Dear Pilots,

  

  

I will explain to you my situation and ask your technical support.

  

I intend to make some footage at a waterfall, at a national park near where I live, in Brazil.

  

I will be on the top of the fall; there, I will launch the Mavic recording the river and the lakes it forms before the fall; then, I will go to film specifically the fall of water (in front of it).

  

The altitude I will be, on launching differs from the bottom of the fall something about 300 m.

  

At the launch, I will ascend about 30 m high.

  

But, as I move to the front of the water fall, I will be 300m from the ground.

  

That’s my doubt. As the maximum high flight is 120 m, when the drone goes to a positioning that it senses it will be at least 300 m will it make him to descend (if it does it I will lose my drone)?

  

And more: in front of the fall, I intend to go down, showing the water on its fall. Will I be able to return my drone? Because, for instance, if I descend 100 meters I will be 200 m from the groun (bottom), but to the point of launch I will be 100 m above.

  

I don’t know if I was clear to all of you but I would appreciate if you could help me with this issue.

  

Thank you very much for your attention.

The altitude your drone indicates is always based on your takeoff point. If you're at the top of a hill and go down the altitude will read negative values, the drone will keep flying fine. The altitude limit is only considered going up grom the takeoff point.

CuaC Posted at 2017-8-16 04:49
The altitude your drone indicates is always based on your takeoff point. If you're at the top of a hill and go down the altitude will read negative values, the drone will keep flying fine. The altitude limit is only considered going up grom the takeoff point.

Dear CuaC

This information is exactly what I found it would be, but for me it is very important to confirm with more experience pilots.
I thank you so much for your attention.

Cheers.

DocAraxá Posted at 2017-8-16 04:52
Dear CuaC

This information is exactly what I found it would be, but for me it is very important to confirm with more experience pilots.

Well, it is what it is. You don't need to go to a 300 meter waterfall to test it, just find a place with some ramp, take off from the top and go down from there. You'll se how the height goes into negative values and your drone keeps flying normally.

Mind however, that the RTH altitude is always positive, so if you are at -200m and your RTH altitude is 30m, it will go up 230 m and then it will start flying towards you.

A few things i would take care with - if there are lots of trees remember in event of signal loss it'll go UP, potentially into trees so make sure the area above is always clear.
Also make sure you have line of sight.  If there's rock in between you and the mavic it'll lose signal.
Also, take care with battery - remember it takes a fair bit of power to climb up 300m so dont let yourself get caught short with not enough to make it back up to safety.

Be sure to watch your exposure to GPS, if the falls are in a deep canyon, you may experience sattelite drop off, as in the sat count dropping. Be aware that you may fall into ATTI mode,
Where you have to control the AC directly, no GPS.
Also, good planning to have a secondary landing site if you run into issues.

gnirtS Posted at 2017-8-16 07:18
A few things i would take care with - if there are lots of trees remember in event of signal loss it'll go UP, potentially into trees so make sure the area above is always clear.
Also make sure you have line of sight.  If there's rock in between you and the mavic it'll lose signal.
Also, take care with battery - remember it takes a fair bit of power to climb up 300m so dont let yourself get caught short with not enough to make it back up to safety.

Dear gnirtS,

Thank you so much to share these concerns.
It will help me a lot.
Cheers.

Flycaster Posted at 2017-8-16 07:19
Be sure to watch your exposure to GPS, if the falls are in a deep canyon, you may experience sattelite drop off, as in the sat count dropping. Be aware that you may fall into ATTI mode,
Where you have to control the AC directly, no GPS.
Also, good planning to have a secondary landing site if you run into issues.

Dear Flycaster,

Good and important points of view.
Thank you so much to help me.

Cheers.

CuaC Posted at 2017-8-16 06:28
Well, it is what it is. You don't need to go to a 300 meter waterfall to test it, just find a place with some ramp, take off from the top and go down from there. You'll se how the height goes into negative values and your drone keeps flying normally.

Mind however, that the RTH altitude is always positive, so if you are at -200m and your RTH altitude is 30m, it will go up 230 m and then it will start flying towards you.

Dear CuaC,

Thanks for the explanation, mainly about the RTH.
Cheers.

DocAraxá Posted at 2017-8-16 07:53
Dear CuaC,

Thanks for the explanation, mainly about the RTH.

Hey DocAraxa blz brother? Seguinte, lmebre-se de quando vc estiver descendo de deixar uma linha de visão direta ente o drone o controle, não deixe as rochas da cachoeira entrar entre vc e o drone. Também ajuda muito posicionar as antenas de modo apropriado quando o drone descer pra garantr um bom sinal!
Depois manda as imagens!!
Abraço!

Watch out not to get into THIS:

Waterfall-Canyon-Switzerland

ro_flyer Posted at 2017-8-16 17:27
Hey DocAraxa blz brother? Seguinte, lmebre-se de quando vc estiver descendo de deixar uma linha de visão direta ente o drone o controle, não deixe as rochas da cachoeira entrar entre vc e o drone. Também ajuda muito posicionar as antenas de modo apropriado quando o drone descer pra garantr um bom sinal!
Depois manda as imagens!!
Abraço!

