Phew... I’m DONE! 6.7 Mile Flight!!!

[Darian Trotter]

Flew 6.7 Miles out last night, then landed. My longest one-way distance. My furthest round-trip flight was 5.5 Miles the night before. Spotters were used throughout. Now that I’ve done it, I don’t plan to try it again. My spotters are also glad it’s over.

 

[John Locke]

Night time? 6miles? One way intential? Seems like a high risk stunt with no functional purpose, am I wrong? Did you pre-plan and select a target field for landing purposes? Did you have an accessory light on the bottom to see where you're landing? Or did you land in a lighted parking lot somewhere?

Usually when you land that far away you'll lose signal before reaching ground, and RTH will auto enable. Did you have "land" selected for RTH mode? Did RTH in fact enable when you got close to ground?

Nice range, especially on 2.4Ghz. I find 5.8Ghz works best.

 

[Darian Trotter]

Night time? 6miles? One way intential? Seems like a high risk stunt with no functional purpose, am I wrong? Did you pre-plan and select a target field for landing purposes? Did you have an accessory light on the bottom to see where you're landing? Or did you land in a lighted parking lot somewhere?

Usually when you land that far away you'll lose signal before reaching ground, and RTH will auto enable. Did you have "land" selected for RTH mode? Did RTH in fact enable when you got close to ground?

Nice range, especially on 2.4Ghz. I find 5.8Ghz works best.

Well first I fly for hobby, no other ‘functional purpose.” Whether it’s for a time lapse, or just great pics and video — it’s all still part of the hobby, and there’s always a risk when any drone goes up. In this case it was a long distance flight, in which I took steps to minimize risks. There were spotters along the route.

The plan was for an intentional one-way flight, after which I landed in a well lit parking lot of a closed business at 3am. The lot was identified in the pre-planning process. I hovered over the lot for the remainder of the battery, slowly lowering the quad but maintaining connection at 100feet — until it auto landed in front of one of the spotters. Then we all met up, packed up the drone, and reviewed the video.

The next night we completed the 5.5 mile, round-trip flight. The drone auto landed with 7% battery remaining. I also used spotters during that flight. Again, it was at 3am. The key to both successful flights was being familiar with the route, low wind speeds, low interference late night, and spotters who agreed to help. Both flights were below 400feet. Now that I’ve done them, I have no plans to do it again. It’s like buying a Porsche, you’ll want to test the limits and put the pedal to the metal on a remote open road (to minimize the risk) Once you’ve done it safely and successfully you move on.

As always John Locke thanks for your active participation.

 

[John Locke]

The plan was for an intentional one-way flight, after which I landed in a well lit parking lot of a closed business at 3am.

Good plan. I hope you bought your spotters dinner in celebration afterwards!

Sounds like you and your friends might work the night shift. 3AM? Well done!

This may start a contest of "one wayers" to stretch the limits.

 

[Darian Trotter]

Hahahaha... How did you know. They’re friends who I treat regularly. I now owe them AGAIN. And yep I work nights 1p-12am.

 

[Raptorman0909]

Yeah, I'm not sold on the spotters claim given it was night time. And, at 6.7 miles one way you'd need a spotter about every mile if seeing conditions are perfect but at night how could that be? I've done some longer flights in the daytime and in remote areas but nothing near 6.7 miles.

I can see my drone out to about half a mile or a bit more if conditions are good but if I take my eyes off it at that distance to look at my FPV screen I am seldom able to reacquire it so I find it dubious that your spotters were able to see it at all unless it flew right over there heads and even then it's more likely they heard but didn't see it.

Lastly, the screen shots show you were flying near built up areas where a helicopter flying low is not out of the question. I'd recommend NOT posting the video to YouTube as the FAA tends to frown on such things and you don't want to be made an example.


Brian

 

[smfcpacfp]

What antenna were you using?

 

[John Locke]

Yeah, I'm not sold on the spotters claim given it was night time. And, at 6.7 miles one way you'd need a spotter about every mile if seeing conditions are perfect but at night how could that be? I've done some longer flights in the daytime and in remote areas but nothing near 6.7 miles.

