How High?

[Gizmo3000]

I'm only a few days new to the Phantom (and flying anything remote control)
and have only been able to fly mine in the evenings out of my backyard, so I have only basically gone back and forth a little, and straight up! ..which gets a little scary. (and that's at only perhaps 100 feet up!).

But I definitely wonder: just how high people have taken theres?

I'm guessing the limit is the 900ft range of the transmitter, but boy that seems insanely high up!
and then it would drop down until it was in range again, or would it then fly home under GPS?

 

[Oztravels]

Based on the RTH feature it should return to the take off point assuming it had a GPS lock before lifting off. Likewise it needs a good GPS signal to return. Regarding hight. Hard to say unless you had an altitude recording device. Based on advertised performance though, it should be 300m

 

[globalcop]

Based on the RTH feature it should return to the take off point assuming it had a GPS lock before lifting off. Likewise it needs a good GPS signal to return. Regarding hight. Hard to say unless you had an altitude recording device. Based on advertised performance though, it should be 300m

I've ordered a GPS logger. I'll report back once I get it and do a test.

 

[Dansker]

Remember when the antenna is pointing up, it create a donought signal, so it do not actually point UP.. make sure if you start going for height, tilt the TX back so the antenna have a 90 deg angle to the Phantom. ;-

 

[denodan]

I'm only a few days new to the Phantom (and flying anything remote control)
and have only been able to fly mine in the evenings out of my backyard, so I have only basically gone back and forth a little, and straight up! ..which gets a little scary. (and that's at only perhaps 100 feet up!).

But I definitely wonder: just how high people have taken theres?

I'm guessing the limit is the 900ft range of the transmitter, but boy that seems insanely high up!
and then it would drop down until it was in range again, or would it then fly home under GPS?

If your a newbie, your a real fool taking it up high. Most of the crashes I have seen are from People taking them up to high with a lack of experience and crash, to many newbies get to cocky.

Until your really used to the Phantom, keep your flying low.

 

[Gizmo3000]

I disagree.
Obviously taking it up to the to the limits of transmitter reception isn't a smart thing to do.

BUT, if you're in GPS mode, there's very little danger if you merely take the Phantom straight up a few hundred feet, rotate around, and take it back down. - it's locked into the same position so it's not like it's going to fly away from you.

 

[denodan]

I disagree.
Obviously taking it up to the to the limits of transmitter reception isn't a smart thing to do.

BUT, if you're in GPS mode, there's very little danger if you merely take the Phantom straight up a few hundred feet, rotate around, and take it back down. - it's locked into the same position so it's not like it's going to fly away from you.

Also the problem you fail to mention, with newbies, sure it is easy getting it up there, but coming down is the problem. As a newbie, it is very hard to judge just how fast it is descending, and it is all to very easy to be coming down to fast causing a crash.

I used to have this problem with my small Quad copters at first. You don't always realize how fast these things are coming down, till it is too late. Look around on You Tube and will see the odd example of this happening.

 

[Gizmo3000]

Also the problem you fail to mention, with newbies, sure it is easy getting it up there, but coming down is the problem. As a newbie, it is very hard to judge just how fast it is descending, and it is all to very easy to be coming down to fast causing a crash.
.

well yah,. that's just part of the learning to use the throttle.
start by going up and down from 10ft, then 20ft,. then 60ft,. viola, you're good to go up to 120ft or more by your 2nd or 3rd flight.

 

[denodan]

Also the problem you fail to mention, with newbies, sure it is easy getting it up there, but coming down is the problem. As a newbie, it is very hard to judge just how fast it is descending, and it is all to very easy to be coming down to fast causing a crash.
.

well yah,. that's just part of the learning to use the throttle.
start by going up and down from 10ft, then 20ft,. then 60ft,. viola, you're good to go up to 120ft or more by your 2nd or 3rd flight.

Going up and down is fine, but moving in any height, can get very confused as to where the Phantom is, and then you will crash, just look at the many examples on You Tube, most crashes from Newbies, going to high, moving then getting confused. It is not the trees that are always the problem, but not being able to see where your Phantom is, at distance is. Seems to many newbies are in to much of a hurry to go high, so have not learned to fly, so start moving, then crashing. Don't believe, lots of videos of Newbies getting confused in what direction the Phantom is going in, then either hit a tree, or crash into the ground.

