Sorry - another water avoidance thread.

[doccy]

I KNOW there are a lot of threads out there - but they are all so contradictory!

I need to know how to avoid the dreaded accidental landing in water when flying low over lakes disaster.

So... is disabling landing protection enough? I have read posts saying that this is all that is needed whilst keeping the VPS on. Seems like a neat option. You still get potential help from VPS - but no chance of an accidental auto land.

The trouble is... reading the DJI documentation i don't see how this works. As far as i can see landing protection just checks your landing zone/ has a last minute stop before dropping to the ground. I can't see how this actually facilitates an unwanted auto land.

Other option is to shut off the VPS altogether. I can see that this would solve the issue of auto landing, but then you lose the benefits of it / need to keep turning it on and off.

Please only reply if you know the right answer for sure...

Is disabling landing protection enough... or do you NEED to shut of VPS to be safe?

 

[dirkclod]

The only

Please only reply if you know the right answer for sure...

Is going to be ..Don't Fly Over Any...
To many things can and will happen . I fly over water low alot doc and have tried all that's been written in here and have been lucky .
It's like life , if it's your time to get wet your gonna .

 

[Fleek]

Agree the over-water flight advice is confusing and all over the place. What I teased from it is to turn off all the downward sensors. Means you compromise some precise hovering ability and need to watch altitude so you don't lower the Mavic into the water (won't get any warnings or avoidance with sensors off).
Half my flights are over water & worked ok doing this way - so far!

 

[Doyleh13]

The only

Is going to be ..Don't Fly Over Any...
To many things can and will happen . I fly over water low alot doc and have tried all that's been written in here and have been lucky .
It's like life , if it's your time to get wet your gonna .

And here's the post...

Don't fly over any blah, blah, blah. You know the rest.

 

[msinger]

Is disabling landing protection enough... or do you NEED to shut of VPS to be safe?

Disabling landing protection will only prevent the Mavic from auto switching to Forced Landing mode if the downward sensors are detecting the ground is near while the throttle is in the full down position. If you understand how that works, then you'll know what to do if that happens. Or you won't move the throttle to the full down position while flying over water.

As for turning off VPS altogether, it's really not necessary unless you're flying close to the surface of the water.

 

[doccy]

Disabling landing protection will only prevent the Mavic from auto switching to Forced Landing mode if the downward sensors are detecting the ground is near while the throttle is in the full down position. If you understand how that works, then you'll know what to do if that happens. Or you won't move the throttle to the full down position while flying over water.

As for turning off VPS altogether, it's really not necessary unless you're flying close to the surface of the water.

OK - that sounds kind of definitive.

So if landing protection is off... the mavic WONT try to autoland if the VPS thinks it is at a low height with the throttle dropped for 3 seconds? I had read in some threads that this wasn't the case... and I didn't see that in the landing protection doc.

 

[GerdS]

For flying in low altitude over water (less than e.g. 3m) you should turn VPS off, as any reflections caused by (even low) waves will lead to irritation and therefore less accurate positioning compared to just GPS.
Landing Protection is annother point which is not so clear to answer.
It may save your Mavic from touching the water by accident when flying extremely low. Just never pull the throttle stick fully down.
On the other side, Landing Protection makes hand-catching much more difficult, e.g. if you try catching your Mavic on a boat.

 

[doccy]

For flying in low altitude over water (less than e.g. 3m) you should turn VPS off, as any reflections caused by (even low) waves will lead to irritation and therefore less accurate positioning compared to just GPS.
Landing Protection is annother point which is not so clear to answer.
It may save your Mavic from touching the water by accident when flying extremely low. Just never pull the throttle stick fully down.
On the other side, Landing Protection makes hand-catching much more difficult, e.g. if you try catching your Mavic on a boat.

But Msinger said you don't need to turn off VPS.

At the end of the day I don't care if VPS gets confused and thinks the mavic is the wrong height above the water... I just don't want it auto landing when it shouldn't. I would like to make use of the VPS positioning help as much as possible - so would be handy if i don't have to turn it on and off all the time.

If turning of landing protection stops the unwanted behaviour then that is all i need. But clarity is still missing.

 

[msinger]

So if landing protection is off... the mavic WONT try to autoland if the VPS thinks it is at a low height with the throttle dropped

That's correct.

FYI, the throttle doesn't have to be dropped for 3 seconds. Forced Landing mode is initiated pretty quickly after moving the throttle to the full down position.

 

[msinger]

But Msinger said you don't need to turn off VPS.

@GerdS made some great points above. The Mavic might perform better with VPS disabled when flying less than ~3m above the surface of the water.

 

[KiterTodd]

Disabling landing protection will only prevent the Mavic from auto switching to Forced Landing mode if the downward sensors are detecting the ground is near while the throttle is in the full down position. If you understand how that works, then you'll know what to do if that happens. Or you won't move the throttle to the full down position while flying over water.

As for turning off VPS altogether, it's really not necessary unless you're flying close to the surface of the water.

So, if I am flying well above the water, then I probably won't have an issue. Is 10 meters good? I know that 30 meters is good, but I'm going to be around some sailboats at the end of the month and would like to get closer... but not get wet.

Again, I'm not into zooming just above the surface of the water. That seems to be where people get into trouble.

The only time I see the "forced landing mode" I guess is when I do a full down on the stick, but it doesn't seem to change modes (slow down) until it is about 3 feet off the ground. Is there an auto mode that is entered when you are 20 meters up and hit full down on the stick? I've never seen it when commanding rapid descents.

Appreciate the input. Thank you.

 

[msinger]

So, if I am flying well above the water, then I probably won't have an issue.

Right.

The only time I see the "forced landing mode" I guess is when I do a full down on the stick, but it doesn't seem to change modes (slow down) until it is about 3 feet off the ground.

The mode will change whenever the downward sensors are detecting the ground is near. If something triggers the downward sensors when your Mavic is hundreds of feet in the sky, Forced Landing mode will be initiated then too.

 

[Gringorio]

The best thing to do is to not fly until the battery reaches the critically low level that initiates auto landing. I spent 3 months flying over the ocean every day and every flight (from a ship) and always brought the Mavic (or P3P, P4P or Matrice 100) back with 20 -30% battery. I flew any where from 1 meter to 120 meters over the water, often with large swells or wind waves. I learned early on to turn off all the sensors to ensure there were no unwanted behaviors from the drone.

 

[GerdS]

Was out with the Mavic and floats attached today and made this little video about takeoff and landing from/on water.
During landing you can see the effect of active Landing Protection which prevents the Mavic from unintended landing when flying in low altitude. VPS was active. There was also a PL filter attached to the camera.