How does drone maintain altitude?

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How does the bird maintain altitude. If you take off in a valley and go to 300ft, and say you fly towards a hill at 200ft above takeoff point does it maintain the 300ft above the hill or at 100ft. Newbie here still waiting for my craft, just trying to learn as much as can before first flight. THANKS GUYS
 
How does the bird maintain altitude. If you take off in a valley and go to 300ft, and say you fly towards a hill at 200ft above takeoff point does it maintain the 300ft above the hill or at 100ft. Newbie here still waiting for my craft, just trying to learn as much as can before first flight. THANKS GUYS
Just like a real plane, the Phantom stays at what height it is regardless of the ground level below it.
 
All altitudes maintained by the bird are relative to the take off or Home point. So readouts and settings like Return To Home (RTH) are all reference from that point. For example, if your takeoff point is at 900 ft Above Sea Level (MSL), the bird sets that internally as '0' ft. once you climb to 100 feet above the home point (above Ground Level or AGL), that's what the bird will report. In global terms, you would actually be at 1000 (900+100) ft MSL. Now as you fly out but don't climb, if the ground rises up by 50 ft, you are now at 50 ft AGL, still 1000 ft MSL and the bird still reports 100 ft. The altitude is monitored using an internal barometer just like manned aircraft and doesn't actually measure the height AGL - that would require a range finding altimeter such as a radar or laser radar. All the above goes to illustrate why you have to be careful when setting your RTH heights and be very aware of obstacles like trees and buildings as well as changes in the terrain elevation. a 50 ft tree on ground at the same level as your home point can easily be passed over with a 75 ft RTH, but if that same tree is on a hill that is 40 ft higher that you home, the top of that tree is now 90 ft above the home and your bird could try to fly right through it on a RTH (note that I said 'try' these birds are notoriously bad at flying though solid objects!). Hope this helps.
 
So you must be aware of the highest objects in your flight plan at all times when planning return home altitude.
 
Absolutely!!!! if you scan through some of the threads on these forums, you will find numerous entries where birds were lost or damaged because the pilot lost that very awareness.
 
sorry for last post didn't get the very good one before I posted it.
 
Thanks guys very helpful. Got to be very careful cause I live in a very changing terrain area, All the advertising videos are always showing nice flat areas like beaches.
 
Losing situation awareness (SA) is any pilots worst enemy. I have to admit, that almost cost me a P3A. was flying around a building filming and knew that a tree was near me, but wasn't looking for the limb that stuck out and was just to the side of me. traverse right into it and my aircraft turned into a buzz saw and then dropped 40 ft. Luckily, I only had to replace about $20 in parts and spend about an hour putting things back to gather, but "Lesson relearned".
 
So you take off and go to 400ft. Fly it a mile or whatever down the road, a big 350ft hill with 70ft hills for example. It wouldn't be possible to continue climbing up the hill and being 400ft above the hill?
 
There are numerous possible scenarios.

Don't over-think this.

Stay at or below 400 ft above ground level.
If the ground rises you can rise, if it falls you should fall/drop to maintain 400 ft or less above ground level..
 
There are numerous possible scenarios.

Don't over-think this.

Stay at or below 400 ft above ground level.
If the ground rises you can rise, if it falls you should fall/drop to maintain 400 ft or less above ground level..

Realistically 400 ft is pretty high and you shouldn't face issues unless you're in the mountains or something? I have my RTH set to 400ft incase of anything.
 
Tell me, does the latest, P4pro have the ability to "maintain height relative to the ground"?
You know what I mean, if you set your altitude to 70', at home point, & 150' away ground rises by 60' say, does the 4pro then keep itself at 70' above that rise too, I read somewhere she does this?
 
No it does not.

It has no idea about the terrain height as altitude is crudely sensed by barometric pressure relative to take-off location pressure.
 
so I understand looking for all vertical obstructions before your flight, I use google maps to check.

but a general question: what is a safe altitude to fly if you just want to make sure you're over your normal trees in the neighborhood,or the field? ...the natural terrain ....meaning things that are not man-made and/or mountains, assume terrain is sea level or close...... I'm thinking 250 feet. Any opinions?
 
In relatively flat locals, no problem, but if there are any hills, even 100-150 foot ones with trees on them in the area, you could easily have something that high above your home point! instead of a one-size-fits-all answer, take some time to investigate your environment before deciding. Try flying up to some altitude and do a slow pan around - are you higher than everything else in the area? is so, that's probably a good altitude. If not, might want to go higher. And remember, RTH altitude is set in meters, not feet!
 
So you take off and go to 400ft. Fly it a mile or whatever down the road, a big 350ft hill with 70ft hills for example. It wouldn't be possible to continue climbing up the hill and being 400ft above the hill?
The P3 can fly up to 500 meters,1600+ feet. The 400 ft rule is just a suggested safe height. Unless you are licensed. If you are in an area where you are positive there are no low flying aircraft, you will be okay.

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