Flying in the clouds - advice needed!

[DJI DelBoy]

As a hobbyist there are still rules to follow to fly safe. If you're not in any class airspace that restricts your altitude you can fly to 400 feet in Class G airspace while remaining in visual line of sight, referred to as VLOS. Flying into a cloud at that low level would be a risk for your drone because it will mess with your sensors. It may also cause you to lose sight of the drone which would be illegal to fly. A "cloud" at that low altitude might be considered fog if your on flat ground and not on the side or top of a mountain. I've seen YouTube videos of drones flying above clouds and it looks heavenly. But when they attempted to come down the bottom sensors thought the drone was landing on the cloud vapor and resisted their attempts to land. Eventually it did come down but extremely slowly like when it's doing a precision landing from about 3 ft in the air. At this rate they were concerned the battery would run out and it would drop out of the sky.

Here is the FAA link to hobbyist class 336 fight rules.

Recreational Flyers & Modeler Community-Based Organizations

www.faa.gov

Thanks for your input. Regarding the sensors and landing issues, it wouldn’t be an issue if the drone was put into Sports mode and the safe landing feature (can’t remember the name off the top of my head) is switched off?

 

[Mavmatic]

So I’ve been flying near some mountains and occasionally the clouds roll in. When they do I get out of the way.

I recall watching a video on YouTube where the owner of a DJI drone (can’t remember which model it was as I watched the video about a year ago) almost lost his drone because the clouds interfered with his drone’s sensors.

I’ve also noticed some forum members warning about moisture being drawn into the Mavic 2 by the internal fan.

However, I’ve seen videos of people flying their Mavic 2s through clouds. Are they risking it or can the Mavic 2 deal with clouds?

If so, what settings should be enabled or disabled? And what precautions should be taken?

Thanks in advance for any advice and explanations.

DO NOT FLY IN CLOUDS PLEASE

 

[skiptv]

I'm curious, how does the video look when you are flying in clouds? ?? Oh that's right you can't see anything, so, why fly in clouds??? FYI its against the law in the USA to fly in clouds, 500 feet below, 2000 feet to the side is the law.

 

[jeplane]

How are you going to maintain line of sight in clouds?
What is the benefit in seeing nothing for your video/pics?

 

[DJI DelBoy]

How are you going to maintain line of sight in clouds?
What is the benefit in seeing nothing for your video/pics?

I meant to fly above the clouds or to emerge from a cloud. Distance between me and drone would be about 100-200 metres at a height of around 50-100 metres from me - I’d already be on the mountain.

 

[DJI DelBoy]

DO NOT FLY IN CLOUDS PLEASE

Why? What happened to yours?

 

[DJI DelBoy]

I'm curious, how does the video look when you are flying in clouds? ?? Oh that's right you can't see anything, so, why fly in clouds??? FYI its against the law in the USA to fly in clouds, 500 feet below, 2000 feet to the side is the law.

It’s not that. Where I intend to film the clouds sometimes rolll in quickly. I wouldn’t say it’s thick cloud cover. More like fog or a little thicker. Sometimes when you’re focusing on the mountain whilst looking at your screen the clouds can just suddenly appear out of nowhere.

That’s why I’m asking for advice in case my drone gets caught up in a cloud.. if it did it would only be for a minute or two but I don’t want it getting confused or auto-landing.

 

[Earthman]

If you fly under Part 107 rules,

• Minimum weather visibility of 3 miles from control station.
• No careless or reckless operations.
• The flight is conducted within visual line of sight,
• First-person view camera cannot satisfy “see-and-avoid” requirement but can be used as long as requirement is satisfied in other ways.
• At all times the small unmanned aircraft must remain close enough to the remote pilot in command and the person manipulating the flight controls of the small UAS for those people to be capable of seeing and controlling the aircraft with vision unaided by any device other than corrective lenses.
• The unmanned aircraft must remain 500-ft below and 2,000-ft horizontally from clouds.

For operating from a mountain above clouds, I don’t recall that Part 107 specifies clearance above clouds; however, I assume VFR (visual flight rules for manned aircraft) would apply; i.e., 1,000-ft above the clouds. This is a reasonable assumption since the 500-ft and 2,000-ft clearances are the same as VFR rules. In any case, all other Part 107 rules apply as well.

Section 336 (flying for recreation) rules are similar.

Fog is a cloud at ground level.

The rules for clearance from clouds are necessary to give manned aircraft operating under instrument flight rules (IFR) time to avoid VFR aircraft that are required to operate clear of clouds.

It’s very difficult the judge distance from a cloud.

Always follow the rules to be safe.

With respect to flying in high humidity, moisture may condense on cooler internal parts of the aircraft, which may affect safe operation. This may not be that likely for equipment that is warmer than the ambient air, but why risk it?

If it’s raining, the relative humidity is 100% and your drone’s cooling fan may suck water droplets into the drone regardless of the “rain suit.” Again, why risk it?

Flying a drone in high humidity or wet conditions without knowing the ramifications to the safe operation of the aircraft and the safety of those within reach of an out of control aircraft seems reckless to me.

 

[v8juice]

I have flown in heavy snow over uninhabited wooded areas and even at 300 feet vision goes to poo at times due to clouds/fog. I have encountered no issues with the drone.

