Safe wind conditions for Flying?

NemoHawk · Jan 18, 2016

I just bought my P3 which was an massive upgrade from the AR. DRONE 2.0. I have not flown it yet. I set out today to fly it here in Pa but it was pretty windy (gusts up to 20mph) so I thought better of my plan and stayed grounded. Relaying on experience from experienced flyers what range of wind speeds is safe to fly?

I only have experienced flying the AR. Drone 2.0 elite in windy conditions and that didn't work out to well.

Thank you for any advice you can give me.

dewaynet · Jan 18, 2016

i have flown mine in 25mph gusts, but it did drift a little up around 200ft. It is capable of handling winds that high, but i wouldnt risk it.

NemoHawk · Jan 18, 2016

Thank you Dewaynet for the info. Yeah I wasn't gonna risk it not being familiar with this particular drone.

cas_per_m · Jan 18, 2016

For me 10 m/s is the start of ''extra alert flying conditions''.
I managed to fly effectively in up to 16 m/s winds, with 20 m/s gusts. After this I noticed that my video quality would degrade as I had to compensate a lot to keep things stable.

NemoHawk · Jan 18, 2016

cas_per_m said:
For me 10 m/s is the start of ''extra alert flying conditions''.
I managed to fly effectively in up to 16 m/s winds, with 20 m/s gusts. After this I noticed that my video quality would degrade as I had to compensate a lot to keep things stable.

Thanks for the reply! Definitely gave me something to think about when it comes to video quality.

buford · Jan 18, 2016

15 mph, 25 gusts, but I'm on the beach, with nothing to hit but the ground, or the water. You never want to forget about the water. lol

GaDrone · Jan 18, 2016

I have flown a few miles in 25mph with gust to 28.7. It really drained battery pretty fast though.

NemoHawk · Jan 18, 2016

buford said:
15 mph, 25 gusts, but I'm on the beach, with nothing to hit but the ground, or the water. You never want to forget about the water. lol

I'm nervous about flying over water. Should I be?

NemoHawk · Jan 18, 2016

GaDrone said:
I have flown a few miles in 25mph with gust to 28.7. It really drained battery pretty fast though.

Sure doesn't seem like it would be worth the risk to fly in those conditions huh! More worries than good times.

Alan Russel · Jan 18, 2016

When I purchased my P3s I did not fly over water for a few weeks until I was really confident with the controls and regarding windy
conditions, you have to use a bit of wisdom (you have to think is it safe, can I loose my drone).

NemoHawk · Jan 18, 2016

Alan Russel said:
When I purchased my P3s I did not fly over water for a few weeks until I was really confident with the controls and regarding windy
conditions, you have to use a bit of wisdom (you have to think is it safe, can I loose my drone).

Exactly what went through my mind today and the exact reason for keeping it grounded. Thanks for the info!

GaDrone · Jan 18, 2016

NemoHawk said:
Sure doesn't seem like it would be worth the risk to fly in those conditions huh! More worries than good times.

I still had good control of it. I was on a mountain so not much coverage around to block the wind.

buford · Jan 18, 2016

I guess it comes down to "When you fly, how high do you go?" I think anything over 10' can damage your drone. Even the human body cant take a fall from 11' for higher 50% of the time. If you're off the ground as high as these things are designed for, whether you hit water, or concrete, or asphalt, or a cornfield, its all pretty much the same. I just don't worry about it. Wind less than 25 mph, or water, I don't worry about either one.

Alan Russel · Jan 22, 2016

I flew my P3s out over the ocean today to check the range, got out to 1002m and lost signal and then app crashed....so I turned off RC and after a few anxious minutes the bird
returned home...ideal flying conditions no wind!

Tony Cowan · Jan 22, 2016

I think the real problem people are forgetting is wind at ground level and wind at altitude are two different things. So 25mph gust at ground level could mean 40mph gust at say 100 ft. I would not risk it. Another test is take your bird up 30 feet and let it hover. If it is stable then it can handle the wind. If it sways. Don't chance it at high altitude.

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

Ray-Ban · Jan 22, 2016

I am in Virginia (smack dab middle of the winter storm) and flew in 30kt winds today. Probably won't do it again. I had to fight to bring it back upwind to land it. You can see a quick upload I did of it here:

And to answer Nemo, I fly over the water all the time. Very low interference compared to over land.

Alan Russel · Jan 23, 2016

Cool video! like those snow top roofs...I live on the coast in Western Australia where this time of the year we tend to get
a strong southerly breeze most afternoons, but early mornings are ideal for flying the bird. cheers!

Jay H · Jan 23, 2016

If you want, check the wind at the altitudes you plan on flying. could be 20 mph on the ground, but 40 mph at a higher altitude.

UAV Weather Forecast

Travis726 · Jan 23, 2016

Jay H said:
If you want, check the wind at the altitudes you plan on flying. could be 20 mph on the ground, but 40 mph at a higher altitude.

UAV Weather Forecast

They have an app for android (not sure about ios), Its called just "uav forecast" same thing though. Definitely a useful tool.