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Restrictions

Discussion in 'ALTA' started by Rory Hinds, Sep 28, 2015.

  1. Rory Hinds

    Rory Hinds Member

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    Please can Freefly have the option for the pilot to remove the Height Max Ceiling restriction and the Position Range restriction.

    Its nice having them there as an option and the pilot should be able to turn them off completely if desired so we can fly without restrictions.
     
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  2. Chris Jordan

    Chris Jordan Member

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    That's like asking the country to please do away with speed limits. They are for our protection, and the pilots (I'm a pilot) in the air. They also adhere to the current regulations. :)
     
  3. Rory Hinds

    Rory Hinds Member

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    Hardly Chris. I'm a professional drone pilot and some times get clients who want to fly higher and further and Transport Canada give me approval so I should be able to use my professional drone to get the shot I need and not be restricted.

    Sure have a warning that comes up and you have to click okay but don't cripple the machine because some people don't know what they are doing.
     
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  4. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Rory: Does it help any that you can exceed these limits in Manual mode? (See page 62/63 of the Rev. B manual.)

    I've not tried it, but I wonder what happens if you use Manual mode to exceed these limits and then enable Position or Altitude Hold. I'd be quite surprised if that forces the ALTA to descend or fly towards home. What's more likely is that you cannot engage PH or AH.
    I'll see if I can test this in the next day or so.

    Andy.
     
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  5. Justin Marx

    Justin Marx Active Member

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    We have speed limits, but your car still goes 140mph. It's up to the operator to follow whatever law they are governed by.
     
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  6. Chris Jordan

    Chris Jordan Member

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    True. :)
     
  7. Aj White

    Aj White Member

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    Hi guys, in regards to Andy's question I have been flying this whole week in and out of height hold. When I reach 400ft just click it into manual and keep on going! Be careful to keep an eye on your throttle position because of yours is anything like mine then one click above middle sends it rocketing into the air. I got up to 800ft a few times then clicked it back to Height hold to stop it. Worked fine and was able to decsend in height mode. Again, in manual mode one click below center drops the coptor out of the sky so fast you'll need a new pair of pants. And yes my hover is set correctly.

    Also as a disclaimer, I am currently very far away from any flight paths and did the reasearch to make sure it would be safe to do so.
     
  8. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Thanks AJ....I'm sure that's a typo and you means just a little over 399 feet, right? :rolleyes:
    But it sounds like PH and AH will work once you punch through the limits in manual mode.

    Andy.
     
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  9. Aj White

    Aj White Member

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    Ahh yes! Thanks for the catch, you're absolutely correct!
     
  10. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Did you notice that when you go "just above" 399 feet, the copter seems awfully small in the sky? :rolleyes:
    Andy.
     
  11. Aj White

    Aj White Member

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    You know, now that you mention it it did. I chalked it up to a feature of the ALTA to fold up in flight at alititude to become more efficient. I'm sure I read it in the manual somewhere.
     
  12. Rolf Ableiter

    Rolf Ableiter Active Member

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    the height limit should be higher for me too.
    we are allowed to fly 100m above ground here in Germany and we are able to get a permission to fly higher.
    it would be much more comfortable to fly in height mode than in manual when flying in higher altitude.
    for us a height of 150m - 200m is normal. If you ever flew with a RC glider, 150m - 500m above ground is nothing special. a pair of good eyes is needed.

    we wouldn't be able to shoot this with the ALTA (i know we could in manual mode but this is less safe and less stable):

    (the two towers ot the cathedral are 135m as i remember)

    the barometer of the ALTA is amazing good!! compared to everything i flew in the last years this really is the best machine i ever had.
     
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  13. Mateusz Hajdziony

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    I agree about the limits - they should be there when/if we need them (or when the government requires us to fly with restrictions), but we should be able to completely get rid of them or at least dial in higher numbers. Manual mode is good for close range flying, but when you fly 150m up and 700m far you really need both position and height hold enabled because you cannot reliably judge what's going on with the machine that's so far away and have to trust the FC that putting sticks in the middle will lock the copter in place.

    I live in Poland and I couldn't care less about US laws. If Freefly wants to follow US laws then they should at least alter the firmware on units that are shipped to Europe/rest of the World because every country has its own laws and there's no need for users from all over the world to be held back by US laws.

    The same goes for Movi Controller - maybe US regulations do not allow you to sell 2.4GHz radios with higher power US, but here in Europe 2.4GHz radios that can do 4km are pretty popular and perfectly legal. All these things are what's keeping me from fully investing into Freefly ecosystem - the gear is great but we can't use the Movi Controller and Wedge just because the range is so limited. The same goes for Alta - looks like a great machine but the range restrictions are unnecessary as we constantly need to fly higher and further than the restrictions would allow us. Please Freefly - do something about that as I don't want to be stuck with DJI for life.
     
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  14. Rory Hinds

    Rory Hinds Member

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    I was just flying in downtown Calgary, Alberta Canada where my client commission us to fly up the Calgary Tower (much like the Space Needle in Seattle).

    Transport Canada approved flights up to 700ft and it was really tricky as I had to keep the ALTA steady between the surrounding buildings to avoid crashing. Position Hold really helped with this flight as it was straight up and down with the MoVi doing the 360 turn. With the winds up high the Position Hold worked really well to keep the ALTA solid but then I hit the limit and FreeFly's restriction to how high I can fly.

    Yes switching to Manual gave me the extra hight but now the ALTA is being pushed by the wind and it became really dangerous.

    Really wish FreeFly can remove this restriction and give control to the pilot as to what is the safest mode to fly in giving the job requirements and environmental factors.

    Can FreeFLY please remove both height and range restrictions to this professional machine.
     
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  15. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Rory: This is my own ignorance on display here, but if you switch to manual, break through the height hold, can you re-enable position control or will it not re-enable?

    I'm not suggesting that this is the fix, just asking for my own curiosity. Message #7 in this thread from AJ suggests that this might at least work for the time being, though.

    Andy.
     
  16. Rory Hinds

    Rory Hinds Member

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    Hi Andy, No both position and height hold are turn off once you go over these restrictions. You have to drop below the restriction for position or height modes to engage. Its pretty crazy really.
     
  17. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Hmm. OK. Well, there goes another brilliant theory of mine...
    Your posting about the Calgary Tower is an eloquent statement of the issue.

    Andy.
     
  18. Rory Hinds

    Rory Hinds Member

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  19. Rory Hinds

    Rory Hinds Member

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    All I can say is that these limits not being removable really made this easy job into something really freaking dangerous and I have no idea why as a professional pilot I couldn't use this technology to its fullest and keep this operation safe.
     
    Mateusz Hajdziony likes this.
  20. Keith Colodny

    Keith Colodny Member

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    The height restriction on the Alta is 400' yet when legally operating with a 333 and a COA, the max altitude is 500'. It is only 400' for hobbyists. This restriction needs to be removed to keep the Alta as a professional machine.
     

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