Environmental conditions

To ensure flight safety, advisories for certain environmental conditions need to be followed.

Check the weather forecast (e.g., on windfinder) for wind, rain, and temperature. Gather information about the condition of the site, e.g., intensity of radiation fields and altitude above mean sea level.  In case that environmental conditions become unsafe during the flight, press Return To Home (RTH) immediately to ensure that the drone lands safely.

Wind

WingtraOne can safely fly and capture data in sustained winds up to 12 m/s (27 mph) and gusts up to 18 m/s (40 mph).

12 m/s (27 mph) sustained wind at cruise height (120 m, 400 ft) corresponds to approximately 8 m/s (19 mph) measured on the ground with the wind measurement tool provided in the Wingtra pilot box. 

Check with the anemometer before flying and do not fly if the wind measurement on the ground exceeds 8 m/s for more than 30 seconds (sustained wind) in open fields (in confined spaces you have to rely on forecasts only). As a rule of thumb, wind speeds of 8m/s at ground level in open fields correspond to wind speeds of ~10m/s at 10m-20m height (forecast height) and ~12m/s in 100m height. WingtraOne will return to home (RTH) automatically if wind speeds exceed 12m/s during flight. If you fly in high winds, check our recommendations in the Flying in windy conditions article.

Precipitation/Fog

Do not fly in case of rain, snow, or fog.

Always check the weather forecast. If any precipitation appears during the flight, press Return To Home (RTH) immediately to ensure that the drone lands safely. Precipitation is dangerous because water drops can clog the airspeed sensor (pitot tube), which gives incorrect readings that may cause a crash.

Temperature

Ambient temperature must lie between -10 and 40 degrees Celsius (14 and 104 Fahrenheit). WingtraPilot will only allow you to fly if the batteries temperature is between 10 to 40 degrees Celsius (50 and 104 Fahrenheit). In very hot or cold temperatures, we recommend keeping the drone and pilot box in the shade or in a car before and between flights.

Do not leave WingtraOne equipment (wing, hardcase, pilot box and all of its content) exposed to direct sunlight in high temperature conditions! Batteries and tablet can overheat. Hard case heats up and gets deformed if stored in direct sunlight.

High-intensity radiation areas

Do not fly in areas that have high-intensity radiation, such as transmission towers. In case that high radiation is present, the telemetry connection will be lost. If you are aware that the telemetry will be lost and you are sure the flight is safe, you can manually adjust the timeout before Return To Home (RTH)  is automatically triggered. More about adjusting the connection loss timeout can be found in the article Safety parameters.

High altitude

Do not fly at an altitude of more than 2500m above mean sea level with the default propellers. The battery consumption at high altitude is higher and therefore safe landings can not be guaranteed. Taking off from altitude higher than 2500m is possible with the high altitude propellers. In this article, you can find guidelines about how to use the high altitude propellers.