So today looked like a good day to test the RTH of the Mavic Mini, there has been much talk of its ability to manage wind and although it clearly tells you 8m/s is max wind to fly in and I'm certain this is your very best guide to flying Mini, however you can stretch this but you MUST fly close and there is a limit to wind you should fly in, and I believe that you should NEVER fly in winds above 30kph or you will lose your drone.
You will notice that you will get a warning on your device in high wind, this warning is very clear in what it tells you to do and it should be what every mini pilot should do in high wind.

High Wind Warning.
LOWER CRAFT
FLY HOME MANUALLY
IMMEDIATELY

I decided to do a test that would be simple to understand trying not to make things complicated particularly for newbies, those who know how speed tilt power works can dissect to their hearts content, but I find it much easier to let Newbies in particular know if your flying in certain wind how your mini should preform.

My flight was done at 30m Altitude and wind as reported was for 30m, Actual wind was 29kph and this was going by UAV app. Wind at 50m was showing 49kph so you can see quite a difference when you go just 20m higher.



My first flight , flew out 200m hit wind 29kph side on hit RTH and craft flew home at a steady speed between 7.5 m/s (27kph) to 8.3m/s (29kph) this Rth was fully auto no stick movements.
My second flight flew out 200m this time RTH straight into the wind 29kph hit RTH craft flew at a steady 5m/s (18kph) to (21kph)

So my test shows that mini is capable of flying in winds under 30kph but and it's a big but flying in these winds requires a little savvy and some knowledge of what your doing, I would seriously recommend you fly no more than 300m from homepoint and at height of no higher than 20/25m with RTH set at 20m, it will be your job to insure that there are no obstacles in you way as you RTH.

I would NEVER hit RTH if you don't need it and always fly manually home (In these winds of course)

One other thing to remember if you are going to use RTH is always be aware that you still have full control of speed altitude and orientation, only direction will stay headed to homepoint.

Today flying into the wind 29kph I could get speed up as high as 10m/s (36kph)

Finally when it's windy, take time out to check it's safe and just try to give extra attention to what you are doing.

Just to show I do actually live by the sea and when the North Atlantic winds blow it’s no time for droning ;+)....

Nice test, thank you

Spark_Pilot_XxXx Posted at 1-26 07:33
Nice test, thank you

Your welcome hope it helps .

Looks like you live real close to the sea. So much pretty country side to capture too.

Hello and good day hallmark007. Thank you for sharing these information and thank you for sharing this Wind Test you have created for the DJI Mavic Mini. This thread will be a very big help and a great reference for all of us who own and fly the DJI Mavic Mini. Great work and thank you for you valued support.

Visual Air Posted at 1-26 08:51
Looks like you live real close to the sea. So much pretty country side to capture too.

Born Lucky ...

Very useful and interesting test. I take it you flew in P mode?

Just checked, you did

Ingo Sundowner Posted at 1-26 10:43
Very useful and interesting test. I take it you flew in P mode?

Flew in P mode, all the pictures are RTH mode, you just can see the Rth because wind warning covers it .

I've been flying when it was quite windy and agree with what you're saying. This test strengthen my belief that you can fly on 30kph winds, just stay low and close!!!
The mini really is a hell of a drone for its size.

Good test Hallmark007 thanks for sharing!

Great helpful info.  Thank you, maybe one day i'll get a MM.

Ingo Sundowner Posted at 1-26 10:52
I've been flying when it was quite windy and agree with what you're saying. This test strengthen my belief that you can fly on 30kph winds, just stay low and close!!!
The mini really is a hell of a drone for its size.

Low and close are key .

InspektorGadjet Posted at 1-26 11:21
Good test Hallmark007 thanks for sharing!

Your welcome, hope it helps .

Lucas775 Posted at 1-26 11:46
Great helpful info.  Thank you, maybe one day i'll get a MM.

