Flying the Q500 copter elavation ?

Yes you can, I have done it many times. The controller will show a negative altitude when flying below the point you launched.
I have flown down into canyons filming old crashed cars on Mt.Lemmon. AZ. It flies just fine!

 

Captain Bruno I would say that you're taking a risky chance flying around buildings. The stock transmitters antenna's are not designed to penetrate around buildings. You might lose contact with your Q become disoriented of where your Q is and crash causing damage or injury. Also there is a chance that you might receive WiFi interference being in a metropolis area, again causing you to lose signal, and crash, or maybe even a fly away......Taking a chance...To risky!!!!!

 

I live in Tucson AZ, so no big metropolis here. i also avoid areas where there are tall buildings and people. Keep in mind that these machines work on common 2.4 and 5.8 ghz radio signals, not only can buildings block signals, but these days the buildings themselves contain tons of wireless signals that can interfere with communications between the controller and the Q. If you are going to fly in such areas, i wouldnt go far from the controller and never lose sight of it. If it goes behind a building it can easily lose contact with controller, plus it's illegal to lose visual contact. But even then, if it decides to "fly away" for whatever reason, you have to consider the safety of the people on the ground.

I just avoid this type of flying altogether, and find legal places out of the way with no one around, That way if something does go wrong the only one who gets hurt is me. These things are electronic, i have been in the electronics business my entire life and have seen some pretty weird stuff when things go bad. So I do not trust that my Q ( or any electronic device) will always do what i tell it to.

 

I have a question when flying from a hill top to the valley below. Lets say you are -103ft on the controller and you hit the Home button. Will the Q rise to -70ft and then start the return home or will it rise to 33ft above the controller and then return home? Thanks

 

Good question, the assumption is it would rise 33' above the controller, but i have never actually tried it.

 

Should be 33' above the take off height. I've noticed that GPS info gets confused a bit during flight, and have seen a change of 15' in altitude from take off to landing (landed at same take off location, and altitude still showed 15')

Captain Bruno - My thoughts ~ Don't do it. AZ is already pushing a lot of legislation to pretty much ban "Drone" flying in every city. Don't help. The activities that you are planning are the some of exact reasons why they are pushing legislation.

Flying without LOS, Flying over/near buildings, streets, and people, and even your take off altitude pretty much violates the FAA reg.

 

I agree, I live in AZ and they have already banned it in Pima county parks, several city parks. The city parks have a blanket rule that they can apply to any activity that they dont like, regardless of whether it's justified or not. I used to goto my local park and fly inside an empty baseball field. I flew at less than 20 ft alt. and only if there was no one around for at least 300ft in every direction. then one day i went to my favorite spot only to find a sign on the fence saying " the operation of model airplanes in this park is prohibited" (That happened shortly after all the drone hype news stories just before christmas) . My Q is neither a model or an airplane, but I realized i was no longer welcome. so now i go well out of my to find legal places that are void of other humans.

That being said, if we do get to point where local governments overstep their authority and create even more ridiculous and unnecessary laws restricting my right to safely fly ( i think the FAA , with the help of the drone Industry, should set the rules), I will most likely organize a peaceful drone demonstration/protest at a major Tucson City park. I have some extra cash set aside as there will no doubt be some legal fees involved after the dust settles. But if that's what it will take to bring some positive attention to this industry, then I am willing to take that chance.

We need to keep in mind that drones are here to stay, the industry is way bigger than most people realize. There are some big hitters who's interests are inline with ours. And it's growing everyday. But, this is brand new territory and we need to do everything we can to NOT fuel the fires against us, and that includes flying with common sense as well as getting involved in the UAV community!

The people who get attention in the media are the morons who mount guns and flame throwers to drones. they get all the press and it is devastating to our cause. So WE need to be extra careful not to draw any negative attention ourselves. As much as I want to film city life from above, I am not willing to take a chance and risk someone's safety.

You could be up a 100ft, and then a motor fails. Now you have a 5 pound rock with at least 3 spinning blades heading straight down towards peoples heads! At best you'll miss everyone and smash your drone to a million pieces, at worst ( and every bit as possible), you'll end up killing a fellow human being.

I cant live with that.

 

Even though you might have line of sight; me personally I would be worried about WiFi signal interference. I've heard of fly aways because of signal interference. It would be a sad day to watch $1000.00 (your Q) fly off into the distance while you're going crazy on the controller to bring it back with no response. I'm going to sit back and let you be the judge on this one. I'm not advising it, but if you do decide to try it; take it slow, and if it seems like you're getting interference in the controls bring your Q home....And if you decide to do it; whether you succeed or fail your flight mission we don't need to know about it, we don't need to see the video or whatever the outcome was. If you failed and crashed you're going to get the I Told You So...or if it was a successful flight you're still going to get the You Still Shouldn't Have Done It! And I'm sure you don't need all that drama!

You have people who take their drones up past the clouds or out 3000ft-5000ft+ before realizing they don't have enough battery power to get them back home. So what Happens? THEY CRASH And those who don't crash post their magnificent risk on You Tube for everybody to see; including the FAA(NOT SMART). So all I'm trying to say is; if you have to ask people about flying in certain places that means there's a possible risk involved and it get's folks attention. You started out alright (from a mountain top to a valley) then you quickly went to taking off from the third floor of a building going up another possible 15 floors.

Remember This 99.9% of ALL CRASHES comes from those who took a risk....I hope you don't take this response the wrong way (only trying to help keep your Q & people safe)....as this is only my opinion.....Just Keeping It Real......I would only like to see, and hear about peaceful flights not hear about disaster & crash stories!.................Safe Flying!!!!

 

Excellent finish!

 

I appreciate everyone's opinion but the "assumption" and the "should be" doesn't leave me ith a warm fuzzy feeling. Thanks

 

I hear you, and while i have flown below the point i have taken off from ( i do a lot of canyon flying) i never tried home mode in the canyons. truth is i am in angle mode 99.99% of the time. I have tested home mode, smart mode etc., I just like angle the best (I am kind of a control freak).

But it's still a good question that can use an answer. If it were me, I'd drop down about 10-20 ft, hit home and see how it responds, any sign of trouble,switch back to angle mode and take over. If every thing goes o.k. then go a little deeper next time.

...dont forget to report back!

 

I've tested mine, on level ground at a 5' hover, and it increased altitude to 33ish on the controller and started coming directly back towards me. No reason so suspect that a negative altitude when you hit RTH will be any different.

 

I have proven it with a + altitude as well. Until it has been proven with a - I will still see it as a concern and not as a " it should " Thanks

 

I guess you are just gonna have to try it for yourself.

 

Other people have posted about flying off a cliff, or down a hill and the controller reads a negative altitude. No reason to believe that if RTH is activated, that it will not continue to gain elevation until it reaches a positive altitude (33') and return to the controller proximity.