Do not fly in heavily wooded areas

[macoman]

Went out to two parks today, one was a successful flight and the other park have a beautiful river but it's heavily wooded. Well I found a space that appear to have sufficient space for the aircraft to take off but when I powered on the motors. The aircraft was in atti mode then GPS was back and green. Then I take off and left to hovering for a little. Well, the aircraft went back to atti mode and was moving by itself instead of hovering. Tried to control it unsuccessfully and hit a tree... fortunately it was not too high and rescued the bird. Tested it again and was able to fly without issues then I realized that the recording button was not on. Wasted my gas car going to the second park for nothing. Lesson learned guys, never ever take off in very heavily wooded areas, because the GPS seen not work very well.

 

[MapMaker53]

Heavily wooded area and low altitude is not a good combination for satellite acquisition and GPS. A good amount of the sky will be blocked by the tree canopy.

 

[Fly Dawg]

Better yet, practice heavily in ATTI mode. You will be surprised how much control you actually have, without GPS.

 

[macoman]

Better yet, practice heavily in ATTI mode. You will be surprised how much control you actually have, without GPS.

Have not done that but one of these days will go to practice in an open space to see if learning operate in atti mode can save my bird in case of emergency.

 

[macoman]

Heavily wooded area and low altitude is not a good combination for satellite acquisition and GPS. A good amount of the sky will be blocked by the tree canopy.

The thing is that the space I choose to take off, you can see the blue sky... It was not blocked and it was a considerable open space... Not tight at all. Not understand why even with not trees over and clear blue sky, the GPS was not working.

 

[alokbhargava]

The thing is that the space I choose to take off, you can see the blue sky... It was not blocked and it was a considerable open space... Not tight at all. Not understand why even with not trees over and clear blue sky, the GPS was not working.

Satellites are scattered over the space and the open space you saw may not be enough for many satellites to be seen by your drone. Just my guess.

 

[Pharm]

The thing is that the space I choose to take off, you can see the blue sky... It was not blocked and it was a considerable open space... Not tight at all. Not understand why even with not trees over and clear blue sky, the GPS was not working.

Not all satellites are directly overhead.

 

[LarBear360]

Was your app showing satellites? I have warning set at less than 6. Another reason to practice in atti mode.

 

[Mozzie67]

Flying in atti mode is essential to learn if you have a problem in gps mode and need to switch out you can bring your bird home.. often fly in atti mode great fun in a little wind..
Also taken off in heavily tree'd ares to get some fantastic shots take of in atti get above trees Aquire gps and away you go...
You have to really know your machine and trust it ....

 

[Big Clyde]

Heavily wooded area and low altitude is not a good combination for satellite acquisition and GPS. A good amount of the sky will be blocked by the tree canopy.

Hi.. I live in the woods.. But I have an open area over head.. That being said.. I'm never had a drone and I'm looking for one that I can fly for maybe at least a mile.. and has a decent camera system .. what do you recommend

 

[JeffreyS]

Even if your drone may be getting limited satellite GPS while actually in the forest, as soon as you reach an altitude above tree tops you will get the GPS signals again. Only takes a few seconds, and you don't need strong GPS to simply go straight up. I've done it many times. However, the forest may block your own controller connection once you fly away, in which case the aircraft will RTH.

 

[MapMaker53]

In addition, it is generally illegal to fly beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) of the drone.