P4 compass calibration every time

[Flying Dre]

I know there was some discussion in various forums about this. I would like to revisit this topic specifically for P4. How important is compass calibration before each flight, provided the compass status is normal, green lights etc.? Also what is specifically meant by the "new flight location". For example if you flying your bird in different areas of the same national park. The reason I'm asking this is that sometimes you want to do your checks and take off your bird quickly before you get the bystanders gathered up watching your little dance with the drone.

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[Rapfife]

Be careful about flying in National Parks. We all are tempted , but you will get cited. Looks bad on all drone owners.

 

[Meta4]

How important is compass calibration before each flight, provided the compass status is normal, green lights etc.? Also what is specifically meant by the "new flight location"

Experience has shown that you can go months without recalibrating your Phantom.
This thread explains what compass calibration is about and when it is necessary: Compass Calibration, A Complete Primer
Repeated unnecessary calibration introduces the risk of giving your Phantom a bad compass calibration like this guy did:

 

[Flying Dre]

I'm in Australia and drone rules here are more relaxed than those in the US (at least for now) that said, I only used national park as an example of the same geographical area.

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[Rapfife]

Ah, Ok, Now I'm Jealous.

 

[CThruU]

Experience has shown that you can go months without recalibrating your Phantom.
This thread explains what compass calibration is about and when it is necessary: Compass Calibration, A Complete Primer
Repeated unnecessary calibration introduces the risk of giving your Phantom a bad compass calibration like this guy did:

Exactly the behavior I noticed from my P4 on the hospital Helipad, as pointed out to me in that thread. Very helpful info. A lot to take into consideration each time you fly.

 

[jwt873]

Also what is specifically meant by the "new flight location".

They don't specify... FWIW, since I got my P4 in April, I only calibrated it once (prior to my first flight) and haven't done it since.

I've got over 120 flights on the log now. Also, during this time I've gone as far as 30 miles (50 Km) from where the initial calibration was done without experiencing any problems.

 

[Flying Dre]

Ah, Ok, Now I'm Jealous.

Don't be. Overall similar restrictions apply e.g within visual line of sight, below 400 ft AGL,
during the day,more than 30 m away from anyone who is not directly associated with the operation, not in populous area, 5kms from airports etc. But we don't need to register the drone under 2kg with FAA (CASA in our case here) for recriational use. There is no specific regulation for National Parks as long as the above is met. Some national parks are vast areas that don't only have boardwalks. So if they restricted that, then all you'd be left with is your own backyard, which would also be forbidden because it's in the populous area. For example, I filmed in Great Ocean Road over the weekend, I filmed early in the morning with no people around and as far away from the main tourist area as possible. Took this photo there

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[Flying Dre]

Thanks for your helpful replies guys!

 

[tcope]

Calibration is needed when the magnetic north changes based on the drones location. This is going to vary most when moving east and west. There is no set amount but I'd venture to say it's a good 100-200 miles, certainly more if just moving north and south.

IMHO it's not a good idea to recalibrate unless you move 100 miles or so. Doing it often (such as before every flight in the same area) opens the door for the possibility that something goes wrong and the recalibration was not correct. Once it's done and there are no issues, leave it locked like that.

But to each their own.

 

[Flying Dre]

Repeated unnecessary calibration introduces the risk of giving your Phantom a bad compass calibration

If this is true, I wish DJI made this clear, as most of us would calibrate often thinking we are doing the right thing when in the actual fact it could be the other way around

 

[Lerroy]

Don't be. Overall similar restrictions apply e.g within visual line of sight, below 400 ft AGL,
during the day,more than 30 m away from anyone who is not directly associated with the operation, not in populous area, 5kms from airports etc. But we don't need to register the drone under 2kg with FAA (CASA in our case here) for recriational use. There is no specific regulation for National Parks as long as the above is met. Some national parks are vast areas that don't only have boardwalks. So if they restricted that, then all you'd be left with is your own backyard, which would also be forbidden because it's in the populous area. For example, I filmed in Great Ocean Road over the weekend, I filmed early in the morning with no people around and as far away from the main tourist area as possible. Took this photo there View attachment 61406


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There are strict rules in place in nsw national parks to fly you need to have permission, commercialy you need to be casa approved Drones in Parks Policy | NSW Environment & Heritage

In the northern territory they are banned in big national parks like Ayers Rock, there are signs upon entering warning you that drone use is not allowed.

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[Flying Dre]

There are strict rules in place in nsw national parks

Yeah, I read this about NSW national parks.. In Victoria the rules are not as clear. But how does one define national park boundary? For example, where I was filming in Great Ocean road - I was about 5 km away from Twelve Apostles Marine park, in the early hours of the morning and there was not a single person or cars around (see my photo). One has to be a complete idiot to film in this actual park anyway as it is packed with people and there are helicopters taking off and landing every few minutes, taking tourists to scenic flights. I think a lot of it is common sense.