Best way to increase visibility?

[davefabik]

I use a firehouse cree red velcro-ed with a small button in the back. Very visible in daylight - lightweight - rechargable from usb - like an anti-collision light on civil aircraft. Mavic Pro.

 

[BerndM]

I use the Strobon Cree units. A white one in front and a red one in the back.
While they work OK, using them is a double edged sword. You can see your drone better but so can everyone else.
Something to keep in mind wherever you intend to fly.

 

[Endeavor]

OK just to be controversial - VLS is somewhat of a misnomer as once I run my MA out over 100 feet I pretty much loose sight of it. I rely on the sound and the indicator on my tablet to tell me where it is and which way it is facing. Unless you have eagle eyes this is probably the general rule. Night flights are better - sometimes

 

[old man mavic]

OK just to be controversial - VLS is somewhat of a misnomer as once I run my MA out over 100 feet I pretty much loose sight of it. I rely on the sound and the indicator on my tablet to tell me where it is and which way it is facing. Unless you have eagle eyes this is probably the general rule. Night flights are better - sometimes

i guess that you could use some giasses for distance work my friend i have good long sight but need glasses for reading ,and even with my old eyes i can see my MPP at,well over 1000ft and will begin to loose it around 1650ft ,perhaps you meant to say 1000ft not 100 ft and it was a mistype,if so please accept my apologies

 

[Jaysjob]

Recently got a mavic air and have been learning about it overall. One thing I've noticed is keeping track of it, particularly when there's a background beyond the sky is tricky for me.

What are my best options to give the drone more visibility? I was considering the LED prop guards but wasn't sure how that would affect performance.

Any other advice or accessories on ways to improve visibility of the drone while it's flying?

I use strobes and have an Iridescent skin on my MP. It reflects the sun pretty good on sunny days. Something I spin the drone to catch the sun. It helps see it if you lose sight of it for a second like when you have to look down at the controls then back up.

 

[Endeavor]

i guess that you could use some glasses for distance work my friend i have good long sight but need glasses for reading ,and even with my old eyes i can see my MPP at,well over 1000 ft and will begin to loose it around 1650 ft ,perhaps you meant to say 1000ft not 100 ft and it was a mistype,if so please accept my apologies

100 feet is probably honest - lets face it you take off and the first thing you do is look down and adjust the gimbal and do the take away etc. In general you probably don't look at the bird rather the screen so the camera is pointed correctly to get that shot you need. Looking up to find a tiny drone especially if the sun is behind it would be problematic. Just being honest the tablet really is the VLS not your eyes.

 

[old man mavic]

100 feet is probably honest - lets face it you take off and the first thing you do is look down and adjust the gimbal and do the take away etc. In general you probably don't look at the bird rather the screen so the camera is pointed correctly to get that shot you need. Looking up to find a tiny drone especially if the sun is behind it would be problematic. Just being honest the tablet really is the VLS not your eyes.

sorry to burst your bubble but the screen picture you see is in no way VLOS it does not allow you to see anything that is not in the cameras field of view

the whole idea of VLOS is so that you are always aware of the drones position relative to the ground, obstacles,and any other low flying aircraft that could be operating in the area, i agree that if you do spend time composing a picture prior to taking it ,you can easily loose the position of the drone when you look back up again but it is still your responcebility to make sure you can see it

 

[Thomas B]

Just a couple of thoughts after reading through the entire thread:

Skins, IMHO from personal experience, do not aid VLOS beyond 200-300 ft. They are useful to find crashed/ landed drones at distance, especially if in tall grass or hung in a tree. They don’t hurt though... so be creative.

Strobes that mount point upward are not helpful for maintaining VLOS unless you launch from an elevated area and are flying below that launch point. With any strobe try not to block antennae... know your drone.

While you do have your phone/tablet/CS, etc to give you orientation of your drone, IMHO, different colored strobes on front and back are a better way, especially if your controlling device fails. I use 4 ARC2s, a white on each rear arm and then red and green on the front legs in standard aircraft fashion. The strobes work through 5-10 M2P batteries between charging.

Try to maintain adequate number of GPS satellites... >10 for sure and 18-20 better.

 

[Sd80mac]

you can also mount different colours on the rear arms as well as the white ones on the front but the coloured ones are not quite as visible as the white @msinger makes front and rear mounts and the strobon cree ones are very light weight as well not sure if you would have to remove them to fold the rear arms i leave my front ones on and just altered the foam in my case to allow the mav to fit

I really cant understand why you would need know the color. You would able to see your screen and tell where your drone is facing to


My understanding is that strobe is good for 2/10 -3/10 mi away. Once it go further away, it disappeared from your visual....