Caro amigo  ro-flyer,

Sumido, hein? Hehehehe! Obrigado pelas dicas. Confesso que estou com muito receio desta aventura.
Pra nós, no Brasil, perder um drone é tarefa mais árdua e dispendiosa que para o pessoal lá fora.
Ainda estou avaliando.
Grande abraço.
---------
Dear friend, ro-flyer,

Thank you for the tips. I confess I am afraid to adventure at this waterfall.
For us, in Brazil, it is not cheap, or better, it is too expensive to lose a drone.
I am still evaluating.
Cheers.

DocAraxá Posted at 2017-8-17 05:23
Caro amigo  ro-flyer,

Sumido, hein? Hehehehe! Obrigado pelas dicas. Confesso que estou com muito receio desta aventura.

Good analysis. Better to be safe than sorry.   

Angelo26 Posted at 2017-8-17 01:24
Watch out not to get into THIS:

Waterfall-Canyon-Switzerland

Dear Angelo26,

It is quite scaring to read this post.
I am not sure to enter this adventure flight.
Really! It is too risky.

Thank you for showing me this topic.

Cheers.

Dear Pilots,

A short video at the upper part of the waterfall I am telling you.

DocAraxá Posted at 2017-8-17 05:38
Dear Pilots,

A short video at the upper part of the waterfall I am telling you.

Hey DocAraxá,

This place is so beautiful, you can't let it pass... plan your flight, use the best app settings (correct RH altitude, etc), respect the nature and you will get some epic footage! Otherwise you'll be always sorry and thinking you were capable of doing this, but didn't have balls to do so! Wish you all the luck and please, post the result of your work here!!
;-)

ro_flyer Posted at 2017-8-17 16:10
Hey DocAraxá,

This place is so beautiful, you can't let it pass... plan your flight, use the best app settings (correct RH altitude, etc), respect the nature and you will get some epic footage! Otherwise you'll be always sorry and thinking you were capable of doing this, but didn't have balls to do so! Wish you all the luck and please, post the result of your work here!!

Thanks my dear friend @ro_flyer.
I will consider your opinions.
Thanks a lot.
Cheers.

The drone can descend and you can control the drone if you fly the drone from the top to the bottom, the altitude is the relative altitude, so 120 meters limited will work if the relative altitude is 120. But if the drone initiates RTH or Failsafe RTH, the drone will go up to the relative altitude that you set for RTH first and then descend to the Homepoint. If the battery is not sufficient, it might cause a crash damage. So please fly with caution. But I am curious why you don't fly the drone from the bottom to the top? Just a thought.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-8-19 03:21
The drone can descend and you can control the drone if you fly the drone from the top to the bottom, the altitude is the relative altitude, so 120 meters limited will work if the relative altitude is 120. But if the drone initiates RTH or Failsafe RTH, the drone will go up to the relative altitude that you set for RTH first and then descend to the Homepoint. If the battery is not sufficient, it might cause a crash damage. So please fly with caution. But I am curious why you don't fly the drone from the bottom to the top? Just a thought.

Dear Thor,

Thanks for your considerations.
And responding your doubt, I can fly from bottom to top, but it will be a great journey from my home.
Just for you to understand, this waterfall is in a National Park that is 80 km from my home. Forty Km by gravel road. Then I reach its top. At the top, I can see the river itself (as you can see in this little footage I posted), and the pools with lower falls that will be running till the main fall that has 250 m of high.
Its bottom is reached by a journey of 150 km, 50 by gravel. And I will be, at least 2 km far from it; I can’t reach the pool that the waterfall creates.
Thanks again and I hope I explained it clearly.
Cheers.

To be honest, those drones are made to handle this type of flying/situation perfectly without having to be extra worried. Don't worry about the drone itself, just make sure to stay in control the whole time and don't panic. Take it super slow if you're worried, and try not to rush to get out of a tricky situation. Definitely avoid Sports Mode, unless you're way above all trees and need to rush back.
You might not capture the best cinematic footage on your first trip, but the drone will live to tell more stories.

chalde Posted at 2017-8-21 04:48
To be honest, those drones are made to handle this type of flying/situation perfectly without having to be extra worried. Don't worry about the drone itself, just make sure to stay in control the whole time and don't panic. Take it super slow if you're worried, and try not to rush to get out of a tricky situation. Definitely avoid Sports Mode, unless you're way above all trees and need to rush back.
You might not capture the best cinematic footage on your first trip, but the drone will live to tell more stories.

Dear chalde,

Thank you very much for your considerations.
Really, they were very important.
It is an awesome place. I am not  “a so experienced pilot”; and that is the reason of my concerns and thoughts.
But your words are very positive and gave me a relief.
I will seriously think about this flight and plan it carefully.
Thanks man!

DocAraxá Posted at 2017-8-21 04:00
Dear Thor,

Thanks for your considerations.

Thanks for it. Hope you have a great journey and please fly the drone carefully. Also looking forward to your sharing.