Flew in Higher Winds

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People have asked what the highest wind is that the Vision can be flown in. It's a tough question... as you'd need to have a crash to really know. There is a video on Youtube showing the Vision being flown in 26mph winds and its pretty stable.

In a couple of days I'll be in central/southern Utah and really want to get some shots. However, it's going to be 15-20mph winds. They kind of started today so I took the Vision out to a local park to do some testing. I kept the Vision about 10 feet off the ground just in case. I'd say the wind blew from 5mph up to 12mph. The Vision did very well and flew around just fine. It actually looked to be slightly less stable when hovering. The biggest issue I noticed was that he did not hold its height very well. It varied by up to 10 feet.

Based on what I saw I'd not have an issue flying in up to 15mph. The issue with this is... gusts. If it's a steady wind it's much better then quick gusts.

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People have asked what the highest wind is that the Vision can be flown in. It's a tough question... as you'd need to have a crash to really know. There is a video on Youtube showing the Vision being flown in 26mph winds and its pretty stable.

In a couple of days I'll be in central/southern Utah and really want to get some shots. However, it's going to be 15-20mph winds. They kind of started today so I took the Vision out to a local park to do some testing. I kept the Vision about 10 feet off the ground just in case. I'd say the wind blew from 5mph up to 12mph. The Vision did very well and flew around just fine. It actually looked to be slightly less stable when hovering. The biggest issue I noticed was that he did not hold its height very well. It varied by up to 10 feet.

Based on what I saw I'd not have an issue flying in up to 15mph. The issue with this is... gusts. If it's a steady wind it's much better then quick gusts.

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I have flown in winds as high as 40 with gusts to 55 and was able to retrieve her. i did have to fly down behind a van to get slow enough to hand catch her. This is the kind of winds I was flying in when I got this
record speed V+.JPG
 
It takes a lot of wind to make it difficult to fly. Yes, gusts are the worst, right behind wind shear. Just be aware of the turbulence behind/downwind of obstacles and you should do just fine in winds up to 20, maybe more.

Most of my flying has been in winds exceeding 15 mph.

Just don't go too far downwind, you may not get back. ;)
 
Just don't go too far downwind, you may not get back. ;)

And that could classified as a flyaway :( due to pilot error of course. :eek: :D So if you dare go ahead but don't come crying because you no longer have your toy. :oops:
 
30 mph should not be a problem. Going against the wind will be slow going. If u are coming home against wind just remember battery life. May not be able to do 5mph against strong wind.
 
30 mph should not be a problem. Going against the wind will be slow going. If u are coming home against wind just remember battery life. May not be able to do 5mph against strong wind.
If you do try to fly in very windy conditions - Dont fly downwind away from yourself.
Fly upwind and see how the Phantom manages.
It's easy to come home downwind but losing a Phantom because it can't make it home is no fun.
 
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If you do try to fly in very windy conditions - Dont fly downwind away from yourself.
Fly upwind and see how the Phantom manages.
It's easy to come home downwind but losing a Phantom because it can't make it home is no fun.

Plus 1
 
Hi,

I'm looking to buy a Phantom and this is just the issue I'm looking at. I looked in the manual and found this frase "Do not use aircraft in severe weather conditions. These include windspeed exceeding category 4 wind.", what is category 4?

Was thinking about using it for windsurfing, standing on the beach I fly it (will start some training in low wind condition before going to the water in a huricane).

Lastly the specs from dji.com says max speed 15 m/s (not recommended), from this I then know that wind condition 33.5 mph is the absolute maximum due to the drone will be unable to go upwind in that wind condition, it would more likely continue downwind. So I don't know how Skyhighdiver and prowler manage to fly in conditions above that speed, maybe that is not surface winds?
 
Going out flying in 30+ mph would be far from recommended, there is no such thing as a constant wind speed and if you are reading 30mph 6ft from the ground you can be guaranteed that it will gust above this and up higher the wind speed can increase dramatically.
 
This is a good test,
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I wrote the DJI support and looked in the manual and finally I got this answer

"The drone can not be flown in wind speed 4 or above. The wind could lead to unstable flight, faster battery discharge and faster motor normal ware and tare."

Furthermore they refer to this webpage http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale saying they don't recommend flying in condition 4 or above. Conditiona 4 starts at 12.2 Mph
 
I wrote the DJI support and looked in the manual and finally I got this answer

"The drone can not be flown in wind speed 4 or above. The wind could lead to unstable flight, faster battery discharge and faster motor normal wear and tear."
DJI are being overly conservative in this recommendation.
Force 4 is a light breeze and the Phantom can easily handle quite a bit more than that.

The Phantom can easily hold position in 25 mph and is able to fly in just about any strength wind - but getting it back might be an issue when the wind is faster than the Phantom can fly.
 

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