Flying at night?

[mavicmavsfan]

Is it safe? Any issues? Should I turn all sensors off?

 

[Point Zero]

Why would you want to turn off all sensors when thinking about flying at night lol? If its over a frozen lake with nothing around for miles then why not, if its where there is property, cars, people and animals then good luck explaining that if something unexpected occurs.

Is this a troll post lol...

 

[Mossiback]

Is it safe? Any issues? Should I turn all sensors off?

• Is it safe? That depends on how/where you fly. Flying at night is just as safe as flying in daylight as long as there is no other traffic around and you are above any obstacles that may not be seen at night.

• Any issues? Lots. Unseen obstacles, losing VLOS, finding an emergency landing spot if needed, focus issues, privacy issues. I added privacy issues because a drone at night might be noticed more than in the daytime (not necessarily by the operator), even if you do not add extra lights/strobes, and as everyone knows a drone at night can only be used to spy on someone.

• Turn off sensors? Forget about anti-collision sensors working at night, they won't, but there is no reason to turn them off.

 

[neggy]

ahhh lets start with the fact the Mavic lighting does NOT meet the FAA requirement for 3 mile minimum visibility or correct orientation and colors.

 

[ottodawg]

ahhh lets start with the fact the Mavic lighting does NOT meet the FAA requirement for 3 mile minimum visibility or correct orientation and colors.

You're assuming he lives in the US..

 

[STUFF2C]

I put a small flashlight on top of mine facing forward for easier orientation (flying around the yard). If I ever planned to fly much at night, I would definitely invest in a really good set of lights.

 

[Mr. Salty]

ahhh lets start with the fact the Mavic lighting does NOT meet the FAA requirement for 3 mile minimum visibility or correct orientation and colors.

You know that’s easy enough to fix, right?

 

[Point Zero]

What lighting would meet the FAA requirements?

 

[Turn11]

What lighting would meet the FAA requirements?

@msinger sells STROBON Cree® LED Strobe Lights that are compliant with the FAA 3 mile requirement. He also sells mounts for them. Links for the following mounts are under the strobe descriptions, Mavic 2, Mavic Pro, Mavic Air, Phantom 4 & Spark. Velcro is another option but not one I prefer because the Velcro remains.

I personally use two white strobes facing front to help give me another possible option in case of ATTI mode.

 

[Hudsonguy]

I’ve done some night flying. I’m a new pilot and it’s tricky.

You definitely want to get FAA compliant. The Strobon lights look cheesy, but they are workhorses.

So you need green and red up front and white in the back all on strobe.

A forward facing front light in white is helpful. In my experience it’s not as though that light is cutting through darkness and aiding sensors, for me it helps rapidly orient me in terms drone position.

Privacy is a huge deal at night. I think about how I would feel about some flashing searchlight laden with cameras lighting up my house.

I fly off the roof of my apartment. My approach and take off are vertices from 200 - 300 ft. My forward facing constant white light is a single Lume-X cube mounted on the 1/4 screw attachment BY PGYTECH.

This set up works for me. I take some video of the surrounding bridge and town lights looking down.

Most of my flying is over the Hudson River in a tight corridor.

I’m mostly at the phase of simply getting comfortable. I care a lot about my neighbors, so it’s straight up a few loops over the River and a rapid return. I usually bring the bird back at highspeed for a manual landing.

Again I use the Lume cube for orientation. I haven’t cranked up the light to assist the sensors. I can post some shots of my set up when I get back home in a couple days.

I’d tend to take the whole FAA business super seriously. Those guys are charged with managing our skies. They are decent hardworking folks who have a ton of responsibility. No need. To make their job harder.

I also should say I have backed away from night flying over the last 6 weeks. I’m mostly hemmed in by hospital helipads and again for me I don’t want to share the airspace because Im a rookie and have no interest in disturbing helos headed inbound or outbound from a hospital. Those pilots don’t need the distraction.

 

[Bobby Brown]

Has anyone mentioned you might want to make sure you have GPS prior to take off!