Hi all.

I'm a newbie drone pilot using a Mavic Mini.
I would like to ask those who know, before I crash or loose it.

Picture this:
Close to my home, I have a flat hilltop perfect for taking off.
After flying maybe 20m south the cliff drops >50m almost straight down.
My idea was to fly over the edge and along the hillside and over the countryside for some footage.

I assume that the altitude reported in the app is relative to the HP.
If I decend along the hillside the MM will find itself BELOW the HP.
Does this impose a risk?
Will the system accept a "negative" altitude?
Or may it start to "rescue" itself in some strange way, RTH, emergency landing, whatever?

I have not dared to do this maneuver yet, scared of loosing it in the forest below.
How will the MM handle a "negative" altitude?

Regards

No problem, in case of rth it will return to the set positive height.

You just have to be careful because you have no reference on the actual height of the flying point.

Hi,

Just fly there, no problems!

Takeoff spot is the reference height = zero, flying above that height > plus values, flying lower > neg values

RTH height is reference to that zero height, so fly down hill minus 20 meters, start a RTH ; MM will climb to the RTH setting wich is always a positive height above that zero reference height.
cheers
JJB

As others said, its fine!

JJB explained it perfectly......... like usually

Hi.

Thanks guys.
Just what I actually expected.
I simply assumed that the system would handle this.
Just wanted to check with those who has been around the block a few times.
Better safe than sorry...
Don't want to loose the MM so soon.

Sounds reassuring.
Will try this when the weather gets better.

Thanks to You all.

You can fly downhill from your take-off point, as that is the reference altitude for the RTH function, should you need to activate it.

The one thing to be careful of is wind shear, as going off the side of any steep hill/ cliff there can be stronger winds/ unusual wind patterns near the edge!

videoeditman Posted at 10-5 08:03
The one thing to be careful of is wind shear, as going off the side of any steep hill/ cliff there can be stronger winds/ unusual wind patterns near the edge!

That is for sure!  Never ran into that flying a drone, but I could tell you some stories flying a Cessna.