Letting the Solo fly down into a canyon 300 feet wide, 300 feet deep

[DroneNerd702]

It might be a gorge than a canyon but, I'm too tired right now to work out the syntax and definition. Anyhow, it's about 200 feet deep and stretches a mile or two long. Was thinking of hiking to the edge so I can fly the Solo down into the gorge maybe 25 to 35 feet and fly it straight line for about 1000 feet away from me and then back. But, I had a small worry the Solo would lose signal with the controller. Had that happen to me once between 1500 to 1700 feet, lost control for a sec or two, and regained control but at no time did the Solo go crazy and off on its own. I observed that it would actually seem to pause as if thinking and I thought it might be setting itself up for an RTH but, I regained control and kept flying but back in my direction. Reviewing the video is where I saw the pause but because of the gimbal the video was smooth.

Anyhow, so, flying it down into this huge crevice...will GPS and controller / video signal be affected? Also, I'm curious about RTH in this scenario. Example, my RTH is set to go 85 feet high from the point it got GPS lock, i.e. near my position. So, if the Solo is 25 to 35 feet below the home elevation, will it know it's below home's elevation or freak out?

Anyway, I just wanna be prepared. Sure hope I don't have to hike down into that gorge to fetch my baby.

 

[Mark_T]

Going below your starting altitude is not a problem, Solo will climb correctly above the start altitude, not the altitude it is currently at as long as it still has GPS lock of course...

The GPS would be my main concern, the deeper down you fly the more you limit the available sky for satellites. How comfortable are you flying in manual mode?

This is one of those occasions where I'd be inclined to start in manual mode rather than have it possibly switch to manual mid-flight.

Just remember though, if you lose signal while you do not have a GPS lock it is going to autoland down into the canyon...

 

[Fenderbender]

Sounds like a good candidate for a manual mode mission, but what about wind? Some canyons can really have a lot of wind in there. I don't know the layout or location, but wind makes manual mode much more difficult. Can you walk along the canyon so that Solo stays as close to the controller as possible?

 

[Dustin]

Are there consumer grade drones that have inertial navigation systems?
Inertial navigation system - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Bigskyflyer]

It might be a gorge than a canyon but, I'm too tired right now to work out the syntax and definition. Anyhow, it's about 200 feet deep and stretches a mile or two long. Was thinking of hiking to the edge so I can fly the Solo down into the gorge maybe 25 to 35 feet and fly it straight line for about 1000 feet away from me and then back. But, I had a small worry the Solo would lose signal with the controller. Had that happen to me once between 1500 to 1700 feet, lost control for a sec or two, and regained control but at no time did the Solo go crazy and off on its own. I observed that it would actually seem to pause as if thinking and I thought it might be setting itself up for an RTH but, I regained control and kept flying but back in my direction. Reviewing the video is where I saw the pause but because of the gimbal the video was smooth.

Anyhow, so, flying it down into this huge crevice...will GPS and controller / video signal be affected? Also, I'm curious about RTH in this scenario. Example, my RTH is set to go 85 feet high from the point it got GPS lock, i.e. near my position. So, if the Solo is 25 to 35 feet below the home elevation, will it know it's below home's elevation or freak out?

Anyway, I just wanna be prepared. Sure hope I don't have to hike down into that gorge to fetch my baby.

Not a good idea with the Solo. I use my P3 for this kind of flying. You will most probably lose connection to the controller and if you don't have gps, like mentioned above, it will land in the bottom of the gorge. As far as flying in manual if you lose LOS and controller connection flying manual becomes a moot point. My solo loses gps pretty consistently in that kind of environment and if you don't have LOS to fly in manual your solo will be history. This is the one area that my P3 shines, 7 months of flying and has never lost gps, ever. I have lost connection with the controller but sure enough a few moments later it comes home because it still has gps lock.

 

[Maddog]

I would recommend having a good aftermarket antenna for your controller like the FPVLR before attempting something like that.

If you can maintain visual line of site on Solo that would increase your controllability.

Sounds like a cool project- post some video afterwards!

 

[pyrate]

depending on the angle of the canyon walls to solo you might bounce GPS around a bit.
Be ready to go to manual

 

[DroneNerd702]

I would recommend having a good aftermarket antenna for your controller like the FPVLR before attempting something like that.

If you can maintain visual line of site on Solo that would increase your controllability.

Sounds like a cool project- post some video afterwards!

Thanks for that. I keep forgetting about the FPVLR. Waiting on my spare batteries and wanting to fly more is just occupying my mind more frequently. Oh, that and wanting to cop an FPV racer. lol

 

[DroneNerd702]

Fellas, thanks for mentioning manual mode. I'm not that comfortable yet doing that on this expensive piece of hardware. I was thinking I'd do as one of you suggested and walk along the edge and not let the Solo go down. At least not until I develop the bravery.

I saw some trails leading into the gorge and I saw a Grandpa and his son hiking on one of them. If they can do it, I suppose I can if I have to. LOL. (I'm just feeling lazy) Here's a shot that shows a peek of what the gorge looks like from above. It's snapshotted and cropped from the video I captured and solo's elevation at that time was maxed out at the range I set which was 311 feet. So the shot makes it look a lot deeper than it is.

I had a thought just now, thinking it might be better if I hiked into the gorge and did the flying from there. But, my inner lazy person is thinking I'd hate it if I did only to find I can't get GPS lock. But, ah, manual mode. Hm. Going to debate this in my head for a while. But, I'm definitely going to wait for my spare batteries.

Btw, I got feeling bummed out earlier as I found out that this area where I did some flying at last weekend is a protected area. I didn't know! The iPhone app I used at the time only showed me the red no-fly zones. I switched app temporarily to Drone buddy while waiting on the FAA's app. Meanwhile, I'm going ask around and get permission.

 

[DroneNerd702]

Sounds like a good candidate for a manual mode mission, but what about wind? Some canyons can really have a lot of wind in there. I don't know the layout or location, but wind makes manual mode much more difficult. Can you walk along the canyon so that Solo stays as close to the controller as possible?

Thanks for the info. I hadn't thought of that, and I've already seen how strong winds can affect the solo's flying stability, and this was just at 10 feet at take off with 19 mph. I think it was 19 that day in Vegas. Could've been stronger. I'll have to check. So, I stopped it and decided flying another day when the winds aren't as strong. No way am I going to harm my baby just because of a need to fly it.

 

[DroneNerd702]

Going below your starting altitude is not a problem, Solo will climb correctly above the start altitude, not the altitude it is currently at as long as it still has GPS lock of course...

The GPS would be my main concern, the deeper down you fly the more you limit the available sky for satellites. How comfortable are you flying in manual mode?

This is one of those occasions where I'd be inclined to start in manual mode rather than have it possibly switch to manual mid-flight.

Just remember though, if you lose signal while you do not have a GPS lock it is going to autoland down into the canyon...

Damn, that's good to know. Thanks.