Loooooooong Range Night Flight P4P

[Darian Trotter]

Impressive! The mod and controller strengths are strong. I'm flying in the city, so the modification for a stronger signal is needed. I've not tried long range in a rural area, but stock battery life wouldn't change. Your 15% was at 20:58. My flight was 23:02 so lower battery power is expected.

 

[dirkclod]

Are you on sports mode? That sucks battery FAST. Also altitude -- try going lower on the return if you're familiar with obstacles. You'll find it's less likely to disconnect on the return. Sometimes you have to go higher on the way out, but I've gone really low on the return to preserve battery and the signal was solid. It's good to be prepared to land, but stay calm -- especially if there's no change in wind. Chances are it'll take about the same length of time to get back.

No I never use sport mode and also hardly ever go over 100'. Am in country and fly from top of hill . Also never use AO . I do keep it pegged wide open out and also in RTH . With the Mavic I have never lost connection . It's strong . On the P3's I have as the itelite antennas I use are a little touchy aiming .This is what I fly over 95% of the time doing my test for range .I don't do any post so this is just what it is .

 

[Rondar10]

What range extender are you using? I looked at your profile pic but couldn't tell what it is.

 

[nwairphotos]

I appreciate the responses to my post. I have been doing some observations today in areas where I can clearly see several miles and I can see your point now. I was imagining doing this from an area where there was no line of site of the entire flight. I can see now how you would be able to pick out other aircraft in the distance and take evasive action if necessary.

My apologies if I was insulted anyone. I can see now that you were doing this safely.

 

[Darian Trotter]

No I never use sport mode and also hardly ever go over 100'. Am in country and fly from top of hill . Also never use AO . I do keep it pegged wide open out and also in RTH . With the Mavic I have never lost connection . It's strong . On the P3's I have as the itelite antennas I use are a little touchy aiming .This is what I fly over 95% of the time doing my test for range .I don't do any post so this is just what it is .

Very nice. What did u use to edit? And post?

 

[Darian Trotter]

What range extender are you using? I looked at your profile pic but couldn't tell what it is.

It's FPVCustoms.com Paul does great work, very responsive to questions and the return shipping in within 2/3 days

 

[dirkclod]

Very nice. What did u use to edit? And post?

Windows movie maker is all I got so about whatever comes off card is what you get .

 

[Nostromo Sur]

Darian and KykPhantom: 2.4ghz or 5.8ghz? Impressive distances. Thank you

 

[FlashBuddy]

When flying there is always a risk involved. Most of the people tries to minimize the risks, but there is always a group of people which does not care. You could cause death of some people in the worst case and you know it, you just ignored it to achieve your long flight. In my point of view this is selfish and stupid and I see no point to say anything positive about your flight. I appreciate people sharing here their experience while flying DJI products, I love various photos taken under various conditions and I like lot of shared video content here, but honestly I dislike posts about not respecting anything which cause tightening the rules because a low percentage of uav pilots is not using theirs brain. Your post does not contain anything great, no great picture, no great video, you just hold the throttle for 20 minutes without having any idea where you fly. Sorry.

No great video... THANK YOU JESUS! Most videos shared are are really great, aren't they?

 

[JarrodF]

I've flown many missions up to three miles away and I can easily see other craft if they enter my airspace. True I can't see my drone, but I know where it is, and I always have VLOS of my airspace. I can easily avoid manned craft by quickly descending to 50' and wait for them to leave the area. Although I know I can fly up to 5 miles away, I don't. That limits me on battery reserve if I need it to avoid traffic, so three miles is my typical limit. That said, only twice in two years have I had to take precautionary steps to evade the risk of collision, and that was very easy and safe IMO. The helicopter flew by my flight area at around 200' AGL. I'm not sure why he was so low, but one incident was in the hills where I fly often, and another incident was in the hills I rarely fly. Both times I felt in total control, safe and had clear awareness how to yield to the helicopter.

I don't remember the section of my Part 107 training where it discussed just having VLOS of the airspace. ;-)

 

[KykPhantom]

Darian and KykPhantom: 2.4ghz or 5.8ghz? Impressive distances. Thank you

2.4 GHz in my case.

 

[wa5tef]

Don’t you just love it when negative comments are posted without all facts? I would bet no one has stayed in VLOS all the time. While it might be stated to comply with this, it is no longer valid with today’s advanced technology. I have a better idea of where the drone actually is by simply observing the controller screen and data. How would one know if the drone was at 300 feet or 500 feet just by directly seeing the drone? I commend you on the safety measures and the preplanning you did. It would have been a risky flight but by having spotters along the route made good sense! Perhaps other negative posts will be fewer.
Thanks
Jim
WA5TEF.

