My buddy just broke the world record for Phantoms - 61,975 feet out and back and landing safely.  That's over 11.7 miles out and then turning around and coming back.  


Edit:  He was flying a P3A.  

New Edit:  He just broke his own record - his new record is 63,161.9 ft which is just a hair under 12 miles.  


http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... 4483&fromuid=214861

Lol, thanks for sharing, any mods on his device?

One or two  

What mods, on the controller, and the drone?

Re antennas - just on the control side.  

Niiiice... But I would be scared of winds at that alt.

Must have good eyes to keep it VLOS at that distance.
Is there exemptions for these flights?

Wow that's awesome. Guess I should have gotten the P3P instead of the P3S. lol

Okay it was a P3A, sorry.  No bird side mods other than the battery.  He used an antenna called The Terminator.  The signal was not his big problem though because he's flown over 19 miles one way.  The big problem was the battery.  

Cabansail Posted at 2017-2-19 13:16
Must have good eyes to keep it VLOS at that distance.
Is there exemptions for these flights?

It's the "I'll do what I damm please" exemption. It's a free exemption, no forms needed and real time approval. Use it myself sometimes.

adrian8891 Posted at 2017-2-19 13:01
Niiiice... But I would be scared of winds at that alt.

Altitude was only at 281 feet. The other number was the range out.

WilliamM Posted at 2017-2-19 20:39
It's the "I'll do what I damm please" exemption. It's a free exemption, no forms needed and real time approval. Use it myself sometimes.

I have heard that exemption is used in all sorts of areas. It  is popular among those who take extended holidays at the governments expense.

20 minute flight.  Really pushing it but one of my batteries says I have 27 minutes use on it from 100%.

Still not sure I want to fly that far away yet.  Only done 7500 feet distance on Argetk and that seems fine so far lol.

AlecW Posted at 2017-2-19 23:18
I've got 8,175 feet out in suburbia stock, did you mean meters?  Love your vids in the open mountains.

A stock Phantom 3 Standard?  That's what I have.  I never went more than around 500m distance on stock.  I had already ordered my Argtek so wasn't much point in really pushing it.

Did some more vids today will post them later

WilliamM Posted at 2017-2-19 20:42
Altitude was only at 281 feet. The other number was the range out.

Ow... sorry then!  

blackcrusader Posted at 2017-2-19 23:09
20 minute flight.  Really pushing it but one of my batteries says I have 27 minutes use on it from 100%.

Still not sure I want to fly that far away yet.  Only done 7500 feet distance on Argetk and that seems fine so far lol.

20 mins one way.  The entire flight was 44 mins 25 secs covering 124,716 feet round trip.  Battery modded with a 10,000 mAh multistar.  Landed with 4%.

http://www.phantompilots.com/thr ... age-75#post-1105780

Mark The Droner Posted at 2017-2-20 03:09
20 mins one way.  The entire flight was 44 mins 25 secs covering 124,716 feet round trip.  Battery modded with a 10,000 mAh multistar.  Landed with 4%.

http://www.phantompilots.com/thr ... age-75#post-1105780

So the critical battery level can be set to lower than 10% ?

I've heard of at least two guys who have done distance runs and actually landed with 0%.  I heard of more guys who have attempted distance runs and have had their ACs suddenly drop from the sky and shatter into pieces a mile or two from home.  

Edit:  The critical landing can be set to 10% and from there the AC goes into critical auto-landing, so you have to fly with the up stick pushing up which will keep it level all the way down to 0% battery where the AC/battery will eventually finally turn off and drop.  

But the wildcard is that these batteries are modded with additional battery pack(s) and the percentage number you see on the app is only monitoring the original DJI battery.  

adrian8891 Posted at 2017-2-20 01:56
Ow... sorry then!

Also Phantoms have an inbuilt 500m or 1640ft height limit from launch. But I have needed to climb 380m just to clear the clouds.

I've been flying mine at 10200 ft using max altitude from launch.  Yes there are strong winds up there.

blackcrusader Posted at 2017-2-20 17:26
Also Phantoms have an inbuilt 500m or 1640ft height limit from launch. But I have needed to climb 380m just to clear the clouds.

I've been flying mine at 10200 ft using max altitude from launch.  Yes there are strong winds up there.

I heard that when You "block" altimeter in Phantom, then You can fly as high as You wish, but You dont have measurement of real altitude then.

adrian8891 Posted at 2017-2-21 03:23
I heard that when You "block" altimeter in Phantom, then You can fly as high as You wish, but You dont have measurement of real altitude then.

What you heard is probably wrong.  There was away before to do it but that has been fixed in later updates.  

but at the end..Do you really need to fly that far away for a shoot?

blackcrusader Posted at 2017-2-19 23:09
20 minute flight.  Really pushing it but one of my batteries says I have 27 minutes use on it from 100%.

Still not sure I want to fly that far away yet.  Only done 7500 feet distance on Argetk and that seems fine so far lol.

I'm a little confused here.  A round trip flight of almost 24 miles at 60 mph would take 24 minutes.  Phantoms don't go that fast: At thirty mph thats a 48 minute trip.  Gotta love that mid-flight fueling technology.  

AlecW Posted at 2017-2-19 23:18
I've got 8,175 feet out in suburbia stock, did you mean meters?  Love your vids in the open mountains.

On a Phantom 3  standard?  Even DJI don't rate them for anything near that range and no I would not get that on a standard.

sdevan45\@cox.n Posted at 2017-2-22 04:59
I'm a little confused here.  A round trip flight of almost 24 miles at 60 mph would take 24 minutes.  Phantoms don't go that fast: At thirty mph thats a 48 minute trip.  Gotta love that mid-flight fueling technology.

