Small UAS (At or above 0.55 lbs and less than 55 lbs)
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Private; Flight Crew Remote Pilot (UAS)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days (UAS) 3; Flight Crew Total 1250; Flight Crew Total (UAS) 70; Flight Crew Type (UAS) 3
Workload; Training / Qualification; Time Pressure; Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Flight Crew Became Reoriented
Human Factors; Weather
Have been a 107 UAS pilot since 2016 - haven't flown in 3 years. New drone. Recently updated 107 recency; now current. Flying at dusk and tiring of practice getting manipulation skill back; decided to site see thinking I could maintain VLOS (Visual Line of Sight) further with lights.Lost situational awareness - gone further than I realized and unfamiliar with new software program map as I had only flown for getting manipulation skill back (requires tap to open and change to orientation from thumbnail map. Started getting high wind warning. Tried a different direction; and still high wind. Saw a ball field that I thought was close to house on video screen - it was the High School. Fumbled with map enough to get orientation and dropped to 200 feet to avoid high wind at 400 feet (was very little wind at ground level).Personal assessment - I was stupid to push the VLOS via lights. Training said stay closer at night; but range of drone was tempting to see. Secondly; storms coming in later so higher wind at altitude could've likely been seen if I'd looked at the weather. But weather was still and pretty on the ground. I will be back to my smaller world of VLOS without aid of aircraft lights. Truly frustrated with my normally disciplined self.
Part 107 pilot was conducting a recreational proficiency flight. The flight occurred during the hours of dusk and winds were starting to increase. The pilot noticed difficulty controlling the UAS near 400 feet therefore descended to a lower altitude to regain control of the UAS.