Flying off a mountain?!?

[Rotor Smith]

Hey guys and gals, I'm piloting a Chroma and a Q500 and was going to go to the mountains and get some footage of the trees in their fall colors. I was just curious on how the quad would react to me flying it off of the mountain. Some elevations can exceed 3200 feet so obviously I shouldn't fly off a mountain of that size because my quads cannot exceed that altitude... Has anyone ever done this on the forum? I think I already know the answer is to stay below my quads altitude limits. It just freaks me out because that's a long way down and I might as well say Buh Bye to my quads if anything were to happen... Any help would be much appreciated.

[blak__jak]

that's a good question. since I've had mine I wondered about that too. don't take my word on this but I've come to the conclusion that since they have both gps and pressure sensors that it has to be above ground at home takeoff point. I've flown a level course away from starting point toward the rising ground behind my house and altitude reading on tx remained pretty stable or at least I think it did. I'm going to be flying in a little while and i'll watch this closely and let you know. it would be a bummer to be at say twenty feet above ground and than fly off a ledge with a 4000 ft drop off and have your drone go down to 3200 and refuse to come back.

[Russell Harding]

I'm not an expert on the Chroma...

Most likely it uses GPS altimeter and barometric pressure sensor for altitude. It does not know or care where the ground is, except makes a note of take altitude.

I live at 5000' elevation and flying things still work up here, so there is no problem there.

If you want to be very comfortable in the 'backcountry', do a quick test from somewhere more accessible, take off and fly lower than the takeoff point.

The only issue I see is if you're flying purely in 'smart mode' where altitude is on the left stick... It probably won't go below takeoff altitude, for obvious reasons.

[Rotor Smith]

I pick up what your throwing down.. sounds good to me!! leaving in the morning, ill re-post after tomorrow..

[FlatCrank]

I'm in CO also and often fly my Goblin 500 and 570 at 9k-11k ft over open areas only and I DO NOT FLY if the weather/area is dry. Really no issues. Just take it a little easier and pump up my HS by 100-200RPM.

Happy Trails

[blak__jak]

I did the same test today and watched the altitude reading on tx, flew straight and level away from home position toward a hill as ground level rose beneath drone altitude reading remained constant giving me to believe that drone is judging it's altitude from take off ground level. if that's true than limits would be above that. I wouldn't bet my life on it but this seems reasonable. try this yourself and see what you come up with.

[Rotor Smith]

Okay so... You guys are correct.. The sensors judge at take off level. So i can fly straight off a mountain at 8 feet and really be about 2000 feet but my TX still reads 8 feet!

[cycled]

I seriously doubt they'd put a radar altimeter in... air pressure and GPS don't depend on what's underneath.

What I don't understand is why there'd be any assumption that the ground is flat in the first place. But then nothing is flat here.