Looking for any advice/tips regarding flying below Home Point elevation

[MapMaker53]

I've got two jobs coming up where part of my flying could be 100 ft below my take-off point, down the side of a steep drop off. I'm looking for any advice or tips when it comes to that type of situation, and I am new to the P4P having recently upgraded from a P2V+ using wifi. How well does Lightbridge handle that sort of connection? Is Lightbridge still a line-of-sight signal? Is it any better than wifi at penetrating an occasional tree? I will most likely be using Litchi and will set any waypoint missions to use altitudes relative to ground elevation at the points, since the terrain is not going to be flat. (I am also aware of the problem where Litchi does not automatically assume relative to ground elevation if inserting a point afterwards.) So any tips regarding flying below take-off point would be appreciated.

 

[Meta4]

I've got two jobs coming up where part of my flying could be 100 ft below my take-off point, down the side of a steep drop off. I'm looking for any advice or tips when it comes to that type of situation, and I am new to the P4P having recently upgraded from a P2V+ using wifi. How well does Lightbridge handle that sort of connection? Is Lightbridge still a line-of-sight signal? Is it any better than wifi at penetrating an occasional tree? I will most likely be using Litchi and will set any waypoint missions to use altitudes relative to ground elevation at the points, since the terrain is not going to be flat. (I am also aware of the problem where Litchi does not automatically assume relative to ground elevation if inserting a point afterwards.) So any tips regarding flying below take-off point would be appreciated.

There's no particular issue flying lower than the launch point.
The P4 pro is light years ahead of what you've been used to.
Lightbridge is still line of sight but will push the signal better than wifi did.
Slap on a cheap windsurfer reflector and you should have no problems.
Just double check altitudes for any waypoint missions.

 

[WayneMHK]

The only issue I've come across is that intelligence flight modes may not work with a negative (from takeoff) height.

 

[JarrodF]

Obviously you'll want your RTH set to go high enough before returning. Yikes!

 

[Nightwolf]

I don't have a 4 but i would be careful of going under an outcropping, losing comm and heading for RTH height up into the outcropping. I don't know how good a 4 would be at avoiding that scenario but worth a mention i thought

 

[Meta4]

Obviously you'll want your RTH set to go high enough before returning. Yikes!

Since RTH height is based on the homepoint, this shouldn't be a problem.

 

[WV. Rootman]

I don't use Litchi. If I fly north east of my house, I'm into negative numbers, down to nev. 265'. If I fly S.E. I'm into pos. numbers, up to $!%$^. Yep, that high and that is everyday flying. I keep RTH high when I'm flying S.E. A 200' RTH doesn't work well when the ground is 300' higher then home. LOL Just being silly. My P4 stays at altitude till it gets home. My P4 is breaking altitude max when it gets home. LOL

 

[African wildlife]

We often drop between 100ft to 500ft below the home point or takeoff elevation, going over steep and dramatic mountain edges. We have a P4P+.

There’s no problem whatsoever, other than it feels odd psychologically. Visually, it’s different and there’s some mental adjustment required in judging the drone’s height above terrain. And, before landing, you simply bring the drone upwards rather than down. Watch the wind, which will gust differently if you’re heading over a mountain edge or edge of plateau.