Judging the weather

[Hughie]

Any thoughts on rules of thumb people use when judging whether the weather is suitable to fly.

One significant issue is wind. I flew when it was apparently 11mph (according to the local forecast) and at 100' the Phantom was fighting to keep position, and was generally unresponsive. I decided to land and call it a day. I think the real issue here was gusting rather than any forecast wind speed (they are different things).

For now I am not flying if the wind speed is in double figures. I guess I will fine tune that as I go.

What do others do ?

 

[knuckles]

I've had issues with wind gusts as well. I use weather underground. Not only does it give some details on the wind forecast but I can see almost real time on wind and gusts by picking a station close to where I will be flying. I found it very helpful to plan if it's good for me to drive to the mountain area I like. http://www.wunderground.com/weather-for ... oenix.html

 

[Hughie]

Nice website. Thanks.

 

[Meta4]

A forecast isn't an accurate gauge of what wind is blowing at your location for a bunch or reasons.
The forecast is of no value once you come to fly.
Learn to tell what wind you are experiencing.
Your Phantom can fly at about 30 mph and can easily manage winds 20 mph and a bit more.

 

[kitari]

I usually start every flight with a pre flight check which includes a hover that lasts at least 6 blinks of the led to check for any stability issues and if it's a windy day, it gives me an idea of how bad it is. I also like to send it up about 50ft or so, and switching to atti mode to see how much it drifts around. If during these checks, it wobbles around too much on the hover, or drifts away in atti mode too fast, I'll just bring it down and fly another day. If I'm already out flying and the wind picks up to the point my phantom seems to be stuck, I'll switch to manual mode and go into a nose dive to scrub altitude fast and then switch back to gps/atti mode to fly it in, or sometimes I'll just fly it in with manual mode and land in gps mode.

 

[knuckles]

That forecast has been helpful to me in planning my drive to my flight location. Before I drive out I can also look at the real-time monitors that can give me info on wind gusts and speed down to within the last five minutes.

Once you are at the site to fly you have to be aware of wind at ground level and the difference at altitude. If I feel the phantom is fighting the wind too much I pack it in to fly another day

 

[Fplvert]

Another thing to consider is winds aloft can be much stronger than where one is standing. It's also possible the direction of winds aloft can be different than surface wind. As I recall DJI recommends flying the Phantom in winds of less than 13 MPH.

 

[msinger]

Try Weather Watcher. It can connect you to both WeatherBug and Weather Underground weather stations.

http://www.WeatherWatcherLive.com