 

[pporozin]

Don’t you just love it when negative comments are posted without all facts? I would bet no one has stayed in VLOS all the time. While it might be stated to comply with this, it is no longer valid with today’s advanced technology. I have a better idea of where the drone actually is by simply observing the controller screen and data. How would one know if the drone was at 300 feet or 500 feet just by directly seeing the drone? I commend you on the safety measures and the preplanning you did. It would have been a risky flight but by having spotters along the route made good sense! Perhaps other negative posts will be fewer.
Thanks
Jim
WA5TEF.

The point with VLOS is that you know what is happening above and around your drone. You are not alone in the sky above and honestly your drone has less value than an airplane full of people.

 

[drvrbobob]

What would the FAA say about this flight is my question? Because you can, dont mean you should. I am new pilot and this just doesnt seem right, but tell me if I am wrong.

 

[brianminkc]

How would you avoid colliding with a helicopter or airplane at that distance? It's not so much the line of sight that's a concern, but that you can't monitor air traffic near your drone. Striking a helicopter with your drone could be catastrophic. I'm not trying to be the "police." I'd love to send my drone out 5 miles or send it up to 2,000' and I might bend a rule if I felt I could do it safely, but we're taking a chance and possibly putting lives at risk if our drone is out of sight.

I was recently photographing a business with my drone and there was a low flying helicopter working the general area. I kept my eye on it and was prepared to immediately descend if necessary, but what if I had been a mile away? I wouldn't have picked up that helicopter on my screen.

Generally speaking if your more than 5 miles out from an airport air traffic is supposed to stay up higher than 400 feet. Generally speaking. You can buy flashing beacons for the top of your drone that makes it visible. People are ridiculously paranoid due to government propaganda. A P4 is a very low threat to most aircraft anyway its just not heavy enough to cause a problem. There are tons of 10lb. canadian geese flying where ever they **** will please. The truth is they do not like you having a flying camera.. that's all. Personally I try to stay under 250 ft. but 400 is okay if your not on the glide path for an airport.

 

[brianminkc]

What would the FAA say about this flight is my question? Because you can, dont mean you should. I am new pilot and this just doesnt seem right, but tell me if I am wrong.

The FAA would prefer you didn't have a drone. So if you want to make them happy you should not fly it.

 

[dlblacks]

Very cool. I’m curious, what were your camera settings? ISO, f-stop, frame rate, shutter speed?

When color correcting shots from my first night flight, I notice a lot of noise in the mids and blacks. I’ve been testing different exposure and frame rate settings over time but haven’t found the sweet spot yet. Any advice?

 

[Paul419]

Had to share this!!! My longest flight yet. 5.3 miles out & BACK total 10.6 miles at 400 feet altitude!!! I noticed it captured 401 feet in the screen shot. Conditions were perfect. Wind was 1.5 mph. Took 11 minutes each way. This was at 5am. Less, interference late night helps. Yes, I know so please save the line of sight argument.

Why can't I find the video?

 

[John Tarvin]

How would you avoid colliding with a helicopter or airplane at that distance? It's not so much the line of sight that's a concern, but that you can't monitor air traffic near your drone. Striking a helicopter with your drone could be catastrophic. I'm not trying to be the "police." I'd love to send my drone out 5 miles or send it up to 2,000' and I might bend a rule if I felt I could do it safely, but we're taking a chance and possibly putting lives at risk if our drone is out of sight.

I was recently photographing a business with my drone and there was a low flying helicopter working the general area. I kept my eye on it and was prepared to immediately descend if necessary, but what if I had been a mile away? I wouldn't have picked up that helicopter on my screen.

I recently read that the reason the FAA set our drone altitude limit at 400'AGL was that other aircraft have an altitude floor of 500'AGL except when landing, taking off, or in an emergency. That's supposed to give a 100' buffer. So, at least he was at 400'

Won't say that I haven't flown autonomous flight BVLOS, but would never do so at night. Too many dangers that you simply can't see in the dark. I do have to agree with you that it wasn't a wise thing to do.

 

[Kelly1946]

Know the facts and read the thread before you spew bs. The dude had several spotters, and if you think flying at night is against the rules you’re clearly misinformed. Drones can actually be much easier to spot and maintain LOS at night. The guys who struck the commercial aircraft in Canada were flying thousands of feet above the legal altitude

The facts are that the FAA says NO Night Flights. And that plane was struck aqt 1500', not thousands......