Ascend or descend when you hear aircraft approach ??

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I'm sure this has been discussed before --- but if you are flying your Phantom and you hear an incoming aircraft like a Cessna or helicopter and you think it might be in the flight path --- do you immediately take evasive maneuvers by ascending or descending your machine?

I was flying my P3P at a local park this past weekend and it's surrounded by tall trees on 3 sides. Suddenly, I heard an incoming 2-seat plane roaring over the treetops and over the park at around 400-500 feet AGL and my P3P was about 4000 ft. away from me at around 400 ft. AGL. So naturally, I got very concerned and immediately pulled down the left stick and descended quickly as possible. The plane flew over normally without incident.

But it begs the question when this situation arises --- should you ascend since that is twice as fast rate as descending --- or should you descend since that will get it below minimum AGL for a passing aircraft?
 
Descending would the the safest course of action. However, you also need to consider what altitude you are currently at and your surrounding area.

Yeah it does seem like descending is the right choice --- esp. if the approaching aircraft is still a distance away and you're already hovering at below 400 ft. AGL.
 
I'm sure this has been discussed before --- but if you are flying your Phantom and you hear an incoming aircraft like a Cessna or helicopter and you think it might be in the flight path --- do you immediately take evasive maneuvers by ascending or descending your machine?

I was flying my P3P at a local park this past weekend and it's surrounded by tall trees on 3 sides. Suddenly, I heard an incoming 2-seat plane roaring over the treetops and over the park at around 400-500 feet AGL and my P3P was about 4000 ft. away from me at around 400 ft. AGL. So naturally, I got very concerned and immediately pulled down the left stick and descended quickly as possible. The plane flew over normally without incident.

But it begs the question when this situation arises --- should you ascend since that is twice as fast rate as descending --- or should you descend since that will get it below minimum AGL for a passing aircraft?
Yip I live by airport and often got to desend quick,,going up might make the news,ha,,maybe dji could do something about aircraft alert on remote...hey good idea..:):)
 
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Down is the best option, CSC and ditch if you can't descend fast enough. The whole quadcopter below 400 and full scale AC above 500 is with The intent of maintaining separation to avoid accidents. Climbing to potentially close that gap makes no sense, particularity in the scenario you described when your already at 400ft.
 
Agree with all that descend is the best option. However, I purchased a cheap radio from Amazon (about $80) that I use when flying when near local small airports or major highways/roads. While being outside of flight restricted zones, I know that planes will be coming and going in approach or departure - so I tune the radio to those airport frequencies and listen while flying. However -- our medical service helicopters can be anywhere at any time and we need to be aware of that especially if flying anywhere near a hospital. Case in point -- I was doing a shoot on a large development project (2200 acres) that was about 7 miles from a smaller local airport. I was at about 300 feet doing a property survey pan when I heard this announcement "EMS xxx on approach to xxx airport from 8 miles east at 375'. I did not hear the helicopter nor see it, but descended and landed immediately. Sure enough -- about 5 minutes later -- here it comes heading to that airport right through where I was flying. That little cheapo radio gave me enough advance warning to avoid any issues. We all have to remember that while airplanes can be a somewhat predicable occurrence near local airports, EMS helicopters can be ANYWHERE at ANY altitude for their emergency work -- especially near highways and hospitals.

Safe flying everyone!
 
Down is the best option, CSC and ditch if you can't descend fast enough.

WINNER WINNER!
You nailed it!

Descend as quickly as possible (switching to Atti Mode helps this) If you can't descend fast enough you initiate CSC and cut your losses. Your first and foremost requirement is to See & AVOID all manned aircraft and this means sacrificing our toy grade UAS to protect life & limb of people in a manned aircraft. While some may say, "If I do CSC I can't control where the aircraft lands and it could do some damage to someone/something on the ground." NEGATIVE. You should be flying in such a manner as to where the aircraft "could" fail at any moment and plummet to the ground. R/C aircraft can and DO fail every single day and we should always try to fly in a manner thinking, "What if I lost power NOW???"

While many people think that the 500'AGL is a HARD rule/law for manned aircraft there are MANY exceptions to this and as noted above a MediVac Helo could be almost any place at any time. If you're within 3M of a hospital your odds of seeing one near you go up greatly.
 
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Been there done that. Descend immediately. I've had some interesting close calls with small aircraft 25 miles out from FLL by Alligator Alley. Small aircraft and helicopters seem to operate anywhere from 300 to 1000 feet AGL out there. There should be a minimum of 1000ft IMHO.
 

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