Flawless in Heavy Wind

[bkushner]

Flew my P4 today on the Delaware River filming tankers and barges. It was the worst wind I've flown in. Outbound I was getting 5-10 mph tailwind was giving me 61 mpg on the way back and the P4 was rock solid all the way....Not so sure we will see that kind of stability with the newer, smaller lighter birds.

 

[alokbhargava]

5-10mph wind is not heavy for P4. People claimed to fly in 25mph wind though I could never dare to go above 15mph wind at ground level.

I doubt if smaller birds like Mavic would be so stable in high winds. I am looking for a drone that can fly stably in real high winds. I missed many good shots recently in Hawaii because of the wind.


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[bkushner]

5-10mph wind is not heavy for P4. People claimed to fly in 25mph wind though I could never dare to go above 15mph wind at ground level.

I doubt if smaller birds like Mavic would be so stable in high winds. I am looking for a drone that can fly stably in real high winds. I missed many good shots recently in Hawaii because of the wind.


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I kind of wrote this wrong. What I wanted to say was the wind was about 25-30....When I flew against it I was only getting 5-10 mph speed on the drone...

 

[John Locke]

Yes, I've flown in that kind of wind several times. I'm amazed how well the P4 handles it. I was at Independence Pass, 12,000' MSL, in Colorado last month getting 40mph gusts with a pretty constant 25-30mph wind.

 

[JWH]

I don't risk it if the wind is above 15, even though it seems to handle it nicely. I have been amazed at how steady the videos are in gusty winds.

 

[JohnnyB]

That's great Bk. Got a P4 myself and handles great also. Surprises me every time I fly.


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[Tommy Iversen]

5-10mph wind is not heavy for P4. People claimed to fly in 25mph wind though I could never dare to go above 15mph wind at ground level.

I doubt if smaller birds like Mavic would be so stable in high winds. I am looking for a drone that can fly stably in real high winds. I missed many good shots recently in Hawaii because of the wind.


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A friend om mine flies the Inspire v2. Even tough the P4 is performs very well in high winds, the Inspire seems more steady and thus provides smoother videos. But its not exactly a backpacking friendly drone for people who enjoys hiking, like me

 

[Tommy Iversen]

I don't risk it if the wind is above 15, even though it seems to handle it nicely. I have been amazed at how steady the videos are in gusty winds.

It does. Just remember to pay attention when bringing her down in windy conditions. Experienced an extreme gust / downforce flying in a valley the other day. I knew it was windy, but suddenly when coming back for landing, the P4 was pushed from 20 meters or so down to 4-5 meters in no time. I rapidly switched to S mode and redlines the engines, bringing her back up. Chose to go for hand catch after that, but even that was more thrilling then I was in for. Finally managed to snap it and lock it down.

 

[RPP]

On one occasion in Iceland recently, the headwind was so strong that the P4 was almost stationary at full throttle. Thankfully there were no gusts.

 

[Streetmagus]

You guys are way too brave. I flew in about 20mph with gusts by the ocean coast last weekend. It handled it real well, surprisingly still hovered pretty stable granted there were gusts..

 

[AIRSPACE]

I used to be scared to fly my P4 when i thought it was "too windy".. But then I took the P4 on a holiday with me to scotland. Went for a boat tour to the Isle of Staffa and launched the bird there in some of the highest winds Ive ever seen (its literally a rock sitting exposed on the edge of the atlantic ocean).

The wind speeds on that day were between 50-65 Km/H and the P4 held its position like a champ. Extremely stable. The gimbal did glitch out occasionaly recording video with wind gusts etc. But the bird was rock solid and stable.

This is the Island.
https://www.google.com.au/maps?q=isle+of+staffa&ion=1&espv=2&bav=on.2,or.&bvm=bv.137904068,d.dGo&biw=1680&bih=944&dpr=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiP8erapZjQAhUMpZQKHQIwCdAQ_AUIBigB

I have full confidence in my equipment now.

