How high can you go?

[Rayray]

How high have you gone with the Typhoon H?
Nope, not talking about Ozzy Osbourne or a Rocky Mountain.

There's been a lot of chatter about the Compass. The crazy calibration process, wrong readings close to ground, all that. Yet I don't remember seeing one post about how high anyone has actually flown, which the H is supposed to cutoff at 400'.

Most of you have tried that, I did yesterday, and got a readout of 410'-412' before it refused to go higher.

So tell us how high you are able to go or have gone before it stops? is it different from time to time?

 

[PatR]

That's a tough question to answer. If you registered with the FAA you voluntarily agreed to a 400' limit and if you are 107 qualified you are capped to 400' unless flying within 400' of a taller structure being inspected. 580'. I set the altitude fence limits via the GUI to suit the condition.


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[Rayray]

That's a tough question to answer. If you registered with the FAA you voluntarily agreed to a 400' limit and if you are 107 qualified you are capped to 400' unless flying within 400' of a taller structure being inspected. 580'. I set the altitude fence limits via the GUI to suit the condition.


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Pat, I'm just asking how high you have gone before the H quit going higher.

 

[QuadBart]

I actually tested that Sunday morning, stopped climbing at 385' indicated on the ST-16...

 

[RiverRunner]

Over 850 feet and still did not get above the surrounding mountains (but that was not with the H, flying with a home made quad which has no nanny software.)

 

[PatR]

Mine didn't self limit, I did. I had the fence limit set higher than 580.

 

[Tony Johnson]

399 is highest mine will go

 

[NismoNinja]

I asked for clearance from the local airport to test altitude near a hill in my area. Hill height is 1,210 feet. I reset the altitude fence and started to climb maintaining 1/4 or less separation from the ground of the hill. I made it up over 1000' before I started having a hard time maintaining line of sight and I started loosing telemetry and video response. The 'how high can you go', however, is a REALLY bad thing to test unless you have received special clearance to go over the 400' FAA restriction.

 

[BobW55]

Ray,
Mine tops out at about 416 feet. Usually it stops anywhere from 398 to 403 feet.
Even hovering at that height I can see the altimeter is NOT steady.
Takes for ever to descend, I have even tried full forward right stick and full down left stick.
I have not tried a power descent with GPS off.

 

[Steve Wall Morris]

Legally it is 400' above ground level unless you have specific permission as light aircraft are not allowed below 500' unless they have specific permission. The idea is to keep a 100' safety buffer between drones and light aircraft at all times.

 

[QuadBart]

Hmmm, it would appear to me most of you are not members of the AMA (provided you live in the USA). If you are a member you need to read the Oct. 2016 issue of Model Aviation, page 10, "AMA in Action", Letter from FAA. It addresses the 400' AGL "guideline"...

I'll leave it at that... All I have to say to those of you who aren't members of the AMA, JOIN! They are doing great work and the inexpensive membership fee provides insurance for non-commerical purposes....

 

[FlushVision]

My H is set at 400ft and it is at about that height that it will go. However, I rarely go up that high unless I need a certain shot that requires it...most of my best pictures and video have been shot at far lower altitudes!

 

[PatR]

People making statements referencing a 400' maximum permissible altitude need to stop believing everything they read in internet blogs and stop listening to old wive's tales. They need to read the federal regulations and learn what the law really states. The only people capped at 400' are commercial operators and even they have conditions where that can be exceeded as necessary to complete the operation when conducted within legal guidelines.

The AMA is also a good source of accurate information relative to the 400' subject. Hobby operators are not legally bound to a 400' cap but they are responsible for separation and notifying ATC when operating within a given distance from an airport.

Laws not written and recorded as law is not law. Learn the law.


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[FlushVision]

People making statements referencing a 400' maximum permissible altitude need to stop believing everything they read in internet blogs and stop listening to old wive's tales. They need to read the federal regulations and learn what the law really states. The only people capped at 400' are commercial operators and even they have conditions where that can be exceeded as necessary to complete the operation when conducted within legal guidelines.

The AMA is also a good source of accurate information relative to the 400' subject. Hobby operators are not legally bound to a 400' cap but they are responsible for separation and notifying ATC when operating within a given distance from an airport.

