Since the one of the most common worst case scenarios for drone flying is the classic ' running out of juice and still over water' pickle a discussion about it produced an interesting(to me anyway)question:
Would flying in ground effect reduce power consumption and thus extend flight range?
For simplicity conditions would be zero windspeed and a lake with mirror calm on the water surface. Also no discernible wind at altitude. I am not sure what height a Phantom would be in ground effect and having just got my P3P back from DJI yesterday after being sans drone for two months I am not going to be risking my gimbal in any experiments. Yet. But I was curious as to whether it would be worth a try as you stand there with sweat puddling up in your shoes trying not to look at your battery meter.
Would flying in ground effect reduce power consumption and thus extend flight range?
For simplicity conditions would be zero windspeed and a lake with mirror calm on the water surface. Also no discernible wind at altitude. I am not sure what height a Phantom would be in ground effect and having just got my P3P back from DJI yesterday after being sans drone for two months I am not going to be risking my gimbal in any experiments. Yet. But I was curious as to whether it would be worth a try as you stand there with sweat puddling up in your shoes trying not to look at your battery meter.
