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Flight with GPS turned OFF

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Been wanting to see how the H flew with the GPS off. Tried it yesterday in an open field. Had maybe 10 knots of wind. I wanted to try this so I would have an idea of how she flew, GPS off, if the GPS failed. Noticed that the H became very sensitive to the wind. Would allow the wind to steer it. Also it seemed very darty. Everything it did was quick. Suddenly it would be coming toward me and I had to quickly back it up. Started to slide left or right. Quickly had to apply stick to bring it back the other way to stop that. Alll in all it was ok. I learned that you have to be quick, especially with some wind, to keep it in control, and not over control. It is true manual control as the warning box says. I also feel that if it decided to take off on me I could turn the GPS OFF to try to save it provided it was high enough to not hit anything and I had the time. I left the Gps off/on window open so all I had to do was reach up and select ON. No worries. Did not try to land with GPS off. Want to get some more time in the air first with it off. All in all very doable.
 
Very good practice idea.
I planned to practice on the simulator with GPS off in the wind just to see how the sim handles it.
 
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Let us know what your impressions are Steve when you have tried it.
 
GPS off allows you to go very fast. It'll easily reach 60 mph :)
 
GPS off allows you to go very fast. It'll easily reach 60 mph :)

Including 60 to zero very quickly!

Sorry couldn't resist. This seems like a positive post for a change so I felt the need to have some fun with you all (joining in, that is).

:D

Jeff

P.S. I actually had my GPS shut off awhile back, unexpectedly, when coming in to land. Found out real quick as to of what Wings speaks. Definitely need to keep the non-GPS Hubsan in shape to keep the reflexes sharp, or at least "sharper".
 
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Yes and be sure to set speed control to Turtle Mode. I assume that still works as normal.
 
The H cannot possibly hold a lateral position with GPS turned off. GPS is what enables a lateral position hold. The H will always drift with the wind when GPS is turned off and the direction and speed of the drift is directly proportional to the direction of the speed of the wind. It will generally maintain altitude as altitude is more a barometric function than GPS, although GPS does assist when it's turned on.

With GPS off the H no longer has any artificial speed restrictions induced by system communication protocols, so long full power runs will cause the H to descend as it will trade altitude to obtain more airspeed. Full forward throttle is in essence telling the FC to go as fast as it can. The speed will increase until the batteries can no longer provide the current being demanded by the system. So the first portion of a GPS off flight will provide more speed than the latter portion of a GPS off flight.

The H requires an operator know how to use the correct control inputs to deal with wind effects with GPS turned off. It's not that much more difficult, it just requires you know what you're doing. If your H is your first drone it would be a reasonable idea to obtain a cheap, toy no GPS drone and practice flying it. You will become a lot better at controlling your H if you do.
 
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With GPS off, the H is buttery smooth with pitch and roll changes. You notice how the H 'jumps' with off throttle - to - on - throttle right-stick changes? This does not happen with GPS off. This is actually my only complaint on the H : the GPS breaking that occurs.

Having said that, I always fly with GPS on. I guess I need to trust myself more :)
 
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With GPS off, the H is buttery smooth with pitch and roll changes. You notice how the H 'jumps' with off throttle - to - on - throttle right-stick changes? This does not happen with GPS off. This is actually my only complaint on the H : the GPS breaking that occurs.
Having said that, I always fly with GPS on. I guess I need to trust myself more :)
Have you tried the cruise control? It's really smooth.
 
I often practice with GPS off, try flying figure 8's. It takes a while but I find I can land now without problem.
Some videographers reckon that filming with GPS off gives better results, I haven't delved into that so not too sure why

It makes smoother video because there is no correction constantly jerking the gimbal and fighting it. The battery life is longer also. You can’t take your eyes off the H and need a spotter to film.
 
It's very fun to fly without GPS, I like how the aircraft will glide around instead of flying in straight lines.

I've been told disabling GPS after take off is different than taking off with GPS already disabled as you wont be able to re-enable it mid-flight in the later case, but I don't remember having tested this though.

What I do know for a fact is that if you take off without GPS you will lose Smart mode and Home mode completely, so if you send it too far away and get disoriented, you might have a bit of trouble bringing it back. (Now that I think about it I honestly don't remember if you get the Home arrow on screen when taking off without GPS) So you might have to rely completely on LOS flight.

