Flying close to water???
- Thread starter pedz
- Start date
Google suggests that it's Russian hacked firmware.
If you are flying with hacked Russian firmware, you do that at your own risk.
Why can’t you start from the hovering position, then climb to get the shot you want to make, then reverse it in post. It means that you’ll be concentrating on getting the low point correct without being distracted by getting the shot.
I'm not taking video at all. Still photography only. My question was more about getting to the spot over the lake safely without losing the drone. Hence, flying a hundred feet above the lake and then lowering into a six foot position above the lake. [straight up and down]
I won't be flying low above the lake surface to get to the spot I want to take pictures from...
All this confusing discussion about flying over water seems very odd. Hard to tell the nonsense from the truth here?
Its sort of like the UFO/UAP discussion. Ppl who never saw a UFO keep calling UFO witnesses all kind of words and obscene metaphores. They also come up with all kinds of plausible explanations ("operator error", "sudden power loss", "controlled flight into terrain", etc). It truly takes no less than a Congressional Committee to establish the fact that water does attract low flying DJI drones.
Strange that in all the years I've been hearing this sort of nonsense, I can't find any recorded flight data to support it.
But I've found plenty that indicates the "plausible explanations" that you've listed above.
I would have no hesitation whatsoever in doing what you describe. I'd also be comfortable flying six feet above the lake en route to the location from which you want to shoot the photo.
Just don't rely solely on the altitude indicated on the controller to establish your station 6' above the lake. There are several ways that can lead to a problem. Set your descent level visually and note the distance shown on the red proximity warning arc.
You'll be fine.
All my flying is done over the ocean and I've flown thousands of miles.
What you're planning has no more risk than flying in an open playing field.
I’ve flown a drone above water since I bought a Mavic Pro when they first came out. Sea, sea loch, loch, lake, river and stream. Still got the Mavic Pro which has never needed any repair other than propeller blades which are disposable parts anyway. 6ft is fine, you just need to pay attention.
So much misinformation. You claim this is some sort of an explanation from DJI, but then quote an obviously unreliable and plainly wrong A.I. source.
Not quite. You also need to be holding the control stick down to trigger an auto-landing. But even then, that can be aborted and the auto landing immediately cancelled if you just push the control stick back up.
There is no logical mechanism by which the bottom sensors can cause a drone to to fall into water, At worst, a failure of the bottom sensor means they will be unable to prevent you from driving the drone into the water yourself.
Disclaimer: This is based on how it works on my version-1 Mini. If you can demonstrate differently using newer models, please show it.
It's important to remember that the "bottom sensors" incorporate two separate systems, the optical sensor and the infrared sensors, which provide different functions.
The infrared sensors measure the drone's height above any obstacles, whereas the optical sensor detects patterns within its field of view.
Let's start with the infrared sensors. The only time these sensors ever provoke a noticeable response from the drone is if they detect a height less than about 2-ft. The drone reacts by refusing to descend lower, or even climbing to avoid coming closer than 2ft. That's any obstacle, as in reaching your hand up under a hovering drone, or as in flying too low over a bush, or descending too low to the ground, or even descending too low over water.
Try it yourself. If you hold the stick down slightly, descending slowly, the drone will only settle to around 2-ft off the ground and no more. Pulling the stick all the way down, when within 2-ft of the ground, will trigger auto-landing and the drone will softly land itself with no further input required. You can interrupt and abort that auto-landing by simply pushing back up on the stick.
The infrared sensors will never cause the drone to land by itself unless an auto-landing is triggered for valid reasons, i.e. you're holding the control stick down, you've commanded an auto-landing, or critical low-battery, etc.
If, for some reason, the infrared sensors have failed to work properly [i.e. signal absorbed by water rather than reflected], they will be unable to prevent you from flying your drone into the water. But they will never cause the drone to descend.
Here's my video from a couple of years ago showing this.
It's important to remember that the "bottom sensors" incorporate two separate systems, the optical sensor and the infrared sensors, which provide different functions.
The infrared sensors measure the drone's height above any obstacles, whereas the optical sensor detects patterns within its field of view.
Let's start with the infrared sensors. The only time these sensors ever provoke a noticeable response from the drone is if they detect a height less than about 2-ft. The drone reacts by refusing to descend lower, or even climbing to avoid coming closer than 2ft. That's any obstacle, as in reaching your hand up under a hovering drone, or as in flying too low over a bush, or descending too low to the ground, or even descending too low over water.
Try it yourself. If you hold the stick down slightly, descending slowly, the drone will only settle to around 2-ft off the ground and no more. Pulling the stick all the way down, when within 2-ft of the ground, will trigger auto-landing and the drone will softly land itself with no further input required. You can interrupt and abort that auto-landing by simply pushing back up on the stick.
