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Highest wind speeds you've flown-in

GeekDaddy

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I had my Karma out in rather windy conditions. Don't know exactly how high, but definitely well beyond "mess up your long-ish hair" speed with gusts much higher. From my very long-ago sailing days I'd estimate around 20mph with gusts of ~30mph. Will be looking for more accurate tools to forecast and possibly measure wind speed in the future... I took the Karma up about 10-15 ft in an open section and let the wind and gusts beat on it for a few mins with hands on the controller in-case-of-emergency but allowed it to fight the gusts on it's own. It was working hard and drifted a bit up/down but largely seemed to be ok. I made a short flight for a 4-5 mins (see my Percy Peak video) and landed it manually without incident.

The Karma is rated by GoPro for "up to 22mph" wind speeds and in sport mode has a max air speed of 35mph (which of course should not be assumed is an acceptable wind speed). I want to understand how far I can push the Karma and the risks involved. I will likely try to find future opportunities where I know the wind speeds more accurately and can make short low level test flights in the safest environments.

I expect many will recommend that flying in any winds over the rated 22mph wind speed spec is inherently reckless ;)
Which may be correct. However, in my experience engineers and product developers guard-band specifications. If GoPro quotes 22mph it can likely accommodate more. But unclear if 5% more or 30% more...

Would like to hear from others where they have strong insights about wind speeds and when their Karma's struggled or did not. Appreciate any posts or feedback here.
I expect this is a very subjective request. Who actually knows the specific speed of the constant or gusts? What about wind shear? etc... But would be interested to hear about your experiences.
 
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I had my Karma out in rather windy conditions. Don't know exactly how high, but definitely well beyond "mess up your long-ish hair" speed with gusts much higher. From my very long-ago sailing days I'd estimate around 20mph with gusts of ~30mph. Will be looking for more accurate tools to forecast and possibly measure wind speed in the future... I took the Karma up about 10-15 ft in an open section and let the wind and gusts beat on it for a few mins with hands on the controller in-case-of-emergency but allowed it to fight the gusts on it's own. It was working hard and drifted a bit up/down but largely seemed to be ok. I made a short flight for a 4-5 mins (see my Percy Peak video) and landed it manually without incident.

The Karma is rated by GoPro for "up to 22mph" wind speeds and in sport mode has a max air speed of 35mph (which of course should not be assumed is an acceptable wind speed). I want to understand how far I can push the Karma and the risks involved. I will likely try to find future opportunities where I know the wind speeds more accurately and can make short low level test flights in the safest environments.

I expect many will recommend that flying in any winds over the rated 22mph wind speed spec is inherently reckless ;)
Which may be correct. However, in my experience engineers and product developers guard-band specifications. If GoPro quotes 22mph it can likely accommodate more. But unclear if 5% more or 30% more...

Would like to hear from others where they have strong insights about wind speeds and when their Karma's struggled or did not. Appreciate any posts or feedback here.
I expect this is a very subjective request. Who actually knows the specific speed of the constant or gusts? What about wind shear? etc... But would be interested to hear about your experiences.
Hiya. I have flown many times in high wind conditions. No real problems so far. The battery doesnt last as long as it has to fight the wind constantly I guess. Also when you are bringing the karma down from a height then it is best to do it in a circuitous way as you can get hit by cross winds.

Have fun.
 
Last edited:
After hurricane sally I went to take some video of a beach In texas. Was hit by a gust of 30+ mph. Karma flipped a couple times and recovered. Quick return and safe landing with no damage. Appears to have really good emergency recovery programming.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
 
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I've flown my Karma in the cold arctic with high wind conditions. I experienced some windshears and turbulence but the Karma flew without any problems. Nice and smooth landing. Just like the Dash-7 ?
 
Karma is at the beach house. Will post the video when I head back down there.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
 
I was flying this weekend and my UAV app said guests were up to 26MPH. Was generally breezy but not bad (felt like 8-12 MPH) but would occasionally experience a strong gust. Flew the Karma and it performed well. At one point it was hit by a strong sideways gust and it suddenly pushed the karma off the path it was on but recovered well. I feel reasonably comfortable flying it now when I know the overall winds are no higher than low 20's and the gusts are no higher than 30MPH. I may invest in a low cost anemometer to get a better feel -- although wind speed varies considerably with location and altitude of the drone vs pilot...
 
just get a lot of extra props and you should be good...
 

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