Flying in smoke?

[Thewrightstuff]

I live in Missoula MT and recently the fires from California and other places have caused us to be completely covered in smoke. I was just wondering if it was safe to fly my MM in the smoke?

 

[Thewrightstuff]

Here is a pic

 

[old man mavic]

only if you can still see the drone through the smoke ,but perhaps it would be better,if you were not breathing it in for long periods

 

[Repaid1]

I live in Missoula MT and recently the fires from California and other places have caused us to be completely covered in smoke. I was just wondering if it was safe to fly my MM in the smoke?

Concur to above, just doesn't sound like a great idea unless you have some special purpose that you really need to do so for a short time. But it isn't really going to hurt the MM, might need to clean the lens and such after depending on level of contaminates.

 

[zeusfl]

I dont think is a good idea since the smoke particles can go inside the drone and damage electronics without mention the lens damage or exceed or heat.

 

[Repaid1]

I dont think is a good idea since the smoke particles can go inside the drone and damage electronics without mention the lens damage or exceed or heat.

Heat??? He is in a different state for goodness sake And if smoke damaged electronics, the millions of cigarette smokers would be buying new TV's and Stereos, DVD players ...ect, all the time. The camera module is sealed BTW to keep out moisture and lens fog.

 

[zeusfl]

Heat??? He is in a different state for goodness sake And if smoke damaged electronics, the millions of cigarette smokers would be buying new TV's and Stereos, DVD players ...ect, all the time. The camera module is sealed BTW to keep out moisture and lens fog.

Depending what are you burning the smoke can have different kind of particles. Is not the same burning a cigarette than burning oil, acid or any accelerate that can cause damage to electronics.

By the way, i work with computer for living, you need to see what a tabaco smokers computer looks like inside and what to do to the IDE cables back in the days. The tabaco make the IDE cables like crackers. I witness that 20 years ago.

 

[Vic Moss]

Unless you have active particulates falling from the sky, there won't be any damage.

If there is so much particulate or chemicals in the air the it will effect your motors, you probably shouldn't be out in it anyway. You drone motors would be the least of your worries.

 

[Olav van Gerven]

It depends on multiple factors.

# First and most obvious: What is the temperature of the smoke? The closer you get to a fire, the higher the temperature will be. This might cause problems with the drone.

# If smoke gets thicker, the sensors will be influenced, like flying in the clouds or fog, upto the point that the drone might assume, that it is so close to the groud it can safely land - onlyfor you to find out, that the downward sensors were fooled by the thick smoke.

# Flying VLOS in smoke (clouds, fog) can be difficult if not impossible. If so, you are not supposed to fly.

# Even if there is no abvious fall-out in the smoke, very fine particles of soot will be part of the smoke (the darker the smoke, the more you find). This will be sucked in the drone by the coolingfans, and could (will?) cause problems.

# Smoke generally means, there is a fire somewhere. Specially if you have bigger bushfires, fling in the smoke could endanger emergency crews (firebrigade etc). An absolut "nono!" for every dronepilot.

My conclusion: Unless you have a job to do that requieres you to fly a drone in or through smoke, just don't do it.

 

[BigAl07]

Safe? That's your call but the aircraft should be fine unless like Vic stated lots or particulate fallout (ash etc).

Safe for you? Maybe not so much but again that's YOUR call on your health and what you're willing to risk/bare.

Legal? As long as you maintain VLOS it's legal if there are no existing Flight Restrictions in your area which it sounds like there would be NONE since you're in another STATE. Keep in mind the smoke will diminish your VLOS distances so adjust your flying accordingly to stay legal AND safe.

 

[Beet]

Here in southern Australia there is a 10 klm restriction on any active fire.
Last summer we had active fires occur over 4 months, smoke so thick that roads were closed for several weeks, we had 9 weeks of visibility of less than 1 klm.
After the fires everyone had to have roofs and guttering and water tanks cleaned several times.
The amount of fine particuls that occur in wild fire smoke is a problem, then you have the retardent chemicals that can and do linger in the weather system, 2/3 weeks after fire bombing had taken place we were getting chemical rain, water that had to be dumped because of chemical contamination.

 

[Thewrightstuff]

Thanks for all the replies and I think I am going to wait this one out. It is not very hot but a little bit of ash has been falling.

 

[Deleted member 114292]

Here is a pic

The smoke as shown in your picture is no problem.
We get that every year when they burn the cane fields, only worse.

 

[Palfertronic]

Never mind the heat, your drone is going to stink after a while...

 

[Greg-614]

I live in Missoula MT and recently the fires from California and other places have caused us to be completely covered in smoke. I was just wondering if it was safe to fly my MM in the smoke?

I would be concerned with the soot and whatever else might be suspended in the smoke getting into the drone and if not harming components inside, clogging the air intakes, etc. If I were to fly near a forest fire I would do it from several miles away.

 

[detectorguy]

I flew it in the other day in Sacramento California and you could not see across the field. I launched the mavic 2 zoom into the air and it dis-appeared into the smoke. I pushed return to home and she came back to landing pad via GPS. I put the additional lights on and she still dis-appeared. I kept it in a closer area to run thru some batteries, and will try it again later when I can see it in the air, not in the smoke.

 

[Peter Hughes]

I’m not a scientist but what little I recall from my school days: Isn’t smoke made up of particulates and aren’t those particulates made of carbon or carbonised material?
Isn’t carbon a good conductor of electricity?
IF I have it right, I think I’ll steer clear of having the smoke drawn into my drone electronics and through the motors.
Take care, Peter

 

[Robyhe]

Wind conditions for me would be a major factor. If mild, I’d consider flying and factoring in wind, if any, would be blowing away from me and ensuring I’d be able to keep a visual on my MM, given size and colour. Footage of fires can be great I’m sure, but one must use caution.