Mission in red Restricted zone

[manutter51]

More clearly than this?

B4YOUFLY offers satellite views, too. But it also details why there is a restriction. And unlike DJI Fly Safe, it's authoritative.

View attachment 3428

Ooo, that's nice, that's definitely going to be my first stop from now on. I was using the FAA/ArcGIS site with all the little boxes (and the Fly Safe site, of course).

 

[JMaeding]

You said, "a lot of people with phantom's are having them" Can you cite your sources for these claims? Also what is "a lot"? Remember, if you're referring to FB and forums people usually only come to those looking for solutions to problems etc. If you see a reoccurrence of a problem several times in a short period of time it could indicate a genuine issue but a random problem now and then is not even remotely "a lot" on an online group/forum. You need to quantify such a bold remark.

I've got a P4 with hundreds of HOURS of flight time and many MILES of Flight and other than the occasional battery merely losing performance (which is expected, batteries are a consumable item) I have had no battery issues. Even with "marginal" batteries we don't see the aircraft "dropping from the sky" but reduced "punch" and reduced flight times" which in turn would lead us to remove a battery from Flight Duty (save it for bench testing, updates, and use as USB power bank) but that's just a Best Practice situation derived from paying attention to your batteries long-term and seeing a TREND in declining performance long before you push the battery to the Failure Point.

From a very fundamental standpoint DJI batteries are indeed "just lipo batteries" and if you don't treat them properly they will FAIL "just like lipo batteries" do. Unless you got a bad production set of batteries it's all about how you USE and how you CARE for your batteries. Even with the "Smart" aspect of the battery you can still do things to shorten their life and greatly reduce their performance while still operating "within the SMART allowance" of the battery.

You ask, "Why not a concern?". That's because on this forum and the Phantom Pilots forum we aren't seeing what you're reporting. While there are occasional battery failures they are almost always the fault of operator error when the facts are presented in detail. How you treat your batteries during storage, flight, charge, and all other times will have a significant effect on overall battery health and then of course battery life. Battery health is almost always a direct indication of Battery Care.

I'm not saying adding a Parachute to your P4 isn't a good and very cool idea I'm just saying I believe battery failure is a LOT less of a problem than you state it is. Of course any problem that affects you (or me or John Q. Public) directly is a BIG problem that's merely because of perception and not an actual massive problem in the big picture.

Hi Dave,
I'll start new thread as we are starting to hijack this one.

 

[MS Coast]

Ooo, that's nice, that's definitely going to be my first stop from now on. I was using the FAA/ArcGIS site with all the little boxes (and the Fly Safe site, of course).

I'm guessing that you're talking about the UAS Facility Maps that are used for requesting LAANC approvals for flights in controlled airspace around airports. Be aware that they're not going to show you all the other flight restrictions that exist. If you rely on them and Fly Safe, you'll be overlooking things.

ArcGIS Web Application

faa.maps.arcgis.com

 

[Ajkm]

Perhaps it might also be a good idea to check the area of the DroneBase operation via an official/authoritative source as the first step before accepting the operation and then having to go back and cancel?

 

[JMaeding]

Lol an FAA certified parachute it’s probably worth more than your drone.
As has been mentioned if you take care of your batteries properly it’s just not a concern.

Oh, you are correct that the certified ones are expensive, say $800 from what I saw. The battery thing is a phantom 4 issue I believe, which the OP has as I recall. Its not a battery care problem. I just want to be able to face anyone who asks, after a crash, did I take reasonable safety precautions, and parachutes are well within that. I plan to make ours as I have done arduino and maker type projects forever. I agree battery failures seem like a far fetched issue, but its an uncontrolled event so a bit scary.

 

[manutter51]

I'm guessing that you're talking about the UAS Facility Maps that are used for requesting LAANC approvals for flights in controlled airspace around airports. Be aware that they're not going to show you all the other flight restrictions that exist. If you rely on them and Fly Safe, you'll be overlooking things.

Well, I check B4UFly on the phone app when I arrive on site, but it's MUCH nicer to have a desktop link I can check before leaving home!

 

[JimD]

Oh, you are correct that the certified ones are expensive, say $800 from what I saw. The battery thing is a phantom 4 issue I believe, which the OP has as I recall. Its not a battery care problem. I just want to be able to face anyone who asks, after a crash, did I take reasonable safety precautions, and parachutes are well within that. I plan to make ours as I have done arduino and maker type projects forever. I agree battery failures seem like a far fetched issue, but its an uncontrolled event so a bit scary.

OK do as you must but please show me where a drone ever fell from the sky and hurt somebody.
There’s a lot of things that could happen but many that never actually do.
There’s millions of drones flown hundreds of thousands of times per day and I’ve never heard of such a thing.
As has been pointed out there is no known issue with P4 batteries in general at all.
But believe what you wanna believe and do what you wanna do.
And when you make your parachute check out the specifications for how fast it has to open.
I’ve talked to the manufactures of such things and the problem is it’s extremely difficult to realize the drone is crashing stop the motors which you must and deploy the shoot.
Best of luck

 

[JMaeding]

OK do as you must but please show me where a drone ever fell from the sky and hurt somebody.
There’s a lot of things that could happen but many that never actually do.
There’s millions of drones flown hundreds of thousands of times per day and I’ve never heard of such a thing.
As has been pointed out there is no known issue with P4 batteries in general at all.
But believe what you wanna believe and do what you wanna do.
And when you make your parachute check out the specifications for how fast it has to open.
I’ve talked to the manufactures of such things and the problem is it’s extremely difficult to realize the drone is crashing stop the motors which you must and deploy the shoot.
Best of luck

Hi Jim,
Read on how chutes work, they are not hooked to the main drone brain.
My original point was of all the catastrophic things that could go wrong, that battery failure is the big one I have personally seen. I know hitting cranes and trees can down the bird too, but they are way less random.

 

[AheadAir]

I've gotten COAs to fly right next to airports, sometimes right in a flight path. Once you get the COA, send a copy to DJI with the unlock request. I haven't had a problem getting the unlock as long as there's a valid COA.