Riding the storm out

[tobby]

I flew my P3S up to video some cloud to cloud lightning a couple of nights ago. On the ground I could only feel a strong breeze in my face so I wasn't too concerned about my UAV getting pushed around. BIG MISTAKE!

I looked down at my tablet and noticed that there was a lot of prop showing and the bird was moving south without input from me. I pushed the right stick full forward and looked up to see my Phantom headed south while I tried my best to fly it north.

At this point my wife said something and disappeared. I had just watched the quad disappear as well behind the neighbors huge silver maple tree. Without thinking about it I gave the return to home command. Then I realized my RTH altitude was set at 392 feet.

I regained visual contact with my now ascending bird and could see that it was now holding its own against the gusts and maybe even progressing back towards home base. After what seemed an eternity it was above me and I heard the voice prompt tell me it was landing.

I fought the wind during the entire descent right down to 8' AGL where I hand caught it.

It turned out that my loving wife was paying attention to my struggles controlling the bird and took off running after it when the wind took it. She told me that one way or the other she was going to be there when it landed and bring me back my favorite toy. She ran three and a half blocks and never lost visual contact.

It's a good day when you can gain that much experience and still end up with a bird that only needs to be recharged to fly again.

Tobby

P.S. Here is the video of that night. Music is Blue Danube by Strauss.

 

[kptw_pilot]

Common mistake, almost all of us have been there. Winds aloft are always stronger than on the ground. I'm sure you won't do that again!

 

[bow]

Lol you better bring home flowers

 

[royster]

I went through a similar situation today, took off & all was fine till about 30 meters up & I noticed my P3A struggling to keep position & slowly moving away from me! Was a fight to bring her back & land, I;m really amazed at how much wind these birds can handle without breaking a sweat, unlike the pilot,. I was shaking when I finally shut down!

 

[DJS]

A few days ago I decided not to fly when surface winds were at 18 MPH with gusts around 30. After reading these stories I have learned the lesson without living it. I have less than 2 hrs flight time and improving cautiously every day.

 

[MassDrone]

Nearly every time I fly any of my Phantoms, I first test the winds aloft. Usually I start around 200 feet, and briefly put the drone in ATTI mode. As soon as I do this, it begins to drift. I note the direction visually, then look at the display to indicate the MPH. Then I switch back to P mode and bring the drone back overhead. So long as the drift speed isn't too high, I do the same at 300 feet, then 390 feet if needed. It may cost me a couple of minutes from my battery, but I have plenty of batteries to spare. I never get taken by surprise by winds aloft.

 

[DJS]

Nice I'll have to try it.

 

[cheebs]

Lol you better bring home flowers

Flowers, fancy chocolate and a nice dinner at a minimum! To the OP, you are a lucky man, in many different ways.

 

[tobby]

I posted the video in the OP if anyone is interested.

Tobby

 

[jbrown630]

View media item 3247View media item 3246View media item 3245View media item 3244View media item 3243
Had the same experience when I snagged these

Took a whole bunch more. I used the video and then did a frame by frame image export of each strike. Pretty incredible to see each bolt blossom from a glow to a full arc and back.

But back to the OP's experience. I also noticed that the props were starting to appear in the video despite the fact that I was not giving it any right stick, which of course told me it was fighting wind!

I brought her down about 100' and conditions were much better.

 

[tjshelton]

Common mistake, almost all of us have been there. Winds aloft are always stronger than on the ground. I'm sure you won't do that again!

Not only are winds aloft stronger, thunder storms have a strong updraft that can pull your drone to several thousand feet in a matter of minutes. Glad the lesson was learned early...

 

[FlashBuddy]

Ahhh, but regs keep us 500' below and 2000' laterally away from clouds. Is it enough to save us from being sucked up to 18,000'? What altitude do cumulus clouds form at anyway?

 

[tjshelton]

Ahhh, but regs keep us 500' below and 2000' laterally away from clouds. Is it enough to save us from being sucked up to 18,000'? What altitude do cumulus clouds form at anyway?

Regs prevent a lot of things, so do common sense and experience.

 

[dwallersv]

Not sure about P3S speeds, but P4 owners shouldn't forget Sport mode if they find themselves in a situation like this.

 

[Sky Wombat]

Good thing wasn't a fly away lobby otherwise she might still be going.

 

[DatScreamer]

I did the same thing in my first month with the drone. Was looking at screen and getting footage of the sky. Lost connection with bird, then compass error then RTH and the thing was at my local gas station 3 blocks away. Took 15 min to get back though because massive winds.

 

[ianwood]

Understanding weather is important. Rain often causes updrafts, downdrafts and localized winds. Some of these can be very strong and can extend beyond the immediate area. Thunderstorms are especially dangerous.