Maximum safe wind speed for the Phantom?

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What is the line of wind speed over which you'll not fly your phantom?

Just curious, as we've had some serious (25mph & better) winds here in CO for many days, and I am generally not flying when over 7-10 is forecast.

Since we're at altitude here (over 5K feet, many more when hiking up in the Park - 9 or 10K+ ) we need to be extra careful, as we have less power, less control.

What's your limit?

Thanks for chiming in.
 
Obviously you don't want to fly in winds faster than the Phantom can travel. That said, I've flown in 25-30mph winds before and actually was able to get decent footage. The trick is to fly in ATTI mode and let the wind do the move you want. Just don't let it get too far out! I had one flight that took about 5 minutes for my phantom just to get back because with the wind, it's net speed was only couple mph. That said, under most conditions I usually don't fly if it's over 10mph as it's just not as much fun.
 
laselvasurf said:
Obviously you don't want to fly in winds faster than the Phantom can travel. That said, I've flown in 25-30mph winds before and actually was able to get decent footage. The trick is to fly in ATTI mode and let the wind do the move you want. Just don't let it get too far out! I had one flight that took about 5 minutes for my phantom just to get back because with the wind, it's net speed was only couple mph. That said, under most conditions I usually don't fly if it's over 10mph as it's just not as much fun.
Thanks, that's about what I figure. Maybe a little less at my altitude. Also, I've seen where once you get about 100 feet up, the winds are much stronger than on the ground. I learned that using my "learner" UDI quadcopter, where the wind above a certain level just took it away, and I had to chase it down. Got it back every time, though (so far).
 
DattaGroover said:
laselvasurf said:
Obviously you don't want to fly in winds faster than the Phantom can travel. That said, I've flown in 25-30mph winds before and actually was able to get decent footage. The trick is to fly in ATTI mode and let the wind do the move you want. Just don't let it get too far out! I had one flight that took about 5 minutes for my phantom just to get back because with the wind, it's net speed was only couple mph. That said, under most conditions I usually don't fly if it's over 10mph as it's just not as much fun.
Thanks, that's about what I figure. Maybe a little less at my altitude. Also, I've seen where once you get about 100 feet up, the winds are much stronger than on the ground. I learned that using my "learner" UDI quadcopter, where the wind above a certain level just took it away, and I had to chase it down. Got it back every time, though (so far).

When I bought my Phantom I also bought a weather station http://www.amazon.com/AcuRite-01506...47719&sr=8-6&keywords=acurite+weather+station.

I found that if it is showing an average of 7 mph at ground level that the wind gets stronger the higher you fly and also when you get out in an open area it is higher (there's a large field and pond near where I live - Denver, CO). I'm willing to fly at anything below 10 mph as long as there are no high peak readings above that, but I prefer below 7 mph. This is somewhat predicated on my level of flying experience (a work in progress).
 
I fly in 20mph all the time. However, it's not good for video and not as fun as under 10mph flying.




DattaGroover said:
laselvasurf said:
Obviously you don't want to fly in winds faster than the Phantom can travel. That said, I've flown in 25-30mph winds before and actually was able to get decent footage. The trick is to fly in ATTI mode and let the wind do the move you want. Just don't let it get too far out! I had one flight that took about 5 minutes for my phantom just to get back because with the wind, it's net speed was only couple mph. That said, under most conditions I usually don't fly if it's over 10mph as it's just not as much fun.
Thanks, that's about what I figure. Maybe a little less at my altitude. Also, I've seen where once you get about 100 feet up, the winds are much stronger than on the ground. I learned that using my "learner" UDI quadcopter, where the wind above a certain level just took it away, and I had to chase it down. Got it back every time, though (so far).
 
Your Phantom 1 will fly how you want it to in about 20 mph winds,
but get past that and you're going to get a lot of drifting.
The Phantom 2 will hold it's own in 25 mph winds, but not too much over that.

They can fly at a higher speed than that though, just not necessarily as pretty as you'd like them too. ;)
 
careysb said:
When I bought my Phantom I also bought a weather station http://www.amazon.com/AcuRite-01506...47719&sr=8-6&keywords=acurite+weather+station.

I found that if it is showing an average of 7 mph at ground level that the wind gets stronger the higher you fly and also when you get out in an open area it is higher (there's a large field and pond near where I live - Denver, CO). I'm willing to fly at anything below 10 mph as long as there are no high peak readings above that, but I prefer below 7 mph. This is somewhat predicated on my level of flying experience (a work in progress).
I looked at one of those initially, but thought I could rely on Weather.com, which is not that accurate. I need to take another look at the weather stations. Thanks for the link.

Btw, I live just north of you in Ft. Collins.
 
I've got one of those in the flight case - it works well and takes up little space.

My personal limit for just flying about is about 15mph-20mph steady/25mph gusts measured on the ground - once airborne those obviously increase. My Vision performs remarkably well in those speeds in GPS mode, but as has been said it's not really fun, relaxed flying. Limits for taking decent stills or video are lower than that (much lower until I get a 2-axis gimbal). If the wind is stronger than about 15mph then I fly upwind and operate there, that way the return journey is wind-assisted, just in case!
 
