3.5 miles out and back again with the Phantom 3 Standard

[NG Phantom]

A personal best range and distance that was achieved a few weeks ago.
This was a waypoint mission using Litchi.
Farthest waypoint was 3.5 miles or 5.7 km away.
Total distance was 7 miles or 11.4 km or 37,400 ft.

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[Deleted member 62848]

A personal best range and distance that was achieved a few weeks ago.
This was a waypoint mission using Litchi.
Farthest waypoint was 3.5 miles or 5.7 km away.
Total distance was 7 miles or 11.4 km or 37,400 ft.

Next target: 40,000 ft

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Great stuff,that certainly a visual line of sight flight ,glad it make back ok
Losing sight off me drone or losing me drone would kill me so do keep mine on a leash but nice flight and scenery,
Take care ay

 

[3rdof5]

I was like how did u get that much range with a P3S remote??? But then I read it way a Litchi waypoint mission lol.

 

[LarBear360]

You are a lucky man to have made it back!

 

[Pharm]

Wonderful!

 

[Bears Fan]

WOW!....Great distance!....

 

[IslaJim]

Newby here, please explain "waypoint mission"? ( disregard, I went out to the Litchi site, more stuff to learn! )
Very cool. congratulations. I am a new pilot stretching my boundaries, about 12 flights ( after 8 hours on the simulator). Pushed out to 3500 feet away yesterday, p4 adv. Flying offshore where I live. I'm about 12 flights in. There was a sailboat offshore I was using as a reference point onscreen, that I could see from the low cliff where I take off. A little nerve wracking but very fun. Really impressed by the technology.

 

[Deezbs]

Amazing. Now you're just like ten million other people who can hold the right stick up.

 

[3rdof5]

Newby here, please explain "waypoint mission"? ( disregard, I went out to the Litchi site, more stuff to learn! )
Very cool. congratulations. I am a new pilot stretching my boundaries, about 12 flights ( after 8 hours on the simulator). Pushed out to 3500 feet away yesterday, p4 adv. Flying offshore where I live. I'm about 12 flights in. There was a sailboat offshore I was using as a reference point onscreen, that I could see from the low cliff where I take off. A little nerve wracking but very fun. Really impressed by the technology.

Yes those first flights (particularly over water) are definitely nervous ones! Been there!!! Welcome to the club!!!

 

[UAP Tic Tac]

Adrenaline

 

[NG Phantom]

Adrenaline

Adrenaline levels were not too bad during that flight but this changed about 25 minutes later.

I ran the same mission 3 times in a row, leaving what I thought was my best battery until last.
1st mission came back as "going home" but wasn't sure at that time if it had made the max distance because Smart RTH often kicks in on the return leg of the journey.
The 2nd mission was the one shown in the video which I knew had completed the distance because the Litchi app still displayed "Navi" and the phantom had descended to the last waypoint.
I wasn't 100% happy with the 2nd mission because I had noticed a shaky camera/gimbal on lift-off so wasn't sure if this had badly affected the video. Also, the video feed wasn't as good as it can be sometimes.
For those reasons I ran the mission for the 3rd time.

Normally I lose signal for about 8-9 minutes, sometimes I get a green light back on the controller slightly before the video feed returns.
As I was using my "best" battery for this 3rd mission I expected to complete it just as easily as the 2nd.

I lose signal around the point of it reaching the river so from that time I'm watching the clock.
8 minutes without signal becomes... 9.....10.....11......12.....now I'm wishing I'd brought spare underpants.
I'm thinking bird strike, catastrophic motor failure, convinced that something had gone very wrong.
It was after about 12m 30s I decided to text the attached tracker for a GPS position.
At this point I'm just hoping that I get a reply. If I don't then the trackers been destroyed by a fall or maybe its in the river.
About 30-40 seconds later I hear the notification sound on my phone and a set of GPS map co-ordinates appear.
I was about to check them on the map when suddenly I glanced up and saw the drone appear on the horizon about 300m away shining in the sunlight ?

When I got back I checked the videos.
All 3 missions had made the max distance.
1st mission had Smart RTH kick in about 700 mtrs into the return leg.
2nd mission completed as in the video.
On the 3rd mission it reached the max distance, turned around and then about 2 seconds later it stopped again and the Smart RTH kicked in.
It travelled the 3.5 miles back at the RTH speed of about 33km/h instead of the programmed 48km/h.
I ended up with no signal for over 13 minutes.
I did get the signal back but only after rebooting the Litchi app just before landing.
So, what did I learn from this experience ?
Battery performance can vary

 

[skiptv]

A Litchi Mission/Waypoint Mission, is not a distant mission, its AI Flight. The flight dated is stored to the drone, thus its flying itself and not connected to the controller. As for flying a drone so far away you can not see it... most of the pros here no how utterly stupid that is. If I have to explain why its stupid, then you have already figured it out yourself by asking the question.

