LOS definition

[Vasir]

Have a quick question for the Mantis pilots out there. I always used the LOS definition to control my drone.
Question: Have you used other than LOS to control your drone, example would be if you pass a line of trees and lower the drone which would break LOS ( trees in the middle). Would the drone jump into RTH mode?
Also today I noticed that my drone had control issues close to the power line, is that normal?. (close meaning around 150 feet)

Thanks,

-a

 

[Murray Martz]

Have a quick question for the Mantis pilots out there. I always used the LOS definition to control my drone.
Question: Have you used other than LOS to control your drone, example would be if you pass a line of trees and lower the drone which would break LOS ( trees in the middle). Would the drone jump into RTH mode?
Also today I noticed that my drone had control issues close to the power line, is that normal?. (close meaning around 150 feet)

Thanks,

-a

There is no mystery and there should be nothing other than the obvious. Never read anything into it as it is spelled out clearly. LOS....Line of sight. It is no longer LOS if you can't see it. You are the one in control, so if it is behind trees you would be the one that put it there and held accountable for your actions. RTH does not kick in when you put the drone out of line of sight as there is no loss of a link.

Power lines can give off magnetic interference and can also cause other problems.

From what I have read so far, it sounds to me that you do not have much, if any experience with the rules for your country or may not have even obtained a license to fly. I honestly feel you need to go over the rules for flight many times before you attempt to fly again. If you do not understand what you are doing, then you are a risk to the lives of others as well as yourself. Do yourself a favor and do not fly again until you are familiar with all of the rules for flying and have a better understanding of how to operate your craft safely.

This may seem blunt and harsh as a response, but you have done two obvious things, lost LOS purposely and flying close to power lines.

 

[Vasir]

Martz,

You are blunt and I appreciate your response. You are correct and I am new into drones but not new in RC in general, my background is in EE so I do understand a few things here and there.

I live in an area where there is a power line close by (33kV powerline) I think, I believe that Mantis controller operates in a different frequency than the 2.4 (correct me if I am wrong).
Interesting enough my neighbor is selling her house and today I saw a dji mavic pro flying over her property taking pictures close to the power line. The drone had no issues unlike the Mantis Q which of course we all know uses a different transmission protocol. Thus the question I had. ( we will leave the harmonic power line interference etc ... alone here). If that is the case I am amazed how mavic pro did handle the interference.

Regarding LOS, I do do understand the concept and aware of the regulations in my area. My question was more theoretical in nature. I had a discussion with another friend of mine who told me that in SFO bay area @ "certain" weather condition where the fog ceiling was around 500 ft he was able to do exactly what I suggested in my first post. Well we all understand why that happens, yet I wanted to know what would happen if the transmission is broken and the drone would go into safe mode -> RTH or just crash. That is not theoretical yet programmed response of the drone.
I have not done that myself thus the humble post asking the pro's here.

So far I am very happy with the MQ as a starter, so much so that I have made few mods to the drone.
Now since I have you here, what drone do you recommend moving to after MQ?

-a

 

[Ty Pilot]

As already noted, in the US there is no other option than having VLOS when flying a UA unless you are one of the handful of entities with a waiver given by the FAA for BVLOS or Beyond Visual Line Of Sight. That said, VLOS (by definition) does allow you to fly momentarily behind obstructions such as trees; given that you understand the flight path, and will only have LOS interrupted during this period momentarily. It's one of those 'gray' areas of the rules; but when we read it and apply logic, we can understand the kind of circumstances it was meant for - and this is not for extended or prolonged periods of not being able to see the drone.

However the other side of this 'coin' is; what happens to the control signals as well as the video signals coming back to us that allow us to see what the camera sees? This is another reason for LOS in that the control signal is also weakened when the path between the controller and aircraft are blocked. Simple WiFi connection (such as your Breeze) is not very good at transmitting through objects such as trees so when you can't see your drone - neither can the controller.

As for operations near power lines - yes, depending on many factors, they should be avoided.

 

[Murray Martz]

Martz,

You are blunt and I appreciate your response. You are correct and I am new into drones but not new in RC in general, my background is in EE so I do understand a few things here and there.

I live in an area where there is a power line close by (33kV powerline) I think, I believe that Mantis controller operates in a different frequency than the 2.4 (correct me if I am wrong).
Interesting enough my neighbor is selling her house and today I saw a dji mavic pro flying over her property taking pictures close to the power line. The drone had no issues unlike the Mantis Q which of course we all know uses a different transmission protocol. Thus the question I had. ( we will leave the harmonic power line interference etc ... alone here). If that is the case I am amazed how mavic pro did handle the interference.

Regarding LOS, I do do understand the concept and aware of the regulations in my area. My question was more theoretical in nature. I had a discussion with another friend of mine who told me that in SFO bay area @ "certain" weather condition where the fog ceiling was around 500 ft he was able to do exactly what I suggested in my first post. Well we all understand why that happens, yet I wanted to know what would happen if the transmission is broken and the drone would go into safe mode -> RTH or just crash. That is not theoretical yet programmed response of the drone.
I have not done that myself thus the humble post asking the pro's here.

So far I am very happy with the MQ as a starter, so much so that I have made few mods to the drone.
Now since I have you here, what drone do you recommend moving to after MQ?

-a

My apologies for not seeing that you said as an example. I believe that @Ty Pilot has now given you a better insight for LOS or VLOS in your area.

 

[Mrgs1]

Line of sight or 500 meters here in UK, whichever comes first, for some their eyesight may be worse and only see say 350 meters, but always in sight not flying behind obstacles, always draw an imaginary line between you and the copter and place nothing nothing in its way works for me.

 

[Vasir]

LOS is 500 m in UK? you better have hawk eyes for that one.
You guys know how the drone will behave? I wonder how the bigger drones will handle the situation. One situation would be a down draft forcing the drone to fly lower thus no longer LOS.

 

[Ty Pilot]

The bigger the aircraft the further it can be seen. I can,(with 56 year old eyes), see my Typhoon H Plus out to 1800 feet in good conditions while something smaller such as a Mavic or Mantis; I'm only good to about 1200 feet. A down draft strong enough to force a drone down will be part of a weather system that poses a much greater threat and would likely not see many pilots putting their aircraft into the air in the first place. In other words, a down draft does not occur in meteorological conditions that most pilots prefer to fly in such days with no rain and relatively calm winds.

 

[tmhicks]

The simple answer here is YES. Common sense approach, if you let something get inbetween the signal from your drone and the controller, you risk the ability to control it. Power lines as well as cell towers, metal buildings, and even WIFI signals can confuse your signal between the drone and controller. I too fly both Mantis drones and they are very good stable flyers and so far never had a problem with them that was not pilot error. Your 2 scenarios are both pilot error potential problems because you are possibly losing signal due to where you fly the drone.

 

[Vasir]

I should read the manual first (o well )!
The answer I was looking for.

"
Failsafe RTH
1. When you are operating the aircraft under GPS mode in the outdoor environment, Failsafe RTH will be automatically activated if the remote control signal is lost for a specified amount of time (3 seconds when using the remote controller and 20 seconds when flying with a smart device). If the signal is re-established after the Failsafe RTH is activated, the aircraft will still perform the Failsafe RTH.
"