How far should I fly away to still feel confident?

[Greg Morgan]

I've read lots of threads on here about the range and I understand that it can go further than I would ever need to go. However, I'm interested in hearing from some experienced pilots how far you would feel comfortable taking the P4 on a normal everydayou flight. Only gotten mine out 1300 feet and was nervous about pushing it too far -- still a novice.

Basically wanting to know where I should feel confident? 3000 ft? 5000?

Thanks in advance!

I apologize in advance if this post is redundant.

 

[With The Birds]

Know your flying environment and risks or injury to animal/person or property. Ensure your RTH settimgs are appropriate. Fly against any wind on the way out. Watch your battery and go for it. Comfort level depends on where you are and conditions.

 

[apex1]

As stated above, make sure your RTH altitude is set for a lot more than you think you might ever need. And watch your battery level. The final precaution is just to make sure the home point is updated when you take off. With those precautions, fly as far as you want. Fly until you lose contact completely. Your P4 will come back to you as long as you set the right parameters before flight. It's a bit worrisome at first, but soon you get comfortable with it. You will have contact reestablished well before your drone gets home, at which time you can cancel the automatic return to home. One more thing to watch out for is when you do a firmware update, you will lose all of your settings so it is important to reset them before your next flight.

 

[Double_DoubleG]

Sheeesh!! I'm always scared to lose my bird every single time I fly.
But I totally get where ur coming from.
Just don't feel like you need to fly away from ur comfort zone.
But me?? I love the feeling of not seeing my bird through my own eyes. It's so much fun!!


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[Dirty Bird]

As long you remain mindful of the wind direction, in mild winds on the stock battery 21,120' - that's 4 miles one way. 42,240' or 8 miles for a round trip. Start your mission heading into or perpendicular to the wind. Keep your speed 30-31 mph for max range. You should be able to do this with room to spare assuming your RC makes it that far.

I've read lots of threads on here about the range and I understand that it can go further than I would ever need to go. However, I'm interested in hearing from some experienced pilots how far you would feel comfortable taking the P4 on a normal everydayou flight. Only gotten mine out 1300 feet and was nervous about pushing it too far -- still a novice.

Basically wanting to know where I should feel confident? 3000 ft? 5000?

Thanks in advance!

I apologize in advance if this post is redundant.

 

[JWarren]

I generally like to keep it under 10,000 ft.

 

[Double_DoubleG]

I generally like to keep it under 10,000 ft.

[emoji23][emoji23]


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[Neon Euc]

Also make sure your NOT flying in ATTI mode as you will need GPS to let it get back in track... I had my P3A for 5 days now... At first I was just the same... Scared to fly it out of sight and just use the phone screen.... But now I just launch it straight up, and fly as high as I can until it says "signal lost" then I relax knowing it will automatically come back down..as soon as signal is connected... I take over again but that is only on an open space like a field. Does get worrying tho when you go for 30+ seconds and still no signal and the phone screen goes grey lol but you will soon get over it just practice in a large open space, on a nice day and push your limits bit by bit

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[Dirby]

fly it at what ever makes you feel ok flying with.
this is your bird and fly it as you would like to fly it.
not what somebody else would fly ,it

 

[Greg Morgan]

Very much appreciate the responses. I'll keep pushing to a certain point. Headed to New Zealand soon so hoping to get a good feel before then

 

[With The Birds]

Also make sure your NOT flying in ATTI mode as you will need GPS to let it get back in track... I had my P3A for 5 days now... At first I was just the same... Scared to fly it out of sight and just use the phone screen.... But now I just launch it straight up, and fly as high as I can until it says "signal lost" then I relax knowing it will automatically come back down..as soon as signal is connected... I take over again but that is only on an open space like a field. Does get worrying tho when you go for 30+ seconds and still no signal and the phone screen goes grey lol but you will soon get over it just practice in a large open space, on a nice day and push your limits bit by bit

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Im guessing you dont get to the max altitude of 500m straight above you before signal loss?