 

[NG Phantom]

A Litchi Mission/Waypoint Mission, is not a distant mission, its AI Flight. The flight dated is stored to the drone, thus its flying itself and not connected to the controller. As for flying a drone so far away you can not see it... most of the pros here no how utterly stupid that is. If I have to explain why its stupid, then you have already figured it out yourself by asking the question.

Does flying within VLOS mean that there's no risk of a drone suffering motor failure and dropping onto someone's head ?
Does VLOS prevent a bird strike ?
I've seen many videos where drone accidents/malfunctions happen well within VLOS.
I've just watched a video on this forum where a guy had his drone fall out of the sky for no apparent reason narrowly missing pedestrians and cars. He was only about 10-15 metres from it when it hit the ground.
Every time we fly there is a risk - it's about minimising those risks.
I planned my flight carefully, deliberately planning the route so it would be flying over empty fields when I had no signal. I was flying at a safe altitude but high enough to avoid obstacles. I also know the area well which makes planning easier.
If we all decided that the risk level must be 0% then none of us would ever take-off again.

 

[FliteDoc]

The way you titled the video it looks likes you climbed to 37,400 ft. !!

 

[bdooley]

Does flying within VLOS mean that there's no risk of a drone suffering motor failure and dropping onto someone's head ?
Does VLOS prevent a bird strike ?
I've seen many videos where drone accidents/malfunctions happen well within VLOS.
I've just watched a video on this forum where a guy had his drone fall out of the sky for no apparent reason narrowly missing pedestrians and cars. He was only about 10-15 metres from it when it hit the ground.
Every time we fly there is a risk - it's about minimising those risks.
I planned my flight carefully, deliberately planning the route so it would be flying over empty fields when I had no signal. I was flying at a safe altitude but high enough to avoid obstacles. I also know the area well which makes planning easier.
If we all decided that the risk level must be 0% then none of us would ever take-off again.

You are so misguided that I am not going to waste my time pointing out where your twisted logic is wrong. Something tells me that you would not listen to why flights like this are so wrong.

 

[skymonkey]

You are so misguided that I am not going to waste my time pointing out where your twisted logic is wrong. Something tells me that you would not listen to why flights like this are so wrong.

It is these types of post that encourages others to not follow the rules and do as they wish without regard to why the regulations were written.
What surprises me more is why others who do think like us stay silent.

 

[NG Phantom]

You are so misguided that I am not going to waste my time pointing out where your twisted logic is wrong. Something tells me that you would not listen to why flights like this are so wrong.

Just wondering, what is your opinion regarding the flying of drones over built-up urban areas well within VLOS ?
Surely this is far more risky to public safety and we see drone pilots doing this in many videos both recreationally and commercially.
I know that you could argue that the pilot has remote control but this still does not rule out the risk of unforseen events such as drone malfunction or bird strike.
The only risk in my video was something unusual like that happening.
Everything else had been carefully planned and thought through - safe altitude, no obstacles, ideal weather conditions, I flew over only one property at the minimum required 50m, most of the flight was over empty fields, and I even got permission from the land owner to do so, etc etc.
If you watch the video you'll see that I had full control on both legs of the journey in the areas that mattered most, ie, the main road and in and around the take-off/landing area.
I even chose a time to fly when the football pitches were not in use.
I didn't fly into an unknown area without permission or disregard for public safety

 

[bdooley]

Agreed, one newbie posted above he is starting to contemplate flights like this with only 12 flights under his belt.

I was kinda surprised that more folks have not spoken up yet too. I am sure others will chime in before too long.

 

[NG Phantom]

Agreed, one newbie posted above he is starting to contemplate flights like this with only 12 flights under his belt.

I was kinda surprised that more folks have not spoken up yet too. I am sure others will chime in before too long.

If you check IslaJim's post again you'd realise that he's flying offshore.
Unless there's a regatta taking place, I'm sure he'd be putting the public at minimum or no risk.

 

[bdooley]

So did your planning include clearing the airspace of helicopters and civilian aircraft? Three miles out how would you know if a helicopter was about to overtake you from behind or from the side? Google "see and avoid" and you will find out what your responsibilities are as a drone pilot in the eyes of the FAA.

Just because you see videos out there all the time doesn't make them safe and legal drone flights. There are a ton of videos out there of illegal flights.

You said you were flying a Phantom. Are you aware of the fact that you or your drone needs to be registered with the FAA depending on whether your flight was a commercial or hobbyist flight?