Hi
As a newbie to this lark I am hoping someone can answer a couple of questions please.
1: When you get wind speed from Drone Buddy or the like, up to what altitude is that reliable as surely the wind gets stronger as you go higher, what strength wind would you stop flying in?
2: I just connected a iPad mini but it doesn’t have a data connection, if I am not connected to WiFi will the drone still get a RTH or will it use the last stored RTH?
Cheers and apologies if they appear stupid questions.
I use the rule of thumb that flying altitude is 2X the wind ground speed. My cutoff is 14mph ground speed. My opinion is that 25-30 mph wind speeds aloft are too risky for my $$$drones.
Your only connection needed is the controller>drone.
Well, in my opinion, it depends on what drone you are flying, some are better equipped to withstand greater wind gusts than others. A Mavic Mini is not going to fight wind like a Mavic 2 Pro/Zoom could.
As a rule, I use UAV Forecast to check the wind profile and forecast at the location I plan to fly. its part of my pre-flight checklist. That app is available on Android and iOS, asd also on the web. Another good resource is Windy, again, a cross platform app and website. I use both. I always check 50meters and 120 meters and decide accordingly. Anything over 22MPH and I am not going there. I use a Spark currently.
As for your RTH question, the GPS data for RTH is recorded within the drone, its not dependent on your mobile device. When you take off, listen for the “The Home Point has beeen Recorded” voice prompts from the Go4 app, and then you are safe to fly your intended course. Again, best to take off and rise about 30 feet or 10m and then hover over your home point for 20 seconds… then go.
Hope this helps. There are no stupid questions really… and folks here like to help.
Welcome to the forum… as Goinup said, these are expensive drones, not toys, so attention to all this safety stuff protects you, your investment, and those around where you fly.
There is no such thing as a stupid question. Different drones can withstand different wind speeds. I use an app called UAV forecast. It tells me the wind speed at 400’.
I am flying a Phantom 4 Pro. It can fly in wind speeds up to 20mph. I prefer to fly when the wind speed is less than that because it is more stable and allows for better photographs. I have flown it at very low altitudes 10 to 20 feet and not more than 100 feet away when there have been wind gusts up to 30 mph at 400’.
As long as your ipad mini is connected to your controller you should have no problem with RTH. Make sure your RTH altitude is set high enough to avoid all obstacles in the area. I was flying yesterday and my drone lost connection to my controller. The signal got broken somehow. The drone automatically went into RTH mode and landed safely. Fly Safe.
Hello, no worries, there are no stupid questions. Only stupid people that don’t ask them. And I definitely have to say depends on the aircraft on the two questions on point number one. Don’t fly too high, be aware of the aircraft in the area before you start the motors and cant hear. I have been in this hobby since the very beginning and I have several hundred hours of experience. And I can tell you for example I like to fly the phantom more than my Mavic because it just feels that the phantom has more authority in the air. The Mavic stays put in a windy scenario, but I wouldn’t fit 5he Mavic if it’s 20+ miles an hour (just ask Siri or Google assistant on your phone hey Siri what is the current wind speed). I would advice to be away from people and cars (even parked cars) when you first start the drone. 99% of the times a motor, esc, or anything that fails fails, happens when you first start it. I was very close to hitting a Ferrari on take off one time. I manage to steer the crash away from that car. And the owner was right there too. And I have a cousin that lost two finger tips trying to catch a drone in the air. So I advise you, specially if the wheelbase is 650+ (bigger than phantom). Let it take off and land on a dust free slab of concrete. As far as point number two, there are two different rth modes, dynamic, and static. Static, don’t move, dynamic it’s the actual controller. Now as far as the wifi question, it depends what drone you fly, but I’m gonna guess Mavic or something. So the phone connects physically to the controller, and you can think of it as the TV Ur hooking up to your Xbox. The phone only displays the telemetry (all the information gathered from drones sensors, like altitude, GPS, etc) and also the video feed. So unless you are downloading an update, your wifi or lte status makes no difference once the drone has started. It’s only a TV, the remote is what communicates with aircraft. To change the rth mode you either press it or look it up in the settings menu.
Hope I was able to help somehow. Fly safe and have fun! Also take care and have a good one and be safe, lol
Good luck!