 

[alokbhargava]

Great piece of information.


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[captainmilehigh]

It was interesting reading all the posts in this thread. Thanks for all the great information and input. Was just wondering though, did any of you check and see how warm (or hot) the motors were on landing? Seems that when I fly in strong winds, my motors are warmer than normal. Yes, I know that they are working harder to maintain control in windy conditions, but I was curious how they do in extreme conditions as some of you guys were in.

Usually when flying in heavy wind, my a/c battery gets a bit warm too. I take it out of the bird first thing when I land and shut down to allow it to cool- and not leave it in the a/c when that hot.

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[AndyAlex]

Out here in the plains of Colorado, it's windy a lot. If I waited until the wind stopped, I wouldn't fly much.
On monday I was out practicing a house shoot on a friend's house. The gusts were well over 30mph. I could see it working a little more, but it handled it well.

 

[RC Madman]

Flew in 30mph the other day. flying into the headwind I could only hit 6mph with my P3.

 

[dave kotinsky]

it was windy yesterday northernj, p4 did fine. coming home had to use sport mode. P mode was coming back at 2mph.

 

[teccer]

it's not just the P4 flies in strong winds, last month I was doing a job for a friend the wind was a steady 25mph gusting up to 30mph and my P3P just took it in it's stride, clear photos and really steady video, it was the first time I'd flown in winds like it but now having done I'll not be worried to do it again

 

[RC Madman]

it's not just the P4 flies in strong winds, last month I was doing a job for a friend the wind was a steady 25mph gusting up to 30mph and my P3P just took it in it's stride, clear photos and really steady video, it was the first time I'd flown in winds like it but now having done I'll not be worried to do it again

If they get any higher you may run into issues with the craft getting pushed away. No different than when flying a toy grade quad. If the winds are strong enough it can go bye bye in a hurry!

 

[dangrand1103]

5-10mph wind is not heavy for P4. People claimed to fly in 25mph wind though I could never dare to go above 15mph wind at ground level.

I doubt if smaller birds like Mavic would be so stable in high winds. I am looking for a drone that can fly stably in real high winds. I missed many good shots recently in Hawaii because of the wind.


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I flew my P3P in 20 to 25 mph winds. Before takeoff I told myself I probably shouldn't do this. When I was done with my real estate assignment over some lake property, it wouldn't return because of the head winds. So I turned the P3P to go with the wind and I became "Sully On the Hudson" and had to ditch it. I made it to land 8 blocks away over the water by only 20 feet...figured it bounce off some soft branches and landed upside down on a bed of soft sand. $19 prop guard damage...how lucky was that!

 

[David Cooke]

Just signed up for Healthy Drones and the amount of data and charts are amazing. . . I've got lot of flight data in 25-G30mph I know and I've been careful to go up wind first not down wind. Near slopes, cliffs and obstacles is especially tricky but it's behaved well. (if you stay alert and don't take your eyes off it). Those Healthy Drone details report up to 59mph gusts which know is exaggerated for sure .. It gets the wind speed from the angle it has to adopt as it crabs into the wind to maintain position, but it needs 5 sec of hover or constant speed to derive the angle . .

Today though, in 20mph+ Gusts if I left it in a hover a 10ft it would slowly rise and jump around ( it WAS fairly gusty) but it was keeping station quite well, so I'm pretty pleased with the performance. It was short grass so I even let it do an auto-land once in these gusty winds just to see how it would behave. . . . barely a bounce and a quick shutdown. (I almost always hand catch)

By the way if you ever do hand catch,( even it light/no wind) grab it FIRMLY and hold on till you stop the blades. If it's close to "GO HOME" time on the battery it will try to take-off abruptly and surprise you. . . I tested that too today. I also tried walking away with it still running . . .it doesn't like that!!. . . If it launches to Automatic RTL and gets caught on one finger or a glove it can rotate quickly if you are not paying attention. If you are holding it FIRMLY and paying attention then no problem.