I have bluffs in my area that are about 5-600’ high. If I was on top of the bluff and launched my H from there and flew off of the bluff, what would happen? I would be above the 400’ limit. Would it crash, or could I still fly, could it even be launched? I live in a valley.
Stupid question.
- Thread starter asspajamas
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PatR
Premium Pilot
Once you understand how the baro altimeter in your drone works you’ll know that does not happen. It does not use a “sea level” altimeter. What it does instead is sense the take off location as “zero altitude” with everything higher or lower as a plus or minus relative to the zero altitude. So if you launched from the bluff and climbed to an altitude of 10’ and flew out past the bluff the altitude would still be 10’ despite the hundreds of feet of open air below.
I fly from a valley floor frequently. I changed the altitude limit so I can fly up to the top of the bluffs. Just stay below 400' above ground level at the location of the H.
CraigCam
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400’ AGL = at ground level. I can go up a 2500’ high mountain and fly 400’ above that. 400’ is boring to look at and the real strength of the 480 is shooting lower in spots cameras can’t get near. I just filmed cactus blooming in the mountains and only went up past 200’. The best stuff is always the closer framed subject where you balance ground and sky and make a focal point of interest. Most people think I’m way up in the air when I’m at 150’ and the H is easily lost to sight at heights over 300’. I’ve learned that in my now two years of flying them.
There are many cliff faces and places to hike,so I was wondering about sending the h out past the cliff face to record myself and children back on the bluff. All about 5-600’ above sea level.
CraigCam
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Nothing changes. I have flown out of cliffs over the ocean and turned back in to set up the ultimate fly by selfie. It does not change its flight height and go up and down with changes in the terrain below during normal angle mode piloted flight. It’s not locked to any vertical absolutes in angle mode that I have ever observed. In fact it will maintain the same altitude you set at launch and when flying upslope, you must raise your height accordingly or risk hitting ground or low objects as they come up below you.
The IPS side of Real Sense prevents the H from going all the way to the ground in theory. When the gear is up, you can’t get lower to the ground then about 3’. I suppose if you were holding it down at that level and went over the cliff edge, it would lose the sense of the ground below and want to descend over the now suddenly higher position over the new lower ground. It would not plummet however unless you were in full rabbit mode at the time and even then you’d be the one causing the rapid descent. Let go of the sticks and it would stop.
For cliff flying I’d consider turning the OBS on. It gives notably slower responses to control (which I actually find useful as a good control cruise for smoother shots) so if you do get below the face of the cliffs, you won’t nose into them.
The IPS side of Real Sense prevents the H from going all the way to the ground in theory. When the gear is up, you can’t get lower to the ground then about 3’. I suppose if you were holding it down at that level and went over the cliff edge, it would lose the sense of the ground below and want to descend over the now suddenly higher position over the new lower ground. It would not plummet however unless you were in full rabbit mode at the time and even then you’d be the one causing the rapid descent. Let go of the sticks and it would stop.
For cliff flying I’d consider turning the OBS on. It gives notably slower responses to control (which I actually find useful as a good control cruise for smoother shots) so if you do get below the face of the cliffs, you won’t nose into them.
FlushVision
Premium Pilot
Living very close to the Pennine range in England most of my hobby flights are conducted from high ground flying into the valleys or into disused quarries from the quarries 'cliff' edges. So it is that often my aircraft can easily be 600ft or more above the ground directly under it yet only a few feet above the ground I'm standing on.
The H has absolutely no issues with this. It will climb up to 400ft above me even though it's already 5 or 6 hundred feet above the ground directly under it and, likewise, it will descent to ground level in that valley...though I have noticed that as it descends to what it 'thinks' is ground level it will do that slowly until it goes into 'negative' altitude.
@Steve Carr . In the U.K. the 400ft height rule is, unfortunately, not terrain following. We can legally fly up to 400ft above the level of the ground we are standing on, not 400ft above the ground that the aircraft happens to be flying over at that time. This is, of course, can be an advantage if I'm standing on top of a hill coz that means that I can legally fly 800ft above that valley floor if the hill i'm standing on is 400ft high relative to the valley floor
