Does anyone else get that pit in their stomach...

[shaneb50]

Some times when I fly my drone,I get a strange feeling like some thing is about to happen. Like crashes,losing my drone when I’m way up or too far away
But after the landing I’m saying to myself thank you Lord Jesus Christ for keeping me safe and letting my drone come back safely [emoji106][emoji56]

 

[Heindrich1988]

Very impressed on this unedited version. Once you start the post process you will see a great improvement in video quality and content. Stay with it.

Thank you. I have started researching what software I should use.

 

[Heindrich1988]

Well heck I couldn't imagine flying from a site such as yours and not be nervous, impressive I think most of us would say that, how could they not? You've got big kuhonies.

lol thanks.

It was very nerve-wracking the first time I took off from that roof, which was also the first time I took off with the drone by myself.

But counter-intuitively, because I start off so high up, I only need to ascend about 10-15 meters or so before I can fly in any direction without worrying about hitting anything for miles.

 

[vindibona1]

This absolutely wrong. Green is right. Red is left

Yeah... I got that figured out. I had it right all along. The "wrong" illustration just confused me.

 

[Old Dog- New Tricks]

I believe Port side (left) is Red, Starbard side (right) Green, Bottom & Top red, Rear white. Some are strobes some are not. Don't think you have to worry about that on a low flyng Drone. Found it on the I-net

 

[GB1Yorkshire1]

Helicopters are another thing entirely. I don't know how people can fly them with such precision. I took a few computer classes on helos and was even gifted an actual lesson. I declined the lesson knowing that I wouldn't be able to afford to continue if I liked it. Drones are a bit safer, but without any sensory input it's kind of scary, especially once you can't "really" see them...

...Which leads me to my next thought... You're supposed to keep them in line-of-sight so you can see them without any visual aids (i.e. binocs.) I can't believe that most drone pilots don't break that rule from time to time, maybe often. Let's be real... Once you're past 1000 feet out if you don't have binoculars you have super vision if you can really still see your drone. Even if you have a spotter, if you're sending your drone out 5000 ft unless your spotter is chasing it, can he truly see it? I don't expect anyone to fess up in writing publicly.

To aid my drone visibility I have a white strobe both above and below the drone, so far absolutely no problems and the added visibility also enhances visibility to aircraft.

 

[Grapecrusher]

I am still a newby with a flight time of 12 hrs. I love every minute of this new way of photography but get very nervous before a flight. Haven’t plucked up the courage to fly over water yet but will get there one day. As far as hoisting myself up the side of mountains to get some great cliff edge shots.....afraid I’m a bit too old now for that lark. I took my license here in France last year and it has given me a bit more confidence but nevertheless, I think having a certain amount of anxiety is healthy as it keeps you on your toes (so to speak).

 

[eaglesurfing]

Landing and taking off from the water is awesome.
Once the fear is gone then you can really enjoy.

 

[TomSull]

When I bought my MA2, a big part of my purpose was to get good pictures and videos of the critters that live in a lake near me. At first I was very cautious, staying over land in my yard until I got comfortable, then went through a week or so of confidence building and experimentation over the nearest shallowest spot on the lake.

I learned that I can feel pretty safe at anything over 6' up, and that the drone's behavior is a bit different if I am over Spatterdock leaves, which make a short of floating platform that looks different to the drone. Over those leaves it's like being over land, but it's a definite no-land zone.

Operating over open water below 6', I have noted that even though the altitude shows rock steady on the display, there is some drifting up and down that you gotta keep an eye on. I have needed to learn the ways to visually guage my altitude over the surface and virtually ignore any altitude data. And then there's been a couple of times when it seems to start landing, if I get below the 1.5 meter takeoff altitude. So anytime I operate below 6' I am riveted to the display, watching for early warning signs of trouble. Also, my default recovery action when over water is the opposite of "bottling" - I stay ready to shove both sticks straight up.

I ended up snagging a set of these for my Mavic 2 Pro (not my setup, stock photo from the Internet):

And, from this photo, apparently you can get these for the Mini as well. I compared these to the dual foam pontoon design you'll also see online; these appear to keep the Gimbal higher and out of the water better than those. I also have the LifeJacket, but I got stability? (I don't recall the exact warning) warnings when flying with the lifejacket AND prop guards, or did, so I've been using these instead (prop guards as I sometimes fly in amongst the plants for more up close nature photography (wetlands mostly).

I like these because, being BRIGHT orange, they help with VLOS. As I mentioned, I happen to like doing videos and photos of wetlands up here in Massachusetts which involves some pretty tricky flying at times to avoid branches and plants (I try to get close in some of my shots). I did some photos and videos of Wrack Meadow at the beginning of September, and I'm planning to hike back out there again next weekend to get some more video with fall foliage colors. That's a huge bog area and I definitely will want to keep it out of water and findable in the dense woods/marsh area.

The only issue with this setup is you have to be careful with maneuvers when filming as those bright orange spheres can protrude into the video for fast flying or turns, but works well in Tripod mode. I've yet to test this, but in theory, the Mavic 2 Pro will float on water if it lands with these on. I also got a waterproof Marco Polo for the possibility of having the drone go down over wetlands and dense wilderness. At least I'll be able to recover the drone IF I can to it's location. With wetlands behind my house, there's some areas of dense muck that would be hard to get to even on my own property, but at least I'll know where the drone ended up. I'm hoping that my fly fishing waders will get me out to the drone should it go down in those sort of territories.

