Furthest flight yet.

[Vader01]

I've had my Spark since the end of November of last year so coming up on a year of ownership and today I flew my Spark the furthest I've ever flown it 6315 feet before I lost the signal and it returned to home. I was using signal reflectors and was surprised that I was able to go that distance. I do live in a city environment but not in an area that has high-rises or skyscrapers so I was pretty excited to see that it went the distance.

 

[Spark 317]

It came home.

That's good.?

 

[RotorWash]

I've had my Spark since the end of November of last year so coming up on a year of ownership and today I flew my Spark the furthest I've ever flown it 6315 feet before I lost the signal and it returned to home. I was using signal reflectors and was surprised that I was able to go that distance. I do live in a city environment but not in an area that has high-rises or skyscrapers so I was pretty excited to see that it went the distance.

That's a great reach you got there, especially with your environment. I haven't tried a test in quite a while but my last was 7710 feet with the same setup. Didn't lose signal, figure maybe another 500 feet no problem but I have less interference than you so your run was as good or better than mine. Congrats on your first year with Sparky!

 

[Mtntrogger]

Nice work Vader ! My personal distance from home record is only at 3700, although Ive had a few other flights that came very close. Ive only been flying since early august of this year, and I lost my first spark on the second day I tried to fly it, so I proceeded with caution with my current rig (second spark). Going as far as you did in an more urban setting is really impressive. Did you lose signal before the RTH kicked in ? If so ,I am curios how long for ? Since I live in the mountains its pretty easy to get to areas with no interference. Although I dont have the little reflector things yet I still think I could take her over 5000 on the stock setup. In fact your post has me pysched up enough to think about trying it today !

 

[nilanjan118]

Well done. With the Mavic Mini claiming it can reach 4 kms with stock set-up, it will be interesting too see how it compares with the Spark.

 

[Vader01]

Nice work Vader ! My personal distance from home record is only at 3700, although Ive had a few other flights that came very close. Ive only been flying since early august of this year, and I lost my first spark on the second day I tried to fly it, so I proceeded with caution with my current rig (second spark). Going as far as you did in an more urban setting is really impressive. Did you lose signal before the RTH kicked in ? If so ,I am curios how long for ? Since I live in the mountains its pretty easy to get to areas with no interference. Although I dont have the little reflector things yet I still think I could take her over 5000 on the stock setup. In fact your post has me pysched up enough to think about trying it today !
The RTH kicked in on it's own after I lost the signal for about 5 seconds, I was losing it but kept making the Spark climb higher then I'd get some signal back then finally lost the signal and RTH kicked in.

 

[rhettduke]

Rural....locked 2.4...ghz flying from a neighbors property that was once registered as an Ultralight field back in the mid 80s....total OEM setup. CORRECTION.....Litchi mission....flew by stick earlier in day about 150 ft less.

 

[Vader01]

Rural....locked 2.4...ghz flying from a neighbors property that was once registered as an Ultralight field back in the mid 80s....total OEM setup. CORRECTION.....Litchi mission....flew by stick earlier in day about 150 ft less.View attachment 11828View attachment 11828

Wooow, nice!!! Here is the flight data from my flight.

 

[DavidBlezard]

VLOS? A bit hard with small UAVs.

 

[Vader01]

VLOS? A bit hard with small UAVs.

Yes it is with the small UAV's

 

[rhettduke]

So true.....with a spotter who has proper optics day or night it’s amazing what can be seen by bystanders on say a 43 inch screen. Night vision rifle scopes mounted on azimuth elevation rotors can see a spark amazingly well ......Not practical in urban areas....to many bright lights to blind the scope.....but in rural low light....flying over wooded areas....think about it.

 

[Tentoes]

The farthest I've had Phoebe is 1700 ft.

 

[Grin factpr]

I’ve never tried to see how far mine will go. Most of my pics, vide are done within 500 feet or so.
Does that make me a wimp? ?

 

[rhettduke]

I’ve never tried to see how far mine will go. Most of my pics, vide are done within 500 feet or so.
Does that make me a wimp? ?

Heck no.....anyone who flies is a pilot....?

my point was to show how much capability is in a OEM Spark......you cant get that range in an urban environment....to much danger in something going wrong and bad things happening.

Im more than happy to share the things I learned the hard way and from tidbits of gold on the forums that others have shared.

Problem is....a lot of people will say I’m trying to teach people how to do illegal and dangerous stuff.....I respect their position....and frankly don’t need to hear it again.

Id be happy to fly with most anyone who wished to visit.....after the last flight is coming back on return home I may open an adult beverage....have visitors who may or may not have badges....just looking on maybe checking out the AirData and other devices showing on 30 to 40 something inch displays.....far from where extension cords run.

 

[Spark 317]

So true.....with a spotter who has proper optics day or night it’s amazing what can be seen by bystanders on say a 43 inch screen.

If in the USA, the only proper optics are corrective glasses or contact lenses.

No binoculars, spotting scopes, or telescopes are to be used.

 

[I B Spectre]

If in the USA, the only proper optics are corrective glasses or contact lenses.

No binoculars, spotting scopes, or telescopes are to be used.

Correct. and any secondary observer must be in direct communication with the drone pilot. Radios and cell phones do not satisfy the requirement.

 

[Vader01]

I’ve never tried to see how far mine will go. Most of my pics, vide are done within 500 feet or so.
Does that make me a wimp? ?

No it doesn't, that was my first time trying that and I'll have my Spark a year on the 24th of this month.

 

[rhettduke]

Point well taken. I stand corrected.
excuse me for stepping out of bounds

 

[Mtntrogger]

I gave it a shot after your original post. I got to 5,388 before the RTH kicked in. Same as with you, after 5 seconds of signal loss the RTH sent the bird home. Its interesting looking at the telemetry on airdata, you can see the speed change when the drone loses signal. It slowly stops and seems to just hover until it either regains signal or initiates the RTH. I was only at around 140 feet above ground when I attepted this. I think higher altitude would probably help with getting more distance. It would be easy to go further than this with a Litchi waypoint mission, but I like the idea of distance testing while actually being on the sticks in FPV

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

Correct. and any secondary observer must be in direct communication with the drone pilot. Radios and cell phones do not satisfy the requirement.

My wife can yell pretty loud.... just sayin'