Flying below altitude of takeoff point
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It is a nice location. I believe I took those in late winter early spring. We don't have a whole lot of fall coloring going on around here but I can't wait to get this over the treetops in late September early October.
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Central Georgia. It's in one of those small towns where if you blink you might miss it while driving through it.
you can find lots of tutorials and examples on YouTube. Search for Litchi Waypoint Mission. It seems to me it might be really good for your mill video. Litchi is about $25 and I've flown it for almost a year now. All updates are free after you buy. Customer support is fantastic via Facebook messenger. Take a look...
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I'll have to check that out. Do they have a free version I can use just to check it out?
No, they don't. But, next to the $10 I spent on my Senior Pass to the national parks, that $25 was my second best expenditure.
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I'm watching some videos on Litchi. Looks like a cool app. One question since this thread is all about flying below the takeoff point... Will I be able to set the altitude to negative numbers? If not I suppose I could get some nice shots at 5 meters from takeoff point since the drop off is at least 7-8 meters.
I'm loving the Waypoint setup with Litchi. If I do get it that's probably the only thing I'd use. I've seen videos of people using the tracking feature and it's not that great. The Waypoint feature looks simple and a pretty cool way to actually program a flight.
I'm loving the Waypoint setup with Litchi. If I do get it that's probably the only thing I'd use. I've seen videos of people using the tracking feature and it's not that great. The Waypoint feature looks simple and a pretty cool way to actually program a flight.
The answer is not only a definite YES, but if you look into the Litchi Mission Hub (free web based) you can plan your mission there, save it to your account and download it to your mobile device. Then open your mission on your mobile device. There you can set any, or all, waypoints to an altitude of xx feet above ground level at that/those waypoints. Sounds complex. Just takes working with it a while and watching YouTube.
You want to use waypoints with caution. First, mission hub uses Google Earth maps. They do NOT account for the height of trees or buildings. Second, ALWAYS make certain that your altitude between two waypoints is higher than say, a hill that might be in between those waypoints. Third, until you've used it a few times, don't fly too low. Inaccuracies of aircraft altitude and Google Earth could be disastrous.
Below is a YouTube link to a waypoint mission I flew earlier this month. Fully autonomous and about 1.5 miles out. Toward the end I made friends with a lonely little live oak tree and kept the camera focused on it.
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Hi John, I can confirm the accuracy of Google is sometimes misleading. A pilot error but I set the orbit centre on top of a tower I wanted to fly around. I should have centred it on the base of the tower. Expensive lesson learnt as the drone hit the tower and fell 60ft to it's death. Fortunately I have a very understanding wife that suggested I replace it after finding a new camera setup for the P3S was around £250.00........ Then, she went on a shopping outing at the weekend with her daughter! Will I never learn???
I bought the new drone and invested in prop guards. I can fly it near walls now and if it gets too close and touches the wall it doesn't destroy the propellors or take a chunk out of your or someone elses flesh.
Finally, Litchi costs in pounds here what it costs in dollars over in the USA but it is worth every penny.
What he said....
The Litchi Mission Hub will tell you how long your mission is in miles/km and minutes. IT DOES NOT ALLOW FOR HEADWINDS OR TAILWINDS!
Sorry for your loss, but happy you married an understanding wife!
I've flown lots of Litchi orbits, many with the height of my object set to my flight altitude. What I've learned is this 1) create your orbit flight (altitude, radius, aircraft orientation and orbit direction and MOST IMPORTANT set orbit entry to "nearest point" then save the orbit mission. 2) launch the bird. Go to approx altitude of the orbit and MAKE CERTAIN I am OUTSIDE the orbit path. 3) Then I start the orbit mission. That way there is no chance I'm going to fly into my orbit poi while the bird is flying to the starting point. So far, it has worked.
Enjoyed the somewhat rugged countryside in your video. That day RTH was not your friend!
Thanks John. A really understanding wife. She lets me go golfing on a Saturday morning whilst she.....you've guessed it, go's shopping with said daughter!
The video is not me but an acquaintance who used to live not too far from me but has now gone to live in Spain. Hence expat in Mazarron. The rugged countryside is in Spain what he calls the bad lands.
Thanks for the tips. I did do an automatous flight last Tuesday but the setup for the direction was wrong and I ended up seeing where I had come from and not where it was going. I tried a POI which worked though. Looking into interpolate to see what that does.
Looks like our Government is thinking of introducing Registration and Licensing for hobbyists.
I'm blessed to have one of those understanding wives as well. Our kids are grown and we're retired, so I have plenty of time. In litchi waypoints you can set the direction the bird points in a number of ways. It can become a very creative tool. I like to use curved corners to keep the camera movements really smooth. The more you use it, the more you figure out what you can do with it. Most important.... Have fun!
I registered with the FAA before the courts ruled against them. I personally think it's s good thing. As a hobbyist I get one registration number that applies to all drones I own. If I was a part 107 commercial operator, I would have to register each drone. I don't see us licensing hobbyists... But, you never know.
If it initiates an RTH within a certain distance from the homepoint (I THINK it's 20 meters?) it will land where it is. Will not move back to home point.
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I think it's supposed to RTH whenever you command it to. That's what it's there for.
Not sure about the distance, but 20m sounds about right. Also, under that condition it will not ascend to the RTH altitude... It just lands. Have had to abort that action a few times (using PSA switch) and either bring it home manually, or fly further away and initiate RTH again (and it will ascend to RTH altitude of it is lower than that when you initiate).
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Interesting. I am not sure if we're still talking about Litchi but with the DJI go app I know I went out at least 20 meters over the lake and I was up to around 80 meters high. I tried coming back but got disconbobulated because I had turned my P4P slightly and I was not going the way I wanted to go so I hit the RTH button and it came back. One thing I did notice is that it would have landed on top of my car but I cancelled the RTH and finished landing it manually.
Go try it. If horizontal distance between aircraft and home is less than 20m (about 65') and you initiate RTH it will land where it is. Like I said, go try it and learn what it does before you actually need to use it! ;O)
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