Your personal wind maximums

[Mark The Droner]

15

 

[Air Ontario]

You can use UAV forecast and/or look for rawinsondes from weather balloon readings during the day at the closest larger airports under Skew T on the airport or weather website.

I have flown the P3P in 27 mph fairly comfortably, but I was only 170' above 17 miles of ice 3/4 mile wide and 8-9 miles long. I only had to keep it over the frozen lake and away from bordering trees.

Wind speed is a highly personal thing based on experience mostly.

 

[kennedye]

I tried flying in the simulator the other day with ever-increasing wind speeds; the Phantom lost its ability to fight the wind at about 35-40mph, in ATTI it just disappeared into the distance.

 

[mikecorn1]

Under 15


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[Osmosis]

I'll go up to 25mph.

Here's a video with winds 15 gusting to 25 - no problem with stability or control:

 

[aermale]

I try to stay around 10 mph. Get a toy drone to play with indoors and this won't be an issue. Plus, it builds up your head-in orientation skills, without crashing your nice AC.

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[tjshelton]

I try to plan my flights for times when winds are under 10 MPH, but will fly up to 15 MPH. I also look at the wind direction and try to do my RTH flying with the wind. BTW, I strongly recommend buying the subscription for UAV Forecast. That way you can see the forecast for the next week, instead of just 24 hours ahead.

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[eatpasta]

I was up on our tallest local peak in town - which isnt that high but it is about 3800 feet. Since we are right on the ocean, the wind can be nuts at times.

When I went up there it was pretty calm but as I started to fly the wind came up. I was flirting with cliff drop and sure enough a gust grabbed it and started to take it away.

I immediately pulled full stick back and man, it was a battle. Even at full stick it still wasnt moving much so I tacked back and forth and after a few minutes I was able to get it away from the stronger wind and land.

Conditions can change quickly.... after that I try not to fly in more than a few mph of wind

 

[Great Pumpkin]

I don't like to fly in wind more than 15 mph, although I have and wasn't very comfortable doing it, especially when there's nothing but ocean in one direction and steep, brushy, wild country in the other.

 

[eatpasta]

I don't like to fly in wind more than 15 mph, although I have and wasn't very comfortable doing it, especially when there's nothing but ocean in one direction and steep, brushy, wild country in the other.

That looks familiar...

 

[Dave Ryan]

Hang on guys , what's the top speed of a p3 ? Surely if you put it up in 40mph it's gonna disappear into the distance and not come back???


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[joet]

The P3 can handle more wind than most users imagine.
It can easily handle 20 knots and even a bit more.
But takeoff and landing may be a bit tricky in strong winds.If you fly in strong winds, it's important to test the wind by flying directly into it and see how it slows the Phantom.
And be very aware of this by not going any distance away downwind.

There's a difference between "can handle" and "should be subjected to without due cause". Risk mitigation, folks.. Risk mitigation.

 

[Clipper707]

...as I was hovering, I noticed the P3P could hold it's position with GPS but as I was descending, it seemed to wobble a bit. I got scared that I was going to catch it in its own vortex ring and crash it so I descended very slowly and hand caught instead.

Unless I'm mistaken, Vortex Ring State is a phenomenon that occurs when there is little or no wind and a straight-down descent.

Medium to high winds will have the effect of sweeping the dirty air out from under rotor aircraft.

As for risk mitigation, definitely consider your priorities. I won't put my drone up in high winds for the sake of it, but if I'm traveling and I'm in a location for a limited time, I'll risk higher winds than when I'm flying in my practice field.

Last year on vacation, I flew out to see some Vietnamese fishing boats about a mile off the coast when a sudden storm rolled in and the winds took my P3 away from me. I dropped altitude and found lighter winds and had to switch to GPS to get her back to shore fighting a headwind most of the way. The 5 meter/second flight back was an agonizing race between distance and battery.

 

[7200rpm]

You have to think about it and use common sense.
If you put your Phantom up in a strong wind, first thing to check is how much the wind slows the Phantom.
Try flying straight into the wind and note your speed.
If you are only making 5 m/s you know the wind is 10 m/s ... and you know not to fly away any distance going downwind because it's going to be a long slow ride home.

It's amazing how so many trust numbers they see on an app but don't think about how the app gets those numbers.
Get a feel for the wind you are in rather than some numbers that might be in the ballpark or could be completely wrong.

In theory, the P3 can handle wind up to its max speed, but that would mean it would be making no ground progress and be very difficult to control. I recommend no more than 10-15 mph, especially if you are capturing photos, which are much more sensitive in high winds as the Phantom constantly adjusts to keep its position.

 

[floridajustin]

It's not flying in the wind I worry about, it's landing. Even in 10 MPH winds, my P4 has almost tipped over during shutdown.

 

[Clipper707]

That's why hand catching is a necessary skill. I almost always hand catch. The landing gear on a Phantom is a compromise between stability and camera field of view clearance.

In almost all cases, a hand catch is superior to landing.

 

[glen e]

I use UAV forecast to tell me what the winds are at 100 to 250 feet, it doesn't really matter what it is on the ground. Up There, I don't like anything more than about 18 mph max and mostly fly when it's 10-15 there.

 

[Clipper707]

Sometimes I use ATTI mode to tell me what the wind is doing at a given altitude.

 

[747P4]

Good post by the OP.
As you all know the quoted winds are at surface level for a particular airport.
When you launch, local terrain and obstacles can shift the wind direction and speed, so look out for that.

At approximately 2000 feet (friction layer) the wind blows parallel to the "isobars".
Winds of this type are usually called geostrophic winds. Geostrophic winds come about because pressure gradient force and Coriolis force come into balance after the air begins to move. A geostrophic wind flows parallel to the isobars.

Therefore the wind direction at the surface can differ at the 2000 foot level.

Hope this helps.

Note:
If you measure the Geostrophic wind speed and direction you can calculate the movement of weather fronts. I find this much more accurate than the "computer models" the forecasters use on TV.
A warm front will move at about half the speed of a cold front actually 2/ 3 of the full wind speed.

 

[Dave Ryan]

That's why hand catching is a necessary skill. I almost always hand catch. The landing gear on a Phantom is a compromise between stability and camera field of view clearance.

In almost all cases, a hand catch is superior to landing.

"Hand catching" - how does one do that safely? I'm guessing hands off hover above head height and grab a skid??



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