I can see my drone out to about half a mile or a bit more if conditions are good....
Brian

Seems doable to me. Just have two spotters in a car, one driving and one spotting, communicating by phone with the pilot. At 3am it would be easy to see any helicopters in the area while the pilot flies low as the spotters drive the pre planned route, presumably down a long straight road to the lighted parking lot. With the pilot following the road and the spotter team driving down the road, seems easy to follow at 30mph and stay in touch with the pilot for a safe flight. However I do agree, I would advise against posting a video.

@Darian Trotter, Was this how it was done?

 

[Slickvolt]

Flew 6.7 Miles out last night, then landed. My longest one-way distance. My furthest round-trip flight was 5.5 Miles the night before. Spotters were used throughout. Now that I’ve done it, I don’t plan to try it again. My spotters are also glad it’s over.

I’m very interested in what antennas you used as well...**** good testimonial for them whatever they are

 

[Darian Trotter]

I’m very interested in what antennas you used as well...**** good testimonial for them whatever they are

Paul with FPVCustoms.com He does great work and lists prices and options on his website.

 

[Darian Trotter]

Paul with FPVCustoms.com He does great work and lists prices and options on his website.

 

[John Tarvin]

While I'm not a "goody two shoes" I find your little stunt to be dangerous and irresponsible. Certainly not good for the drone community. And, I don't believe your spotter story for a second. Please post your video on YouTube!

 

[cbgeorge]

Yeah, I'm not sold on the spotters claim given it was night time. And, at 6.7 miles one way you'd need a spotter about every mile if seeing conditions are perfect but at night how could that be? I've done some longer flights in the daytime and in remote areas but nothing near 6.7 miles.

I can see my drone out to about half a mile or a bit more if conditions are good but if I take my eyes off it at that distance to look at my FPV screen I am seldom able to reacquire it so I find it dubious that your spotters were able to see it at all unless it flew right over there heads and even then it's more likely they heard but didn't see it.

Lastly, the screen shots show you were flying near built up areas where a helicopter flying low is not out of the question. I'd recommend NOT posting the video to YouTube as the FAA tends to frown on such things and you don't want to be made an example.


Brian

This is the very reason why I quit posting or sharing any videos anymore.

 

[F3honda4me]

This is the very reason why I quit posting or sharing any videos anymore.

Yep

 

[lolo780]

Flew 6.7 Miles out last night, then landed. My longest one-way distance. My furthest round-trip flight was 5.5 Miles the night before. Spotters were used throughout. Now that I’ve done it, I don’t plan to try it again. My spotters are also glad it’s over.

Nice flight, what do you find is the optimal speed on the P4P when doing distance runs?

 

[Slickvolt]

This is the very reason why I quit posting or sharing any videos anymore.

+10000 my man...nailed it

 

[Slickvolt]

I’m looking at this and another one called raptor sr

 

[LanceA]

While I'm not a "goody two shoes" I find your little stunt to be dangerous and irresponsible. Certainly not good for the drone community. And, I don't believe your spotter story for a second. Please post your video on YouTube!

I purchased a Phantom 3 Pro and then a Phantom 4 Pro+ for photography and for fun. However, since receiving automatic weekly posts from this forum, I have not flown either drone in months. You and others like you have made operating my drones seem more freightening than fun and hardly worth the effort. What if I were to do something wrong , or just outside of the rules? By the way, I have never flown a drone beyond line of sight. Not because I am a "goody two shoes", but because I am a bit paranoid of loosing control (thank God for RTH). I would very much like to send one of my drones straight up through the clouds and then directly back down. Having photos and potentially videos from the other side of the clouds would be really cool to me. But then that would be a Dangerous and Irresposible Stunt and certainly not good for the Drone community.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Paul with FPVCustoms.com He does great work and lists prices and options on his website.

Now you need Paul's P4P battery mod to support that range on a round trip!

 

[P4PCommander]

While I'm not a "goody two shoes" I find your little stunt to be dangerous and irresponsible. Certainly not good for the drone community. And, I don't believe your spotter story for a second. Please post your video on YouTube!

John, 98% of my flights are at night! I use Lume Cubes and can see my Bird Clearly 3 miles out