Flying in remote locations over water

[Bilzy6164]

Hey all new here, just got my Mavic the other day am from Australia and am going on a fishing trip in an extremely remote location in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, I will be on a boat for most of the two weeks and camping on islands, I'm freaking out about flying my drone over water and with all the cliffs around and that thinking of magnetic fields etc can anybody help me out with what I can expect and what not to do settings etc? Thanks in advance

 

[idiogenic]

- Think about your RTH settings - no point having it RTH and landing in the water if your boat isn't there. I'd personally set 'loss of RC signal' to hover. If you're flying from land, ensure your RTH height is higher than all the cliffs around you.
- consider disabling VPS - it can get confused by reflections from the water then tell the Mavic to change it's altitude in unpredictable ways (if you haven't disabled VPS and the Mavic tries to land on the water, flip the sport mode switch to abort the auto-land - stick up may not abort it, depending on your firmware version)
- I personally wouldn't fly beyond line of sight in this environment

A few simple precautions should see you through alright. Bring back some great pics - the Kimberleys are on my bucket list!

 

[Blucenturion]

idiogenic covered it pretty well, good luck!

 

[Bilzy6164]

Aws

- Think about your RTH settings - no point having it RTH and landing in the water if your boat isn't there. I'd personally set 'loss of RC signal' to hover. If you're flying from land, ensure your RTH height is higher than all the cliffs around you.
- consider disabling VPS - it can get confused by reflections from the water then tell the Mavic to change it's altitude in unpredictable ways (if you haven't disabled VPS and the Mavic tries to land on the water, flip the sport mode switch to abort the auto-land - stick up may not abort it, depending on your firmware version)
- I personally wouldn't fly beyond line of sight in this environment

A few simple precautions should see you through alright. Bring back some great pics - the Kimberleys are on my bucket list!

awsome mate thanks for the prompt response legendary! Also Wat do u think about the hood for the remote is it worth getting?

 

[Bilzy6164]

And are the nd filters worth using because of the all the sunny conditions and the water?

 

[idiogenic]

Yeah I don't have a hood and struggle in sunny conditions. Don't have filters either but everyone else reckons they're sweet.

 

[CactusJackSlade]

Yeah I don't have a hood and struggle in sunny conditions. Don't have filters either but everyone else reckons they're sweet.

ND filters help eliminate possible "jello" in your video and also add color/saturation. They are worth the investment Do a specific search to learn about the technicalities of ND filters ;-)

 

[Bilzy6164]

Awsome thanks heaps

 

[Dragonfly]

Adding to this, change RTH to return to Controller and regularly reset the controller as new home point. This assures that where ever you move to or are the Mavic will return home to you and not where it took off from. Get in the habbit of resetting the controllers new home point right before you initiate a RTH. Turn of VPS and most times mavic will return and hover at six feet waiting for final land command. At this point you can hand catch/land or continue to land. Always remember to be ready to flick the sport mode switch to cancel any operation you give the Mavic, this will give you back full command. Do not rely on the pause button or up throttle stick to get out of trouble or cancel an operation.

 

[Cerberus]

Adding to this, change RTH to return to Controller and regularly reset the controller as new home point. This assures that where ever you move to or are the Mavic will return home to you and not where it took off from. Get in the habbit of resetting the controllers new home point right before you initiate a RTH. Turn of VPS and most times mavic will return and hover at six feet waiting for final land command. At this point you can hand catch/land or continue to land. Always remember to be ready to flick the sport mode switch to cancel any operation you give the Mavic, this will give you back full command. Do not rely on the pause button or up throttle stick to get out of trouble or cancel an operation.

Wait... What do you mean you have to regularly reset the controller as the new home point?

I thought once you select the controller as the home point, the Mavic will always RTH to where you are currently holding the RC, or Am I wrong in that assumption?

 

[Merlin83b]

I thought once you select the controller as the home point, the Mavic will always RTH to where you are currently holding the RC, or Am I wrong in that assumption?

You are. Setting controller as home point drops a pin in the map, and the Mavic will treat that as the home point. It will not update again unless you tell it to. If you then move on, you're best updating it again in the same way before hitting RTH.

 

[Bilzy6164]

Ok I'll give that a crack!! Thanks, weird I was just outside doing a small test flight just straight up and said come back to home and the screen went black this scares me considering where I will be taking it,

 

[BIGDAVE]

- Think about your RTH settings - no point having it RTH and landing in the water if your boat isn't there. I'd personally set 'loss of RC signal' to hover. If you're flying from land, ensure your RTH height is higher than all the cliffs around you.
- consider disabling VPS - it can get confused by reflections from the water then tell the Mavic to change it's altitude in unpredictable ways (if you haven't disabled VPS and the Mavic tries to land on the water, flip the sport mode switch to abort the auto-land - stick up may not abort it, depending on your firmware version)
- I personally wouldn't fly beyond line of sight in this environment

A few simple precautions should see you through alright. Bring back some great pics - the Kimberleys are on my bucket list!

this is why I like this site above ALL OTHERS!! its replies like this that make a new pilot feel like he or she is among friends. other sites you ask a innocent question and you get five boneheads answering you and if your lucky one good answer. thanks for keeping it real.

 

[Mavic_Ward]

Disable the downward sensors. They can have issues over water. Or at least they did.

Also, there is a new firmware out right now: V01.03.0600

 

[Gary cato]

600 is out they just released 550 last week

 

[Bilzy6164]

Yeah mad!! It is good cos I know most of these questions to some probably sound stupid I'm new to this drone stuff and it's Awsome that ppl get back so fast and with such good help thanks ppl!!

 

[JLane]

I'd also probably make sure that RTH Obstacle Avoidance is disabled, for at least two reasons:

1. Flying over water I think there's a greater chance that the Sun's reflection can give a false OA reading, which could stall the Mavic in an emergency RTH
2. With RTH OA disabled, the Mavic will RTH faster, reducing the chance it could get stalled by strong wind

 

[Malavic]

The above advice is great. Don't forget you can raise your maximum altitude so you can raise your RTH well above the cliffs if you aren't using hover. I just spot checked the cliffs around the King George Falls area and they seem to be about 250-300ft tops but you could be somewhere totally different. Don't be afraid to raise that RTH to 150M or something....you need to clear the cliffs and account for any elevation error in the IMU.

I'm totally envious. My goal is to spend a month in Australia, specially in some remote areas along the north coast.

 

[Bilzy6164]

Alright Awsome I'll do that too!

 

[Bilzy6164]

Yeah I will be setting that up for sure, I really just Gota find time to nut this all out before I go and the camera settings too, yeah I'm going up the sale river pretty remote not many boats go where we are going but be doing horizontal falls and all that aswell I'll post some stuff after I'm done