 

[Mavrick77]

This was only 250 ft it was fun. Never lost VLOS. More like fog this time. No moisture.

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Amazing footage

 

[clydesur]

So I’ve been flying near some mountains and occasionally the clouds roll in. When they do I get out of the way.

I recall watching a video on YouTube where the owner of a DJI drone (can’t remember which model it was as I watched the video about a year ago) almost lost his drone because the clouds interfered with his drone’s sensors.

I’ve also noticed some forum members warning about moisture being drawn into the Mavic 2 by the internal fan.

However, I’ve seen videos of people flying their Mavic 2s through clouds. Are they risking it or can the Mavic 2 deal with clouds?

If so, what settings should be enabled or disabled? And what precautions should be taken?

Thanks in advance for any advice and explanations.

I had no problem going up and down through the fog although I did not know what to expect. After the flight the had almost lifted when I landed and did not notice any moisture on the drone. This was my 3 or 4th flight with the Mavic Zoom. Here is a shot video of the footage.

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[Wydocksr]

No , the Neoprene is not dense enough , its only 1.5mm and we learned a lot from the Wet Suits we made for the Phantom 4 Pro series. , Neoprene also stays cooler than the Plastic in the Extreme heat.
The vents on the Mavic are still open but better protected from rain and debris with the the Wet Suit.

View attachment 71488

Do you make these for the Mavic Air?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Do you make these for the Mavic Air?

No , We made it for the Mavic 2 series the Pro / Platinum but not the Air.

 

[DJI DelBoy]

I had no problem going up and down through the fog although I did not know what to expect. After the flight the had almost lifted when I landed and did not notice any moisture on the drone. This was my 3 or 4th flight with the Mavic Zoom. Here is a shot video of the footage.

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I’m guessing the heat of the motor prevents the build up of moisture? Some members have expressed concern but if it’s not thick rain clouds I don’t think the moisture will be an issue for either the drone or battery. I started this thread more because of the sensors triggering auto landing in case they get confused by the clouds.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

I’m guessing the heat of the motor prevents the build up of moisture? Some members have expressed concern but if it’s not thick rain clouds I don’t think the moisture will be an issue for either the drone or battery. I started this thread more because of the sensors triggering auto landing in case they get confused by the clouds.

But as Metadata posted, that is an easy turn off :
Get rid of the auto landing and your much better off espceially flying low over water or water falls.

 

[aklassa]

I recently flew between clouds, I did not deactivate the sensors and I did not get any alerts (but it seems a good idea to deactivate them), the drone is in perfect condition. I flew in fog too, and the drone get soaked, I would not do it again, with the clouds there was not so much humidity.

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[Phantomrain.org]

I recently flew between clouds, I did not deactivate the sensors and I did not get any alerts (but it seems a good idea to deactivate them), the drone is in perfect condition. I flew in fog too, and the drone get soaked, I would not do it again, with the clouds there was not so much humidity.

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With cool footage like that I would do it again and again but with the Mavic 2 Wet Suit and the sensors turned off .

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic in and out of the storm.

 

[Robert Mitchell]

Hi All,
I don't mean to be the bad guy here, but the rules in the U.S. are that a drone must operate 500 feet under vertical cloud altitudes and 2000 feet horizontally from clouds. I am aware that there is a difference between flying in rain and fog at low altitudes. Also aware that mountains create a conundrum in that you could take off from "above" a cloud. Please be safe because it only takes one mistake to ruin it for everyone.

Yes BlueRidge. I live in the mountains and am often able to take advantage of the "conundrum" you speak of. That said, I agree that diligence is required as manned aircraft, especially military, will often practice and operate in these conditions.

 

[CactusJackSlade]

I live in a major city and have yet to see news on people in the USA flying close to airports, over people or and dangerous situations you state. I think we need to fly responsible, but not gin up factious Drone events! I’d say you need to stay in your backyard

I’d think you’d be hard pressed to post links to six dangerous Drone events that happened in the last six months in the USA?

Drone on........

I might suggest this type of attitude is what gives drone pilots a bad image.... the FAA currently received about 100 REPORTS PER MONTH. Now how many of these were a true close calls or which ones are recreational drones (vs military etc) is another story, but it shows how many potential incidents there are.

FOLLOW THE RULES PLEASE - flying in "fog" (which defined by the FAA is the same as clouds for all intensive purposes) is a NO-NO!

UAS sightings:

UAS Sightings Report

www.faa.gov

 

[gnirtS]

Clouds are going to vary massively in moisture content.
They can also vary in composition, they could cause icing, they could be convective and subject the drone to vertical or horizontal winds or wind shear it cant physically cope with.
I've flown near rapidly forming clouds over the rainforest immediately after a storm - the vertical and horizontal winds produced by these alone are huge.

They're a bad idea for lots of reasons not just moisture content. Stay away is the best option, especially convective clouds.
Also in all countries im aware of, its illegal to fly in or through cloud (you arent in VLOS/VFR etc).

Ignore the ridiculous wetsuit posts which achieve nothing, they wont have any benefit flying in this sort of environment (and likely just to make the drone more liable to fail due to overheating, altered flight characteristics and so on).