It cannot be turned off as a function. The mode can be changed to hover land, ect but this is not a ideal option in my mind. As stated above this post, if the controller loses contact with the drone it has to RTH. Now there are many people that swore they lost contact with their drone and it never came back. There is basically only two things that could cause this aside from total failure. First is the home point was somehow not recorded in the first place. It is important to look for that green H before flying off into the sunset. Second, they did not actually lose contact with the Phantom. They lost video feed, but there was still a control signal link. The drone must lose 100% signal link in order to initiate RTH. Otherwise it's all up to you to hit that magical RTH button and sip a soda while you wait for the fair maiden to come home to the prince. A note: When using a way point mission, even though it "may" lose all signal, both video feed and control, it WILL complete the mission and not RTH until the mission completes. This is one reason to plan very carefully the altitudes involved.

 

[jwt873]

When I first got my P4 (before we had federal regulations in Canada) I went up to the maximum programed altitude of 500 meters (1640 feet) above my takeoff point. My farthest distance is 2.4 Km (1.5 miles). I did it a couple of times just to see if it could be done and to be able to say that I did it.

I normally fly line of sight with the drone in view at all times and well within the current hight and distance guidelines.

I live in the country surrounded by acres of hay and wheat fields so I don't bother anyone by flying near houses or buildings.

 

[Erised]

High and far! man the late 60's and early 70's are a blur. I realy try to keep it 300 and under AGL, for me higher has very little advantage, not mutch to see from up there anyway, where I live is fairly flat and green (snow now).

 

[Jobsite Aerial]

Hope this video I made will answer your questions

Higher then 500 metres as I launched off a 100 metre cliff, went out to 3 miles, and flew in heavy rain. Even crashed it on a roof where it landed upside down and rained 14 hours not stop with rain pouring in all the vents. Didn't open it. Let it dry naturally and 24 hours later I was up and flying my P3A again. These things are tough

What program did you edit with?

 

[Firestar]

Far enough to nervously wait for it's return.... High? 400ft. is not always the highest you should go. I've seen local small planes and helicopters below 400ft. Their surfaces are NOT compatible on contact with a drone.

Local plane should not be lower than 500 feet In open areas but helicopters are allowed to fly as low as they want to as long as they are safe and do not harm life or property

 

[wa5tef]

I have about ten flights under my belt. I have a lot of questions and would like to hear from people with more experience. Feel free to answer any or all questions...

How high have you been? I read a lot of people sayin 400 feet. Is that the recommended maximum height? Can you safely go higher?

How far away have you flown? Does it have to be in a certain mode to go further? I have only been about a quarter mile away and start getting scared. How far away can i feel confident in flying?

Is flying in a light rain or sprinkle ok?

Does high wind affect the drone when higher up? I was at about 300 feet today and thought what if a big wind comes and knocks it off balance and it goes upside down and cannot correct itself.
Has this ever happened? Where it just falls out of the sky?

Thanks in advance for your responses...

I doubt a high wind could flip a Phantom. It resists all attempts to change its orientation. If flipped it will immediately right itself. When my Phantom 4 did flip last year for no reason DJI refused to acknowledge it could or did and never answered my challenge to duplicate the action without some failure to the drone. Instead they sent me a new one to shut me up!
Jim
Wa5tef

 

[JohanVB]

I was on a farm here in South Africa..on a hunt, camping weekend, amongst huge mountains, took the drone to max 500m, but could not get above the mountains, anyway took it 3km away from me...i have the P4..enjoyed doing that!!

 

[Timinator]

I doubt a high wind could flip a Phantom. It resists all attempts to change its orientation. If flipped it will immediately right itself. When my Phantom 4 did flip last year for no reason DJI refused to acknowledge it could or did and never answered my challenge to duplicate the action without some failure to the drone. Instead they sent me a new one to shut me up!
Jim
Wa5tef

High wind can absolutely flip a phantom, particularly on take-off or landing.[/QUOTE]

 

[skiptv]

Go to a drone flight school. Or take a drone flight class from an instructor. There are many professional drone flight schools and Instructors.

 

[Russ43Phantom]

Hope this video I made will answer your questions

Higher then 500 metres as I launched off a 100 metre cliff, went out to 3 miles, and flew in heavy rain. Even crashed it on a roof where it landed upside down and rained 14 hours not stop with rain pouring in all the vents. Didn't open it. Let it dry naturally and 24 hours later I was up and flying my P3A again. These things are tough

 

[Russ43Phantom]

Hope this video I made will answer your questions

Higher then 500 metres as I launched off a 100 metre cliff, went out to 3 miles, and flew in heavy rain. Even crashed it on a roof where it landed upside down and rained 14 hours not stop with rain pouring in all the vents. Didn't open it. Let it dry naturally and 24 hours later I was up and flying my P3A again. These things are tough

Nice photography, but a total disregard of safety or for drone pilots who don’t want to have more limits in drone regulations. Photography: hame of fame; Piloting: hame of shame!

