Range Anxiety - What's your comfort range?

[aka1ceman]

These things fail all the time - boards, motors, software and wiring. I would bet that your car is a bit more reliable than any flying device made in China. It is not the pilot. I have flown 90 size helis at 100 mph for years. I know very well how to handle these devices; however, I also know these things do COME DOWN all of the time- many times, not the fault of the VERY EXPERIENCED pilot. Enough said!

And as an experienced pilot, you would know how to minimize casualties, and put it down in a safe spot attempting to prevent hurt to innocent people. Am I saying there will never be a casualty,? No. Has you cannot say that about any helicopter, auto, or anything else for that matter. And just because you are a pilot, not all pilots agree with your standpoint. I have three that I was with today that completely disagree with you.

Bottom line.... Once you take off with your UAV, you have to be willing to accept whatever responsibilities happen. Whether it is at 100 foot 4000 foot, in the woods, or in populated areas. No different than driving a car, you have to accept responsibility for what you and that vehicle does, And know what's at stake every time you use it.

 

[craignum1]

I go two to three miles all the time, no worries. I'll be flying in Huntington Beach Southern California all weekend if anyone wants to join me

 

[aka1ceman]

In a 6000 ft radius and 20 min battery, I saw approx 2 people in a 200 house waterfront neighborhood I live in. The odds of that would be about 2 in 113,040,000 of actually hitting them.


Just understand that your UAV is an extension of you and your responsible for what it does as well as any and all damage.

 

[CenLA]

So it's winter now and the oak trees are free of leaves. Here in Louisiana I have lots of forested area and swamps I want to fly but I'm worried about signal degradation. Should that be a concern? As the trees bud again in Spring will the range diminish?

 

[Wacker2611]

So it's winter now and the oak trees are free of leaves. Here in Louisiana I have lots of forested area and swamps I want to fly but I'm worried about signal degradation. Should that be a concern? As the trees bud again in Spring will the range diminish?

It will, if you're not high enough. If you get a good Winters day it's the best time to fly, with dry air and no leaves you'll get better range!

 

[alokbhargava]

So it's winter now and the oak trees are free of leaves. Here in Louisiana I have lots of forested area and swamps I want to fly but I'm worried about signal degradation. Should that be a concern? As the trees bud again in Spring will the range diminish?

I don't think that should be of any concern. Humidity is pretty low in winters and you will get good range.and you can always check signal strength on your controller.

 

[phantom13flyer]

Yes you will get better range when the leaves are down. Leaves of course have a high water content and water is a signal killer.

 

[Barrattrn]

Yes, when flying in my neighborhood this happens sometimes (behind trees, etc). However, I don't worry too much because I know that my RTH height is set correctly for the area. Biggest problem is people not realizing how tall stuff really is and once that RTH kicks in and clearly not LOS, perhaps you didn't realize there was a 90ft oak tree in that guy's back yard. Just think before you fly and it'll be easier on the nerves. And trust in the bird... these P3's are so far ahead of the P2's I rarely worry about it not coming home if I go out too far. have fun!

This is why I always set my RTH on the highest setting. Then you don't have to worry about it. I had a bebop drone before and I was always afraid it was going to hit something because the RTH height was much less (granted it was much less stable at higher altitudes, which is one reason I changed drones)

 

[JFHughes08088]

Longest flight to date =10,000 feet out. Battery level turned her around like to good little bird she is. Strange that when she came back, still had 40% left Probably could have gone a bit farther before losing video but not much. Stock P3A with windsurfer

 

[GadgetGuy]

These things fail all the time - boards, motors, software and wiring. I would bet that your car is a bit more reliable than any flying device made in China. It is not the pilot. I have flown 90 size helis at 100 mph for years. I know very well how to handle these devices; however, I also know these things do COME DOWN all of the time- many times, not the fault of the VERY EXPERIENCED pilot. Enough said!

Sounds like you have an issue with China. Over 95% of all crashes are due to pilot error. Even real planes crash, and do a heck of a lot more damage when they do, and they are flown over people all the time! Not a single hobbyist flown drone fatality has ever been documented. Aside from infant mortality, which is quickly ascertained after the first few flights, DJI P3's are not just dropping from the sky. I have over 190 flights on mine over 2 million feet and 30 hours, and still going strong. They aren't perfect, but they are pretty darn close! Car accidents and fatalities are 100x more likely than a drone incident! Better confine all car driving to empty parking lots, just to be safe, though!

 

[phantom1972]

I go two to three miles all the time, no worries. I'll be flying in Huntington Beach Southern California all weekend if anyone wants to join me

Ib go this far away ALL the time, with no worries. I've lost signal LOADS of time and it always starts coming home. "Being legal" by being able to see a speck in the distance is laughable. Set your return to home altitude at the highest obstacle you coils encounter, plus a safety margin. Don't just crank it up to the max.

My long range FOV flights are entertaining. Don't fly over crowds of people, because a failure could bring your bird down. Other than that I'd bet $1,000 anytime that my P4 or P3P WILL come home following loss of signal. It happens almost everytime I fly. I'm a range junkie.

