Any tips for droning from a boat especially take of and landing?

[hifocused]

Hi I've droned from boats before and it's always stressful on the take off and landing.
Does anyone have any tips or hacks to make this easier?
Thank you in advanced!

 

[Phantomrain.org]

The best tip I can give you is there are two utility tools that provide a stress free flight over the water.

The Rescue Jacket
The Lunar landing Pad

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain, Land on the Water and the Boat.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Will the boat be moving? If so get comfortable hand catching then add hand catching whilst on a moving vehicle etc., all on dry land. Ditto taking off, if the launch point is moving the drone will, as far as you are concerned, most likely want to 'fly away' when, in truth, it is you that is moving.

If the drone is a mini 3 then I would suggest searching the forum for threads about hand launch problems.

 

[jphoto]

The way I deal with drone stress of any kind is to keep practicing the most stressful parts over and over until you guild skill and confidence. Start with very slow moves in Cinema mode and work up.

I hand launch and catch from boats a lot. And all boats move, they never really stop, but the slower the better when you're learing this. I've never launched from a boat that was moving enough to produce a wake. Just seems unnecessary.

I thought flying over water was stressful, and got a float set for the Air 2S. Used it once, but never did a water take-off or landing because who needs the spray sucked into the cooling fan?

Now I mostly fly over water because of where I am and the season, though that will change.

And I do boat/hand launch/land with the Mini 3 with absolutely no issues. The technique is different from hand catching an Air 2S, but watch the videos, it works just fine.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

It might be an idea to point him to videos that you think are good.
I haven't looked at hand launch/land videos for the Mini 3 but the general impression I get is that there are a lot of idiots positing instruction on how to do this, that and the other, on you tube and unfortunately it is all to easy for a search engine to dig them up.

 

[whistlen2602]

Hand launch and hand catch to land. I was on a team training and we almost lost one while landing on the deck.

 

[jphoto]

It might be an idea to point him to videos that you think are good.

I always hesitate to do this because I think people should be responsible for doing good research themselves. But, OK, this one shows the technique I use:

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I haven't looked at hand launch/land videos for the Mini 3 but the general impression I get is that there are a lot of idiots positing instruction on how to do this, that and the other, on you tube and unfortunately it is all to easy for a search engine to dig them up.

The idiot mechanism is not limited to the Mini 3, drones, or anything else, and not limited to YouTube. That's why it's important to learn to filter. I wish everyone had the same BS alarm in their head that I have, but even I miss judge sometimes. That's why it's critical to look over several, and apply good judgement. We live in a world where anyone can freely publish anything, true, false, pseudoscience, myth, etc. Filter.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

I always hesitate to do this because I think people should be responsible for doing good research themselves. But, OK, this one shows the technique I use:

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The idiot mechanism is not limited to the Mini 3, drones, or anything else, and not limited to YouTube. That's why it's important to learn to filter. I wish everyone had the same BS alarm in their head that I have, but even I miss judge sometimes. That's why it's critical to look over several, and apply good judgement. We live in a world where anyone can freely publish anything, true, false, pseudoscience, myth, etc. Filter.

I agree with most of that but if suggesting that people watch videos, without recommendations, I think it is important to stress the plural or explain the reasons for the plural i.e. some are made by idiots and one needs to watch several or many to find the good stuff.
Unfortunately the bad stuff is often at or near the top of any search results.
My main interest in youtube drone videos is dismantling videos and it is hard to believe how ham fisted and ill advised some of the makers are.

 

[Capt KO]

The tube type floats that attach under drone work to retrieve for Refresh but don’t help water landing, I learned the hard way. The Rescue Jacket is the only one that works, I know. Being able to land on water makes water flights stress free, even if landing on board. Helps to set LOS to hover, not RTH, so you can return to last location for pickup or regain signal. Updating home point often will keep it close. Enjoy

 

[hifocused]

Got it thank you for the help! I really appreciate it! That all makes a ton of sense!

 

[ChrisOutdoors]

I've been launching from small boats (<30') for 5 years now, probably have 1000 hours alone in flight time from a vessel, hand launching and recovering is really the only way to get this done without damaging the drone in the long term. You might get nicked a few times but you can wear mechanic/gardening gloves if you're afraid of getting cut (it's really not that bad). You'll def need a strap that goes around your neck for the remote since you'll have 1 hand on the remote and 1 on the drone.

