I am traveling to Austria and was wondering if I was a good idea to fly it in the mountains. I don't know if this is a stupid question or not, but does it have GPS signal in the mountains and does Spark GPS work and if you lose signal will it come back. Will high winds affect the spark coming back to the home point and if there are high winds will you lose it and never see it again. I just want to know what I need to do to successfully fly in the mountains. I know the footage will be nothing short of cinematic and breathtaking, yet the last thing I want is to lose the thing. I know how the Phantom would handle it but since the spark is way smaller I want to know its capabilities.


Thanks

1/ if you lose gps signal aircraft won’t fly home, it will revert to Atti mode
2/ if you lose radio signal your aircraft will RTH after 3 seconds
3/ Spark won’t handle strong winds well (always fly mission into wind when beginning)
4/ yes you should have gps signal in the mountains (never fly with less than 11 sats)
5/ remember to sign into your app before leaving home (you may not have WiFi signal up the mountains)

You should have no problem with spark up the mountains and a great opportunity to film where very few get the chance to from the air.
Make sure you have a preflight check list and use it, it is your best friend and one way to insure that your aircraft is in good working order and you have done your best to make sure of this.
Good luck and enjoy the trip.

I never had problems flying in the mountains always fly VLOS in an unfamiliar place.

The big problem is that Austria has some of the toughest drone laws in Europe:

https://phantomcockpit.com/2017/07/26/drone-laws-in-austria/

Each year I attend a Cobra meeting in Europe, which next year is in Davos, Switzerland. I'm looking forward to getting plenty of footage with my new Spark in the Swiss Alps, and also in the Dolomites in Italy - but sadly not in Austria it would appear .....

Thanks for the in-depth write-ups and  I will create a checklist and always fly to VLOS. And I am going to be conscious of the laws and pick where I want to fly very carefully.  

Thanks,

Cooper

DrohneMann Posted at 2017-12-14 10:30
Thanks for the in-depth write-ups and  I will create a checklist and always fly to VLOS. And I am going to be conscious of the laws and pick where I want to fly very carefully.  

Thanks,

Sensible planning there. Also ensure you have the flight route activated in the app to assist with navigation when using the map.

Yeah I been going this place for awhile now and know it well. I will plan my routes and make sure I calibrate the compass. Its all common sense if you really think about it.

Hi, Besides wind, No ones mentioned the below recommended operating  temperature. Low end is 32 degrees or 0 C.  What happens to AC and battery in the first minutes? How long could the flight be? And is it worth the loss of a nice bird? Cheers...

Hi Cooper, it seems that you have prepared well for the flight. Don't forget to share your videos with us.

I was quite successful flying in the mountains and got some great footage. One Battery did succumb to the cold  and is unfortunately unresponsive and cannot be used. For now on I will watch super carefully the temperature of the batteries. Austria is really drone flying paradise if you ask me.

Perhaps as the Spark is so light it may not be subject to those laws in Austria. It says "All drones under 250g takeoff weight flying under 30m above ground are exempt from all of these regulations and can fly freely." I think the Spark is near enough to that weight?