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Where Toronto's cement comes from?

:p

I know it's a bit of a stretch to post pictures of Bowmanville (Port Darlington) in Toronto picture thread, but I just wanted to share. Love the scale of the operation.

It was a super windy day and was really sketchy flying. At one point I thought, huh, I don't think I'll be able to get the drone back. It was 3 minutes of battery power remaining and only returning at 1 metre per second.

But thank goodness it returned okay. Love to go back and get more shots of the area.


 
Last edited:
hawc said:
Where Toronto's cement comes from?

:p

I know it's a bit of a stretch to post pictures of Bowmanville (Port Darlington) in Toronto picture thread, but I just wanted to share. Love the scale of the operation.

It was a super windy day and was really sketchy flying. At one point I thought, huh, I don't think I'll be able to get the drone back. It was 3 minutes of battery power remaining and only returning at 1 metre per second.

But thank goodness it returned okay. Love to go back and get more shots of the area.







Click to expand...
You haven't lived until the aircraft is more than 3100m away from you, the "Aircraft may not have enough power to return home" message is displayed and you nurse it back until it is still several hundred metres away from you and the dreaded forced landing begins while you still have a refinery and railway tracks to cross. You manage to fly the descent and land with 4 percent battery remaining. Interesting sensation.

I never look at the minutes remaining - only the power percentage as it is more accurate.
 
Hahaha!

Man, 3,100 metres away??? What are you flying?

I don't think I've ever got the Mini 4 Pro more than about 2.5 km away reliably before I have major reception issues even when flying in open space.

I do a little wind check now where if it's really windy and it will fly one way at 12m a second I turn around to see what it is the other way and if it's like 2m or 3m a second I'm like, hmmmmm....

The weirdest forced landing I had was when I first bought it and didn't understand restricted zones yet. I took off without GPS signal down by lake Ontario and accidentally flew out into a restricted zone. Then the GPS synced up and it goes, "Restricted zone. Landing now." And I was like WTF and was doing a mad race to bring it back to me as it was descending into the lake. I just barely got it onto land as it forced landed into some bushes.

Another time I lost it in the fog with video recording in midtown around some condos when it lost contact with the controller. I was like, "Well there's my first lost drone." And like 5 minutes later it comes back and auto lands at my feet. I checked out the video and it was literally zooming in and out of condo buildings through the fog all the way back. So funny.
 
hawc said:
Hahaha!

Man, 3,100 metres away??? What are you flying?

I don't think I've ever got the Mini 4 Pro more than about 2.5 km away reliably before I have major reception issues even when flying in open space.

I do a little wind check now where if it's really windy and it will fly one way at 12m a second I turn around to see what it is the other way and if it's like 2m or 3m a second I'm like, hmmmmm....

The weirdest forced landing I had was when I first bought it and didn't understand restricted zones yet. I took off without GPS signal down by lake Ontario and accidentally flew out into a restricted zone. Then the GPS synced up and it goes, "Restricted zone. Landing now." And I was like WTF and was doing a mad race to bring it back to me as it was descending into the lake. I just barely got it onto land as it forced landed into some bushes.

Another time I lost it in the fog with video recording in midtown around some condos when it lost contact with the controller. I was like, "Well there's my first lost drone." And like 5 minutes later it comes back and auto lands at my feet. I checked out the video and it was literally zooming in and out of condo buildings through the fog all the way back. So funny.
Click to expand...
I've done more than 4000m distance with the Mini3pro and the older, RC-N1 controller. Even the my older Mini2 would come close to that in the right environment. Downtown core is definitely not going to be that environment with all the obstructions. If you've got a good, clear line of sight you can likely do it by the lake or if you're on a hill. If you've got the Mini4 I'm sure you could reach that distance, hawc.

Fog is one thing I largely avoid because the obstacle avoidance sensors may malfunction. Still, if the home point was properly recorded at take-off, it will auto return to home on loss of signal but may impact something along the way if the obstacle avoidance sensors are turned off due to low viz.. If you feel you are low on juice, and know there are no obstructions, let it come back that way as it will fly the straightest, most power efficient route.

There are some great apps for wind speed and direction (I used to use UAV forecast when it was free) but now I find it just as easy to check FlightRadar24 or the windy app. The mini3pro is a good little drone and will generally hold its own but the gimbal motor is the one thing I have noticed that can get overwhelmed.

Ah, good times chatting about it!
 
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