 

[MtManDavey]

Grino21, make sure that before you fly, you have a GPS signal recognized by the UAS. If it does not, may not have an accurate place to RTH. I agree that you need to establish a minimum AGL the drone will use to return to home (sorry, planedr, lots easier to spell and use the term "drone" than quadcopter). Where I live, fly and photograph for clients, the ponderosa pines are no less than 100 feet AGL, more typically 120 feet.

I have but one aircraft, used for commercial purposes, not sport or recreation. For that reason, I fly slowly and carefully, stay strictly in VLOS other than hovering for photographs, and never more than the legal limit of 400 feet AGL, unless doing a structure inspection in FAA rules. Getting an FAA waiver to do otherwise takes way too long to consider for commercial work that may be called for in a short response time.

 

[Flying Spanner]

I can get almost a mile away and ive been 400 feet. I have had very strong winds up there and the drone does not care it stays in place. Of course were talking less than 20mph winds, dont go flying in a tornado. Ive flown in light snowfall without any accessories on it and all i did was immediately bag it with rice for a few days as soon as i landed. I flew in light rain to get a rainbow photo. No problems. I wouldn't fly in rain more than a sprinkle unless you get a phantom rainsuit

Electronics repair shop view on use of rice. Fist one has some strong language so careful if children in earshot.

 

[RunningWithScissors]

Not today FAA, not today.

As implied above, if you're not familiar with who's posting, you may want to consider tempering your response in the event that you've inadvertently exceeded the FAA restrictions. Just my two cents.

This public service message brought to you by RunningWithScissors.

 

[offroadpyro]

Yes,no, yes..Wait..Just trade it in for a bowling ball.

 

[Wolffboy]

Flew farthest out last week 16,508ft away over Pacific Ocean. P4 Standard - Stock Remote

 

[ShadowCrabb]

Oh my Drone Gods. You want to fly into clouds, fly above 400', and possibly fly beyond VLOS. Granted you will find people bragging about all these accomplishments in almost every site. That doesn't make it right, it makes it stupid and dangerous. I would suggest studying the remote pilot test prep before reading many more posts. That way you have your own knowledge and can use it as you see fit I wonder how many friends I just pissed off...

 

[DOC 1500]

JMHO, I think the OP needs to read the owner's manual for his drone before he does anything else. And then after understanding the manual watch a lot of flying instruction videos on YouTube . pick 10 - 20 there's probably a thousand of them. There are so many tutorial videos on how to fly and how to operate your Phantom, much more information than you could get in 30 replies to a 10 question thread.
Okay hold on guys put a cap on the steam generator.
I don't want theOP to misunderstand what I'm saying... the guys on this forum know everything about these quadcopters and could help you immensely which they have done for me. But from my experience I've probably gotten a ton of information in a shorter period of time from so many of the videos on YouTube. For me, It was a lot easier and less time consuming watching videos.
A picture is worth a thousand words, but a video is worth a million..

 

[Jack Cooper]

I have about ten flights under my belt. I have a lot of questions and would like to hear from people with more experience. Feel free to answer any or all questions...

How high have you been? I read a lot of people sayin 400 feet. Is that the recommended maximum height? Can you safely go higher?

How far away have you flown? Does it have to be in a certain mode to go further? I have only been about a quarter mile away and start getting scared. How far away can i feel confident in flying?

Is flying in a light rain or sprinkle ok?

Does high wind affect the drone when higher up? I was at about 300 feet today and thought what if a big wind comes and knocks it off balance and it goes upside down and cannot correct itself.
Has this ever happened? Where it just falls out of the sky?

Thanks in advance for your responses...

I have flown about two and a quarter mile. Don’t program your max flight above 400ft, it will warn you not too. Flying higher will violate laws. You go any higher, a jet will suck up your drone and fall, crash and kill hundreds on board as on the ground. If I was their, I would kick you every day for a week. Lol

 

[jlrsn]

Grino21, I'd be extra cautious about flying over clouds or in the fog especially in Class G uncontrolled airspace as it is perfectly legal for small or even large multi engined airplanes to be taking off from or landing at private airstrips to be at less than 400' AGL. Many of the private airstrips are not charted or certified and only used occasionally.
Also learn what transition areas are and how they are marked on aviation charts.