400 foot?

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So there are some places here in the high country of Colorado 400 feet will not clear the canyon. What do you do, put the altitude ceiling above 400 feet? Really is a problem where I live. Here is 8000 feet above sea level and 400 feet above ground level is not sufficient. To fly to a nice mountain top would be 12,000 or 14,000 feet, above where I am at 8000 well that is a good 2-4 thousand feet, not 400. How do you reconcile that difference?

Just wondering?
 
To do this I had to go above 400 feet above where I took off. How does all this work?

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You should be able to go over any mountain no matter how high staying at 400' AGL. By the math, if a mountain is 12,000' tall, and you fly above it at 12,399 feet, you are still under 400' AboveGROUNDLevel. You may be thinking about Sea Level which would have you flying at 12,399 feet about Sea Level.

Someone can correct me if I am wrong, or over simplifying this.
 
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400ft is where you take off from, so if you are in a valley, 400ft from there, if you are on a mountain top, you can go 400ft from there, so if you took off from the top of the mountain, and went straight up to 400ft, flew forward and straight over a valley and you are 2000ft above ground level, perfectly legal, at least that is how it works here in the UK
 
The P3 Pilot app allows setting the max height above takeoff at 500 meters (1640 ft). According to the manual, if you lose GPS the limit is reduced to 400 ft. Apparently the P3 will start descending in that situation. Good luck if you're 1000 feet up a mountain side, 100 feet above ground level when that happens.

At any rate, the 400 foot limit you seem to be concerned about is the FAA recommdation for "Above Ground Level" where the Phantom is located, not above the takeoff point. So you can climb hills and should adjust accordingly.
 
So I took off and flew about 75-100 feet away and about 200 feet agl. Flew up a couple hundred feet and never got out of the canyon. God forbid I actually went to 750+ and was JUST FINE! 2000 feet away but just fine. Never lost video or much vfr.
 
I don't think I would be able to NOT fly into that cave...even with the knowledge that I will lose my quad, I would still have to do it. Not saying you should...but If you do, please make sure to cache that video!
 
400ft is where you take off from, so if you are in a valley, 400ft from there, if you are on a mountain top, you can go 400ft from there, so if you took off from the top of the mountain, and went straight up to 400ft, flew forward and straight over a valley and you are 2000ft above ground level, perfectly legal, at least that is how it works here in the UK
Are you sure about that? I assume that the 400ft limit is to avoid airplanes that fly as low as 500ft AGL. If a plane flew through that valley at 2000ft that would pose a real danger.
 
In the UK there are no planes that fly as low as that apart from military, and they can fly as low as 100ft but mainly do not go lower than 250ft, so as long as you are flying in an unrestricted fly zone, which is G in the UK and a jet comes flying arouind the corner, that is tough luck, and if there was a collision, it would be no ones fault
 
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My concern would be how high is to high before the air gets so thin the bird can no longer stay aloft.
 
ImageUploadedByPhantomPilots1436715883.172530.jpg

I started at 8900' and went up to the 400' max to take this photo. I was in the Northern Colorado Rockies.
 
So there are some places here in the high country of Colorado 400 feet will not clear the canyon. What do you do, put the altitude ceiling above 400 feet? Really is a problem where I live. Here is 8000 feet above sea level and 400 feet above ground level is not sufficient. To fly to a nice mountain top would be 12,000 or 14,000 feet, above where I am at 8000 well that is a good 2-4 thousand feet, not 400. How do you reconcile that difference?

Just wondering?

The Phantom 3 can fly (altitude limited to 500M or 1,640 feet) above whatever it's starting position is when you power on. So you can start your Phantom on top of a 4,000 foot mountain if you so choose, and fly another 1,640 feet above that.

So basically starting your Phantom 3 from a higher take off point is the only real way to get over very high obstacles such as other mountain tops if that's what you so desire to do.

On a side note there are no laws in the USA saying you can not fly over 400 feet high :p only recommended guidance when flying less than 5 miles of a large active airport or 3 miles of smaller airports.
 
I would figure out a way to get up that mountain to look in that cave, just to make sure the Dutchman didn't hide his gold in there.
 
The Phantom 3 can fly (altitude limited to 500M or 1,640 feet) above whatever it's starting position is when you power on. So you can start your Phantom on top of a 4,000 foot mountain if you so choose, and fly another 1,640 feet above that.

So basically starting your Phantom 3 from a higher take off point is the only real way to get over very high obstacles such as other mountain tops if that's what you so desire to do.

On a side note there are no laws in the USA saying you can not fly over 400 feet high :p only recommended guidance when flying less than 5 miles of a large active airport or 3 miles of smaller airports.

BenDP - Can't you reset the home point of the P3 in the air as we can with the P2? And isn't that operational ceiling something that you can set in the Phantom Assistant SW?

You are correct that there is no FAA rule about flying over 400 ft, just a recommendation. But it applies everywhere, not just near airports.
 
BenDP - Can't you reset the home point of the P3 in the air as we can with the P2? And isn't that operational ceiling something that you can set in the Phantom Assistant SW?

You are correct that there is no FAA rule about flying over 400 ft, just a recommendation. But it applies everywhere, not just near airports.

the 400 foot guidance is only within airport vicinity not everywhere. I've read it, i know it :p

Yeah you can dynamically reset your home position with the Phantom 3 like with the others. Though I'm pretty sure it only zero's out your altitude when you actually do a power cycle. Maybe it can be looked into further if there's a way to zero out the altitude while air born, or maybe if you take off, land at a higher location reset and take off again that might work too.
 
After four wheeling Colorado over forty years I make the following observations:

1. Those miners had nads to pull ore out of some of the holes they made in the mountainsides.

2. Many of them died young.

3. The "view value" of having a drone doesn't increase the visual experience of being in the mountains by very much.

4. I'd go as high as you need to go to be +400 feet over the mountain top. I don't think the FAA is going to make an issue out of it.

5. I wish I was in the high country right now! 105/+humidity out here on the plains, today.

--zigs
 

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