I read that the P4 has a altitude limit of 120m from take-off point - is this the same for the Mavic ? I can fly my P3 from the back garden and over a hill nearby that's over 120m without issue. The UK rules are around 120m altitude (not from sea level or take off point). So I'm worried that the Mavic wont allow me to fly over the hill ?

Anyone know ?

you can change the limit on any drone it's just that you will be breaking uk law thats all!

In the US, the height limit by the FAA "rules" is 400ft, which is about 120m (or a little more). It's a default setting that you can change if you are feeling defiant.

dana5 Posted at 2016-11-18 06:52
In the US, the height limit by the FAA "rules" is 400ft, which is about 120m (or a little more). It' ...

In most parts of the world the regulation pertains to AGL not AMSL per standard aviation rules. If he's flying over a hill/mountain, and still maintaining 400ft AGL, he could be 3000ft AMSL and still be operating within the requirements of the regulations.
The Mavic's limit is set dynamicly from the home point. So if your home point is 2000ft AMSL, the Mavic will max out at 2400ft AMSL or in this case, 400ft AGL. Taking the same example, say the mountain is 3000ft AMSL at it's peak, he can fly at 3400ft AMSL at this point and still be legal.

If you manually bypass the height limit and your still not 120 meters above land you won't be breaking any laws.

nelsonmansfield Posted at 2016-11-17 22:42
you can change the limit on any drone it's just that you will be breaking uk law thats all!

That's not correct.

THe height limit is ground to height of drone. Not take off point to height of drone.

AusAir Posted at 2016-11-18 00:13
In most parts of the world the regulation pertains to AGL not AMSL per standard aviation rules. If  ...

Contradictory comments. As per my post, I thought I'd read that it was 400ft/120m from take off point for the P4 and Mavic.

UK rules are clear, its 400ft/120m from ground level - NOT take off point (which would be ludicrous for obvious reasons).

So.....Mavic owners.....can you fly > 400ft/120m (in the UK) from take off point  or not ?

nelsonmansfield Posted at 2016-11-17 22:42
you can change the limit on any drone it's just that you will be breaking uk law thats all!

No, you're interpretation of UK law is wrong.

Its 400ft/120m above ground - NOT take off point or sea level.

nelsonmansfield Posted at 2016-11-17 22:42
you can change the limit on any drone it's just that you will be breaking uk law thats all!

No, you're interpretation of UK law is wrong.

Its 400ft/120m above ground - NOT take off point or sea level.

Either way you have to have LOS to the drone.

Flipperman Posted at 2016-11-18 14:46
That's not correct.

THe height limit is ground to height of drone. Not take off point to height  ...

In the US, this also includes within 400' (I think) of structures.

Flipperman Posted at 2016-11-19 06:49
Contradictory comments. As per my post, I thought I'd read that it was 400ft/120m from take off po ...

My comments are not contradictory. Your understanding is off my friend.

Above Ground Level. It is that simple.

AusAir Posted at 2016-11-19 02:28
My comments are not contradictory. Your understanding is off my friend.

Above Ground Level. It i ...

Apologies AusAir - wasn't referring to yours but generally the combined comments are contradicting each other

I think your interpretation is correct - I just need confirmation that the Mavic follows that logic in its height limiter....

@AusAir
"The Mavic's limit is set dynamicly from the home point. "

Not quite - just to complicate things more for you.
The Mavic does not actually indicate altitude based on take off point. This is just co-incidental 99% of the time. If you read the manual, you will see it indicates altitude based upon "power on" point. I have no need to test this, but theoretically, you could turn the Mavic on at the top of a 1,000' hill, jump in your car and drive to the bottom with it still powered on. Then take off and it will Climb from -1000' until it max's out at 1640'(500m) which is 2640' above the take off point!!   You would be an effing idiot to do this, so don't, but this is how I understand it is works.
I have certainly been flyiing mine a couple of hundred feet below take off point and the negative altiitudes mess with some of the smart modes. It wont save waypoints and so on.

Flipperman Posted at 2016-11-18 22:51
No, you're interpretation of UK law is wrong.

Its 400ft/120m above ground - NOT take off point or ...

120 m or 400 ft is your legal limit, from ground or water, for small manned aircraft minimum distances from ground or water is 450 m or 1500 ft, 300m clear distance from any obstacle, so as you can see the reason for 120 m limit is to keep clear of manned aircraft.
So you need to use common sense when flying keep your limit to 120 meters from ground level and you won't in any danger of obstructing small aircraft, likewise you have rules for minimum altitude when flying i.e. Flying over people obstacles etc,
So know the rules you can google them for your own country stick with them and you will be fine.

hallmark007 Posted at 2016-11-19 11:20
120 m or 400 ft is your legal limit, from ground or water, for small manned aircraft minimum dista ...

Yep - clear on that and more than happy to comply - doesnt help with answering my question though ;)

If I take off from back garden (lets say its 0m for arguments sake) and fly towards the hill (within sight) and the ground level slowly rises as the drone approaches the hill - I can legally maintain that distance between the ground and the drone to a max 120m. By the time the drone gets to the top of the hill (lets say the hill is 150m high) - the drone is still 120m above the ground but the altitude is now reading 270m. I'm complying with the law - and the separation of light aircraft etc (being 120m from top of the hill) but my question is.......would the Mavic allow me to go over what it considers to be 120m (and therefore allow me to get to 270m altitude by the time it gets to the top of the hill) ?

No issue with the legal side of things - hundreds of flights under my belt - simply asking whether Mavic will fly over 120m altitude. I know that the P3A, theoretically, goes to 500m altitude for example.

Flipperman Posted at 2016-11-19 12:28
Yep - clear on that and more than happy to comply - doesnt help with answering my question though  ...

Yes you can change this to 500m in the app.

hallmark007 Posted at 2016-11-19 13:23
Yes you can change this to 500m in the app.

Great thanks.

You can change in the app where it says: Set Max Flight Altitude but if you insert any number above 120m you have a pop up note: " Bla bla... this may violate local laws...blabla... (and the most important part) .You are solely responsible and liable for the operation of the aircraft after altering these settings. DJI shall not be liable for any damages..."
So you can alter the max flight altitude limit. The questions are:
1. will you loose your insurance for replacement of malfunction The DJI Refresh (if you got one with DJI) if you answer "agree" to the pop up note and change it?
2. Does the app register what you do and may set you liable? Or will DJI send this info to anyone? Or does DJI receives this info?
3. If you alter for 300m and fly only once and then set it back to 120m is it still ok?
I tried to fly through two small hills to have access to a desert beach but the high of the lowest part of the hill was 140 m so I could not fly through. I would have loved to alter the max altitude once and flown to the other beach. Or I could have climbed one of the hills and started the Mavic some 40 m above the original point but there were a lot of rainforest and I couldn't make it. So I was afraid to AGREE to alter the limit (even not being in US) and missed that nice shooting.

BrazUS2020 Posted at 2017-1-14 19:49
You can change in the app where it says: Set Max Flight Altitude but if you insert any number above 120m you have a pop up note: " Bla bla... this may violate local laws...blabla... (and the most important part) .You are solely responsible and liable for the operation of the aircraft after altering these settings. DJI shall not be liable for any damages..."
So you can alter the max flight altitude limit. The questions are:
1. will you loose your insurance for replacement of malfunction The DJI Refresh (if you got one with DJI) if you answer "agree" to the pop up note and change it?

Excellent question...I too have an application to shoot/fly like this so am interested in dji response if this affects dji refresh.  It would be a shame have to climb higher vs just exceeding the height limit.  In this case one would not be violating local height regulation; but it would only look like such to the software logs...DJI????