Drone Flight Over Water Checklist?

[baddog]

There's obviously an increased risk when flying your drone over water. I got my Mavic Mini mostly for recording my flatwater kayaking adventures, sunrises/sunsets by lakes, etc. so, I'm hoping I'll be flying near water a lot. I plan to almost exclusively fly on days with little to no wind as I really like the "glass-like surface" of lakes on flat calm days. I have a great solo canoe that I paddle, and for now I plan on hand launching and catching/landing.
I'd like to put together a "flight over the water safety checklist" that I can go through before each flight, and it'd be great if some of the more experienced drone pilots could give me some input on this.

Here's what I'm thinking so far:

1. Make sure all batteries, RC, and phone/tablet are fully charged.
2. Once onsite with all local maps loaded on phone/tablet, set phone/tablet to airplane mode.
3. Calibrate drone compass and IMU before each over water flight whether prompted to or not.
4. Check UAV app for optimal conditions.
5. Set RTH height high enough to clear any trees or other obstacles in my intended flight path.
6. Be sure to keep drone at least 10-20' above the surface of the water at all times.
7. If there's and wind, fly into the wind at the start of the flight so the wind can carry the drone back to the Home Port.

Ok, that's what I've got so far. I remember there being some settings in the RTH menu that needed to be adjusted so that the drone would not descend into the water if it lost connection with the RC/phone, etc, but right now I can't remember what those settings were/are.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

You might want to invest in some getter backs (.) I use these every time I fly over water. It wont keep it dry but you more than likely to at least get your drone back.

 

[mr.bill]

As someone that flies over water at long distance routinely, I don't do anything different than I would over land. All preparation is equally important. Based on this thread, here are my thoughts:

• I fly low when over water typically because wind speeds are higher than when over land. The higher I fly, the higher the winds. Therefore, I set my RTH altitude low as well, ~50 feet to keep the drone out of strong winds if in case I need to use the RTH function.
• Since flights over water are typically BVR (and well beyond for me), every watt of battery energy is critical. Adding accessories that impact flight time due to drag is not acceptable during these flights. I also don't see the benefit of floats in case of a crash/landing in open water. I don't have a boat ready in case of this situation so what's the point? And you're kidding yourself if you think you'll find the drone by the time you reach where you think it went down. Maybe on a calm lake but not in open water. Again, ditch the accessories and the extra drag.
• Fly the mission, get the shot, get back. Don't temp fate by pushing time on-site for a few more shots or extra video because you have a lot of charge left. If you have what you need, get back and keep that healthy battery reserve in case something happens like stronger heads winds than anticipated.
• If your dealing with strong winds and the drone is pitching to compensate, the avoidance sensors may return an error message because of the excess pitching. In this case, slow down a bit so the drone can return to a more level orientation. A few MPH slower can make the difference. It's very distracting to see these error messages on screen when performing a long and stressful flight over water. Slowing down can help.
• Don't panic when signals get glitchy and drop. I find a small turn on how I'm standing makes a difference in signal strength.

 

[Meta4]

As someone that flies over water at long distance routinely, I don't do anything different than I would over land. All preparation is equally important. Based on this thread, here are my thoughts:

All good advice., particularly #2 about the floatie contraptions.
Mostly they just give false confidence and sap performance.
One thing I'd add, seeing the second last point is:
When flying over open water, there's no need for obstacle avoidance.
It's better to switch it off and use the extra speed which equals distance, rather than flying at a less than optimum speed.

 

[mr.bill]

One thing I'd add, seeing the second last point is:
When flying over open water, there's no need for obstacle avoidance.
It's better to switch it off and use the extra speed which equals distance, rather than flying at a less than optimum speed.

I've never considering switching it off in this case and it does make sense. Good idea.

 

[09KR0058]

When flying over open water, there's no need for obstacle avoidance.
It's better to switch it off and use the extra speed which equals distance, rather than flying at a less than optimum speed.

Wow, that's interesting. How much "extra speed" would this give us?

 

[Meta4]

Wow, that's interesting. How much "extra speed" would this give us?

The different drones have different speeds but it's very easy to test.
Go down to the park of a nice large open area where there's nothing to hit, on a day with little to no wind.
Send the drone up 30 ft or so and do one run in P-GPS mode with OA enabled
See how fast you can go.
Stop, turn around and disable OA and now see how fast you can go.
Mine does 12 metres/sec (27 mph) and 16 m/s (36 mph) so I get an increase of 33%.
And my most economical speed (most distance/battery) is just a whisker under 16 m/s, so flying with OA disabled gives significantly more speed and max distance.