 

[old man mavic]

i have white strobes on the front arms of my mav and they really do help to orientate the direction of the mav even on sunny days i agree mine is skined but they do not really help much once its up in the sky as you say

 

[Thomas B]

I really cant understand why you would need know the color. You would able to see your screen and tell where your drone is facing to


My understanding is that strobe is good for 2/10 -3/10 mi away. Once it go further away, it disappeared from your visual....

To tell orientation of the dronwhen your phone/tablet/CS, etc freezes or crashes.

 

[Endeavor]

sorry to burst your bubble but the screen picture you see is in no way VLOS it does not allow you to see anything that is not in the cameras field of view

the whole idea of VLOS is so that you are always aware of the drones position relative to the ground, obstacles,and any other low flying aircraft that could be operating in the area, i agree that if you do spend time composing a picture prior to taking it ,you can easily loose the position of the drone when you look back up again but it is still your responsibility to make sure you can see it

No bursting here I was just being honest which is from several years experience, there is no way you can do cinematic videography by staring at the drone. This is not practical nor possible. The VLOS is just a legal term which does not reflect actual operations.

 

[Thomas B]

No bursting here I was just being honest which is from several years experience, there is no way you can do cinematic videography by staring at the drone. This is not practical nor possible. The VLOS is just a legal term which does not reflect actual operations.

Agree with the first point.
VLOS is more than a legal “term”, it has definition and is the law.

 

[Endeavor]

I believe that is a legal term

 

[old man mavic]

the strobes are just to allow you to see the UAV when it is a good way out without having to have to keep looking at the screen of course if you do loose visual then you have the choice of RTH or yaw the UAV around till it faces the home point and then return home till it can be seen again

 

[old man mavic]

one way around your problem would be to have a spotter close by to keep VLOS on the drone while you concentrate on composing your shots or maybe a waypoint mission might be the answer

 

[dsmith76]

Recently got a mavic air and have been learning about it overall. One thing I've noticed is keeping track of it, particularly when there's a background beyond the sky is tricky for me.

What are my best options to give the drone more visibility? I was considering the LED prop guards but wasn't sure how that would affect performance.

Any other advice or accessories on ways to improve visibility of the drone while it's flying?

Visibility of the drone is ideal, but for me the most useful way to keep track of where the drone is involves getting very skilled with using the camera, the map which shows where the drone is in relation to home, readouts which show distance from home, elevation, heading. Of course LOS is important, but let’s get real, to fly the drone well you want to look at where you are going. Think of your IPad or goggles as your eyes, as if you are in the cockpit of the drone. Look around, become one with the drone. Afterall, a fighter pilot never sees his plane and a photographer does not look at his camera. If the drone is in close proximity, it is comforting to see it, but as you get more skilled, you will look less and less at your drone.

 

[Tractorguy]

Visibility of the drone is ideal, but for me the most useful way to keep track of where the drone is involves getting very skilled with using the camera, the map which shows where the drone is in relation to home, readouts which show distance from home, elevation, heading. Of course LOS is important, but let’s get real, to fly the drone well you want to look at where you are going. Think of your IPad or goggles as your eyes, as if you are in the cockpit of the drone. Look around, become one with the drone. Afterall, a fighter pilot never sees his plane and a photographer does not look at his camera. If the drone is in close proximity, it is comforting to see it, but as you get more skilled, you will look less and less at your drone.

The field of view of your ipad or googles of 40 degrees +/- is much less than the fighter pilot or photographer's 180 degrees which is increased when the head is on a swivel as they say. The situational awareness of a pilot is much, much better than the drone pilot's FPV as many threats come at you from the side and not head on. As a airplane pilot the first thing I noticed when I started flying drones was the limited FOV of FPV not to mention the lack of depth perception by having one camera and not the benefit of two eyes. Depending on the drone's mission there are many instances where flying sideways is necessary to get a shot and VLOS is the only thing that might keep you from flying into a tree or other obstacle. This doesn't even take into account the times you temporarily lose LOS especially when transitioning from your screen to the sky.

 

[Sd80mac]

Only within 1500' of you... beyond that, u cant see strobe

To tell orientation of the dronwhen your phone/tablet/CS, etc freezes or crashes.

 

[RWD]

Only within 1500' of you... beyond that, u cant see strobe

I'll have to do a test flight on a moderately sunny day to confirm, but I think I can see my strobes and determine orientation quite a bit further than 1500' away.

I use the same red/green/white leg mounted setup as @Thomas B, but using the Firehouse Strobes that have 4 LEDs per board. I know at night I can see them with enough precision to be able to determine orientation from over two miles away. In daylight I know the distance is significantly reduced, but I think closer to one mile than the 1500' you suggest. That being said, I have never done an actual test to confirm.

@Sd80mac, does your number come from testing?? If so which strobes?? I am not in any way disputing your results, just suggesting my results seem different and trying to understand why...

Thanks,