Practice the hand launches from your house. Taking off, shutting down, etc all on your own with no help. Once the process is a non-issue for you, try and grab the drone while slowly walking (more on this later). If you're comfortable with that, try it on a boat.

You'll quickly realize it's challenging. Depending on what body of water you're on, it can sometimes require a 2nd person steering the boat working in tandem with you to recover it.

My experience is mostly in the Atlantic, 10-80 miles offshore where the boat is drifting at 4-8kts by current/wind and moving up and down with a swell.

For launching: Determine the drift of the vessel and put yourself on the side of the boat that will allow the drone to "float" away from the boat with no obstacles in the way (mast, outriggers, etc). The drone will hold a GPS lock and the boat is going to drift somewhere, this is common sense that prevents fast crashes.

For recovery: Unless you're anchored, in a bay/lake with no drift, or have a GPS trolling motor you're going to need help recovering the drone. Have someone drive the boat and ask them to hold position best they can; I usually put the drone in a hover right in front of the bow and let whomever is driving the boat get 20-30sec of practice. Once they seem settled I walk the drone back towards me just above head level and catch the drone; you really just have to snag the thing out of the air.

There isn't much to it other than that. Couple notes on operating from a boat.

1. You might get magnetic inference from all of the modern electronics on boats, do your best to avoid but if it doesn't go away you can still launch, just make sure you have a full GPS lock before launching.
2. If you lose signal consider powering down your VHF radio; I sometimes had signal interference. This also applies to WIFI, many modern chart plotters have built in WIFI and are constantly putting out 2.4 & 5.8ghz, it can mess with DJI drones.
3. Pack the drone in a hard case WITH a gasket (Pelican type case) and foam that's form fitting, no moving for the drone. If your drone has a gimbal lock use that EVERY time you transit in the boat. DJI drones are solid performers in the air but are fragile on the ground. Between every flight and boat transit I always packed up the drone, motored somewhere, then unpacked and flew again. It's annoying and adds a few extra minutes but you don't want your gimbal to wear out creating fuzzy video/photos.
4. I do not recommend adding any floats, jackets, etc to the drone; all that does is create wind resistance.
5. Return the drone to the boat so that it's returned to you with at least 30% battery. Watching others, they typically rush recovery and this is when mistakes happen; allow yourself plenty of time to reset the snatch over and over until you're presented with easy conditions.

Drones out in the OPEN ocean are great. No obstacles to worry about, range is great, and you gain perspective most never have. You'd be amazed how many sharks/mantas/turtles/dolphins/bait pods you can spot at altitude that you'd never see from boat level.

Enjoy and post photos!

 

[hifocused]

Thank you for the help! I have drone before form a boat but wanted to hear people's tips this is very helpful! You should do a youtube how to video from a boat Thank you for the help!
Jordan

 

[CactusJackSlade]

What kind of boat?

Aside from electronic interference already mentioned, if you are on a steel ship the compass cannot be calibrated on board (do it on shore, before you get on the boat).

If the boat has a tall mast or antennae of any kind be sure to get above them before taking your eyes off your drone. The drone will stay GPS locked, but the boat drifts... and could drift into your drone. (My brother watched a brand new $25K FLIR equipped Matrice go into the drink getting hit by the mast)

Hand launch is EZ, many tutorials, hand catch using an assistant works well - they can even wear gloves Land on the WINDWARD side so the boat is at least drifting away from the drone, not into it.

 

[CactusJackSlade]

Here is a hand catch (with assistant and gloves) on a moving ship!

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[hifocused]

Awesome! I always thought having a hoop below the drone with a gaff kind of set up would work well too.

 

[zapsizzle]

Quick question for you all, I've noticed nobody mentioned the emergency CSC command where you can kill motors midair when pressing the sticks inwards and down. Does anyone grab it out of the air and kill motors or use the landing function by just pressing the downward stick until it ignores everything and just lands in your hand? Or lastly, the method of turning off the downward sensor so you can grab it and flip it sideways or upside down? I've had a couple of weird instances where my Mavic 2 Zoom didn't kill motors when being flipped sideways/upside down which is why I ended up learning about the emergency kill motor operation which requires two hands, unfortunately. But maybe it's easier to kill it right above an assistant's hand than having them grab it and have to wait longer hoping it either turns off when being turned or the auto land when holding the stick down. Thoughts?

