Flight Crew Last 90 Days 1; Flight Crew Total 11; Flight Crew Type 11
Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR
Flight Crew Regained Aircraft Control
Aircraft; Weather
I made a takeoff over private property in a rural area to practice for a drone class I was participating in and to take some pictures for the property owner. It was a nice; sunny day. The winds at takeoff were reported to be 070[@]010 but on takeoff they picked up somewhat. I went to approximately 300 feet AGL and then dropped down to approximately 250 AGL. I decided to enter an orbit mode to practice entering and setting up this 'intelligent' flight mode. It had been some time since I had practiced an auto flight orbit. After setting up my Point of Interest and defining the orbit radius; I started the orbit. The drone was circling in a counter-clockwise direction and seemed to be doing well. Approximately 11 minutes after takeoff I got a High Wind Velocity Caution; with guidance to land ASAP. Since I was in a rural area in Class G airspace with the drone clearly in sight; I was not too concerned.A two-lane country road ran east-west through the owner's property and my position was south of the road looking north. Although I could see the drone clearly; I could not see the road but had no intention of crossing the road with my orbit flight path. However; as the drone entered the downwind side of the orbit; I could tell its downwind ground track was going long (towards the north) and I might cross the road. I fumbled briefly trying to press the 'PAUSE' switch to stop the orbit. I pointed my camera straight down but by that time I discovered I had indeed crossed the road. I paused there and waited for a truck to pass. When it was clear; I initiated a 'Return-To-Home' and landed uneventfully. On a post video review a few days later; it appeared that I passed behind a moving vehicle traveling east but due to the angle of the camera set up for the orbit; I could not see the point where my ground track crossed the road or how close I was to the vehicle.Reflecting on this sortie; there are several things I failed to do and will do differently in the future: (1) Failed the check the low-altitude forecast winds for the altitude I was flying; (2) I failed to recognize the potential effect of the winds on the orbit path I set up; (3) I failed to terminate the automatic orbit when I received the High Wind Velocity Caution to see how the wind was affecting my ground track and then drop to a lower altitude to hand-fly the orbit or return to land. (4) I failed to position myself between my point of interest for the orbit and the road so that I could better tell when the drone was deviating from the flight path.
A drone operator taking photos reported they allowed their drone to fly over a moving vehicle.