It is my understanding that, according to regulations, the maximum altitude is 120 m above the launch point. But how is this applied in an area with sloping terrain? Suppose that two pilots are located a few hundred meters from each other horizontally, with Pilot A 100 m higher than Pilot B. If the maximum altitude is based on where you're standing, Pilot A can fly a drone 100 m higher than Pilot B. Does it make logical sense that air space that is available to Pilot A isn't available to Pilot B?
Regulations for maximum altitude in areas with sloping terrain?
- Thread starter cinclodes
- Start date
Yes, that wouldn't make sense. However, the restriction is 120 metres above the surface directly below the drone, not above the launch elevation.
Thanks for the information. That makes sense, but I was confused about this for a couple of reasons. Most of my flights were done in an area with flat terrain. So this was never an issue for me. I always assumed that the altitude that shows on the controller is the maximum altitude by regulation since this is what the drone uses as the maximum altitude.
Happy to help. If you're referring to the figure in the app under 'Set max flight altitude', I think this setting defaults to 120m, but you can enter any number you like between 20m and 500m. The drone won't let you exceed 500m above your launch elevation, no matter how close to the ground you may be.
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I was flying in Oregon, USA from a deep valley and wanted to take video of Mt Hood while ascending up the slope, but my P4P stopped at 400 AGL. Way below the top of the ridge. The reason is I had my altitude limit at 400 AGL. I since changed to a MUCH higher limit. I don't fly higher than 400 AGL above the ground, not the launch point.
A P4P recorded video at 23,000' plus...legally. He was in the Himalayas.
I did some mapping of a small, 1.5 mile long valley using terrain awareness on a P4 RTK. The valley floor gains almost 400 feet of elevation from the lower end to the upper end (about 5% slope) and the flight area included some of the valley side slopes such that the highest ground point was about 500 feet higher than the low point. Was planning to start at the lower end, fly at 70 meters (230 feet) above the ground, and walk up the valley with the drone and land as needed to swap batteries along the way. I initially had the max altitude set for 390 feet but the drone refused to launch. So, played with various settings until I figured out that it needed a max altitude to be set to 1000 feet to account for the change in elevation between the starting point at the lower end of the valley and the highest ground surface in the terrain model at the upper end of the valley. Once I had the max altitude set high enough; the terrain awareness flight went smoothly.
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