GPS disabled, Smart mode/Home test:
 
I just tried flying with GPS off for a second time. I have a number of drones most of which don’t have GPS or altitude so I felt confident. Be careful. Before I knew it the H was on the other side of our field headed for the woods out of control. Had to bring it down quickly to avoid woods. One broken prop and two gimbal rubber mounts loose. Very lucky I didn’t do more damage. H very quick and wind effect is pretty dramatic. Keep it close and be careful.
 
I just tried flying with GPS off for a second time. I have a number of drones most of which don’t have GPS or altitude so I felt confident. Be careful. Before I knew it the H was on the other side of our field headed for the woods out of control. Had to bring it down quickly to avoid woods. One broken prop and two gimbal rubber mounts loose. Very lucky I didn’t do more damage. H very quick and wind effect is pretty dramatic. Keep it close and be careful.
Yes its tricky if its windy as it is soon at a distance if you allow it to drift off.
 
Been wanting to see how the H flew with the GPS off. Tried it yesterday in an open field. Had maybe 10 knots of wind. I wanted to try this so I would have an idea of how she flew, GPS off, if the GPS failed. Noticed that the H became very sensitive to the wind. Would allow the wind to steer it. Also it seemed very darty. Everything it did was quick. Suddenly it would be coming toward me and I had to quickly back it up. Started to slide left or right. Quickly had to apply stick to bring it back the other way to stop that. Alll in all it was ok. I learned that you have to be quick, especially with some wind, to keep it in control, and not over control. It is true manual control as the warning box says. I also feel that if it decided to take off on me I could turn the GPS OFF to try to save it provided it was high enough to not hit anything and I had the time. I left the Gps off/on window open so all I had to do was reach up and select ON. No worries. Did not try to land with GPS off. Want to get some more time in the air first with it off. All in all very doable.

Thanks for the info, I did the same with my H Pro but by accident. Flew to close to a structure and lost GPS. The structure was our home, two dogs outside nervously watching the drone. The H Pro became "darty" also and headed right for the nesting dogs which provoked a hasty flight reaction from the dogs and a hasty flight crash in to the side of our home. Repair to the drone was minimal, dogs are still on anti-anxiety medication.
 
With GPS off, the H is buttery smooth with pitch and roll changes. You notice how the H 'jumps' with off throttle - to - on - throttle right-stick changes? This does not happen with GPS off. This is actually my only complaint on the H : the GPS breaking that occurs.

Having said that, I always fly with GPS on. I guess I need to trust myself more :)

If you want to have smooth take offs with the throttle and roll, you can adjust the Rate Curves. Here is an excellent video to show you how.
 
I normally fly in gps for photos and if I’m filming I fly in manual mode.By using manual mode( and knowing how to operate the A/C in said mode) allows the A/C to maneuver smoothly(no gps jerks..) All drone operators should be able to fly, operate, and land in manual mode. If there is ever a gps malfunction or a sudden spike of KP index the only way to safety pilot the A/C is to switch to manual flight. On a daily day of practice flying I spend 20 percent checking gps and the other 80 percent I spend manually controling the A/C. I do not advise landing in manual mode if you are practicing. However in a emergency situation a couple of broken props will easily out weigh the cost of a completely crashed or lost A/C. Here are some tips I used when learning to safety control the A/C in manual mode.

Find large field on a non windy day. and keep the A/C low 20-60 feet AGL. Your first couple of flights should BNF(no camera)
Try to keep the A/C over a target area(point camera at full nadir and try to gently compensate for the wind by correcting the A/C movement
Learn how every action on the sticks requires a equal reaction (yaw left needs some yaw right to cancel the movement) these are very shuttle movements. The more you move these sticks the harder the A/C will be to control.(these A/C are very fast in manual mode and you can easily wind up with a “bucking bronco” if you overwork the sticks.
And finally always be prepared to switch into GPS mode. There is always somethings we can not control (gust of wind, incoming wildlife, etc.) be prepared to cancel your manual training if anything does not appear safe. A gust of wind can easily move your A/C 30-50 feet very quickly if you can’t over compensate fast enough. Be prepared to flip the switch.

Hope this helps,
Happy flying
 
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I just tried flying with GPS off for a second time. I have a number of drones most of which don’t have GPS or altitude so I felt confident. H very quick and wind effect is pretty dramatic. Keep it close and be careful.

Yes, the H is verrrrrry quick, and many people underestimate that.

Wind effect is quite the same on any non-GPS drone. It depends on windspeed and not the type of drone.
 

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