Most tree crashes are due to being confused as to height your going, or confused in Direction and nearly all are newbies.

Take it in steps, don't rush it, you will get there. The Phantom costs to much to go out and take big risks before you know how to fly properly.

 

[Alex]

According to my Garmin 910XT, I topped out just over 500'. The thing that surprised me the most was the wind.

At that altitude, there are no trees or flags or other visual indicators as to the wind aloft. It took a sec to figure out that it wasn't the Phantom that was unresponsive to my commands, but that the thrust was being overridden by the wind.

Once I figured that out, I brought the Phantom down very fast before it got pushed off over the lake next to the park I was in. There was an "oh ****" moment going on in my head...

 

[BigMojo]

Also, if you are in the USA, maximum operating altitude for model aircraft is 400ft (AGL). Also, you can't fly within 3 miles of an airport without notifying and receiving permission from the Control Tower.

 

[denodan]

And it's the ones claiming and wanting great heights, and posting all over You Tube, and internet that are going to stuff it up for the rest of us. There will be tough restrictions coming, or restrictions on RC TX range in force. You can have as much going to 100 feet of less anyway.

Most high flights are boring, much better going low to the ground, showing speed and movement, etc, much more exciting to see a quad skimming the ground at great speed, than going up turning around then down again, and no sense of speed. I don't see the need to go that high anyway. I like to keep my quads in line of sight, so maybe 100-150 feet max is plenty of height.

And a limit of 400 feet as some have said, what's wrong with that? It is well more then enough. Only some like and will and stuff it up for us all.

 

[pwright]

I believe you are correct that if the Phantom and other quadcopter owners don't act responsibly then laws and regulations will be passed to enforce responsible behavior. Here in the US there are already several states looking at passing laws limiting the use of RC aircraft and especially those with video capability.

However your opinion of what makes for interesting video or interesting flying is just that, an opinion, and it carries no more weight or significance than that of anyone else. Video and photos taken from on high are interesting to me when they are of beautiful or just interesting locales. This is also true when they are of places that I'm only familiar with from my limited ground perspective. The power of flight is one of those dreams that pretty much everyone has at one time or another. These devices give us that illusion and the manner in which one enjoys it isn't yours to judge.

 

[auck]

as stated by DJI's tech spec on the phantom the communication distance is 300m (roughly 984 feet). so theoretically speaking the phantom should be able to climb that high up, but of course that is neglecting to take into account the condition of the atmosphere, not to mention the battery strength in both the flying unit and the controller.

regardless of how high it can actually go, with all of the reported Phantoms going rogue, do you really want to fly it so high that you loose sight of it? not to mention that if something goes wrong and the phantom drops out of flight, i would rather have it drop from 100 feet rather than at max altitude.

 

[denodan]

as stated by DJI's tech spec on the phantom the communication distance is 300m (roughly 984 feet). so theoretically speaking the phantom should be able to climb that high up, but of course that is neglecting to take into account the condition of the atmosphere, not to mention the battery strength in both the flying unit and the controller.

regardless of how high it can actually go, with all of the reported Phantoms going rogue, do you really want to fly it so high that you loose sight of it? not to mention that if something goes wrong and the phantom drops out of flight, i would rather have it drop from 100 feet rather than at max altitude.

Which is another reason I keep mine low, I simply do not trust any quad going high. To much can go wrong, and the higher you go, the wind and air currents get stronger and know due to wind strength, and up drafts, has been the cause of a lose of some of these quads.

It maybe claim, no wind on the ground, but get up high it will be much winder and if you fly at height, when it is windy, your asking for trouble and real risk of loosing your drone. Also going at great height, your drone has a lot more work battling wind and currents, so would this also not flatten your battery even faster?

But would think flying at height is a totally different skill and will certainly behave far different than someone not going over 100 feet. The higher you go, the greater the risk of losing your quad, and greater chance of air currents and up drafts taking your quad out of your control.