What is minimum altitude?

[Dan cutter]

What you said. The drone doesn't know it's going below sea level--I doubt it has ever been to the beach or put on sunblock for that matter. However I have heard of drones imploding if you fly too deep too fast. Drilling vents can prevent that from happening. Disclaimer: don't believe anything I say. Except this--I was a lineman at a high altitude airport refueling anything with wings. But I only know not to mix up Jet A and Avgas.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[tevek]

Ab

Now we're singing from the same hymn sheet, my only reference was to the legality of flying above 400' AGL, (a universal rule set by the IATA, and followed by almost every country. I realise the difficulty this causes with RTH altitudes in hilly terrain. I reckon we're sorted...

Agreed then, all good

 

[tevek]

You can leave out the "above sea level" ... as no Phantom or other such machine has any idea about Sea level what soever .......... it only knows to register the pressure at GROUND level and take that as its 'zero' reference. Forget structures .. sea level .... all that ...

OP asked about MINIMUM altititude - there are many videos on YT showing people taking off on hills and mountains and then flying down to video lower or even to land. It appears there is no lower limit. Lets be fair - what would it do IF there was ?

ASL / AGL .... sorry but these make me smile ... we are not proper pilots. And quite a number would not know an AGL from a ferret in their trousers !! But if words like Height above Ground - the everyone knows the words !!

I could talk Fuel Abbreviations to you ... 99.9999% of you wouldn't know what I was talking about ...

Simple is good chaps ...

Cheers
Nigel

Yeah, I jumped in on this thread to comment on a specific note, this could venture into the realms of the ' RTH' thread' that is driving people insane. My input was to mention the limits of the drone WRT sea level and the flying height reference to a particular point of interest within that band of operation.
I saw your comments regarding fuel 'structure' and I'm not going there!

 

[Alex Baxter]

ASL / AGL .... sorry but these make me smile ... we are not proper pilots. And quite a number would not know an AGL from a ferret in their trousers !! But if words like Height above Ground - the everyone knows the words !!

I could talk Fuel Abbreviations to you ... 99.9999% of you wouldn't know what I was talking about ...

Simple is good chaps ...

Cheers
Nigel

For a commercial licence here in Ireland at least, you do have to know the terminology, and understand it too, and that includes all the TLAs.. Fuel abbreviations are not usually relevant to drone flying, any more than, for example, chemi-fluorescence, or even RFO sg..

 

[solentlife]

For a commercial licence here in Ireland at least, you do have to know the terminology, and understand it too, and that includes all the TLAs.. Fuel abbreviations are not usually relevant to drone flying, any more than, for example, chemi-fluorescence, or even RFO sg..

No problems .. fully understood ... but remember we are in 'Drone world' !! with some pretty strange characters around !!

Cheers
Nigel

 

[Alex Baxter]

Over my life to date (a fair few years...), I've discovered there are strange characters in every walk of life, the trick is to recognise one's own strangeness, which sometimes helps to understand it in others. Vive la difference.

 

[solentlife]

Over my life to date (a fair few years...), I've discovered there are strange characters in every walk of life, the trick is to recognise one's own strangeness, which sometimes helps to understand it in others. Vive la difference.

Absolutely !

Look at me ... more than 50 models all ready to go and STILL want more !! I have 4 boats sitting out there as well ...

Cheers
Nigel

 

[Alex Baxter]

Absolutely !

Look at me ... more than 50 models all ready to go and STILL want more !! I have 4 boats sitting out there as well ...

Cheers
Nigel

I'm from the doped tissue, airfix balsa cement and castor oil lubricated rubber band motors free flight era. We've come a long way..

 

[AntonyEbne]

Thank you to solentlife for answering my specific question.

The reason I thought there might be a lower limit is two-fold.
One is the "cylinder of range" talked about by DJI.
The other is that if you take off at 1000ft, then descend to the bottom of the cliff 0ft, then you need to ascend more than 400ft to get back to your starting point.

 

[solentlife]

Thank you to solentlife for answering my specific question.

The reason I thought there might be a lower limit is two-fold.
One is the "cylinder of range" talked about by DJI.
The other is that if you take off at 1000ft, then descend to the bottom of the cliff 0ft, then you need to ascend more than 400ft to get back to your starting point.

No problem ... we all tend to get carried away on extra bits and tend to forget original question.

Cheers
Nigel

 

[Dan cutter]

Ahhh, the smell of model cement sends me back in time--fast. Balsa and tissue--what fun that was.

 

[Paul60]

Ahhh, the smell of model cement sends me back in time--fast. Balsa and tissue--what fun that was.

I still build stick & tissue models. I have a 1960's rubber powered Gollywok complete with a hand fashioned folding prop on the go at the moment.

 

[Slackware]

I still build stick & tissue models. I have a 1960's rubber powered Gollywok complete with a hand fashioned folding prop on the go at the moment.

rubber bands have improved also. You could wind some good stuff that will fold the plane over now.
I've got one more plane in the attic. One thing I noticed, 30 years in a dry hot attic makes the balsa VERY light, removes all moisture. Also very fragile cutting out, so the testors #11 blades are needed. I might use mica film to cover it instead of the tissue and dope.
I have no idea how my dad had the patients to build 2 at a time for us as kids. I can't wait for instant glue to dry. LOL

 

[Paul60]

I noticed that with the balsa Gollywok kit I recently bought. It was still in the box. Never started. Must be over 50 years old. The tissue is in pretty good nick. Has that lovely 'musty' old time smell too!

 

[Vox Populi]

Getting back to the original post, I remember another thread that said if you are over someone else's property you must be over 250 ft. Or you are trespassing. Anyone else see this?

 

[WilliamM]

Getting back to the original post, I remember another thread that said if you are over someone else's property you must be over 250 ft. Or you are trespassing. Anyone else see this?

This is a world wide forum, every country has different laws. And in the US, every state has different laws.

 

[N017RW]

rubber bands have improved also. You could wind some good stuff that will fold the plane over now.
I've got one more plane in the attic. One thing I noticed, 30 years in a dry hot attic makes the balsa VERY light, removes all moisture. Also very fragile cutting out, so the testors #11 blades are needed. I might use mica film to cover it instead of the tissue and dope.
I have no idea how my dad had the patients to build 2 at a time for us as kids. I can't wait for instant glue to dry. LOL

What is mica film?

Monocote (a brand name) is a heat shrink covering with an adhesive on the back. Is that what you are referring to?