Yes because it is not my flight you are referring to. The OP claimed a 20 minute flight and it was a one way trip not return.  

I merely mentioned I have batteries that read having 27 min flight time capability on my healthy drones logs.  The longest flight I have done is 21m 50s done at low level over a High Speed Railway station in Taiwan.

http://healthydrones.com/main?fl ... _id=GENERALOverview

Marjanko Posted at 2017-2-21 16:13
but at the end..Do you really need to fly that far away for a shoot?

it is called exploration and human desire to expand knowledge and experiences.
not all are photo pro's
bu the way THIS TYPE thing is how all this technology get built in the first place.
Some says to themselves---WHAT IF I DID ....
with that said, I myself don't do long distance runs!

if you look at it in your terms do we REALLY need a to fly at all for a "shoot"

good luck

good luck

blackcrusader Posted at 2017-2-22 06:31
Yes because it is not my flight you are referring to. The OP claimed a 20 minute flight and it was a one way trip not return.  

...

No.  I cannot even begin to understand this.  Did you not read the post?  Apparently you read nothing.  You just glanced at the screen shot.  

I'm the OP.  As the rest of us can clearly see, the photo screen shot was taken at the longest distance point which is, of course, roughly half way through the flight.  

blackcrusader Posted at 2017-2-22 06:31
Yes because it is not my flight you are referring to. The OP claimed a 20 minute flight and it was a one way trip not return.  

I merely mentioned I have batteries that read having 27 min flight time capability on my healthy drones logs.  The longest flight I have done is 21m 50s done at low level over a High Speed Railway station in Taiwan.

I responded to you because you raised the issue about the other flight.  I was agreeing with your concern about his battery, not questioning yours.  Sorry for the confusion.

sdevan45\@cox.n Posted at 2017-2-22 04:59
I'm a little confused here.  A round trip flight of almost 24 miles at 60 mph would take 24 minutes.  Phantoms don't go that fast: At thirty mph thats a 48 minute trip.  Gotta love that mid-flight fueling technology.

I think you may have missed this bit

"20 mins one way.  The entire flight was 44 mins 25 secs covering 124,716 feet round trip. Battery modded with a 10,000 mAh multistar.  Landed with 4%."

sdevan45\@cox.n Posted at 2017-2-22 12:26
I responded to you because you raised the issue about the other flight.  I was agreeing with your concern about his battery, not questioning yours.  Sorry for the confusion.

For you and Mark the Droner

Ooops sorry about the error... Thanks correcting that for me.  I think 20 mins is doable in good conditions. Still for most people they are probably down to around 15% of battery left by that time on the P3S without mods.

Kirk2579 Posted at 2017-2-22 07:11
it is called exploration and human desire to expand knowledge and experiences.
not all are photo pro's
bu the way THIS TYPE thing is how all this technology get built in the first place.

Well said!!!
keep on flying

That's pretty unreal, thanks for sharing

Awesome.. 18km... any video link to share? and photos of the modified antenna..tqtq

Here's a thread the current Champion made a while back discussing the Terminator and comparing it to the ITELITE Maxxrange.  He probably mounted the antenna on a tripod for the run.  IIRC, the Terminator is slightly better in range but not much, and it's quite a bit heavier.  I don't know if you can find the Terminator by Horizon anymore.  I think their site is down - the one in the UK.  You can still get the Maxx Range though.

http://www.phantompilots.com/thr ... nna-shootout.77042/

Here's a link to a photo of the terminator

http://horizonfpvantennas.us/wp- ... or-Extreme-back.png


Here's a list via Flytrex of the top ten Phantom distances:  http://www.flytrex.com/challenges/distance/phantom-all/

DB didn't install his Flytrex tracker on his AC for this flight because he wanted to keep the weight down.  

Here's a list via Phantom Pilots of the same thing (not updated as of this morning):  http://www.phantompilots.com/thr ... -leaderboard.76464/

Here's a good quick vid showing the kind of flying you have to do and risks you have to take if you want to get into the top ten:
  

Note that Keith, a consistent top five distance runner, had the battery at 0% the last several hundred yards, so when the AC went to auto-land, he had to slam it into full up throttle to keep it aloft for the last quarter mile or so, but still didn't quite make it to home point, but it was still enough to grab the #1 spot.  All these top ten guys lose Phantoms fairly regularly due to drops/crashes short of home point.  That's just part of the deal.

My hero broke his own record either yesterday or today:  

Looks like 63,161.9 feet out from home point, and then turning around and arriving at homepoint with 1% remaining battery.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/ ... 0b8230912bda8d0.jpg

Wait till they can really compete? ;-)


RedHotPoker

Yeah!  That will get me over the trees!

Mark The Droner Posted at 2017-2-28 17:04
Yeah!  That will get me over the trees!

Yes, over the trees of the next couple of orchards over too... Ha



RedHotPoker

blackcrusader Posted at 2017-2-20 00:22
A stock Phantom 3 Standard?  That's what I have.  I never went more than around 500m distance on stock.  I had already ordered my Argtek so wasn't much point in really pushing it.

Did some more vids today will post them later

I have gone just over 13,000 feet at 300 foot alt with a P 3 pro. The only thing that's not stock is the reflectors that slide over the antenna. I had to turn around due to battery power. I still had over 35% power on a round trip of 26,205 feet but didn't want to push it any further. I still had full controller signal as well.

New world record set yesterday.... over 13 miles out and then back to home flying a P3A.  No, it's not an April Fool's joke.

http://www.phantompilots.com/thr ... age-77#post-1146382