Safe maximum wind speed to fly P3
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msinger
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I don't fly when the wind is over 10 MPH. Other people have no problem flying in 20 MPH winds. It really depends on your skill and comfort levels.
I flew it downwind one day a fair distance, and then the wind picked up and I could only inch it back home. Ran out of battery and self landed in an empty field on another's property. Managed to track it down from its last GPS location.
Silly man. Live and learn.
Silly man. Live and learn.
I believe the manual doesn't recommend anything over 20 mph. Keep in mind, the higher you go, chances are--the stronger the wind. http://www.uavforecast.com/ gives estimates for your location at specified altitudes. If you're flying downwind and winds aloft are over 35mph, good luck getting it home. Though the first thing to do in that case, is lower your altitude as much as you can--which can make a significant difference.
After reading this thread, I went out to do some experiments. My data comes from a P3 with prop guards. Checked windspeed on-line, several different sources, at 18 MPH, or 8 m/s. This is fairly typical for where I live. All of this is in GPS mode (I'm a new flyer, and only now exploring flight modes other than GPS).
My discussion will be in m/s for the most part, but I'll switch back the MPH at the end.
Going downwind, the quad was doing 12.4 m/s groundspeed. This velocity appears to be limited by DJI in the GPS mode, as the windspeed was only 4.4 m/s. In reviewing the video, the prop guards are barely visible in the video, so the quad wasn't "leaning" much to go forward.
Going upwind, the quad was doing 9.3 m/s groundspeed. The airspeed was 17.3 m/s (39 MPH with prop guards!). In the video I'm seeing a LOT of prop guard, and watching the quad from the ground..... it is really leaning into the wind.
Of course, when it's blowing, there are at least two big worries. The first is not getting blown away, the second is running out of battery.
If I assume that 17.3 m/s is the best she can do as airspeed, then here are a couple of benchmarks for amusement.
At ~25 MPH wind, the max speed (groundspeed) upwind is down to 1/2 of normal speed.
In terms of how long does it take to fly back home if you have to fly against the wind?
At 10 MPH wind, it takes the normal time in GPS mode.
At 20 MPH wind, it takes 1.5X the normal time.
At 25 MPH wind, 2X.
At 30 MPH wind, 3X.
At 35 MPH wind, 8X (good luck with that)
Obviously, the prop guards make the quad feel the wind more, and slow the maximum airspeed, so for folks flying without guards, your numbers would be a bit higher on max airspeed. I've read reports of 45 MPH airspeed in ATTI mode- that seems very believable to me given what I've just measured.
Like so many things in this hobby, the answer to the question of max wind to fly safely depends upon our definition of how much risk we are comfortable with. For me, 10 MPH is totally easy, I'll fly in 20 MPH (at elevation, not at ground level where the wind is much lower), but don't feel comfortable flying at wind speeds higher than that.
If the data is accurate, and ~40 MPH is the max air speed of these quads, then the math says that the risk goes way up at wind speeds of 30MPH or above.
My discussion will be in m/s for the most part, but I'll switch back the MPH at the end.
Going downwind, the quad was doing 12.4 m/s groundspeed. This velocity appears to be limited by DJI in the GPS mode, as the windspeed was only 4.4 m/s. In reviewing the video, the prop guards are barely visible in the video, so the quad wasn't "leaning" much to go forward.
Going upwind, the quad was doing 9.3 m/s groundspeed. The airspeed was 17.3 m/s (39 MPH with prop guards!). In the video I'm seeing a LOT of prop guard, and watching the quad from the ground..... it is really leaning into the wind.
Of course, when it's blowing, there are at least two big worries. The first is not getting blown away, the second is running out of battery.
If I assume that 17.3 m/s is the best she can do as airspeed, then here are a couple of benchmarks for amusement.
At ~25 MPH wind, the max speed (groundspeed) upwind is down to 1/2 of normal speed.
In terms of how long does it take to fly back home if you have to fly against the wind?
At 10 MPH wind, it takes the normal time in GPS mode.
At 20 MPH wind, it takes 1.5X the normal time.
At 25 MPH wind, 2X.
At 30 MPH wind, 3X.
At 35 MPH wind, 8X (good luck with that)
Obviously, the prop guards make the quad feel the wind more, and slow the maximum airspeed, so for folks flying without guards, your numbers would be a bit higher on max airspeed. I've read reports of 45 MPH airspeed in ATTI mode- that seems very believable to me given what I've just measured.
Like so many things in this hobby, the answer to the question of max wind to fly safely depends upon our definition of how much risk we are comfortable with. For me, 10 MPH is totally easy, I'll fly in 20 MPH (at elevation, not at ground level where the wind is much lower), but don't feel comfortable flying at wind speeds higher than that.
If the data is accurate, and ~40 MPH is the max air speed of these quads, then the math says that the risk goes way up at wind speeds of 30MPH or above.
Checked maximum recorded speed on P3 in GPS mode without prop guards. On a 2 km run across water, with a 7 MPH crosswind, the P3 was showing 14.6 MPH.
So, for what it's worth, it looks like DJI prop guards reduce top speed in GPS mode from 14.6 to 12.4 MPH, or just under 20% reduction in top end.
So, for what it's worth, it looks like DJI prop guards reduce top speed in GPS mode from 14.6 to 12.4 MPH, or just under 20% reduction in top end.
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