 

[jphoto]

Quick question for you all, I've noticed nobody mentioned the emergency CSC command where you can kill motors midair when pressing the sticks inwards and down. Does anyone grab it out of the air and kill motors or use the landing function by just pressing the downward stick until it ignores everything and just lands in your hand?

No idea why anyone would kill the motors when landing on your hand. Why complicate things? Just hold the downward stick and land...on your hand. It's simple, easy, relatively safe.

Or lastly, the method of turning off the downward sensor so you can grab it and flip it sideways or upside down? I've had a couple of weird instances where my Mavic 2 Zoom didn't kill motors when being flipped sideways/upside down which is why I ended up learning about the emergency kill motor operation which requires two hands, unfortunately.

You're fighting against a couple of things. The downward sensor is not your enemy, it's a good thing. Leave it on. The side flip exposes you to several additional potential dangers that we shouldn't even need to mention. Again, why complicate somethning that works simply? The hand-catch already comes with personal injury risk. A responsible pilot would want to limit risk and maintain safe control at all times.

But maybe it's easier to kill it right above an assistant's hand than having them grab it and have to wait longer hoping it either turns off when being turned or the auto land when holding the stick down. Thoughts?

Yeah, well, when you kill the motors you give up ALL control, and if you do that near anyone, you're exposing them to a falling drone that is not in your control. Do what you want, but I don't like to relinquish control of my drones...ever. When I hand-catch them, I still have 100% control all the way until they're turned off, packed up, and in the case.

My question would be: what problem are you trying to solve? Why doesn't the simple "land on my hand" method work for you?

 

[zapsizzle]

No idea why anyone would kill the motors when landing on your hand. Why complicate things? Just hold the downward stick and land...on your hand. It's simple, easy, relatively safe.

You're fighting against a couple of things. The downward sensor is not your enemy, it's a good thing. Leave it on. The side flip exposes you to several additional potential dangers that we shouldn't even need to mention. Again, why complicate somethning that works simply? The hand-catch already comes with personal injury risk. A responsible pilot would want to limit risk and maintain safe control at all times.

Yeah, well, when you kill the motors you give up ALL control, and if you do that near anyone, you're exposing them to a falling drone that is not in your control. Do what you want, but I don't like to relinquish control of my drones...ever. When I hand-catch them, I still have 100% control all the way until they're turned off, packed up, and in the case.

My question would be: what problem are you trying to solve? Why doesn't the simple "land on my hand" method work for you?

With all due respect I feel like it’s quite obvious why you’d kill the motors and I’ve heard this from a couple other pilots. If you’re in choppy waters and the boat is moving it’s faster to catch it from a couple feet above your hands than the auto land feature which lands in a fixed position much slower and which boat movement can pose even greater risk. I plan to be in choppy waters and am just seeing if anyone has had experience killing motors like this, in which an assistant catches it a couple feet above them, plus I would think you’d want the drone immediately in your hand without the motors spinning when choppiness makes it’s hard to stand still on the boat. This is not something I would do otherwise as it’s typically an emergency maneuver for flyaways. But I hear you, though I feel you also relinquish control once you start that slow auto land instead of a much safer sounding minimal drop into your hands.

On top of this I’ve heard from some other pilots on this forum mention the downward sensor should be disabled for other reasons when over water so I’d assume the next option would be a gloved grab out of the air. I’ll have to practice some more of this on land.

 

[jphoto]

With all due respect I feel like it’s quite obvious why you’d kill the motors and I’ve heard this from a couple other pilots. If you’re in choppy waters and the boat is moving it’s faster to catch it from a couple feet above your hands than the auto land feature which lands in a fixed position much slower and which boat movement can pose even greater risk. I plan to be in choppy waters and am just seeing if anyone has had experience killing motors like this, in which an assistant catches it a couple feet above them, plus I would think you’d want the drone immediately in your hand without the motors spinning when choppiness makes it’s hard to stand still on the boat. This is not something I would do otherwise as it’s typically an emergency maneuver for flyaways. But I hear you, though I feel you also relinquish control once you start that slow auto land instead of a much safer sounding minimal drop into your hands.

On top of this I’ve heard from some other pilots on this forum mention the downward sensor should be disabled for other reasons when over water so I’d assume the next option would be a gloved grab out of the air. I’ll have to practice some more of this on land.

Gotcha. Choppy water isn't in my world because it comes only with high winds, so I don't fly then. Your situation is different.