New P4P Owner, first flights and a few questions.

[hls811]

I received my P4P on Wednesday and got to take it out for a few flights this weekend before the rain came in, and I do have some general questions I thought I'd ask here:

1A) I know legally in the US you can only fly up to an altitude of 400 feet and theres an exception to that if you are next to a structure, then you can go 400 feet above that - whats the highest altitude you can safely fly a UAV? If it can theoretically travel 4 miles away, can it also go 4 miles up? (Not that I'd try it, I was just curious!)

1B) If the device were to fly higher than 400 feet would it alert anyone? If I was trying to frame a shot (and of course I was in an area where I felt safe in doing so) and went above 400 feet would anyone know? Will I have the FAA at my door? I'm assuming its like driving over the 60MPH speed limit.
I took this myself at 392 ft, I would have liked to go higher to get more of the road.
This isn't my picture but I've seen many pix like this online, it has to be taken at a higher altitude 400 feet.

2) So near my house is a small airport, I'm not in a No-Fly zone because I'm about 6 miles away but yesterday I drove to this park which is closer to it and when I went to launch it wouldn't let me because that is in the No Fly Zone. So I drove about to this other park down the street and was able to launch from there. As I was flying I could see a yellow circle on the map which indicated the No-Fly Zone - I turned the P4P around and didn't get close but what would have happened? Would the device have been able to fly into it or would it automatically know to stop or land itself?

3) I own a dSLR and for the most part like to think I know how to use it to get properly exposed images. I dont own any filters or anything for my lenses and assumed I wouldn't need them for the P4P but after looking through my pix I'm wondering.. Look at this one for example:

The sky was such a bright, natural shade of blue but its so washed out here. While I'm sure I could have tinkered with the settings I really didn't want to hover over a highway for safety reasons and also I didn't want to use up battery flying in place while I adjusted. I've seen various filter kits for the P4p, would something have helped bring out the natural colors in the sky had I used it?

Thats it for now, I'm sure the more I use it I'll come up with more questions!

 

[With The Birds]

I received my P4P on Wednesday and got to take it out for a few flights this weekend before the rain came in, and I do have some general questions I thought I'd ask here:

1A) I know legally in the US you can only fly up to an altitude of 400 feet and theres an exception to that if you are next to a structure, then you can go 400 feet above that - whats the highest altitude you can safely fly a UAV? If it can theoretically travel 4 miles away, can it also go 4 miles up? (Not that I'd try it, I was just curious!)

1B) If the device were to fly higher than 400 feet would it alert anyone? If I was trying to frame a shot (and of course I was in an area where I felt safe in doing so) and went above 400 feet would anyone know? Will I have the FAA at my door? I'm assuming its like driving over the 60MPH speed limit.
View attachment 90105 I took this myself at 392 ft, I would have liked to go higher to get more of the road.
View attachment 90106 This isn't my picture but I've seen many pix like this online, it has to be taken at a higher altitude 400 feet.

2) So near my house is a small airport, I'm not in a No-Fly zone because I'm about 6 miles away but yesterday I drove to this park which is closer to it and when I went to launch it wouldn't let me because that is in the No Fly Zone. So I drove about to this other park down the street and was able to launch from there. As I was flying I could see a yellow circle on the map which indicated the No-Fly Zone - I turned the P4P around and didn't get close but what would have happened? Would the device have been able to fly into it or would it automatically know to stop or land itself?

3) I own a dSLR and for the most part like to think I know how to use it to get properly exposed images. I dont own any filters or anything for my lenses and assumed I wouldn't need them for the P4P but after looking through my pix I'm wondering.. Look at this one for example:
View attachment 90107
The sky was such a bright, natural shade of blue but its so washed out here. While I'm sure I could have tinkered with the settings I really didn't want to hover over a highway for safety reasons and also I didn't want to use up battery flying in place while I adjusted. I've seen various filter kits for the P4p, would something have helped bring out the natural colors in the sky had I used it?

Thats it for now, I'm sure the more I use it I'll come up with more questions!

1A- max altitude is limited to 500m above launch point, it’s hard coded in firmware. What is safe depends on location. As for your driving analogy you take your chances with breaking the rules.
1B- you could have taken multiple images and stitched them together.
2 the AC won’t fly into the NFZ, think of it as an invisible wall.
3 the usual opportunities apply as for any digital camera, HDR, multiple frames at different exposures blended, variable ND filter, expose to right of histogram (maintain highlights) and increase exposure for shadows in post etc.

 

[Dirby]

500m is a lot higher than 400 feet which is the limit in the usa.

 

[With The Birds]

500m is a lot higher than 400 feet which is the limit in the usa.

It’s more than four times higher (i.e 1640ft). The OP made it clear he is aware of the 400ft rule.

