Any advice for flying near piles of metal junk ?

[blomdido]

I plan to fly down from a Hill to a large Tower. An Old disused Limeworks in Betchworth, Surrey. Then I plan to fly through a large hole, out the other side. Ascend then engage point of interest to circle tower from above & pull away to High altitude.
I am going to practise flying through hole on a Rugby pitch, using posts & marked out areas. Until I am confident yo do it for real.
The thing I am worried about is what effect all the metal around drone as it passes through hold may have. Any advice on settings to ensure safe flight ? Should I calibrate compass well away from tower ? See pics.

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[Meta4]

Should I calibrate compass well away from tower ?

Easy one first ... yes of course.
You never calibrate the compass anywhere that the earth's normal magnetic field could be contaminated by large iron or steel objects.
And you don't need to recalibrate the Phantom's compass anyway. Get a good calibration and stick with it.

I plan to fly down from a Hill to a large Tower. An Old disused Limeworks in Betchworth, Surrey. Then I plan to fly through a large hole, out the other side. Ascend then engage point of interest to circle tower from above & pull away to High altitude.
I am going to practise flying through hole on a Rugby pitch, using posts & marked out areas. Until I am confident yo do it for real.
The thing I am worried about is what effect all the metal around drone as it passes through hold may have. Any advice on settings to ensure safe flight ?

Looking at the photos, the iron doors on the kilns don't look big enough to be much of a problem themselves.
Is there much more iron or steel than can be seen in the pics?
GPS is likely to be more of an issue as while in the tunnel, your Phantom will have lost its view of the sky so you will have to go through in atti mode.

 

[blomdido]

Thanks for the advice. I shall practice flying through an area in atti mode similar in size. You probably can't see in pics, but there are kiln doors all the way up the tower all round.
Apart from scaffolding at top of tower, and the other kiln doors I mentioned. Not really anything else to worry about.


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[matti]

Do you plan to use propeller guards?

 

[blomdido]

I wasn't going to, but now You mention it. I think that is a Good idea. I shall order some ASAP.


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[Reed L]

Also because, you will lose GPS mode before you enter and will not regain it until after it is far enough away from it to have satellite contact, you will be flying in the dark, completely on your own. So I would turn on VPS and also set your RC to Home Lock so that no matter what way you turn it, forward will always be forward or away from you. This way you can stop safely under the arch and do a 360 without getting lost on which way the bird is facing before flying back out. With VPS turned on you will gain stability and it will maintain altitude and not drift like it will with VPS turned off in the tunnel. As soon as you lose P-GPS mode, if you have VPS turn off or are above 10 feet from the ground, the UAV will start drifting and if you just let go of the sticks it will drift into the wall and crash. In atti mode with varying winds I've had mine drift up to 10mph backwards or sideways depending on the wind. Going into tight quarters will take a lot of practice and be sure that when practicing that you have VPS turn off so you understand the drift completely.

 

[Reed L]

After looking at your pics again, it's going to be a tough flight with all of those bushes out the back side of the kiln.

 

[Air Ontario]

Not too many worries. sounds like you have gotten great advice so far.

Obviously, a reasonably slow fly thru looks to be best bet from the photos.

I may be tempted to fly with VPS off. I wouldn't want any unexpected help as I flew thru.

 

[blomdido]

Great advice everyone. I will definately practice first and get some prop protectors.


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