Laws not written and recorded as law is not law. Learn the law.


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Here in the UK, 400ft is the maximum height for commercial operations and to get permission from the CAA to go higher is a lengthy process and I believe very difficult to get. However, I agree that there is some confusion about hobby flying max height...the common belief is that it is 400 ft as well. But if you closely read the UK Air Navigation Order (2016) sections 94/95 it actually only mentions the 400 ft height restriction for commercial operations...no mention of a 400 ft restriction for hobby flying.

HOWEVER, It does say that you need to have vLOS at all times for both hobby and commercial flying so that is widely taken to mean 400ft max height. A court, then, will take the view that a hobbyist flying much above 400 ft will not be in reasonable vLOS and thus breaking the law on that count. So, no, there is no law that says a hobbyist must stick below 400ft...they will nail you with not being in vLOS which is the law.

Incidentally, I have had times depending on the light that I've had difficulty seeing my aircraft as low as 250ft...so on days like that 250 ft is my legal maximum height!

 

[PatR]

I was referring to U.S. Law. Sorry I was not more clear in that.


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[DonArneson]

402 ft and it won't budge any higher ... tried it before the update debacle and a couple times after ... mainly just to test and see if 400 ft would be all it would do since that is what it was set at. I did however end up with some nice pics while I was up there and some great video. But I usually stay around 100 - 300 so I can miss all the darn trees.

 

[Rayray]

OK, I guess I was not clear with my question. About half gave answers I wanted, many started off on laws and regulations.

First, I should have said in the USA. Typhoon H's sold here have a ceiling of 400' in the firmware. All I wanted was to check the accuracy of the Altimeter (barometer). In other words, if you live here, buy a Typhoon H and do not alter it or change the firmware limit, how high does it say it goes?

I know even if it says 400' it may not be. I flew 2 batteries just now in the twilight, and this screen shot was about the same for both. Using Brer Rabbit it shot to 410' but immediately dropped lower. Just having fun, wasting time.

 

[PatR]

Okay, on that basis mine made a reported 392' before I changed the fence limits. As for altimeter accuracy, my best guess is not very, basing it on zero altitude readings at take off and landing, which have varied by 10's of feet. Just sitting across the room from me on the floor it can report between -0.8' and 7', with at least 10 sats showing on both the H and ST-16.

As for my earlier reference to laws, the position someone is in could make posting an altitude in excess of 400' very difficult for them if the right people read the post. If they failed to qualify how they were flying when above 400', if commercially licensed the post would be admission of a violation. If someone had registered themselves with the FAA, or their aircraft, a post referencing one of their flights being above 400' would be an admission of breech of agreement. My legal references were made only to get people to think before they posted anything higher than 400'. If a simple hobby flyer that never registered anything, they can fly pretty much as high as they want, but they could get tagged for not registering their aircraft. MR operators are not the only ones that read this stuff.

 

[glider]

Okay, on that basis mine made a reported 392' before I changed the fence limits. As for altimeter accuracy, my best guess is not very, basing it on zero altitude readings at take off and landing, which have varied by 10's of feet. Just sitting across the room from me on the floor it can report between -0.8' and 7', with at least 10 sats showing on both the H and ST-16.

As for my earlier reference to laws, the position someone is in could make posting an altitude in excess of 400' very difficult for them if the right people read the post. If they failed to qualify how they were flying when above 400', if commercially licensed the post would be admission of a violation. If someone had registered themselves with the FAA, or their aircraft, a post referencing one of their flights being above 400' would be an admission of breech of agreement. My legal references were made only to get people to think before they posted anything higher than 400'. If a simple hobby flyer that never registered anything, they can fly pretty much as high as they want, but they could get tagged for not registering their aircraft. MR operators are not the only ones that read this stuff.

There is nothing prohibiting a hobby flyer from exceeding 400 ft. altitude in a safe manner. Gliders and large scale models would be effectively grounded otherwise.

 

[Rayray]

Takes for ever to descend, I have even tried full forward right stick and full down left stick.

I tried that yesterday and today. In speedy rabbit that sucker goes up like the bat out of hades. It did come down faster in Rabbit then in Turtle, which surprised me. Did not try GPS off, but in flight I turned it on and off a number of times with no problem, except for that foolish warning when it goes off.