What can be a safe windspeed to fly the P4P? I went out today and had gusts of about 13mph. Decided not to fly since i was not sure. Any advice? Should we just rely on the P4P warnings?

Thanks
Suresh

No .. the "warnings" are a false alarm because something in the firmware is set too low.
13mph is nothing to a Phantom, it can handle that with ease and quite a bit more as well.

I flew with gusts of 21 miles with no problems but obviously it not recommended for shoots or stills and make sure you have full charged battery and consider if you are coming back against the wind it will be a lot harder and might use the battery faster.


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Thanks for the information. I guess i need to fly more to get more confidence.

They can handle some pretty strong winds. Just be sure not to use a tailwind at the start of your flight, as your quad will be fighting against it on return, and that could spell disaster. I almost lost one of my Phantom 3 quads because I almost burned through the remainder of my battery power on the return home over a lake fighting headwinds. It flew at about 7 MPH because the wind was so strong.

Labroides Posted at 2017-1-22 07:48
No .. the "warnings" are a false alarm because something in the firmware is set too low.
13mph is nothing to a Phantom, it can handle that with ease and quite a bit more as well.

It seems that a Phantom could fly in winds at least at the same speed which it can fly.  If it can fly 25 MPH in still air, then it should be able to hold its own in a 25 MPH wind.  Now gusting and shifting directions might cause some instability but it still should stay pretty close.

Learning to fly in windy conditions is part of the fun. But it is not without some risks. As was previously commented, fly upwind so that the return to home is with the wind. Landings can be tricky, so its a good idea to develop some skill (note that hand catching can be very dangerous with gusts). Watch out for surprises from wind shadow effects due to buildings, hills, or trees.
Have fun & good flying!

At 15mph my p4p has been pretty good and a pretty manageable flight. Even upto 100m high.

Today at 20mph. I decided to just see what its like. UAV was showing 20mph but gusts were mayb stronger.

It wasnt holding altitude in p-mose. It was going up and down. In atti mode it drifted very fast. Had to switch over to p-mode otherwise i prob lost it. Quite a bit of tilting. When trying to catch land it. Had to be really careful.

Very quickly decided to call it a day and not risk it.

mayb the 20mph wasnt the problem. The gusts were much stronger and obv not enough experience flying.

I flew in strong wind yesterday and the P4 P took it well.  Only issues were jerky video at times when drone went through gusts and  props visible here and there in the video that was caused by the gusts tilting the drone.

Check this out:  

BashP4P+ Posted at 2017-2-2 19:50
At 15mph my p4p has been pretty good and a pretty manageable flight. Even upto 100m high.

Today at 20mph. I decided to just see what its like. UAV was showing 20mph but gusts were mayb stronger.

Well I'd say stay on the safe side.  I used to hang glide and live in mountains where wind gusts, thermals, and then still wind conditions can swiftly change.

Today I took a short video landing back to where I was filming some road works. As you can see its a sheer drop and I had power lines to fly over first.  Crash a drone where I was just go order a new one lol.

Was in GPS mode but even then the drone was blown about a bit when near the LZ.

The Phantom can fly in strong winds, but be sure to have eye contact and be able to fly it in atti mode if something goes wrong. I tried it 3 days ago in 20+ mph winds (trying to learn to control it in difficult situations).
The landing is a problem and in conditions like that i prefer to hand catch it cerefully.

lefgrter Posted at 2017-2-5 03:16
The Phantom can fly in strong winds, but be sure to have eye contact and be able to fly it in atti mode if something goes wrong. I tried it 3 days ago in 20+ mph winds (trying to learn to control it in difficult situations).
The landing is a problem and in conditions like that i prefer to hand catch it cerefully.

I usually try to take off from a sheltered position. Behind a sand dune, a building, a hedge, behind the car on the downwind side.........so the drone can land in calm air. There is almost always somewhere sheltered to start / end.

13mph winds are considered calm here in wales,  one of the reasons I purchased my phantom was because my other drone couldn't handle the winds. I don't start to worry now unless the gusts are bad.

Page 54 of the manual (v1.2) states to not fly in winds greater than 22.4 mph (19.5 kts).
As a rule you should not fly in conditions beyond your skill and experience and beyond your UAV's ability to deal with that environment.

I personally don't plan to go out for a "fun" day of flying if the wind speeds are over 15 mph.  However, I have been flying DJI aircraft for three years and the P4Pro, which I have been flying for a year, is an incredible aircraft. The P4Pro is capable of dealing with very high gusty winds when the situation requires it IF you are an experienced pilot and you plan your flight route accordingly, which includes having complete situational awareness and identifying emergency landing areas downwind, if needed.

Recently, in the Houston area after Hurricane Harvey came ashore, I was out on AUG 29 conducting aerial drone surveys of neighborhoods impacted by flooding. I measured wind speeds at ground level with an anemometer for 30 minutes before launching to understand what I was dealing with. Winds were 15-22 mph at ground level and I knew they would be higher aloft. After launching during a brief lull in the gusty winds, I climbed to 150 feet and confirmed that I was able to hold position in PGPS mode with no stick input. Then I intentionally switched to ATTI mode to accurately assess wind speeds aloft, which the DJI GO 4 app reported at 25-28 mph while I drifted 500 feet with the wind in 15 seconds! I then switched back to PGPS mode and proceeded to survey the neighborhood while closely monitoring my downwind distance from home point realizing it would take significantly longer than usual to fly back into the wind (in PGPS mode with collision detection turned OFF) at a net 4-8 mph. Ultimately, I had to switch to Sport mode to achieve 12+ mph ground speed into gusty headwinds to complete the survey of the upwind portion of the neighborhood and safely return home.

Launching in high winds also takes skill and knowledge.  I have launched in 16 mph winds at ground level, but you must be aware that the aircraft will immediately drift about 5-8 feet in the direction of the wind before the GPS flight control system fully engages and the P4Pro maintains steady ground position.  

One note here, I have been repeatedly impressed by the ability of the Precision Landing system, when activated in the menu system and the Precisely Record Takeoff Location check-box is checked before auto take-off, to accurately record takeoff location and return the P4Pro within 4-6 inches of precise home point EVEN THOUGH THE P4Pro IMMEDIATELY DRIFTS 4-8 FEET DOWNWIND IMMEDIATELY AFTER TAKEOFF AND WHILE THE P4Pro IS ASCENDING TO 19 FEET AGL, where the downward facing B&W VPS cameras record an image of the take-off point. Somehow, the P4Pro is using a combination of the GPS home point location, the 4-8 feet offset photographs taken from 19 feet AGL and knowledge of how far the aircraft drifted during takeoff to accurately determine the precise take-off home point even during take-offs AND landings in high winds. AMAZING!