Finding a Known Location Over Water

[maintenanceguy]

Tomorrow I want to get some video of a lighthouse that's almost 3 miles off shore. I can find it on my navigation charts and I can get GPS coordinates for the location. There is no way to enter gps coordinates in the MA2 and the MA2 native map doesn't show the light house.

I can fly out in roughly the right direction and I'll know the distance but there's a pretty good chance I'll miss the spot. If it was closer I would have some time to fly around looking for it but battery life is probably going to require a quick flight out, take a quick video, and quick flight back.

Is there any way to mark the location accurately in the Fly App or even to stay on a particular compass bearing?

 

[Repaid1]

How come I get the feeling that we will get a "I lost my Mavic Air 2 Yesterday" message soon. If I were you I would wait for Litchi support to run that, it reads lat and long on the display. Other than that you will need to shoot a azimuth on shore and not deviate from that, and good luck with that, you will need a really good compass (Not cell phone), but it should put you within site of the object you seek.

 

[maintenanceguy]

It might be a disaster. You only live once. I've flown out farther than this before so I know the drone can do it but not that far over water but I think my chances of successful return are pretty good.

Getting to the destination is the part I'm worried about.

 

[Meta4]

I think my chances of successful return are pretty good.
Getting to the destination is the part I'm worried about.

Before you launch you'd need to seriously consider how the wind is going to affect your return flight.
The other issue will be that you might not be able to see your target at all until you are within a half mile.
The wideangle lens on the camera makes objects appear further away (smaller) than they actually are.
If you fly a few degrees right or left of the true course to the lighthouse, you might not see it and won't know which way to turn to find it.

 

[dawgpilot]

Tomorrow I want to get some video of a lighthouse that's almost 3 miles off shore. I can find it on my navigation charts and I can get GPS coordinates for the location. There is no way to enter gps coordinates in the MA2 and the MA2 native map doesn't show the light house.

I can fly out in roughly the right direction and I'll know the distance but there's a pretty good chance I'll miss the spot. If it was closer I would have some time to fly around looking for it but battery life is probably going to require a quick flight out, take a quick video, and quick flight back.

Is there any way to mark the location accurately in the Fly App or even to stay on a particular compass bearing?

You can switch the Mavic Air 2's map to satellite view, which should show the lighthouse.

 

[JohnLietzke]

You can switch the Mavic Air 2's map to satellite view, which should show the lighthouse.

Satellite view is very useful and perfect for a mission like this.

I too the Mavic Air 2 out 4.5 miles over the ope ocean with not problem. Just be aware that wind is a huge factor around the ocean and to be conservative with your battery estimates and return when or before the first battery waring with RTH prompts.

 

[NG Wildman]

Some good answers here. A good azimuth always helps with a quality lensetic compass at a fixed point and a wide angle lens or a filter. Maybe there is a device like the find me stuff on phones these days that you could strap on. Although that would increase wind resistance and decrease flight time/distance. I'm going to look into the satellite view, not familiar with it in DJI. Sounds like a better choice.