Dropping altitude quickly

herbiedriver · Sep 19, 2016

I moved from a P1 to a P3A about 6 months ago and only one thing drives me nuts... dropping altitude. This thing takes forever (it seems) to drop it from cruising height. The highest I have had it is approx. 100m and getting it to come down is painstakingly slow. Are there any settings that can help drop altitude a bit quicker? Or is this part of the death spiral overwrite? Anyways, any insight would be appreciated.
Thanks!

msinger · Sep 19, 2016

There are no settings to modify the descent speed. Full throttle stick down is the fastest you can descend.

alokbhargava · Sep 19, 2016

Don't come straight down. Keep an angle of say 30 deg with vertical. You would see an definite improvement.

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

matti · Sep 19, 2016

Isn't the max descent speed limited (3 m/s = 10.8 km/h = 6.7 mph) to prevent vortex ring state (i.e. the drone descends into its own downwash which might cause a crash)?

Monte55 · Sep 19, 2016

alokbhargava said:
Don't come straight down. Keep an angle of say 30 deg with vertical. You would see an definite improvement.

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

Since the height is based on what the altimeter sees, how does coming down at an angle speed up decent.? I can come down very quick in my P1 but I am not restricted by software.

GMack · Sep 19, 2016

Don't know if it's possible to do a restart of the props on a DJI drone in a free-fall with a prop-off command. Scary!

This guy has had some successful free-falls and restarts from high altitude with his test drone.

Also, don't know if the P mode is slower descent than the sport mode, but someone thought it was.

I did look at the Autopilot app and their maximum rate shows 13.1 ft/sec as a vertical drop speed, and same as climb for the P4. I think the P4 DJI specs are 12 ft/sec.climb and 9 ft/sec. descend so don't know if the app is accurate since it uses its own flight system.

herbiedriver · Sep 19, 2016

I will have to try the descent at an angle, time it against a vertical drop. And, No, I won't be doing a mid-flight shutdown and restart anytime soon, yes that's the fastest way to get it down, but not with this investment.

Monte55 · Sep 19, 2016

herbiedriver said:
I will have to try the descent at an angle, time it against a vertical drop. And, No, I won't be doing a mid-flight shutdown and restart anytime soon, yes that's the fastest way to get it down, but not with this investment.

The Phantom sees the speed in drop in altitude . Not the angle