Has anyone taken off on top of a 50+ metre tall building before? A client is requesting that we do

[fab72]

Anyone use the home lock advanced flight option to return home? Like many others here I prefer to avoid RTH. I've done this a couple of times now and think its the best way to get home quickly. One can fly at full speed with the added advantage of skipping manual yaw adjustments. If filming, one also gets a buttery smooth video directly to the home point which is hard to do manually, especially from long distance.

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[White Airwolf]

Personally, I think the only way to get the shot is to do it illegally.
Too many variables with regulations.
I'm not saying you should break the law by doing it, but a few common sense points would help like trying it early in the morning on a Sunday, take off-from the roof if possible, then get the heck out of Dodge when done .
Sometimes, when you have to get the shot no matter what, you have to get the shot no matter what!

Just be careful!

 

[Hits9Nine]

Would vision positioning system need to be turned off?

 

[White Airwolf]

Doesn't matter. VPS doesn;t work anyway beyond about 15 feet off the ground.

 

[Dave Stanton]

I know you already flew this job. I'm curious though, did you encounter any wind problems? Tall buildings can create odd wind directions such as swirling and can increase wind velocity. Anything like that or did all go smoothly?

 

[skylineaerial]

@Dave Stanton I know exactly what you mean, I've had experience before of the wind buffeting over buildings that are around the same height as the aircraft is flying. On this particular day we were flying in 3mph winds so that wasn't an issue for this particular job.

 

[skylineaerial]

@White Airwolf Good tips - we flew this early on a Sunday morning, 3mph winds, full permissions in place from local ATC and also from the building owner's for times we were operating on their grounds.

 

[Don269]

Is it not easier just to utilise the aircraft 'radar' graphic in conjunction with the straight line plot on the map back to home?
I have always found this very reliable.

I think a lot of people don't think about this simple tool,
my property was a lot of tall dense trees a minute after take off my bird is out of site
(but still over my own property) Using FPV is no help after a couple minutes of looking around.

It is at that point that I rely on the radar graphic to fly my bird straight home,
I could use RTH however, I agree I prefer to be in control and save that for emergencies.
Great post Editor!

 

[Andreas]

Agreed with all comments about not trusting RTH unless it's used as a last resort in signal lost cases.

However, I strongly suggest you set the RTH altitude higher than the building, especially if you plan to take off from the ground. It is not an uncommon case your bird, accidentally or knowingly, flies behind the building and the signal gets lost since it will be out of your line of sight. In this case, the RTH will fly directly to the home position, this will be catastrophic if the RTH altitude is set lower than the building height.