 

[Loz]

I received my P4P on Wednesday and got to take it out for a few flights this weekend before the rain came in, and I do have some general questions I thought I'd ask here:

1A) I know legally in the US you can only fly up to an altitude of 400 feet and theres an exception to that if you are next to a structure, then you can go 400 feet above that - whats the highest altitude you can safely fly a UAV? If it can theoretically travel 4 miles away, can it also go 4 miles up? (Not that I'd try it, I was just curious!)

1B) If the device were to fly higher than 400 feet would it alert anyone? If I was trying to frame a shot (and of course I was in an area where I felt safe in doing so) and went above 400 feet would anyone know? Will I have the FAA at my door? I'm assuming its like driving over the 60MPH speed limit.

1A 400'/120m is limit AGL (above take off) just to be clear. ie One could take off from 6,000 AGL depending where you are in the world. Safety height IMHO is a measure of AGL for these devices - 400ft being most typical round the world. (Canada 300 though by example)

2. No alerts of you fly higher. Unlike majority of cars (your question) the logs in drone and RC will have record of your flight details including height, so there is a record. You could fly higher to frame the picture as you ask, just as one can exceed the speed limit without necessarily being caught. I advise against this for safety reasons, many agree, some argue it's not law in their country, true but it's a good safety limit, particularly for new and inexperienced pilots.

Hope this helps, safe & enjoyable flying.

 

[F3honda4me]

The 400 foot limit is actually a guideline not a law or rule that pertains to hobbyist flight. In fact the AMA rules even states you can go above 400' so long as you either are more than 3 miles from an airport OR you notify the airport. https://www.modelaircraft.org/files/105.pdf

http://amablog.modelaircraft.org/amagov/files/2016/07/FAA-400feet.pdf

 

[John Locke]

1A) I know legally in the US you can only fly up to an altitude of 400 feet and theres an exception to that if you are next to a structure, then you can go 400 feet above that - whats the highest altitude you can safely fly a UAV? If it can theoretically travel 4 miles away, can it also go 4 miles up? (Not that I'd try it, I was just curious!)

I've flown as high as 14,000' MSL, all the time less than 400' AGL. The craft firmware limits you to 1640' from take-off point, but there are ways around that, the limit is then the capacity of the battery, but you need something high to climb, like a mountain to stay within 400' AGL

 

[Slickvolt]

Just as an aside, in aircraft, aircraft ceiling is determined by several factors... for example: for smaller normally aspirated engine powered aircraft, the amount of oxygen in the air plays a role, as the air/ fuel ratio for combustion must be maintained, then the second factor smaller civil aircraft have to overcome is thin air...the higher the aircraft flies the less “bite” the props get on thinner air found at higher altitudes, resulting in reaching maximum aircraft altitude or ceiling..
So there are no aspirated engines on the Phantom, but there should be some theoretical ceiling for the aircraft , all firmware safeguards aside, attributed to prop ability to continue to produce lift in very thin air found at high altitudes.
The video on this comment string at 14000 MSL is very interesting because it shows that at thin air at that altitude the Phantom still gets enough bite.

 

[John Locke]

The video on this comment string at 14000 MSL is very interesting because it shows that at thin air at that altitude the Phantom still gets enough bite.

Yes, the official flight ceiling is 19000' feet according to DJI, but you will notice a difference in flight time flying above 10,000' MSL. You will also notice numerous warnings of "Maximum RPM attained", or something like that. You start seeing that at about 10,000" MSL when you ascend full throttle plus use full throttle forward, simultaneously. When flying above 10,000' MSL I wish I could get higher pitch props, like they offer for the Inspire. The flight times would be longer I think.

 

[F3honda4me]

I've flown as high as 14,000' MSL, all the time less than 400' AGL. The craft firmware limits you to 1640' from take-off point, but there are ways around that, the limit is then the capacity of the battery, but you need something high to climb, like a mountain to stay within 400' AGL

Love that video

 

[Danoldo]

C

 

[gsreinke]

1A 400'/120m is limit AGL (above take off) just to be clear. ie One could take off from 6,000 AGL depending where you are in the world. Safety height IMHO is a measure of AGL for these devices - 400ft being most typical round the world. (Canada 300 though by example)

2. No alerts of you fly higher. Unlike majority of cars (your question) the logs in drone and RC will have record of your flight details including height, so there is a record. You could fly higher to frame the picture as you ask, just as one can exceed the speed limit without necessarily being caught. I advise against this for safety reasons, many agree, some argue it's not law in their country, true but it's a good safety limit, particularly for new and inexperienced pilots.

Hope this helps, safe & enjoyable flying.

Me thinks you meant 6000 “MSL”