Flying across the Solent (UK)

[adam3112]

Hi all,

How feasible do you think it would be to fly the Mavic Pro / 2 across the Solent to the Isle of Wight, specifically the needles and back at the most narrow point from the mainland, with the obvious hazards factored in like Battery life, Range etc? The journey is roughly 5KM

The Needles looks a cool place to fly the Mavic but it's just so *****hard to get to unless you take a Ferry across and drive there.

Been thinking about this flight plan for a while because I think if it was ever attempted, regardless of whether it would be legal (with the obvious lack of VLOS taken in to account) and the mission was a success, I think it would be make very cool video / photo content, not to mention I would get a huge sense of achievement similar to that of Swimming across the channel and back in one piece! I currently don't have the ***** to do this.

Here's a rough flight plan of what I'm talking about below:



This is all hypothetical, but What are your thoughts on this and the likelihood of the Mavic successfully achieving this flight path?

Maybe someone can tell me this has already been attempted several times. I've not seen any footage though.

 

[zocalo]

Assuming the wind wasn't too high, it shouldn't have any problems with this at all; it's only a few km, well within the range of a Mavic.

As for VLOS, you could get around that with a motorboat, although it's not exactly cheap to hire one for a private charter and you'll definitely want someone else to steer the boat for you. Alternatively, you may be able to find an agreeable cruise boat operator with a workable tourist sightseeing route out of Christchurch or Lymington on the mainland, or Yarmouth or Cowes on the island.

Launch the drone from the boat somewhere near Hurst Castle and land the drone ashore, which would be the starting point of the video. Take off, and fly it to The Needles, keeping the boat within 500m of the drone and maintaining VLOS, land to finish the video. Take off again and retrieve the drone on the boat. Edit. Post online. Job done!

 

[Meta4]

This is all hypothetical, but What are your thoughts on this and the likelihood of the Mavic successfully achieving this flight path?

The critical factor to consider is what effect the wind strength and direction would have, particularly for the return trip.
You wouldn't want to have to fight a headwind coming home.

I think it would be make very cool video / photo content

Long flights over water tend to make for tedious viewing.
Most of the visual interest would be at the Needles or any boats but you wouldn't have a lot of time to slow down for photography.

 

[pross]

I was thinking the same actually, I'd rather watch a 30s POI from each side and be left to imagine the crossing.

 

[Derlisz]

I was flying around The Needles from the Isle of Wight and after the wind picked up out of nowhere I have barely made it back. Also factor in that there are airfields on the IOW and the needles are popular with gyrocopter etc. It's a bad idea imho.

 

[adam3112]

Thanks all. I still don't have the courage to attempt it, with the wind being my main concern, but if you want to get footage of the Needles on a budget, this could be an option.

 

[Kokopelli633]

Don't want to lecture, but Please be carefull in that area, the glass G ceiling is only 2000ft aircraft not cleared to enter the controlled airspace above will keep well under this ceiling to avoid conflict and on ocassion operate down to much lower altitudes and it is fairly busy with light GA traffic

 

[io390]

Don't want to lecture, but Please be carefull in that area, the glass G ceiling is only 2000ft aircraft not cleared to enter the controlled airspace above will keep well under this ceiling to avoid conflict and on ocassion operate down to much lower altitudes and it is fairly busy with light GA traffic

I agree with the above.

I've flown well below 1000ft in that area many times and there is a lot of light aircraft traffic in the area. I'd recommend having an ADS-B receiver handy as/when you do this flight, if possible.

 

[zocalo]

Long flights over water tend to make for tedious viewing.
Most of the visual interest would be at the Needles or any boats but you wouldn't have a lot of time to slow down for photography.

Another option (in general, rather than just the Solent) would be to turn just that section of the clip into a hyperlapse by adjusting the frame rate in post. I've done this with GoPro footage and it can be quite effective with the right combination of video and time compression, especially if you have something to focus on, like the boat the drone pilot is on in this instance, and the use of the effect is just enough to be obvious.

 

[4wd]

The distance is not an issue even on CE so it would be feasible and worth a try, ideally go very early morning when not much chance of unexpected super low air traffic.
The good thing about going over water you can travel very low since there is practically nothing to hit - under 50 feet maybe, but beware the indicated altitude is not guaranteed accurate as your flight progresses.
You want a light southerly wind which can't be that difficult.
I'd be happy enough to approach reasonably close and get pics video rather than trying to go right round, which could go horribly wrong.
Bird attack might be your main worry. That will get much worse late spring early summer when they are nesting.