Anyone fly in salty air and have issues over time?

[gnirtS]

Roughly 50 flights on the M2P. About half of those off a boat. And never below 200ft or so.

So its entirely salt air and storage based. My M1 corroded like that from just living near the ocean, it was rarely flown over it and if it was, several hundred feet up.

 

[slkfis]

I live on the coast of NC and 95% + of my flying is over water or within 100 yds of it, sometimes as low as 20' from the surface. I see no signs of problems after 1 year of flying the Mavic Pro.

But I believe this guy would know!

This is from another post I belive from Simmo?

 

[Drifter]

I searched around the interwebs (including here) looking for people's experience flying in air that has salty mist, etc. and really didn't come across anything definitive other than obviously salt and metals and electronics are not generally a great mix and you may or may not experience issues.

Given that, I was wondering if there is anybody here that has flown along ocean shorelines more than just a few times over, lets say more than six months ago, and has had any issues due to salt corrosion over time.

I flew twice recently in the Kitty Hawk area on the Outer Banks and starting thinking more about the effects of the salty air on the Mavic 2 Pro after my second flight. The first flight was at sunrise when the air was damp, and while the air seemed fairly clear locally, you could see hazy mist either way down the beach starting 3 to 5 miles away. I spent maybe 5 minutes hovering 15 feet over the waves at the shoreline. The second day seemed to be much clearer up and down the beach.

The drone didn't have any noticeable film on the shell, blades or camera lens, so that's good, but I was wondering if it's worth opening it up in the next few weeks to see if there was any film on interior components or beginning signs of corrosion.

Yes i have flown many times along the coast over the last 18 months and have had no problems with my mavic 1

 

[prb]

I videoed all of the allowable airspace on the shoreline of the island of Oahu over the course of about three years (first with a Phantom 4, then with an MP and an MP2) and noticed no issues due to salty air.

 

[Jetadhai]

What would the economic & design life of a couple of Ks worth of “drone” be anyway? By the time the well built components give in to corrosion ingress ... its time to get the later model ... aside from its economic life what ever that be ... if a house had an economic life of 30 to 40 years ... a drone ... maybe two or three?

 

[BrucenYvette]

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Thats the salt air effect on my M2. The M1 was exactly the same.

No other signs of corrosion or wear on anything that matters though. Cosmetic pitting due to the metal used.

Guess you could say that "She looks like she's been rode hard and put away wet"...

 

[Spiritchaser]

Surf lifesaving in New South Wales Australia, operate up to 50 drones on shark patrol and rescue ops over salt water constantly. I believe they lost a lot (15 or so) due to unknown circumstances early in the piece until they undertook some preventive maintenance. Could have been pilot error but probably due to corrosion I suspect. A good coating of conformal silicone on all accessible electronics could help. They were using Phantom 4’s but now have moved to the Magic Enterprise for operational reasons.

 

[PropSpin]

What would the economic & design life of a couple of Ks worth of “drone” be anyway? By the time the well built components give in to corrosion ingress ... its time to get the later model ... aside from its economic life what ever that be ... if a house had an economic life of 30 to 40 years ... a drone ... maybe two or three?

LOL, really? I'm not that kinda guy. I better be able to use this thing for the next 10 years. If moderate to heavy use, maybe five.

 

[DJI DelBoy]

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Thats the salt air effect on my M2. The M1 was exactly the same.

No other signs of corrosion or wear on anything that matters though. Cosmetic pitting due to the metal used.

I’ve got the same rust pitting on my M2P’s motors. What have you done to clean/remove it?

 

[PortCanaveralFlorida]

I’ve got the same rust pitting on my M2P’s motors. What have you done to clean/remove it?

Never-dull will clean in right off.

 

[raylo32]

Just took mine to FL for the first time to visit family. I have a Gannet bait release so we took the Mavic beach fishing. No luck with the fish yet but the Mavic and the Gannet performed perfectly. Only beach related issue was trying to make sure the landing pad, a towel in my case, stays down. Still get a bit of sand swirling around.