Are you scared to fly at night?

[Deleted member 103366]

The registration number of the USS Enterprise

 

[Kywon McCain]

The registration number of the USS Enterprise

Ok

 

[Crashdummytest]

How do I lose my fear of flying at night?

Where I am is pretty dark at night. That means it wouldn't really be safe for me to fly anyway because of the low visibility. I wouldn't be even safe for the Mavic. Well, the first generation at least.


Unlike some of you grown ups and big boys with the inferead sensors you would find on your Mavic 2/air 2, my sensors are literal cameras. And these cameras, just like the human eye relies on light to see clearly. In the drones case, it needs light for to see obsicles and avoid them. Something they are not even good at. Even at 7:30pm.


Almost so far, the obsicles avoidance system saved me for Everytime I can't react enough, it hits the brakes so I don't have to.

As you can already tell, I can't get that at night time. That's where the phobia for flying at night comes in.




Oh! And another thing. The head LEDs probably mean nothing to aircraft unless they were strobes. The only strobes I ever saw on mine was the flashy light that change colors on the back. (I feel like the colors mean something..)

I would be nice if they implemented some anti collision light on the Mavic 3 (if that's not another propoganda)

I know the Mavic USS Enterprise have some thing you install on the top that has a strobe light that is somewhat decent as I seen in the videos, but it would be nice if it was built in.


Could you imagine trying to look at a blank black screen, relying only on the lights on the ground and VLOS to navigate? Couldn't be me...

How do you guys even do that with no fear?

I do it all the time, looking for nice nighttime hyperlapses. Use the radar or map if worried, it is no problem at all and, in terms of VLOS nighttime provides better coverage.

 

[Jamesz]

Follow the wise advice here already given here!

Small steps: first, get to know your drone thoroughly and read all the documentation /watch video tutorials. Fit, and flight test some strobes. When ready, check out your area in daylight and note where potential hazards are and their height. Work out in advance where you will fly and go through some escape scenarios and your landing path orientation . Make sure you can keep VLOS and there are no dead zones.

Check RTH is set appropriately and you have home point updated and checked on the map.
Have your landing mat illuminated from the side nearest to you (to keep your night vision) and set your screen brightness to a lower level for night use . Move any cases or trip hazards away from you! Pack gimble guards etc away before you lose them, using the head torch you should be using.

Keep the drone close to you initially, but above head height and practise keeping it orientated by the pattern of its LEDs. Keep eyes on the drone, but be ready to use the map function if you need it to return home or check orientation. Allow your night vision to recover after looking at the screen.
Land earlier than in daylight, with plenty of battery remaining as you may find it takes longer to orientate for landing. Check carefully when packing away as its easy to dropbitems like cables.