The DJI Mini 2 is an amazing drone that comes with high-end features despite being geared towards the more beginner market. It is small and compact and just weighs 249 grams.
Although the tiny weight makes it unique in the drone market, it also raises some eyebrows about its ability to fight wind during flight.
Today, we are going to discuss the DJI Mini 2 wind resistance and see how it flies in high wind conditions.
The DJI Mini 2 has level 5 wind resistance. It can withstand a wind speed of 19-24 mph (29-38 kph) easily. Anything more than that and you will risk crashing or losing your drone.
I have a comprehensive article on wind resistance levels but in this article, let’s explore the DJI Mini 2 wind limit in particular.
How drones resist wind?
The ability of the drone (or any aircraft) to stay stable in the face of a high blowing wind is called its wind resistance. It is dependent on the geometrical shape of the drone, the size, and the power of the rotors.
When you fly your drone in perfectly still air, the only force acting on the drone is the gravity (downwards) and the push of the rotating propellers (upwards).
If the drone is hovering in one place in still air, there are no side forces on the drone. But when the wind starts blowing, your drone will feel a slight push on the windy face.
The drone’s IMU will detect this push and tilt the drone slightly towards the wind so that the propellers can generate enough force against the wind to stay in place.
This process is highly automatic, and the IMU calculates the wind speed and the corresponding tilt angle in real-time so that the drone does not move in any direction without input from the pilot. The wind forces are perfectly countered.
But when the wind speed increases, the drone will also increase its tilt angle and propeller speed to generate the required force to counter the wind force.
There is a limit to how much tilt the drone can bear without crashing face forward.
Once the maximum tilt is reached, but the wind force is still not countered (high wind condition), the drone will start moving along with the wind without any input from the controller.
That’s when we say the wind resistance is reached and the drone cannot be flown safely. At this point, it is highly recommended to land the drone.
How much wind speed can the DJI Mini 2 handle?
Now that we know what wind resistance is and how your drone counters wind forces by tilting in the direction of the wind, let’s explore what the maximum wind the Mavic mini 2 can handle safely is.
The manufacturer recommends that you should not be flying your Mini 2 when the wind speed is greater than 10.5 m/s or around 24 miles per hour. This wind speed can sway small trees around, and you can feel a slight push on your body.
But we all know that manufacturers design products with safety in mind. You can certainly fly your Mini 2 in winds stronger than that (at least I have flown many many times), but it would just be a little risky.
Since DJI doesn’t want any liability on its head if you crash, they have set a pretty low limit for the wind resistance value.
In practice, you can fly your Mavic Mini 2 (or any DJI drone) 30% – 40% above the manufacturer’s listed value, and you will be fine.
However, if you are a new pilot and don’t know how to handle your drone in an emergency, I would NOT recommend taking off in windy conditions.
Wind tunnel test of DJI Mini 2
But how much wind the DJI Mini 2 can take above its listed value? I have not flown personally in very windy situations, but I did find a crazy wind tunnel test done by a team of drone hobbyists in China.
They put the Mini 2 inside a full-scale wind tunnel where the wind speed can be accurately controlled.
They flew the drone, kept it hovering, and kept increasing the wind speed slowly until the drone went out of control and crashed.
The highest wind speed the Mavic Mini 2 could take was 19 m/s or 42 miles per hour. That’s more than 40% above the manufacturer’s specification.
Here is the crazy video.
Thumbs up to the guys for accurately testing the mini 2 wind capabilities because not everyone has a full-scale wind tunnel.
We used to have one in our engineering school, but I graduated in 2014, and DJI was not a thing at that time.
How to measure wind level before flying?
Now, this is the important part. How can you know if the blowing wind on a certain day is suitable for flying or not?
As I discussed in my wind resistance levels article before, a Beaufort scale chart is usually used to identify the strength of blowing wind without using any measuring tool or instrument.
As per the Beaufort scale, the Mavic Mini 2 has a level 5 wind resistance which is sufficient wind to “move or sway small trees”.
So if you are out there in the field and see small trees moving rather violently, cancel your plan and go get a beer instead.
If the wind can swing small trees on the ground, it can throw your 250 gram Mini 2 away at 100ft altitude as well (Wind speed increases as you go up)
You can also use a small handheld device called an anemometer to measure the speed of wind at ground level.
Again, keep in mind that the speed of wind at ground level is far less than what your drone will face at a height of 50ft or 100ft. The high you go, the windy it gets.
Summary – DJI Mini 2 Wind Resistance
To summarise our discussion, here are the main points we covered.
- The ability of any drone to stay in place against a blowing wind is called its wind resistance.
- Wind resistance varies from drone to drone and is dependent on physical shape, size, and rotor power.
- DJI Mini 2 is a small and lightweight drone that can resist a wind speed of up to 10.5m/s or 24 miles per hour.
- In extreme conditions, it can sustain wind speed of up to 19 m/s or 42 miles per hour but you should never push your drone to that limit.
- Always check the wind speed at ground level by using the Beaufort scale or a portable anemometer before your flying session.
I hope this short article is helpful and answers your question. If not, you can always ask in the comments section below. Happy flying!
Good article Ahmed. Actually good series of articles!
I’m a retired ATP certified pilot and Flight Instructor, so I am familiar with the considerations for wind speed effects on our aircraft; and, unless you’re getting the wind speed from a balloon that was just released by the Weather Service, it’s all calculated by the devices, techniques, and algorithims of the services that offer it.
I have used the app, “UAV Forecast” to determine windspeed, and often use it as my accepted final determiner because it also shows wind at altitudes from 33 feet to 5,000 feet, as well as many other stats. It can be set for your drone wind resistance level, address, and many other things. I have found it to be acceptably accurate and a good method for staying safe. Even though I have the DJI refresh, which includes (wind) Fly Away replacement, I’d rather just stay safe than wait weeks for a replacement, eh?!
The app is available for Android and iPhone.
I have installed the, “Wind Speed” Amazon skill on my Echo devices also. I say, “Alexa, ask Wind Speed, how windy is it?”, and it gives the wind and gusts – localized to my location, and I feel more accurately than Alexa will say without using that skill. I think it is acceptably accurate as well. It’s only surface, but as you said in another article, the wind speed gets higher at increasing altitude.