3.3mi no mods and a brutal cross wind

[Ed209]

Was flying today at my usual spot. Did a test run out to about a mile to check winds...I normally observe outgoing/returning speeds to gauge wind speed. This also involves switching to ATTI mode to see the drift direction. So my test showed 35mph outgoing and 30mph return, PERFECT! I flew 3mi last week in similar conditions and had plenty of battery left. So I came back and set out on a fresh battery. I got to about 3.3mi with no mods and decided to turn around at 70%. I still had full signal and no issues, but for some reason I decided to turn around. Well thank god I did! It seemed like wind farther beyond my testing area was much stronger. I was maxing out at around 20mph on the return and the P3 was having trouble staying on-course (drifting northwest). I managed to land it with about 20% battery left.

 

[Jbundy63]

Glad you made it back, there are a lot of people that don't think about the wind conditions and directions, it will be fairly calm ground level but windy as hell at 400 feet, I switch to Atti mode sometimes to see if there's a lot of drift.

 

[Ed209]

Yeah even despite my tests I didn't know that once I got out of the river area and into the bay, the winds would be stronger. Also a tip to pickup a few MPH is to start your descent sooner...Take a nice glided slope downward instead of flying directly above and dropping down.