The infrared sensors will never cause the drone to land by itself unless an auto-landing is triggered for valid reasons, i.e. you're holding the control stick down, you've commanded an auto-landing, or critical low-battery, etc.
If, for some reason, the infrared sensors have failed to work properly [i.e. signal absorbed by water rather than reflected], they will be unable to prevent you from flying your drone into the water. But they will never cause the drone to descend.
Here's my video from a couple of years ago showing this.
Next, the optical sensor.
The optical sensor detects patterns, which the drone uses to precisely hold a fixed position during hover when the control sticks are centred. This is the sensor that can potentially be "confused" when hovering over water.
If the sensor fixates on wind-driven rippling waves, or a leaf drifting past in a current, the drone may track and follow those moving patterns rather than holding the expected fixed location. Or, if the drone is hovering over a mirror smooth reflective surface, like a calm lake surface, the optical sensor may fixate on the drone's own reflection, remaining perfectly stationed over that reflection even if it's actually moving. Or if it's hovering over a featureless uniformly coloured surface, or an insufficiently lit surface, or etc, etc...
If your drone drifts away under such a situation and crashes into a tree, it is not due to a loss of control or due to a malfunctioning sensor, it is entirely due to your own inattention. The optical sensor comes into play when the drone is holding a hover with control sticks centred. If you leave it hovering without paying attention, it's your own fault if the drone is no longer where you expected when you eventually come back from your bathroom break.
I was initially convinced that this sort of unintended drifting could only ever occur in the absence of good GPS reception, i.e. that it could potentially only happen when hovering over moving water in a deep canyon or shielded under a bridge and that it could never happen when hovering over a wide-open lake.
I did this experiment intending to demonstrate that such drifting could never happen as long as the drone has good GPS reception. But, I was stunned to discover that I was completely wrong about that.
The optical sensor detects patterns, which the drone uses to precisely hold a fixed position during hover when the control sticks are centred. This is the sensor that can potentially be "confused" when hovering over water.
If the sensor fixates on wind-driven rippling waves, or a leaf drifting past in a current, the drone may track and follow those moving patterns rather than holding the expected fixed location. Or, if the drone is hovering over a mirror smooth reflective surface, like a calm lake surface, the optical sensor may fixate on the drone's own reflection, remaining perfectly stationed over that reflection even if it's actually moving. Or if it's hovering over a featureless uniformly coloured surface, or an insufficiently lit surface, or etc, etc...
If your drone drifts away under such a situation and crashes into a tree, it is not due to a loss of control or due to a malfunctioning sensor, it is entirely due to your own inattention. The optical sensor comes into play when the drone is holding a hover with control sticks centred. If you leave it hovering without paying attention, it's your own fault if the drone is no longer where you expected when you eventually come back from your bathroom break.
I was initially convinced that this sort of unintended drifting could only ever occur in the absence of good GPS reception, i.e. that it could potentially only happen when hovering over moving water in a deep canyon or shielded under a bridge and that it could never happen when hovering over a wide-open lake.
I did this experiment intending to demonstrate that such drifting could never happen as long as the drone has good GPS reception. But, I was stunned to discover that I was completely wrong about that.
then turn off the image sensors.Staying a bit high over water is your friend. The movement of the water can sometimes confuse the sensors and you may get inaccurate readings for altitude from the controller.
If you want to fly really low just be prepared. You may have to save the drone because of something it wants to do. Sunset and sunrise are the least desirable times to fly over water.. The glare from the sun bouncing off the water at these times has been known to cause some pretty strange things to happen!
If I were you I would do it... BUT I would get some good water protection from Phantomrain before I did it for sure.
It will save your drone if it goes crazy......
Oh and I have heard that if you send some Blue Bell ice cream to CAFGUY over in Bakersfield Ca. its extra good luck for flying over water !!!!!!!
Daniel NZDF
Well-Known Member
My brother crashed his DJI spark in fresh water today, because he flew low over water without turning off the sensors! Thankfully It seems ok and he has opened it up and put it in a big bowl of rice. battery seems ok still to. So, lesson learned! 
That won't have been the reason the drone crashed.
His recorded flight data might show what actually caused the incident.
Using rice is much less effective that rinsing with alcohol and letting the drone air dry.
Daniel NZDF
Well-Known Member
As I said, my brother was flying his drone over the land, then as soon as he flew at low altitude over the water, the drone did a sudden jolt, and fell out of the sky, as if the sensors had gotten confused. When he got it out of the water, it was still running. He immediately unplugged the battery and disassembled it, and as I said earlier, he put it in rice. Rice is commonly used as a very effective way of removing moisture from electronics. Check out these videos to see rice in action: Drone in water fix with rice , and Drone water damage fix.
And as I said, flying over water or "confused sensors" didn't cause the drone to end up in the water.
The recorded flight data would reveal what actually happened.
I know that people suggest using rice.
It's very inefficient, but the myth persists because of videos like those.
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