I've flown in very strong winds with my Phantom 1. I can attest that the wind literally blew the Phantom into a flip a handful of times and each time, it just rebalanced itself immediately without losing a beat. Impressed to say the least.
 
thongbong said:
I've flown in very strong winds with my Phantom 1. I can attest that the wind literally blew the Phantom into a flip a handful of times and each time, it just rebalanced itself immediately without losing a beat. Impressed to say the least.
In what kind of wind? Do you know the actual speed?
 
I've flown quite regularly in the 15-20mph range...where I live, if I cut off flying at 10mph, I'd fly about three days a year.

Those handheld wind gauges are with their weight in gold. I bought a pretty good one, a Brunton Sherpa, about...12 years ago? and I depend on it so much I've turned around and gone home to get it before flying when I've forgotten it. It's extremely accurate; I managed an airport for many years, and shortly after getting it I tested it against the airport anemometer (which gives the official wind speed for the airfield:worth several thousand dollars). It was EXACTLY the same, to one decimal point, over nearly an hour of testing.

They're really small, really convenient to use, and so easy to have it hanging around your neck so that you can do a wind check multiple times per flight if you need to. Highly recommend them.
 
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WReimer said:
I bought a pretty good one, a Brunton Sherpa, about... 12 years ago? and I depend on it so much I've turned around and gone home to get it before flying when I've forgotten it.
Thanks for that, but it looks as though they've stopped making them.
 
thongbong said:
I've flown in very strong winds with my Phantom 1. I can attest that the wind literally blew the Phantom into a flip a handful of times and each time, it just rebalanced itself immediately without losing a beat. Impressed to say the least.
Something else to consider: On low battery, the PII just lands as fast as it can safely, if I understand correctly. If it is high up and there is a strong wind, that means it can get blown quite a ways off.

Does that make sense to anyone?
 
DattaGroover said:
thongbong said:
I've flown in very strong winds with my Phantom 1. I can attest that the wind literally blew the Phantom into a flip a handful of times and each time, it just rebalanced itself immediately without losing a beat. Impressed to say the least.
Something else to consider: On low battery, the PII just lands as fast as it can safely, if I understand correctly. If it is high up and there is a strong wind, that means it can get blown quite a ways off.

Does that make sense to anyone?

Yes, which is why you should never let it auto-land on low battery and land yourself manually before it gets to that stage.
 
davemcm said:
DattaGroover said:
thongbong said:
I've flown in very strong winds with my Phantom 1. I can attest that the wind literally blew the Phantom into a flip a handful of times and each time, it just rebalanced itself immediately without losing a beat. Impressed to say the least.
Something else to consider: On low battery, the PII just lands as fast as it can safely, if I understand correctly. If it is high up and there is a strong wind, that means it can get blown quite a ways off.

Does that make sense to anyone?

Yes, which is why you should never let it auto-land on low battery and land yourself manually before it gets to that stage.

Good advice. Which is why I'm getting a iOSD mini, so I can track my battery life from my screen.
 
DattaGroover said:
davemcm said:
DattaGroover said:
thongbong said:
I've flown in very strong winds with my Phantom 1. I can attest that the wind literally blew the Phantom into a flip a handful of times and each time, it just rebalanced itself immediately without losing a beat. Impressed to say the least.
Something else to consider: On low battery, the PII just lands as fast as it can safely, if I understand correctly. If it is high up and there is a strong wind, that means it can get blown quite a ways off.

Does that make sense to anyone?

Yes, which is why you should never let it auto-land on low battery and land yourself manually before it gets to that stage.

Good advice. Which is why I'm getting a iOSD mini, so I can track my battery life from my screen.

Good idea, however unless you actually keep your eye on the battery level it's easy to miss especially if concentrating on flying fpv. It also flashes, but not really enough to grab your attention.

I've started launching the ground station app from my iPad and turning up the volume, as the GS app makes a rather loud alarm sound when it hits the 1st level voltage protection as I kept missing it.
 
davemcm said:
Good idea, however unless you actually keep your eye on the battery level it's easy to miss especially if concentrating on flying fpv. It also flashes, but not really enough to grab your attention.

I've started launching the ground station app from my iPad and turning up the volume, as the GS app makes a rather loud alarm sound when it hits the 1st level voltage protection as I kept missing it.

Good point.

Alternatively, I'm looking into swapping out the stock DJI controller with a Spektrum DX8. I understand it also has settable alarms for battery levels (I would have to swap out the receiver and add a telemetry unit in the Phantom to make it all work). THAT might be the best strategy for me.
 
DattaGroover said:
thongbong said:
I've flown in very strong winds with my Phantom 1. I can attest that the wind literally blew the Phantom into a flip a handful of times and each time, it just rebalanced itself immediately without losing a beat. Impressed to say the least.
In what kind of wind? Do you know the actual speed?

I didn't check, but the wind was strong, stronger than 20mph to be able to flip the Phantom. But that was with the Phantom 1 and Phantom 1 props, the P2 props create more prop wash and it might not be as forgiving.
 

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