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Each day, I shoot the same sequence of stills and video along this stretch of central Arizona's Verde River. These images will be used to test a new technique of monitoring changes in the River's flows and the health of its ecosystem.

Since it's important to get as complete a record as possible, I sometimes press the limits of good sense, as far as the safety of the aircraft is concerned.

On this day, April 25th, 2016, high winds threatened to make the day's record impossible, but I thought I'd try. Winds at the aircraft's altitude, according to mesurements on "Healthy Drones," hovered around 38 mph, sustained. The flight is programmed using Litchi, to fly this route at 30 mph, and you can see that the drone had a tough time maintaining that speed.

But the Phantom 3 did an amazing job of stabilizing the video in incredibly tough circumstances, don't you think?! See the video at:
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That was a lot of wind to fly in! :eek:
Impressive it did so well.
 
It always amazes me how much wind the phantom can handle! way more than i think it can. once flying my p2 i hit wind so strong in ATTI mode with the stick 100% throttle it would only stay still, wouldn't move forward, if the wind picked up any more it would have been a goner.... scary.
 
I just flew up top of Koko head crater in Hawaii. The winds were so strong I hesitated flying but I did anyway. And though the o3 pro was fighting hard, I got back beautiful and smooth footage.
 
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Just to look at those trees, I would have thought, no way!
 
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This little bird just continues to deliver amazing results, even under extreme conditions such as these.
 
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Amazing.

I never fly in winds > 20 mph as that itself is high. 38 is really high. Thanks to Litchi that it has good fighting spirit and never gets tired. Glad all went well. Suggestion: No point in risking aircraft in such high winds. As you do it regularly, buy a wind speed measuring device.
 
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****, that's something else. Thanks for sharing that. Gives me a little more confidence flying on those iffy days.
 
Great video. Strong winds indeed!!

I would think the phantom could fly in up to 45mph winds. I figure if it can fly up to 45mph - then why wouldn't it be able to at least maintain position up to around 45mph?

End result tho is of course your battery life will take a dump quicker ;)
 
Great video. Strong winds indeed!!

I would think the phantom could fly in up to 45mph winds. I figure if it can fly up to 45mph - then why wouldn't it be able to at least maintain position up to around 45mph?

End result tho is of course your battery life will take a dump quicker ;)

If it can fly up to 45mph, it seems to me that the very most it could do in 45mph wind would be to hold it's place. So, you could not fly it into the wind, and if you flew it with the wind, there would be no possible way for it to fly back.
 
I just did a quick midnight run ..pretty gusty butt no problem at all ;)
 

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Depending on who's project that is, I'd be insisting they supply a bird at their own risk. I would never, ever fly my own phantom in that, no matter how accommodating I really wanted to be. And if for some reason my arm was twisted enough to do it, I would never chance that with autonomous flight. I would insist on full manual control in case it got caught up in the wind. I question what is really learned from that rather general fly over anyway, which couldn't skip a day during very poor conditions. I would highly suggest you use better judgement next time. Did you have a safe flight, or a lucky one? That's the question. Luck runs out. Have a bank account ready for your next bird.
 
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Great video. Strong winds indeed!!
I would think the phantom could fly in up to 45mph winds. I figure if it can fly up to 45mph - then why wouldn't it be able to at least maintain position up to around 45mph?
Your Phantom 3 can't do 45 mph. It tops out around 35 mph in still air.
 
i am still new at this. I took mine up the other day as it was calm at the surface.
I went up 200 feet then switched to non-gps mode. saw the bird move swiftly away.
Good test to see how bad the winds are at height.
 
Madness! I flew in about 20-25mph winds and I've just got mine and I just kept it near the ground. I was so impressed by how well it performed especially just if I let it hover and it self-corrected. I'm so amazed at how well they fly. I won't be taking it out when it's windy like that again though as it's less fun :)


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
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