Well, to be blunt, I don't recommend you fly the Mini in strong wind. But, if you find things a bit windier than you anticipated, here's how to fly your Mini in strong wind and get it back again....
Wasn't planning on capturing a full on blowaway on camera but you see how to extract yourself from this and get back under control....  Hopefully will help a few people as winter heads rounds!
Cheers
Ian

Great test for the Mavic Mini, very impressive and enlightening.

Good job Ian! I wonder why the default for RTH isn't in reverse. There must be a good reason.

Another very informative and demonstrative video. Those conditions were far in excess of any I would even consider launching my Mini into. As I've said before, it's far too FRISKY for anything but the lightest breeze.    Still a great piece of kit at the price point though. Thanks for the share.

Great demonstration

Good advice Ian, lucky you was close when the wind took drone there.

Hello there Ian. Thank you for reaching out and for posting this interesting video you have created and for sharing this interesting information as well. Just a reminder that the DJI Mavic Mini has a max wind speed resistance of 8 m/s ( Scale 4 ). Thank you and fly safe always.

GaryDoug Posted at 10-1 14:14
Good job Ian! I wonder why the default for RTH isn't in reverse. There must be a good reason.

Very good point.  IMHO the RTH mode should flip it into Sports Mode and fly in reverse if it's not overcoming the wind, which it will know by the GPS positioning.....  

Ian in London Posted at 10-1 22:55
Very good point.  IMHO the RTH mode should flip it into Sports Mode and fly in reverse if it's not overcoming the wind, which it will know by the GPS positioning.....

Hi Ian,

Nice video, i test fly a lot in high winds with my drones.Don`t notice any difference between forward and reverse flying with my MM.
AND flying backwards at low height means you cannot see any obstacle incoming....
dangerous if you fly outside LOS!!

Best advice is not to fly in high winds!  And if MM is drifting away ('suddenly' more wind) than, against pilots nature, is to land and not to wait to long for this decision ;
waiting long = loosing connection = no working <find-my-drone> option in the FlyApp.

Any technical thoughts why a MM will fly better in reverse into the wind ?

The difference between a sailboat and a drone/helicopter/aircraft is that a sailboat cannot sail straight into the wind, so its has to zigzag to make groundspeed.The others can fly straight into headwind, if they have enough power to do so.
If a MM starts to drift backwards due to wind than don`t think 'pilots', oops no have to say i cannot,  fly low, backwards and zigzagging towards HP.

cheers
JJB

Good job!
And good advice too!

JJB* Posted at 10-1 23:25
Hi Ian,

Nice video, i test fly a lot in high winds with my drones.Don`t notice any difference between forward and reverse flying with my MM.

The MM definitely handles wind better in reverse; a number of subscribers had mentioned this and you can see for yourself at 2:40 how it really starts to get blown about when facing the wind....  But yeah, flying backwards with no view is a sure fire way to hit an obstacle!  

Obviously the comparison with sailboats is limited; they're using the wind to their advantage on a sideways sail, but again, we've had plenty of experiences where flying directly into the wind is not successful but flying diagonally allows some headway.....
But bottom line, defo best advice not to fly!  

interesting vid Ian - good job!

Thanks Ian,  I think were going need this in the UK over the next few weeks.

I would assume the better performance in reverse is because the back side is more aerodynamic.  Had never given that one any thought.
Some very useful tips Ian.

DAFlys Posted at 10-2 00:47
Thanks Ian,  I think were going need this in the UK over the next few weeks.

When I saw the long range forecast with 5 big storms, I figured it would be useful!

That holds pretty well nice

Great video Ian, love the thumbnail, does the video justice! ;)

amir_KING Posted at 10-2 10:35
Great video Ian, love the thumbnail, does the video justice! ;)

It's hard to visually portray wind in a still picture

The zig-zag course doesn't hold up to analysis. Sailboats do it because there is no other choice at times and there is a major loss in speed upwind as a result. In this diagram that shows a vector separated into the x and y components we can see the result. If we say that the wind is coming from the top of the diagram and the drone is taking the F path at maximum speed (lets say 30 mph through the wind), then the speed (Fy) into the wind is reduced depending on the angle of the path. Actually it is the Sine of angle A , which is always less than 1, times the main speed. If angle A is 30 degrees for example, and the drone is travelling through the wind at 30 MPH (F), then Fy is Sine (30degrees) x 30, which is  0.5 x 30 = 15 mph.

Ian in London Posted at 10-2 13:00
It's hard to visually portray wind in a still picture

GaryDoug Posted at 10-2 13:24
The zig-zag course doesn't hold up to analysis. Sailboats do it because there is no other choice at times and there is a major loss in speed upwind as a result. In this diagram that shows a vector separated into the x and y components we can see the result. If we say that the wind is coming from the top of the diagram and the drone is taking the F path at maximum speed (lets say 30 mph through the wind), then the speed (Fy) into the wind is reduced depending on the angle of the path. Actually it is the Sine of angle A , which is always less than 1, times the main speed. If angle A is 30 degrees for example, and the drone is travelling through the wind at 30 MPH (F), then Fy is Sine (30degrees) x 30, which is  0.5 x 30 = 15 mph.

[view_image]

Hi Gary; I pondered about including this tip; many subscribers swear it works and whilst I can't argue with your maths (degree in physics here   ) my approach was more akin to hiking up a mountain and walking in zig zags rather than directly up the hill, which would probably have been a better reference than a sail boat, which of course is using wind aerodynamics in a completely different way..... either way, maybe I'll do a run of tests when we have a steady continuous windy day and take the average   

Ian in London Posted at 10-2 08:14
When I saw the long range forecast with 5 big storms, I figured it would be useful!

I just wish it would stop raining.   I got a short flight in at Dovercourt on Thursday and its not stopped since.

Ian in London Posted at 10-3 00:02
Hi Gary; I pondered about including this tip; many subscribers swear it works and whilst I can't argue with your maths (degree in physics here   ) my approach was more akin to hiking up a mountain and walking in zig zags rather than directly up the hill, which would probably have been a better reference than a sail boat, which of course is using wind aerodynamics in a completely different way..... either way, maybe I'll do a run of tests when we have a steady continuous windy day and take the average

Wind testing forward and backward flying (checking max speed) into the wind is also on my to-do list.
So far i cannot find in my own data differences in fwd / aft flying.

cheers
JJB

Nice footage! Great work!