Flying in cold weather

[Monkey_2321]

If I fly my Phantom 3 se in cold weather does it harm the drone in anyway?

 

[Northern Canadian]

My experience is no. I'm more gentle with the controls, and once the drone is out in the cold it stays out until I'm done. Putting it away while still in the cold is a good idea as well. Air is dry. If you bring it into a warm house it will be coated with moisture everywhere otherwise. also terminate flights at a higher battery level to be safe as well. (land at 40-50%)

 

[WV. Rootman]

If I fly my Phantom 3 se in cold weather does it harm the drone in anyway?

What are you calling cold?

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

Northern Canadian....what a fantastic picture ....I really like that over head shot....Great Job !.....i'm with you on the shorter flights to be on the safe side with no sudden drops in the battery's power...in >>>extremely <<< colder weather.

 

[3rdof5]

I shot this yesterday In Alberta Canada with my P3P. They handle the cold quite well.

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

WOW...........A Great video and i loved the return as seeing you their and THEN the landing on the board that you cut out..Nice setting down too...what was your temp that day at the flying point....Thanks for the share too !

 

[3rdof5]

WOW...........A Great video and i loved the return as seeing you their and THEN the landing on the board that you cut out..Nice setting down too...what was your temp that day at the flying point....Thanks for the share too !

I used RTH and as you can see I had to abort and manually land (as always lol) as it wasn't quite gonna land on the board. The temp was 0C or 32F.

 

[3rdof5]

My experience is no. I'm more gentle with the controls, and once the drone is out in the cold it stays out until I'm done. Putting it away while still in the cold is a good idea as well. Air is dry. If you bring it into a warm house it will be coated with moisture everywhere otherwise. also terminate flights at a higher battery level to be safe as well. (land at 40-50%)

Beautiful pic!!!!

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

I seen you standing their and i have always liked it when the drone comes back to home point.and it shows the person standing their holding the remote control unit.....Yes I seen you!...that was so cool.....Thank you again.

 

[3rdof5]

I seen you standing their and i have always liked it when the drone comes back to home point.and it shows the person standing their holding the remote control unit.....Yes I seen you!...that was so cool.....Thank you again.

Thx Mike, that was my son standing next to me. Tbh I was very nervous the entire flight until I hit RTH, as you can tell during the RTH home trip when my pitching down of the camera became almost perfect as I wasn't having to focus on flight lol.

 

[3rdof5]

But yes, flying in cold weather is very doable without worry of damage to the aircraft, as been said many times in many threads, the AC will always outlast the pilot in cold weather and that's how it should always be. Feel free to fly in cold weather, always with a nice warm, fully charged battery that you know is trustworthy, and be gentle on the sticks to avoid excess stress on cold plastic props and body of the AC. Land early with plenty of battery to spare and enjoy the winter scenery

 

[PeterX]

Make sure your RC and the flight battery are over 15°C before take off and the bird will fly without be harmed.

 

[Melvoid]

My experience is no. I'm more gentle with the controls, and once the drone is out in the cold it stays out until I'm done. Putting it away while still in the cold is a good idea as well. Air is dry. If you bring it into a warm house it will be coated with moisture everywhere otherwise. also terminate flights at a higher battery level to be safe as well. (land at 40-50%)

When you say "putting it away while still in the cold," do you mean put it in the case and buckle it all up out in the cold and maybe don't open it up inside until it's had a chance to warm up naturally? I have a case similar to a Pelican, so it would be pretty much air tight.