I spent some time in the Vail area last month. Flew at some great heights, but stayed less than 400'AGL. Here's are a few of my short videos, some from above 14,000'
Last edited:
Colorado Rockies
- Thread starter John Locke
- Start date
Had some flashbacks watching this, with all its majesty. Hoping you can share the sound track credit.
The only noticeable difference is a reduced flight time from thinner air, and you will often see "maximum RPM reached" notifications above 10,000'MSL when ascending full left stick up and/or full right stick forward because of the thin air. I wish DJI would offer higher pitch props for Phantom 4 craft like they do for the Inspire. With a slightly higher pitch prop both of these issues would be improved.
We've been to this area 3 years in a row, each trip was in Oct, the same time of year. This year was the most mild, in the 60's and 70's every day, the passes were in high 50's. But the best part is all of the passes I flew at (Loveland Pass, Guanella Pass, Independence Pass) had no wind, which is unusual. It was a perfect flying week in the Rockies.Looks chilly but stunning,very nice
The video is 1080@60 so I presume that's what it was shot in -- is that right? I notice a significant flickering effect at several places and also some blocking up -- what bit rate did you render in?
For really high altitudes it would be better to have a special set of props to provide more lift, but I'd guess the market size is not enough to justify. You can't really use longer props as the stock length is about as long as it can get, but if the chord was deeper and/or the pitch greater you could get more thrust without over-speeding. At those heights there's little margin for error. About the highest I've flown my P4P is about 7500 feet and at that height I had no problems at all and flight times comfortably over 20 minutes.
Nice scenes though...
Brian
For really high altitudes it would be better to have a special set of props to provide more lift, but I'd guess the market size is not enough to justify. You can't really use longer props as the stock length is about as long as it can get, but if the chord was deeper and/or the pitch greater you could get more thrust without over-speeding. At those heights there's little margin for error. About the highest I've flown my P4P is about 7500 feet and at that height I had no problems at all and flight times comfortably over 20 minutes.
Nice scenes though...
Brian
Here's Ten Mile Peak, a big mountain 3mi West of Frisco CO, one of my favorite areas. This was a 3600' climb, from i-70 below, clear to the top of the peak. Fun flight, a total rush to see over the other side from down below.
In the beginning of this 3min video there's a view of Ten Mile Peak from down below, looking up from Dillion Lake.
I love watching your videos of the mountains.
The mountains in Croatia aren’t as high, but they would be beautiful to fly. They are dolomite over 6,000 ft. of rugged, jagged and deeply fissured mountain side over looking the Adriatic. The view over looking the 1,200 islands would be spectacular. The elevation drop is what makes them look so high. Your video of the mountain top made me think of that.
The mountains in Croatia aren’t as high, but they would be beautiful to fly. They are dolomite over 6,000 ft. of rugged, jagged and deeply fissured mountain side over looking the Adriatic. The view over looking the 1,200 islands would be spectacular. The elevation drop is what makes them look so high. Your video of the mountain top made me think of that.
Here's Guanella pass, which I think is my favorite flight from my trip to the Rockies last month.
Last year I wouldn't have done these flights, because of the wind. When I flew Independence Pass in Oct 2016 the winds were 25 to 30mph, but I could still fly, just not as far. But this year it was unusually calm at all passes, for the whole week. That aside, my clearance was always quite safe, even if a gust were to occur. Wind gusts wouldn't have been much of a risk, other than potentially being downwind if a constant wind suddenly came up.
Very true. I remember my experiences as a scout leader. We camped near a ridge and the next morning the wind was
very strong. So much so I feared for my boys safety. We were back packing. We tried to take a short hike to the nearest road to get a ride to our cars. After we came down the mountain 400 ft. It was really calm. Its happened many times when I was hiking.
Here's flight at Independence Pass, CO, another continental divide pass. I enjoyed the drive from Vail, to Glenwood Spring, then Aspen for lunch. Then on to Independence Pass, continue to the other side down into Leadville, and back to Vail. If you ever get an opportunity to drive that route it's worth it, about a 175mi day trip. Target mid Sept if possible to maximize fall color.
Last edited:
Those passes may not be open in May. I suggest you google the status of Independence Pass, Guanella Pass, Loveland Pass, ant Mt. Evans Road (Hwy 5) to see if they are open before committing to the trip.
What I want to visit next is the Mt Evans Road. It goes up to 14,000' high near the top of Mt Evans, which likely opens around June, I'm guessing. I may be wrong and these passes may open earlier, depending on the snowfall this winter. These are great flight areas.
Last edited:
Similar threads
