Recent content by fieldbio

Yes, definitely! If I'm on a small to medium size boat, I get the skipper to orient the boat in the most stable position (usually into the swell). I've only flown from big ships a handful of times and I avoid it for many reasons. Yes yes! I'm a big stickler for safety. A small plastic prop...

Sorry if I missed your point. I'll keep it simple: - hand-catching on a traveling boat is a bad idea - if landing on a boat or CSCing into a boat works for you, great! - neither of those is a beginner maneuver because even a stopped boat moves more than most people realize - when people ask...

It's like those GIFs of someone moving a chicken around while the chicken's head stays in the same place. This is what your body does when you get your 'sea legs': your legs rock with the boat, your upper body stays stable and allows you to do things to the point that you don't even notice the...

My major concern about this is that even if the drone moves in a predictable way, the boat often doesn't. If you have any waves or swell or current the boat is moving more than a passenger can perceive. I learned this the hard way when I tried to land on a ship's heli-pad (which you'd think...

Thanks! I think that launching from a platform on a boat is much more feasible than landing. I've launched by putting a drone up on a box, above all railings, and with a clear shot to the sky. The technique is similar - up and forward as fast as you can and it actually eliminates the things that...

Edited to add: update the home point before you start the landing process.

Yes. So, I've tried this about 20 times on land and it seems like the best thing is to hang on and try not to pull the drone down or else it will attempt to climb. When it climbs, I just kinda hang on and keep trying to get it to land and eventually it seems to settle down and turn off. But...

Makes sense - there certainly is not much clarity in the manuals. Personally, I'd rather have the boat get closer to the drone than have the drone takeoff and go someplace on its own, but it is all very circumstantial. This is a new Mini 3 - but only time will tell if it works as well as the...

Your point is a good one: I usually can tell the boat skipper to move towards the drone. If you don't have that capability RTH might at least get the drone back in the appropriate range (or it might not depending how far you've gone). I've only flown off of big ships a handful of times and I...

Another great question. I fly over marine animals (with research permits, of course). So I follow the animal on the screen, have a VLOS spotter watching the drone, and have the boat captain (on small boats, at least), move towards the animals (maintaining the appropriate distance, of course)...

Great question. I haven't noticed any issues, but of course that could be different depending on the materials used. In general, I can't remember having compass issues even when flying off of big metal boats (I usually calibrate beforehand on land). With the earlier Phantoms I would occasionally...

Not in the app, but electrical tape over the sensor seems to do the trick.

Unfortunately, no. That is the downside. A stiffer wire would probably let you do that, though. But disabling the vision sensors makes turning off the drone much easier with the controller.

Yup, that's my goal: have something to hang on to for dear life :)

I've put some thoughts about this and the methods that I use for landing on a boat in this thread: https://mavicpilots.com/threads/solution-flying-from-a-boat.137383/ I hope it's helpful.