 

[09KR0058]

The different drones have different speeds but it's very easy to test.
Go down to the park of a nice large open area where there's nothing to hit, on a day with little to no wind.
Send the drone up 30 ft or so and do one run in P-GPS mode with OA enabled
See how fast you can go.
Stop, turn around and disable OA and now see how fast you can go.
Mine does 12 metres/sec (27 mph) and 16 m/s (36 mph) so I get an increase of 33%.
And my most economical speed (most distance/battery) is just a whisker under 16 m/s, so flying with OA disabled gives significantly more speed and max distance.

Thanks for the info. Will definitely check this out.
In another thread, I was asking how fast my MA would go. Considering my boat can do 62, I was wondering what the upper limit of the drone was. I have a better feel for it now.

 

[Gagey52]

There's obviously an increased risk when flying your drone over water. I got my Mavic Mini mostly for recording my flatwater kayaking adventures, sunrises/sunsets by lakes, etc. so, I'm hoping I'll be flying near water a lot. I plan to almost exclusively fly on days with little to no wind as I really like the "glass-like surface" of lakes on flat calm days. I have a great solo canoe that I paddle, and for now I plan on hand launching and catching/landing.
I'd like to put together a "flight over the water safety checklist" that I can go through before each flight, and it'd be great if some of the more experienced drone pilots could give me some input on this.

Here's what I'm thinking so far:

1. Make sure all batteries, RC, and phone/tablet are fully charged.
2. Once onsite with all local maps loaded on phone/tablet, set phone/tablet to airplane mode.
3. Calibrate drone compass and IMU before each over water flight whether prompted to or not.
4. Check UAV app for optimal conditions.
5. Set RTH height high enough to clear any trees or other obstacles in my intended flight path.
6. Be sure to keep drone at least 10-20' above the surface of the water at all times.
7. If there's and wind, fly into the wind at the start of the flight so the wind can carry the drone back to the Home Port.

Ok, that's what I've got so far. I remember there being some settings in the RTH menu that needed to be adjusted so that the drone would not descend into the water if it lost connection with the RC/phone, etc, but right now I can't remember what those settings were/are.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Ignore most of the responses here, if you feel that a checklist is going to help you with safer adventures then you go for it. Look forward to seeing your final checklist.

 

[Otisangb]

Ignore most of the responses here, if you feel that a checklist is going to help you with safer adventures then you go for it. Look forward to seeing your final checklist.

Gagey,
I am curious with a thread six months old, you would reccomend to ignore the members responses. I personally value all the responses. Sometime if you are wrong that will be pointed out and you will become informed. Just not sure what your intent was.

 

[Gagey52]

Gagey,
I am curious with a thread six months old, you would reccomend to ignore the members responses. I personally value all the responses. Sometime if you are wrong that will be pointed out and you will become informed. Just not sure what your intent was.

The guy wanted to talk about check lists and settings for his RTH. Next thing people are telling him not to waste his time and then discussions about floats. Yes, you are right it was an age since that discussion, I was curious to see if he came up with a checklist that suited his needs.

 

[Crouching Leopard]

As others mentioned, calibrating compass is useless in your scenario (unless asked to do so).

Because I live right on the western most point of Africa (Dakar) and have ocean to the east about 300 meters from the house and to the west about 600 meters, I fly 80% of flights over water. 100+ flights over water. I have done it with my Mavic Air and my Mavic 2 Zoom, but mainly the M2.

A few pointers. RTH - if I am flying from a boat, then setting Loss of Signal to HOVER is my advice. You would rather it hover in place and regain control than have it go back to the take off point which will not be where your boat currently is. Manual return and landing required.

The Mini (and other drones, mine included) will get a little flustered with holding altitude when very low over the water. You can do a search and read about it. Yesterday I flew out and hovered over the water at about 15ft high, I could watch it as it bounced maybe 1 to 2 ft in altitude for a few seconds until it stabilized. I've been told it is something about the optical sensors or ultrasonic sensors, no idea but it happens. So be prepared if it starts to lose altitude to fly it out.

Now the Mini specifically seems to have a software bug of uncontrolled descents. Personally I would not trust that drone over water but up to you. Just seems to be too many complaints about the Minis suddenly descending into the abyss.

Good luck. Here is my flight from yesterday. This was 1 mile off shore.

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If I remember correctly, The uncommanded descent issue was eventually traced to warping of the props causing the motors to speed up to max without being able either to lift or keep the drone flying at its existing height. DJI came out with a software update that alerted the pilot to which prop was causing the problem. Since then, uncommanded descents have dropped considerably. I had this happen to me on land, changed the offending prop (even though to the eye it looked ok), and never had a problem since. You do have to watch the MM though over water as it can have a tendency to decrease height as its IR sensors get confused because of varying IR light reflection. Also, it can lock onto a fast-flowing body of water (ie a river over rapids) and follow the water. Still fly, but be in full control, and don't take your eye off it. Expect the unexpected! and you will get some great shots.