They’re really good fun, you can bring them anywhere take them out anytime, I just think we should realize they are what they are fly them close capture good video and some nice photos.
But mostly they’re good fun .

hallmark007 Posted at 1-26 15:31
They’re really good fun, you can bring them anywhere take them out anytime, I just think we should realize they are what they are fly them close capture good video and some nice photos.
But mostly they’re good fun .

Good fun is what I want

Very informative!

ALABAMA Posted at 1-26 16:23
Very informative!

Thank you...

Excellent testing,  and looks like a nice place to live.

Fantastic effort and work and a great post.  I do think wind must be the number ones reason people are losing their Minis.

I see that you're flying at sea level.  I think the Mini might be even more intolerant of wind when flying at higher elevations. Does that make sense?  Or do you think the lower density of the air helps as much as it hurts?

A given wind speed at sea level will apply more force to an object than that same wind speed at my elevation of around a mile up.  But at the same time, the Mini will probably produce less thrust by the same proportion.  Then again, maybe it's not proportional.  I don't know enough about the physics of propellers acting on the air.

hallmark007 Posted at 1-26 07:19
Just to show I do actually live by the sea and when the North Atlantic winds blow it’s no time for droning ;+)....
[view_image]
[view_image]

“Today flying into the wind 29kph I could get speed up as high as 10m/s (36kph).”

Just for my benefit although  P mode is on the screens, perhaps this is another flight.
Would I be right assuming this particular flight was in S mode?

Bright Spark Posted at 1-27 03:18
“Today flying into the wind 29kph I could get speed up as high as 10m/s (36kph).”

Just for my benefit although  P mode is on the screens, perhaps this is another flight.

Yes it was I should have explained that, I also tried pushing left stick forward in P mode and it acts the same as S mode in RTH so you can greatly increase your speed in Rth even in P mode .

hallmark007 Posted at 1-27 03:22
Yes it was I should have explained that, I also tried pushing left stick forward in P mode and it acts the same as S mode in RTH so you can greatly increase your speed in Rth even in P mode .

Thanks for info.
I think I’ve got the idea!
So fwd elevator is S mode automatically in rth  and certainly clearer now for me.
PS like where you live

Bright Spark Posted at 1-27 03:27
Thanks for info.
I think I’ve got the idea!
So fwd elevator is S mode automatically in rth  and certainly clearer now for me.

No problem your welcome, I was born lucky, but I look out today and wind is howling at 75kph so not always so nice .

Sigmo Posted at 1-27 03:11
Fantastic effort and work and a great post.  I do think wind must be the number ones reason people are losing their Minis.

I see that you're flying at sea level.  I think the Mini might be even more intolerant of wind when flying at higher elevations. Does that make sense?  Or do you think the lower density of the air helps as much as it hurts?

I think the main reason people are loosing their mini is because they are flying in winds it just can’t cope with, whether through ignorance or inexperience or both, it seems wind is the big reason we see so many being lost.
Yesterday I flew in wind 29kph at altitude of 30m and flying where I could see drone at all times no more than 300m, and it was quite pleasant to fly with very little cause for concern , if I had increased my altitude to 50m Mavic mini would not be able to cope as wind was now 49kph, so a rapid increase in wind small increase in altitude.

But having been around for most of dji new releases this is par for the course, most are patient and willing to learn to walk before they run, some don’t know but think they can go straight from opening the box and some are Mavericks who believe nothing ventured nothing gained, so long as everyone realizes that once they start it up and go flying they are now responsible .

I fly  commercially a Matrice 200 surveying wind turbines just part time but much of the flying is done at high altitude, I haven’t noticed greatly the difference there is probably greater strain on the battery at higher altitude and motors are working that much harder, certainly flying in the mountains wind tends to swirl change direction so certainly for me VLOS is an absolute when flying in the mountains, the physics is something I’m not well equipped to discuss, but my experience growing up on the Atlantic and spending a lot of time on boats has given me a good knowledge of how wind works and what to look for when I’m out and about.

