Question about safe wind speed...

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Still waiting for mine (hopefully tomorrow, YAY!) but just interested in what is considered a 'safe' wind speed to fly in.

Obviously ideally you plan you flights around the wind, but in other cases there is a particular event or situation that dictates the timeline. That said #SafetyAboveEverything so what would you consider:

1. 'Ideal conditions'
2. 'Safe conditions'
3. 'Pushing the envelope'
4. 'Stupidity, hope you enjoyed having that quad while you had it'.

I want to stay in 1. and 2. :)
 
I have flown in 10-20 mph winds with gusts and while a little nervous, it seemed okay and hovered fine. My ground speed was a bit slower with the headwinds but otherwise I was pleased. I probably wouldn't do it very often though and definitely not when near obstacles.
 
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Still waiting for mine (hopefully tomorrow, YAY!) but just interested in what is considered a 'safe' wind speed to fly in.

Obviously ideally you plan you flights around the wind, but in other cases there is a particular event or situation that dictates the timeline. That said #SafetyAboveEverything so what would you consider:

1. 'Ideal conditions'
2. 'Safe conditions'
3. 'Pushing the envelope'
4. 'Stupidity, hope you enjoyed having that quad while you had it'.

I want to stay in 1. and 2. :)
It comes down to risk tolerance. I had mine up in 23mph gusts over the weekend and it handled fine. So I'd say 1) Very little wind, 2) anywhere under 15mph gusts, 3) 15-25mph gusts, 4) 25mph+
 
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Excellent. So ideally under about 20km/h gusts should be fairly cushy. Play by ear and very carefully above that.
 
Not a P3, but this clip from my old PV+ over a local reservoir shows quite strong winds - look in the corner of the reservoir wall for the gusts on the water surface. Just be careful if you are out in winds that you allow more time to fly back as the phantom will have to fight a headwind. In this case, the upwind speed was about a third of the wind assisted speed!

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Excellent. So ideally under about 20km/h gusts should be fairly cushy. Play by ear and very carefully above that.
Yes and take it slow at first if there are gusts. The barometer measures temp changes, and strong gusts can cause the bird to bounce a few feet in elevation.
 
I'm flying P3P for a week, but almost in calm wind. I've upgraded my P2 motors to newer ones, (980KV), and that is same as P3 (but the voltage).
1. lesser is better. esp. w/o gimbal, attitude correction causes lean of camera view (off topic for P3),
2. usually under 15 knot (7.7m/s, 17 mph, 28km/h) is ok for me,
3. I've ever flied in gust 20 knot (10m/s, 23 mph, 37km/h) conditions. Once my bird flew up by sudden gust and hit her head to a structure when taking off. Another time I lifted up to above, but I felt no control in 20 knot wind and immediately landed.

Technically, basic mode (P2 in GPS mode, P3 P/A mode) limits speed under 40km/h (22 knot), so limit of hovering seems to be under 22 knot. Of course you can fly to downwind however the wind is strong, but cannot return. ;-)
I remember somebody reported 80km/h was the max speed for manual mode P2(?). But for arial shooting, the DJI gimbal can correct under 30 degrees lean, and 30 degrees is max lean of body in basic mode and that is max speed in basic mode. So if P3 has capability to fly over 40km/h (can hover over 40km/h wind), gimbal cannot correct lean/vibration (again, in case of hovering arial shooting).
 
I flew mine over Lake Austin a few days ago.
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I noticed the wind was pretty strong when I was up around 300 feet.
I put it in ATTI mode and just let it drift. The horizontal speed got up to about 11m/s or 24.5mph.
When I tried to fly forward into the wind i could barely manage 4m/s or 9mph.
Had there been some gusts stronger than this, I would not have been able to overcome them.
 
For your first few flights it wants to be near calm. You often get quieter spell around sunset even on breezy days.
One of the greatest tips with flying these is learn to be patient if things aren't right.

The P3 is better at handling wind than previous phantoms because it has more power and much stronger satellite lock.
A real danger previously was losing GPS due to marginal satellites and it would revert to ATTI mode and drift with the wind.
If only just in view this is a potentially serious situation where you could soon lose it and RTH might not work either with insufficient satellites.
Landing and taking off are more risky when it's windy; close to ground where there are objects to hit is always the most hazardous part to start with.
 

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