I am currious because i want to fly high and get aerial shots of my town and events and stuff but if i fly over the FAA regulations (im not within airports or anything that can cause air traffic issues) will i lose my warranity or anything???

Perhaps if the FAA was doing warranty repairs  - except they are smart enough to know that 400 feet above launch point isn't necessarily a violation of any rules.
They understand that the earth isn't pancake-flat.

As far as DJI are concerned, flying higher than 400 feet above launch point doesn't create any additional risk beyond what is already in effect up to 400 ft.

No, DJI will still cover it if the incident is caused by product malfunction.   


Same thing like  a car accident  caused by control mechanism failure will not excuse the car marker's responsibility, even if the car is speeding at 80 MPH.

i ask because im going to be recording bike races (bicycle not motorbikes) and baseball games for kids events in my town for parents (not for pay because i enjoy helping out) and while i know thats really high for those things i want to do overhead views of the events as well as staying clear of a stray ball hitting the drone (because i already lost 1 to a bird)
Plus i want to do aerial shots and it kept saying DJI NOT RESPONSABLE FOR OVER 400FEET (or something like that when i tried to fly it and it wouldnt let me change the max height without that warning)
so im making sure


Once i pay off my credit card debt il probally buy the phantom 4 unless theres something better else by then (i mention this because of recordings and stuff over 400 feet)
and i hope i can get some good shots today

If it falls from 50 feet or 4000 feet, the rate of falling is still 32 ft per second second or 21.82 MPH max velocity. It wont do any more damage falling from 400 ft vs 1500 ft.
The warning is just DJI saying that the FAA suggests that 400 feet is a max "SAFE" height and DJI is not responsible if you somehow get you P3 up high enough to interfere with commercial or personal aircraft.

I fly over a mountain from my house. The take off elevation is zero, but I have to climb to 1500 ft to clear the mountain which is just over the tree tops at the top of the mountain, so I am actually less tahn 100 ft off the ground at that point but the app shows me at 1500 ft altitude.

04red6 Posted at 2016-7-11 00:24
If it falls from 50 feet or 4000 feet, the rate of falling is still 32 ft per second second or 21.82 ...

"... the rate of falling is still 32 ft per second second or 21.82 MPH max velocity. It wont do any more damage falling from 400 ft vs 1500 ft..."

************

That is incorrect.  The rate of any object's acceleration is 32'/second/second, or 32'/second squared.  However, an object's final greatest and/or terminal velocity is more dependent upon the ultimate time & distance it has to fall.  Think about it:  if dropped from a height of only 1 foot on a brick, a bowling ball will not accumulate much velocity, let alone reach its terminal velocity, and will in all likelihood simply crack the brick, lacking sufficient kinetic energy to do much else.  However, if that same bowling ball is dropped from a height of 300 feet onto the same brick, it will have enough time & distance to accelerate to a much higher velocity, to gather much more kinetic energy, and it will turn the brick into, um, a big pile of p-a-r-t-I-c-l-e-s mush! ;)

So, don't crash!

CaptRuss Posted at 2016-7-11 01:37
"... the rate of falling is still 32 ft per second second or 21.82 MPH max velocity. It wont do an ...

That is why i said from 50 feet or 1500 feet. Giving it time to reach max velocity.

acegolfking Posted at 2016-7-10 07:33
i ask because im going to be recording bike races (bicycle not motorbikes) and baseball games for ki ...

Aloha ace,

     Be sure you are not flying over congested areas, particularly groups of people that you can see.  That is a very sore point these days and with the new FAA regulations coming on line next month prohibiting flight over people.  Oblique shots also have a different value than shots facing directly down.  Be sure to think ahead because these are spectator sports you want to record meaning there will be groups of people you have to avoid.  It might help to have a spotter with you.  Whether you fall 50 feet of 500 feet a falling drone will seriously hurt (possibly kill) those under it.

Aloha and Drone On!

04red6 Posted at 2016-7-10 18:26
I fly over a mountain from my house. The take off elevation is zero, but I have to climb to 1500 ft  ...

Aloha 04red6,

     The new FAA rules will allow you to fly up mountain sides under the new structures part of the rules.  Already manned aircraft are required to stay 500 feet away from structures.  Buildings and mountains are considered structures. as are towers, bridges, etc.  The new rules say that small drones may fly the inner 400 feet around a structure.  That way there is a 100 foot buffer between drones and manned aircraft around structures.  This is one of my favorite parts of the new rules.

     Maybe DJI will change the app so the warning better reflects the new rules.  And since the new rules let you fly up a 2000 foot mountain, staying within 400 feet of the mountain side, maybe DJI will rework the software altitude limitation of 500 meters (~1500 feet).  Between the new technology and the new rules, there will be many changes we have to understand as drone operators - and the new rules, just being formulated now for Phantom class drones (micro drones), will make sure we have to keep up, keeping up!

Aloha and Drone On!

Cetaman Posted at 2016-7-13 17:00
Aloha 04red6,

     The new FAA rules will allow you to fly up mountain sides under the new struct ...

"Maybe DJI will change the app so the warning better reflects the new rules".  

The new rules are US rules but since the US only has about 4.5% of the world's population, it's unlikely that DJI would change the way the app/Phantom works just because the US rules changed.

"And since the new rules let you fly up a 2000 foot mountain, staying within 400 feet of the mountain side"
And the old rules would have allowed you to fly up a 2000 foot mountain, staying 400 feet above the mountain side so not much has really changed there.

labroides@yahoo Posted at 2016-7-12 21:09
"Maybe DJI will change the app so the warning better reflects the new rules".  

The new rules are ...

Aloha labroides,

     Agreed about the 2000 foot mountain and I almost noted that, but the concept is new here and wanted the idea to sink in before I went all gung ho on it!  (After all, it is my favorite clause.)

     Ah, but, what percentage of DJI customers are in the US.  I thought I saw somewhere that 61 percent of DJI customers are in the US or US citizens - but then I always think I saw something somewhere.  (That is why I try to cite things when it starts to get dicey.)  I am just shooting from the hip here.  

Aloha and Drone On!

Cetaman Posted at 2016-7-13 15:00
Aloha 04red6,

     The new FAA rules will allow you to fly up mountain sides under the new struct ...

I doubt DJI will change the height-limit mechanism to reflect  that any time soon.

Currently, there's no way for the drone to know the terrain it is flying over. To help the drone recognize the terrain, DJI would need a huge data base recording every mountain in the world. Even if such map (for civilian use) currently exists, it wouldn't be cost effective, since I would argue 99% of drone users wouldn't need to use this function at all.

Also, about a third of DJI drone users are in North America, a third in Europe, and a third in China and everywhere else.

Cetaman Posted at 2016-7-13 03:00
Aloha 04red6,

     The new FAA rules will allow you to fly up mountain sides under the new struct ...

I see. No problems here.

You do realize the 400 foot level is there so you are not in the way of any airplanes. You do realize that. It has nothing to do with airports per se.