Max elevation?

dkatz42 · Jan 16, 2014

First post, having run across this forum over the last few days. My P2V is in shipment, and I'm pretty stoked. I'm a fixed-wing (full-sized) pilot making my first foray into RC and helos. I'm a software guy by trade, and find the technology combination in the P2V astonishing (and looking forward to fully autonomous operation).

Anyhow, as I've been waiting for delivery, it occurred to me that the elevation of my home area might be an issue. I live at about 7000', and know well the issues surrounding density altitude and aircraft performance.

Does anyone have experience with the P2V at higher elevations? The videos seem to indicate that there's lots of excess lift available, so hopefully this will only result in reduced climb performance and shorter battery life (since it would presumably require higher RPMs to achieve the same lift as it would at sea level).

I did see one Youtube video with some Phantom variant operating at 15K MSL, so that was hopeful...

LandYachtMedia · Jan 16, 2014

You won't have any issues at that altitude. Your flight time will be a little shorter compared to us low density altitude dwellers but otherwise be OK.

Scottrod · Jan 16, 2014

No issues. As mentioned the flight time might suffer. I'm a huge techie and this is my favorite tech toy of all time. You'll be amazed by its capabilities.

Pull_Up · Jan 16, 2014

Here's a post from our own Chuggie, happily zipping around higher than you!

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4146

dkatz42 · Jan 19, 2014

Well, after some negotiation (it was a birthday present from my wife, and my birthday isn't for another three weeks) I finally got to launch yesterday. (The delayed gratification gave me an opportunity to do a lot of reading and familiarization.)

I'm happy to report that the P2V still climbs like a rocket at 7000' (should be even more impressive at sea level!) In roughly 40 minutes of flight time I went from wobbly and terrified to semi-confident and merely scared (flying in reasonably close proximity to my house).

My father-in-law bought me a couple of cheap RC helos for Christmas (including a minimalist quad rotor), which of course caused me to drive off the P2V cliff once I was hooked. Flying the cheap ones for a few weeks was very helpful in improving my flying (never flew RC before) as they're much more touchy and require more vigilance.

The good news is that everything worked perfectly out of the box (after updating all the firmware and doing a compass calibration). Rock solid, none of the anomalies some folks have reported. The only difficulty I had was the inability to log in with the firmware utility (solved by using a different email account than the one I registered at DJI with).

Now I expect to end up destitute after being fired because all my time is spent flying or reading this forum.

Pull_Up · Jan 19, 2014

Either that or because you can't possibly live without buying another 3 batteries...

Well done on the successful maiden - sky's the limit!

dkatz42 · Jan 19, 2014

MadnessFPV said:
It is my understanding that it's illegal to fly over 400 feet, even if you live that high over sea level.

The single-engine service ceiling of my full-scale airplane is below my field elevation here, so I'm used to flying underground.

garygid · Jan 20, 2014

I believe that the 400 foot FAA suggestion is AGL (Above Ground Level).

UAVInsurance · Jan 20, 2014

dkatz42 said:
Well, after some negotiation (it was a birthday present from my wife, and my birthday isn't for another three weeks) I finally got to launch yesterday. (The delayed gratification gave me an opportunity to do a lot of reading and familiarization.)

I'm happy to report that the P2V still climbs like a rocket at 7000' (should be even more impressive at sea level!) In roughly 40 minutes of flight time I went from wobbly and terrified to semi-confident and merely scared (flying in reasonably close proximity to my house).

My father-in-law bought me a couple of cheap RC helos for Christmas (including a minimalist quad rotor), which of course caused me to drive off the P2V cliff once I was hooked. Flying the cheap ones for a few weeks was very helpful in improving my flying (never flew RC before) as they're much more touchy and require more vigilance.

The good news is that everything worked perfectly out of the box (after updating all the firmware and doing a compass calibration). Rock solid, none of the anomalies some folks have reported. The only difficulty I had was the inability to log in with the firmware utility (solved by using a different email account than the one I registered at DJI with).

Now I expect to end up destitute after being fired because all my time is spent flying or reading this forum.

I fly regularly above 11,000 ft AMSL and have never actually flown below 8,000 with either the P1 or the Vision and both work great. The vision gets a solid 20 minutes of flight time in warmer temps and drops to about 17 in cold temps.

Have fun.....

kto10 · Jun 5, 2014

I just added FPV to my P2 H3-3D (DJI ALV58 and OSD mini with FPV HUB). I am flying at 5600 ft. MSL @ 96 degrees, density altitude of 9600. The P2 now seems to have trouble maintaining a stable altitude (wonders up and down several feet). Does anyone know if this is normal after adding the additional weight of the FPV equip? Should I update the firmware and re-calibrate? Any input would be great.