The big island of Hawaii is made up of five volcanoes.  Two of these, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea dominate making up the majority of the land area of the island.  Both of these volcanoes are deceptively high.  Coming from western Canada where Banff and Jasper mountain parks are, these two Hawaiian volcanoes are taller than all the mountains in these parks.  On the drive to Vancouver you pass Mount Robson, also not quite as high as the volcanoes.

Mauna Loa tops out at 13,300 ft and Mauna Kea at 13,600 ft.  What’s astounding is that you can drive from sea level to the tops of either of these volcanoes in a mere hour and 40 minutes.

Wind was blowing and cold as it was close to freezing.  I made a short hop with the drone to take a 360°, now at my highest take-off altitude of 13,600 ft.  The Mavic Air 2 easily took off but bounced around a lot in the turbulent wind however the panorama came out OK.  From here we followed the ring of telescopes stopping to take two more 360° panoramas.

After an hour at this altitude you can start to feel the effects of reduced air pressure, your body cannot absorb sufficient oxygen and you feel off so it was time to head back down.

Here are the panoramas from the top of Mauna Kea.

Quite and expedition!  Great shots from the summit.

Very impressive location!

wow.   What a location to fly.   Nicely done.    

Blériot53 Posted at 12-5 12:59
Quite and expedition!  Great shots from the summit.

Thanks very much Captain Bleriot53.

DAFlys Posted at 12-6 01:03
wow.   What a location to fly.   Nicely done.

Thanks very much Captain DAFlys.

Hummingbird.UAV Posted at 12-6 07:54
Thanks very much Captain DAFlys.

You're very welcome.

Hummingbird.UAV Posted at 12-6 07:54
Thanks very much Captain Bleriot53.

My pleasure, Captain

Wow, magnificent trailer.    Really impressive panos.  

What an awesome place to be able to fly.  

DowntownRDB Posted at 12-6 11:53
Wow, magnificent trailer.    Really impressive panos.  

What an awesome place to be able to fly.

Thanks very much Captain DowntownRDB.  I consider myself very lucky to make a flight atop Mauna Kea.  Usually the wind is blowing too much to fly a drone and last week there was a foot of snow and 120mph winds.  The trailer was a precooked edit that comes with iMove on the new mini iPad I got to fly the Mavic Air 2.

Hummingbird.UAV Posted at 12-6 16:10
Thanks very much Captain DowntownRDB.  I consider myself very lucky to make a flight atop Mauna Kea.  Usually the wind is blowing too much to fly a drone and last week there was a foot of snow and 120mph winds.  The trailer was a precooked edit that comes with iMove on the new mini iPad I got to fly the Mavic Air 2.

You're very welcome.  

I was reading about the unusual weather you had.  If you have never been to Hawaii you might think of it as a flat island.  Having been there many times I know different and getting snow at some of the altitudes there would not be out of the norm.

Have a great week.

Really surprised this post has had no admin response.  Does look like the whole forum is lacking administration.  Maybe the admins are all laying flat.