Compass interference & flying from a cruise ship

[Dahveed]

It is risky at best, and there is a high probability you may lose the aircraft due to one or more issues discussed above.

Make sure you are getting paid enough to replace the aircraft if it goes wrong.

I've had magnetic warnings from placing it on a small surround speaker, a metal park bench, and the roof of my car.... I can only imagine trying to get it to be happy on a 300 ton hunk of metal with lots of marine radios, radar, etc.,

I was on vacation and launching the drone from roadside pullouts. Not wanting to have a car park on my drone or park where it might land if RTH, I thought I had a brilliant idea, I'll launch it from the roof of my rental car. Total fail. Drone wouldn't launch due to magnetic interference. Oh well, back on the pavement to launch.

I've seen people flying drones from small boats, but they were most likely fiberglass construction, not steel.

 

[GerdS]

I would feel a bit slightly more confident with a P4P because of the manual ATTI mode gives you a bail out in case GPS goes south, but the compass is still needed for ATTI mode.

Wrong, ATTI mode does not require the compass, except for reporting direction and GPS position to your mobile device.
There are lots of cheap toy copters on market which support ATTI mode same way and don't even include a compass module!

 

[cderoche]

I was on vacation and launching the drone from roadside pullouts. Not wanting to have a car park on my drone or park where it might land if RTH, I thought I had a brilliant idea, I'll launch it from the roof of my rental car. Total fail. Drone wouldn't launch due to magnetic interference. Oh well, back on the pavement to launch.

I've seen people flying drones from small boats, but they were most likely fiberglass construction, not steel.

Or hand launching / catching.

 

[diomark]

Again, some guys here think it's possible to reliably set the remote's location as homepoint.

This is wrong!!!

If you select your location to be used as homepoint within the GO4 app, it will just read your actual location once and store it as homepoint. The homepoint will not get updated automatically if you are moving away from it, e.g. aboard of a moving ship!
Again, there is no automatic funtion which will ensure that your homepoint will stay same as your current location!

Litchi let's you do this.

 

[Claybond]

Hardly. I simply know how the drone works and realise it doesn't take any training, experience or skill to operate. Whereas you seem to think its on par with hand landing the space shuttle.

You are one of the reasons this sport/hobby /profession is viewed in such poor light, i wish I could say more to you but the forum rules prohibit that. I think you know what we all think about you

 

[BeefStew]

Make sure your drone is insured!!

 

[cderoche]

Make sure your drone is insured!!

State Farm is dirt cheap for equipment coverage I only pay $60 a year no deductible.
Personal Articles Policy - State Farm®

 

[slidewilson]

Hey everyone,

Sorry I never posted an update! Here's how it went, and also my response to some of the comments in this thread:

The ship was tendering - anchored off shore. I'm not sure if I'd be willing to try to fly when the ship was moving - I probably wouldn't try it.

The flight ended up being a success, though I'm not sure how "lucky" I am ultimately for not having any major issues. I took off from the helipad at the very front of the ship, and the compass was issuing error messages. I decided to launch about 10 feet off the helipad (directly above) and see what happened. If the Mavic came crashing down, it would likely crash onto the deck without injuring anything (except itself). Once the drone was up about 10 feet, all error messages went away. I decided to chance it and fly it off the deck. I recognize there is a risk here but I decided to go for it. The drone flew perfectly with the exception of when I was bringing it closer to the ship, a few times the front sensors reacted as if there were an object right in front of it, though the ship was at least 100 feet away. That was probably due to the large white textureless side of the ship at that particular angle. I never flew the drone close to the ship at all - never needed it.

Aside from the front vision sensors going off (which I wouldn't call a critical concern), the flight was smooth. There were some seagulls somewhat in the area and I was worried they'd make a run at me - anyone ever experience that?

I guess in summary I'd say that while I was a little unsettled at the number of variables and unknowns for the flight, I'm glad I took the risk, and the footage looks great. If caveat emptor means "let the buyer beware", how do you say "let the flyer beware??"

To the guy calling ships floating prisons and complaining about E. Coli outbreaks, have you been on a modern ship not named Carnival in the last few years?

Anyway, I know cruising isn't for everyone, but I generally find it lovely.

Thanks for the support and all the great responses!

(sorry for the potato quality image, I'm not at home and I ripped that from Facebook )

 

[cderoche]

Excellent! This is why we buy these. There are always risks even when flying from the safest locations.

 

[Ceejay]

Just my 5 pennies worth, flying on a cruise ship is somewhere I would not even dream of flying!.
I have taken my P4 and Mavic on several cruises,and have flown from the quayside on a couple of occasions, near to the berthed ship.
Both times I have encountered strange happenings with erratic movements that I certainly have not actioned.
The second time in Honnigsvag, I was flying right next to the ship at about 100yds distance from it, all seems well with the Mavic, then when I got to about 50 feet in height, it went mental!, only my experience stopped it from being a fly away.
Immediately dropped my height to 20 ft, and managed to regain control.
I can only put it down to interference from the radar dome.
Certainly caused me to have “nipped cheeks syndrome” for a few mins!.

 

[cderoche]

I guess when you've pushed the Mavic to its limits and had the ipad overheat and lose all video feed and Go 4 data when over 5 miles out on the way back home, and still make it back the cruise ship sounds like a walk in the park. I know cell towers and radio towers can cause interference when far out. When I'm close to the Mavic they're no problem. Granted a ships Radar is much more directional signals. Although I tried to get close to a 100,000 watt FM tower that's 2000 feet tall in my Parish and flying from almost a mile away there was no way with the setup I had at that time I could get any closer than I did (I think I got within 1500 feet of it). Certainly there will be interference when close to it. You just have to know what to do when in trouble. I haven't been on a cruise but if I had the chance I'd fly from one. Got insurance just in case. I will admit it isn't for the rookie pilot. I'd get a few miles behind the wheel first. Not the place to be learning how the Mavic works. But - for the seasoned pilot, I'd say go for it. You put your Mavic (and self) at more risk driving in that car to the port.

 

[MrMickeyG]

I’ve never had a problem...