I think if users apply the parameters set down in their manual then they shouldn’t have problems with wind, if they want to risk higher winds the simply keep drone in sight it really gives so many more options when things go awry.

hallmark007 Posted at 1-27 04:09
I think the main reason people are loosing their mini is because they are flying in winds it just can’t cope with, whether through ignorance or inexperience or both, it seems wind is the big reason we see so many being lost.
Yesterday I flew in wind 29kph at altitude of 30m and flying where I could see drone at all times no more than 300m, and it was quite pleasant to fly with very little cause for concern , if I had increased my altitude to 50m Mavic mini would not be able to cope as wind was now 49kph, so a rapid increase in wind small increase in altitude.

Yes!  I do think a lot of people expect the drone to be bomb-proof, and think of it as a toy.  So they can be disappointed when it turns out to require quite a bit of care and understanding.

Where I live, we have a lot of wind and we're at a fairly high elevation.  So I'm going to need to be very careful.

Most of the times I've had here with low enough winds to even try have been at night.  And that's spooky for me.  I end up looking for the light and listening for the sound to judge where it is!

A few weeks ago I had one of those nighttime opportunities, but it was still breezy.  So I just flew it straight up and hovered at different heights.  I could hear how it struggled more at higher levels. and I finally chickened out at a certain point.

Someday we'll have some calm days here.  At least I hope so!  Beautiful countryside where you are.

We have mountains and flat prairie near me.  Near town is around 5150' at the lowest, and up on the nearby mountain is over 8300'.

DAFlys Posted at 1-27 02:36
Excellent testing,  and looks like a nice place to live.

Thank you, yes Great place to fly .

Bright Spark Posted at 1-27 03:27
Thanks for info.
I think I’ve got the idea!
So fwd elevator is S mode automatically in rth  and certainly clearer now for me.

Yes that’s exactly it .

Max rth airspeed is 28.8kph.  So if you did rth straight into the 29kph headwind you should not have made it back... Did you really go head-on against the wind during rth or the wind report was not accurate for your location?  That aside, DJI should enable RTH in sport mode as an option. It currently RTH only in P mode with a max speed of 28.8kph. That is silly, people can lose the drone doing rth when it can actually fly back on fast mode! Has this been requested? If not I will start a thread on it.

Guorium Posted at 1-27 16:50
Max rth airspeed is 28.8kph.  So if you did rth straight into the 29kph headwind you should not have made it back... Did you really go head-on against the wind during rth or the wind report was not accurate for your location?  That aside, DJI should enable RTH in sport mode as an option. It currently RTH only in P mode with a max speed of 28.8kph. That is silly, people can lose the drone doing rth when it can actually fly back on fast mode! Has this been requested? If not I will start a thread on it.

Your not correct, your drone will try to maintain its Rth speed in winds up to 28.8kph so this is a reasonably safe wind to fly in, but because mini is so light I would only ever fly within VLOS in this type of wind, you will see from my screenshot I managed to get mini to maintain a speed 5/6 m/s and this was into wind of 29kph.

I see two problems here 1 users not understanding how the drone works in Rth and users not aware of the strength of the wind they are flying in.

For instance I was flying in 29kph winds at 30m altitude if I had set Rth at 50m and hit Rth then I would have certainly lost my drone, so you need to be aware of wind were you are flying and Rth altitude and what the wind will be at that height.

Most of the drones we seen lost had set ridiculous Rth heights and users were not aware of winds at those heights or how to correctly use Rth .

The speed for Rth for a drone this small is correct and is in line with all dji drones and their capabilities and all dji drones are more than capable of flying home at recommended parameters and if pilots use these recommendations then no drones will be lost to the wind, and it really is that simple.


If you try to allow full power and risk tilting craft to suit for a sport Rth, you will simply just push out the parameters and you will still get users both taking a chance and not being aware of both wind and parameters.

There is one guaranteed way of not losing your drone to the wind and that is to fly within the parameters for the drone your flying, so this is always your guarantee and surely that’s what your looking for.