Dont be afraid to use ATTI mode either. RTH still works the same way

 

[KykPhantom]

I've read lots of threads on here about the range and I understand that it can go further than I would ever need to go. However, I'm interested in hearing from some experienced pilots how far you would feel comfortable taking the P4 on a normal everydayou flight. Only gotten mine out 1300 feet and was nervous about pushing it too far -- still a novice.

Basically wanting to know where I should feel confident? 3000 ft? 5000?

Thanks in advance!

I apologize in advance if this post is redundant.

Make sure (at least as a novice) that you return home when the battery is no less than 50%.

 

[4wd]

It's mainly about feeling confident flying almost entirely from what you see on the app.
We are supposed to keep it in sight at all times but I'll push it out to about 10,000 feet in an area I know well.

 

[martybabe]

Very much appreciate the responses. I'll keep pushing to a certain point. Headed to New Zealand soon so hoping to get a good feel before then

Don't want to put a downer on your trip mate but New Zealand have very strict drone rules. In short, you can not fly anywhere without permission from who ever owns the land you want to fly over. For the record, I think the rules are ridiculous. Just want to give you the heads up.

 

[John Locke]

Don't want to put a downer on your trip mate but New Zealand have very strict drone rules. In short, you can not fly anywhere without permission from who ever owns the land you want to fly over. For the record, I think the rules are ridiculous. Just want to give you the heads up.

Whoa, that really sucks. What about flying over the ocean? I would bet there aren't many drone shops in New Zealand. I guess I'll never vacation there.

 

[deltalimatango]

This far.

Relax and enjoy. I even fly my distance missions at night. I can usually track the blinking lights for about 2 kilometers and then it's lights out, so no worries. Sometimes I turn around or l let the system tell me the battery status and it does a RTH automatically. If it goes in the drink it goes in the drink. Life is about inconveniences and problems. Losing a drone is not a problem. Losing a child to cancer, well that's a problem.


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[QuadBart]

Lots of good suggestions. I've taken the baby-steps approach to distance. I fly a little further each time increasing my comfort level. I've been flying since last fall and the furthest I've flown one of my Multi-rotors is 1000'. Even at that distance I'll sometimes look down at the screen then back up and have lost sight of it. So, I'll bring it back either using the mini map or RTH till I regain a visual.

Even if there were no rules in the US regarding VLOS, I doubt I'd ever send mine miles aways... Just not comfortable totally not having a visual on them...

 

[Neon Euc]

Im guessing you dont get to the max altitude of 500m straight above you before signal loss?

Dont be afraid to use ATTI mode either. RTH still works the same way

wow

Im guessing you dont get to the max altitude of 500m straight above you before signal loss?

Dont be afraid to use ATTI mode either. RTH still works the same way

wow I really thought RTH would be disabled thanks for letting me know as I really didn't know that. I can get about 1000 feet high before signal cuts off but that's more then enough for me

 

[Sky Pirate]

I think it's good to keep in mind that you really should fly to enjoy yourself, not to impress other people. The range will increase as you get used to it (it's doing that for me anyway).

With regard to the comment above of 1000 feet high, that's fine as long as your not in an area where the large aircraft fly (down to 500 feet and/or below in some places), and you'll be surprised how long it takes to get down from a big altitude (1500-2000 and above) You'll need power for landing as I don't believe 'auto-rotation' will do any more for you than praying!

 

[Erised]

When you push for range this may happen>>>If you lose connection and all your RTH settings are good your craft will should home. In the event that GO freezes and you lost connection you can just reboot GO it will not affect your RC or craft. When this happens and it will, try not to panic and press the RTH on your RC as this will cancel the RTH in your craft if you have regained connection and cannot see it in the app, or realize that your left RC light is green and not red. When you press RTH on your RC hold for a few seconds and make sure the button has lit up red, then you know it is active. The first time this happened to me I did just that and cancelled RTH, regained some calm and remembered that the button has to be lit, repressed and waited for the light to come on. After I checked the video on the card in the craft you see the bird just stoped and hovered for some time befor I remembered about the red light that has to be on. It came back to my delight! Talk about nerve racking I really thought it was a gonner. If I would have just let all be as it was and waited for GO to reboot in the first place it would have come home all by itself. Like many other post here I was the weekest link, fill your pants and learn! Enjoy your new addiction!