Cold Weather

[LeeB]

The only NoFlyZone is the 5 km radius from the airport, see the red circle on the map.
The excursion will depend on the weather, but will probably be on the island Kvaloya west of Tromso, as I marked with yellow. If it is cloudy at the coast, but clear further east towards Sweden, prepare for a long drive.

Thank you for this. I will talk to the cruise people once on board. We also stop in Alta and Narvik.

 

[shawgod]

Well I was able to get out today and fly my brand new Air 2S. It was AWESOME!!!!!!! I can't believe how much fun it was to fly it. My only problem was how blasted cold it was. My fingers were freezing. I tried to wear gloves but it made it difficult to fly the drone. I was able to get a little video but it really sucks a lot. Mainly I wanted to get it up in the air and see what she could do. I am looking forward to seeing what future adventures the two of us will go on. I also look forward to getting it's brothers up in the air this year a mini 2, mini, and a Phantom 4 Pro.

 

[akdrone]

I just looked that up on the wind chill chart. That was essentially -48F. That's some DD (droning dedication)

Wind Chill Science

If you think THAT is chilly, I used to have to get groceries on my sled (snowmachine…what people Outside (lower 48) call a snowmobile) pulling a freight sled down rivers and across the tundra roughly 60mi and have had to do that at -60F traveling at 60mph. Check THAT on your wind chill chart! One time after loading up on groceries we had to zip across a lake to a friend’s house. As you can imagine, getting dressed and undressed to go inside with clothing meant for -60F at that speed is a pain in the rear. I got -most- of my clothing on but knew my face mask was deep in a pocket and didn’t bother putting it on for a short zip across the lake. I arrive and opened the door and was greeted by shouts and exclamations of concern as apparently my face had frozen and was completely and ghostly white. It was just a thin freezing and they ran warm water for me to dunk my head it. It was not serious and my skin did not blacken which often happens with deep frostbite. I got stories…..

 

[Jamesz]

I would recommend you fly from inside your car if possible. This way you an focus on the drone as well as what is happening on the controller.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Air 2S in the Rain / Snow

How can you maintain full situational awareness, including listening for aircraft and having an uninterrupted 360 degree view from inside a vehicle?

 

[akdrone]

How can you maintain full situational awareness, including listening for aircraft and having an uninterrupted 360 degree view from inside a vehicle?

Although you were addressing Phantomrain I'll put in my two cents here. You can't fly with the same abandon if you are inside a car obviously but you can fly mostly from inside the car and step out when you wish or fly out over an inlet with a good view to all sides. The FAA doesn't require you to be outside. As to the cold..speaking for my friend and I, we're Alaskans LOL. Maybe you saw the short video posted earlier. (below) Here my buddy is trying to do a battery time test at -40F but at some point he had to swing it in front of the truck and get back in the truck for a bit. Note he has no big winter coat and bare hands. He's an ice road trucker (builds them) and while I consider myself cold acclimated... Both of us have gotten used to flying with gloves which are far from ideal; you have to have gloves that you can take off easily and have a lanyard to let the controller hang for a moment if you need to tap on the controller. The controller can be the limiting factor outdoors. Admittedly it's not as good as being entirely outside so cold days flying are limited. Sound carries particularly well in very cold temps and very very few small planes fly at -40F and I think this little test was the only time we ever flew in that temp. We keep a window cracked a bit and do our best to stay safe and note that it's fun to put up something like this up but we rarely fly in those conditions. Often at more reasonable temps like -20F we can just sit in a chair outside. I'm used to riding a snowmachine at -40F at 60mph so we have a pretty good idea how to dress for the cold. I've camped at -40F with no tent. Doesn't mean much but thought I'd throw that in . Don't envision people sitting in a car flying for hours at -40F. I posted this because it was a laughable, unusual thing. The other thing I'd say is that if you are well dressed and warm in a chair outside you can handle pretty chilly temps.

 

[Rchawks]

Not very good with the cold . I'm on the skinny side at 150 lbs, and a more reasonable body fat of 18 unlike my gym rat days at 1..7, lol. Bundled up with insulated coveralls and heavy coat yesterday for a flight. It doesn't take long for the fingers to get numb though as stated. Had to take a some shots next door that couldn't wait (clearing of a old farm), lots of before shots with woods. Not now. Temp was 17 with a windchill of -3. Like summer for you guys.