If you want to fly in higher winds buy a drone that can handle stronger winds, both shooting stills and video the less wind the better your photography will be .


When I fly my mini I know what parameters of wind I can fly it in and that's my guide and it should be everyone's.

hallmark007 Posted at 1-27 07:26
Thank you, yes Great place to fly .

Do you have much problem with wind there?

DAFlys Posted at 1-28 01:11
Do you have much problem with wind there?

It’s not a problem it’s part of our life, living on the North Atlantic coast wind is always close and usually strong, but when the weather is fine there is no better place to be.

hallmark007 Posted at 1-27 17:10
Your not correct, your drone will try to maintain its Rth speed in winds up to 28.8kph so this is a reasonably safe wind to fly in, but because mini is so light I would only ever fly within VLOS in this type of wind, you will see from my screenshot I managed to get mini to maintain a speed 5/6 m/s and this was into wind of 29kph.

I see two problems here 1 users not understanding how the drone works in Rth and users not aware of the strength of the wind they are flying in.

Do you know what airspeed means? That is the relative speed between Mavic Mni and the wind. DJI specs quotes only airspeed. The 29kph you saw on the forcast is ground speed of the wind (measured against the ground). If your mini travels 5m/s against the ground (mavic mini telemetry is ground speed), and the wind's ground speed is 29kph(~8m/s). It means your mini is doing 8+5= 13m/s. An achievable airspeed only when you fly in sport mode manually. RTH will not be that fast as it goes at a max of 8m/s airspeed.

DJI Stephen Posted at 1-26 09:44
Hello and good day hallmark007. Thank you for sharing these information and thank you for sharing this Wind Test you have created for the DJI Mavic Mini. This thread will be a very big help and a great reference for all of us who own and fly the DJI Mavic Mini. Great work and thank you for you valued support.

Thank you dji Stephen hope it helps others .

Guorium Posted at 1-29 05:44
Do you know what airspeed means? That is the relative speed between Mavic Mni and the wind. DJI specs quotes only airspeed. The 29kph you saw on the forcast is ground speed of the wind (measured against the ground). If your mini travels 5m/s against the ground (mavic mini telemetry is ground speed), and the wind's ground speed is 29kph(~8m/s). It means your mini is doing 8+5= 13m/s. An achievable airspeed only when you fly in sport mode manually. RTH will not be that fast as it goes at a max of 8m/s airspeed.

You can right stick forward and increase speed in RTH

Guorium Posted at 1-29 05:44
Do you know what airspeed means? That is the relative speed between Mavic Mni and the wind. DJI specs quotes only airspeed. The 29kph you saw on the forcast is ground speed of the wind (measured against the ground). If your mini travels 5m/s against the ground (mavic mini telemetry is ground speed), and the wind's ground speed is 29kph(~8m/s). It means your mini is doing 8+5= 13m/s. An achievable airspeed only when you fly in sport mode manually. RTH will not be that fast as it goes at a max of 8m/s airspeed.

I posted UAV forecast at 29kph at 30m altitude, I’m not sure what your getting at but your wrong and this is the reason I posted , and Rth goes at 13m/s in Rth even if Rth is in p mode I also tested and posted this.
The fact is mini flew at 5/6 m/s into 29kph at 30m altitude and while I’m not a huge fan of UAV and it’s accuracy it seems it’s the benchmark around here for most so hence why I used it to test . Dji recommends not to fly in winds above 8m/s and this has nothing to do with sport mode, think about it your in P mode you lose signal and Rth kicks in your flying in 8m/s wind according to you mini can't cope with this, well this would surely leave dji in the sh*t and there not that stupid .

The Spark was handling 41kph w/o much issue.

AntDX316 Posted at 1-29 05:52
The Spark was handling 41kph w/o much issue.

I agree I still have a spark it’s full sport speed is a little higher than mini .

hallmark007 Posted at 1-29 05:54
I agree I still have a spark it’s full sport speed is a little higher than mini .

In sport w/ that much wind, it's scary to fly.