One last item: DJI has a page on flying drones over water; they recommend disabling the Visual Positioning System (VPS) when flying below 3' (IIRC). Here's their guide:

How to Fly Safely Over Water - DJI Guides

Check out these essential tips for keeping your drone safe while flying over water.

store.dji.com

I feel less anxious if I have these on when I am flying over water. Yesterday, I did a hike out to Wachusett reservoir to get some shots, but didn't bring the floats, so I did all my imaging with the drone over land, looking out into the Reservoir. I got some very nice photos I may post.

And, if anyone is in central Massachusetts who'd like to do some hiking and drone photography, give me a shout!

 

[shutterguy]

I can't say I get nervous when flying over water. The first day I got the M2P, I flew around behind my house for a little bit to get familiar with the controls and how the AC operates. It was in the evening right around sunset, I grabbed the Mav and headed to the local beach and sent it out over the water get some sunset shots.

I had watched numerous videos before it arrived about the unpacking, 1st flight, and settings that you need to have before flight so I wasn't worried about it getting lost . The mapbox showed my location and take off point at the beach. I even initiated a RTH and surprisingly at night it was able to navigate landing around trees right back to near me where it took off. Best friend of mine who also has a M2P told me to "trust the tech", it took me awhile but finally after months of flying, I do.

 

[colorado kid]

i heard, or read somewhere, that flying over water is actually safer than land. something to do with the signal being reflected off of the water and bouncing back up to the drone. not sure if is true, but it would seem to make sense. right??

 

[eaglesurfing]

i heard, or read somewhere, that flying over water is actually safer than land. something to do with the signal being reflected off of the water and bouncing back up to the drone. not sure if is true, but it would seem to make sense. right??

Nope.
I guess you did not read this.

How to Fly Safely Over Water - DJI Guides

Check out these essential tips for keeping your drone safe while flying over water.

store.dji.com

 

[Sputterwall]

I ended up snagging a set of these for my Mavic 2 Pro (not my setup, stock photo from the Internet):
View attachment 114433
And, from this photo, apparently you can get these for the Mini as well. I compared these to the dual foam pontoon design you'll also see online; these appear to keep the Gimbal higher and out of the water better than those. I also have the LifeJacket, but I got stability? (I don't recall the exact warning) warnings when flying with the lifejacket AND prop guards, or did, so I've been using these instead (prop guards as I sometimes fly in amongst the plants for more up close nature photography (wetlands mostly).

I like these because, being BRIGHT orange, they help with VLOS. As I mentioned, I happen to like doing videos and photos of wetlands up here in Massachusetts which involves some pretty tricky flying at times to avoid branches and plants (I try to get close in some of my shots). I did some photos and videos of Wrack Meadow at the beginning of September, and I'm planning to hike back out there again next weekend to get some more video with fall foliage colors. That's a huge bog area and I definitely will want to keep it out of water and findable in the dense woods/marsh area.

The only issue with this setup is you have to be careful with maneuvers when filming as those bright orange spheres can protrude into the video for fast flying or turns, but works well in Tripod mode. I've yet to test this, but in theory, the Mavic 2 Pro will float on water if it lands with these on. I also got a waterproof Marco Polo for the possibility of having the drone go down over wetlands and dense wilderness. At least I'll be able to recover the drone IF I can to it's location. With wetlands behind my house, there's some areas of dense muck that would be hard to get to even on my own property, but at least I'll know where the drone ended up. I'm hoping that my fly fishing waders will get me out to the drone should it go down in those sort of territories.

One last item: DJI has a page on flying drones over water; they recommend disabling the Visual Positioning System (VPS) when flying below 3' (IIRC). Here's their guide:

How to Fly Safely Over Water - DJI Guides

Check out these essential tips for keeping your drone safe while flying over water.

store.dji.com

I feel less anxious if I have these on when I am flying over water. Yesterday, I did a hike out to Wachusett reservoir to get some shots, but didn't bring the floats, so I did all my imaging with the drone over land, looking out into the Reservoir. I got some very nice photos I may post.

And, if anyone is in central Massachusetts who'd like to do some hiking and drone photography, give me a shout!

Thanks for all the good advice. I have considered coming up with floats of some sort, but the thing is, I realize right off the bat that any of them are going to multiply the wind resistance of the drone terribly. One of the best things about the Air 2 and I suspect all similar drones is the low aerodynamic profile. Mine does quite well in pretty high winds here. I had one occasion where it was seemingly calm when I took off but got suddenly windy to the point where I got warnings from the drone. I was able to still control it OK and got it landed in some pretty strong winds that time. I am impressed over and over by this great little unit. But I suspect that if I had on those orange floats in that sudden gale, my drone would be history at this point. Still, I think I could see a potential in landing in a spot om the water and shooting down for a very long time, so we shall see...

I must say that I had not known about turning off the VPS but have gone pretty low. My real practical limitation, when I am trying to shoot down into the water is prop wash. I simply must stay at an altitude where I'm not introducing ripples onto a smooth surface if I want clear video of what is happening under the surface. But then also like you. I venture into the surrounding areas and am often flying over not water, but "wet stuff."

I need to edit it up and post it, but I was checking out one of my earliest shoots over water, and there is a point in that video where I am flying quite fast and must be running only about 6" above the surface. Boy, talk about dumb luck!! (ON EDIT: Here it is. Looks closer to 2" altitude at one point. Does everyone agree this was absolutely crazy?!? I should also explain that this was accidental, I had intended to be flying at about a meter above the water, but the drone dropped almost a meter during my stop/turnaround and I didn't realize it until I saw those leaves go by.

Another note about this video - the choppiness demonstrates why you can't use cheap SD cards to record 4K video.)

My next big challenge is going to be seeing how well we can deal with COLD... Like how many days will I actually be able to fly this winter, if any??