 

[olof Ekbergh]

Ib go this far away ALL the time, with no worries. I've lost signal LOADS of time and it always starts coming home. "Being legal" by being able to see a speck in the distance is laughable. Set your return to home altitude at the highest obstacle you coils encounter, plus a safety margin. Don't just crank it up to the max.

My long range FOV flights are entertaining. Don't fly over crowds of people, because a failure could bring your bird down. Other than that I'd bet $1,000 anytime that my P4 or P3P WILL come home following loss of signal. It happens almost everytime I fly. I'm a range junkie.

The big problem with out of visual range and you if have no visual on the MR or the airspace around it, is you can't see if another manned aircraft like a helicopter or low flying plane is in the area. Med Evac helis fly everywhere at any time, and you are required to get out of their way.

If your MR is out of sight, you have no 360º visibility of the surrounding airspace and you could easily cause a tragic incident or a close call that hurts this hobby. A heli could be on the ground and take off or approach the MR fast from any direction w/o you being aware. This is true in rural settings as well. In farm country there are often Ag Spraying planes that fly very low and they have the right of way.

So it is not just keeping an eye on the MR it is also part of the rules to stay out of the way of any manned aircraft. Your best tool for spotting low flying aircraft are your ears, flying far away you can't hear approaching aircraft if they are low, and like I said Ag Planes fly legally as low as 8' above the ground and often climb really fast to make a turn and then are quickly back on the deck for another pass.

Have fun, but lets be safe. And make sure this hobby does not get shut down all together by stupid actions. In the future there will probably be transponders available to make out of visual range flying possible safely, but at this time it is against the rules and a bad idea in the first place.

I think we should discourage all bad habits on these boards as a lot of new pilots are reading these forums to get better at the hobby.

Remember in the USA you agreed to abide by the rules when you registered your MR.

 

[Wmich06]

I recently purchased a p3a and have only been able to safely get 1000 ft of distance before I start getting the weak image transmission error. I updated the drone to the latest firmware but haven't been able to get the RC updated. Could that possibly be the issue? Flys great until I get around 1000ft out, calibrate each time and have even tried over water.

 

[Great_Lakes]

I get nervous when I can't see it or hear it, and I fly out in the countryside over farm fields where there are absolutely no obstacles to get in the way of line of sight! But that's just me. I've only had mine about 1/3 mile away and that's far enough for me. I know it's supposed to RTH if the signal is lost, but I guess I really am a whimp about it.

 

[peter west nz]

I regularly fly up to 2km over the sea. I make a radio call beforehand though, just in case there is someone around doing a bit of [illegal] flow flying. As a pilot, I know how tempting it can be with a beautiful coastline & not much traffic.

 

[olof Ekbergh]

I regularly fly up to 2km over the sea. I make a radio call beforehand though, just in case there is someone around doing a bit of [illegal] flow flying. As a pilot, I know how tempting it can be with a beautiful coastline & not much traffic.

There is nothing illegal about a manned aircraft flying 8' or less above the ocean or a lake. There is no minimum altitude for aircraft. The only rule is 500' from any person or property, that is distance, not AGL.

I often fly my Cardinal 100' or less above water.

Also what frequency do you announce your intentions on? A local unicom freq., local approach freq. or 123.45? There is no guarantee anyone is listening to a set frequency just flying around like we often do in small planes. If we are monitoring a frequency it is hard to choose one that everyone is listening to, other than 121.50 and you should definitely stay of that and 243.00.

VFR flight is see and avoid. And you can't see a small UAV from a plane until you are very close.

 

[skipilot1]

You mentioned you were a former pilot so it intrigues me as to why you would be lazy about setting your RTH settings accordingly. Aren't you used to checklists and flights plans prior to every flight? Same should apply when flying the Phantom don't you think?

I use 80 meters (about 250 feet) but I live in an area with hills and high trees. I would guess between the hills and trees, the highest possible natural obstruction is about 150 feet. As a former pilot, I like altitude. If you have some kind of problem, altitude is your friend. You can have a battery problem or some other error that causes it to start dropping. I have had it tell me the battery is low and it will now auto land. Looking at the battery stats, including the voltage on each cell, I could tell the app had the error so I hit the throttle and climbed back up and flew home. If it is about photography I want to be lower but at that point I am going slow and hovering around my point or area of interest. If I am cruising, I will go from 120 meters on up. I want the altitude so I have time to make decisions instead of freaking out and doing all the things that people do when they write on this forum about how they crashed their bird. When a pilot (drone or airplane) starts to have a problem, the first answer is altitude. If something strange happens, automatically push that throttle, breath deeply and start analyzing all your sensor data before taking any action.

I once got excited and went out too far (5000 meters) and should have had enough power to get back home except I did not account for the headwind which I normally do. I got back with 7 per cent on the battery and the only reason was that I was at 500 meters on my way home. It won't happen again, but I am glad I had the altitude because as you are dropping, you are also moving forward. Think of it as a glide path.