Flying Solo at altitudes over 8,000 feet

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Recently attempted flight near Rico, Colorado. Take off and flight was generally unstable, had variable control of descent rate resulting in numerous crashes. Anyone have any tips on flying in areas of high altitude?
 
Why would you fly at 8000ft? isn't the legal ceiling 400ft. I think it rather irresponsible flying that high unless you've permission to do so
 
Rico Colorado is 8000 ft above sea level. Not talking 8000 ft Above ground level. High altitude flying is different. There is a few posts regarding 11inch props that you may want to look into, they were doing some 10k+ flying I believe.


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The general consensus seems to favor larger props than standard, 11 inchers to be exact. APC makes excellent ones.
 
Recently attempted flight near Rico, Colorado. Take off and flight was generally unstable, had variable control of descent rate resulting in numerous crashes. Anyone have any tips on flying in areas of high altitude?
Look into the 11" APC props (ST version). Then get comfortable flying in 'Stabilize' mode. This will allow you greater control of ascent/descent speeds by allowing you to control power to the motors directly.
 
I've flown Solo at 12,500ft often and had no problems at all. Obviously just shorter flight times as the air is thinner and the motors have to work harder.

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If there is mist or snow/rain around I'll rub antifreeze on the propellers before flight to stop ice forming there. Otherwise no mods.
 
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I have flown with both stock props and the 11" APC above 11;500 ASL. Flew with more stability with the larger props. Had no issues with either.
 
I've flown up to 9500 MSL in Stabilize as stated above. I'm sure the SOLO did struggle, the winds were incredibly high but the flights were under 10 minutes, remember ambient temp is a factor on battery life.
 
I've flown Solo at 12,500ft often and had no problems at all. Obviously just shorter flight times as the air is thinner and the motors have to work harder.

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If there is mist or snow/rain around I'll rub antifreeze on the propellers before flight to stop ice forming there. Otherwise no mods.

Awesome video Vernon....really nicely done...and enjoyed all the commentary too.
 
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Recently attempted flight near Rico, Colorado. Take off and flight was generally unstable, had variable control of descent rate resulting in numerous crashes. Anyone have any tips on flying in areas of high altitude?

I live at 7000 feet....fly regularly from 7 to 10 thousand feet above sea level...no problems at all.

That said, if I took the Solo to sea level and did some flights there, I might very well have a different perspective as to how well the Solo flies above 7000 feet! :)

Anyway, I don't have any problems flying at high altitude...my Phantom and a home made hexacopter fly fine as well.

--

Bill
 
Just got to fly solo at 8700 feet above sea level, stock props, and 15-20 mph winds. I gotta say I was really impressed by how well it flew. Was searching to see if anyone had any tips for high altitude flying. I will check out the APC props.

I do notice that the gimbal seems to struggle a bit with wind on its pan axis. Has anyone else seen this? In the video it's a little sideways movement, a sway.
 
I live in Grand lake Colorado 8500ft never an issue never flown at sea level so I can't say but even this high another 400ft has no real effect!
 
I've flown mine at 8 and 9k feet with no problems. All stock.
 
flew my Solo in the Alps at 10,000 feet (3000m) at -15°C last week, few problems occured:

attached my 11" props and started up everything

- first was gopro didn´t start to record, turned drone off and pulled gopro, inserted again and powered everything up again - worked now

- after 10s of flight my phone went black - battery to low....
so i started to fly with telemetry and by just looking at the drone.
realized that if you fly below your starting altitude, telemetry shows "0m"

- first battery was ok, landed with 25% - swapped to 2nd battery and flew around, at 28%
i decided to to fly home, drone was 40m away, when drone was above my head in 4m, solo started to beep and shaked around, controller vibrated and the battery jumped from 28% to 6% instantly !! pulled the left stick down, but solo descended very slow, like 4m in 10s !!!
i was glad it landed in the snow before the battery was at zero !

So, the Problem is not the altitude - the temperatures are the big thing in such extreme environments.

I wanted to do a follow me while riding snowboard but as my phone battery was already gone this wasn´t possible :(
But this leads me to a new question: what happens if you do a follow mode and phone hangs up or shuts down ?
Need to try this before i will go to snow again
 
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Can I chime in here and ask...from what point does the Solo (or controller) register its altitude?

I live in Alaska, near mountains. If I go up to a ridge and take off, fly outward, and do big sweeps over a valley...will it register ACTUAL altitude (from ground which is now further below), or altitude above controller position (where I remain on the ridge)? Or is it even more precise in measuring altitude based on satellite triangulation (always referencing ground directly below)?

Is there any chance that I would take off, fly to an open area below, and not be able to get back up to my current position due to the 400ft altitude limiter being set? If so, I guess that would mean always flying in advanced mode?

Just curious.
Thanks!
 
It is the altitude of the solo sitting on the ground when you arm for takeoff. That will be zero. If you climb above the takeoff point, it will be a positive altitude. If you descend into a valley below your takeoff point, it will be negative.
 
Cool - thanks. Just hadn't gotten to the point where I could test that yet.
 

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