Flying kites

[Kieftan]

I just got a new Mavic Drone and was wondering how to capture flying kites that are in my neighborhood and how to avoid the strings catching the propellers of my drone.

 

[dirkclod]

I would stand by the fliers and look for the string.
Best I can remember from a kid that string isn’t always that tight like sag so watch out for that. What I would do and hope for the best.
Welcome to Mavic Pilots .
I hope you will find our site helpful and look forward to any input , photo's/video's you might post .
Don't be shy and ask anything if you can't find it by searching .

 

[Olav van Gerven]

Look for the direction where the kites come from and start from the other side. Then go over the kites, make a 180° turn and film them. As long as you stay away from them and don't go below them, you should be relativly safe.

To protect your drone from getting caught into the lines, you could glue rasorblades to the props...

 

[Brockrock]

Here is a screen capture from a beach flight with my kids while they were flying power kites:



These kites have a fixed line length at about 82 feet (50 M), and they are a four line power kite and very unpredictable due to their maneuverability. In the case of these kites, it is best to be above them, and if not, well away from their arc of travel. They will take your copter down without even a thought and possibly damage an expensive kite in the process, not to mention the fall hazard if this were to occur...
Single line kites are another matter. They tend to stay in about the same area, so they are a bit more predictable, but, the flyer can let line out without your knowing, and then a problem could result.
So, bottom line, if you plan to capture footage of a flying kite, definitely give it the right-of-way, and apply a wide safety margin.

 

[Kieftan]

Look for the direction where the kites come from and start from the other side. Then go over the kites, make a 180° turn and film them. As long as you stay away from them and don't go below them, you should be relativly safe.

To protect your drone from getting caught into the lines, you could glue rasorblades to the props...

Wow thanks that’s a genius of an idea but I am wondering would that not destabilize the drone with the added weight of the razors

 

[Kieftan]

Here is a screen capture from a beach flight with my kids while they were flying power kites:

View attachment 76096

These kites have a fixed line length at about 82 feet (50 M), and they are a four line power kite and very unpredictable due to their maneuverability. In the case of these kites, it is best to be above them, and if not, well away from their arc of travel. They will take your copter down without even a thought and possibly damage an expensive kite in the process, not to mention the fall hazard if this were to occur...
Single line kites are another matter. They tend to stay in about the same area, so they are a bit more predictable, but, the flyer can let line out without your knowing, and then a problem could result.
So, bottom line, if you plan to capture footage of a flying kite, definitely give it the right-of-way, and apply a wide safety margin.

Thanks for the advice, They are single line paper types that maneuver very fast and people in my neck of the wood use them for kite fighting. So the would be very tempted to try and catch my drone ?

 

[Kieftan]

I would stand by the fliers and look for the string.
Best I can remember from a kid that string isn’t always that tight like sag so watch out for that. What I would do and hope for the best.
Welcome to Mavic Pilots .
I hope you will find our site helpful and look forward to any input , photo's/video's you might post .
Don't be shy and ask anything if you can't find it by searching .

This is wonderful site, thank you so
Much for creating it. As a photographer I am very excited to open new possibilities in capturing the world from birds view. I will definitely share my experiences with you all and feel that I would learn from your expertise. ?

 

[dirkclod]

Thanks for the advice, They are single line paper types that maneuver very fast and people in my neck of the wood use them for kite fighting. So the would be very tempted to try and catch my drone ?

That’s the type kites I thought of when I read kites.
They didn’t have kites like the one posted at the beach
when I was young. And we made most of ours.
I need to get out more but wish we had had those big
ones when I was young.
It’s a differant world now.

 

[TheWolfen]

Wow thanks that’s a genius of an idea but I am wondering would that not destabilize the drone with the added weight of the razors

Yeah that's actually a terrible idea, so I hope you are kidding. It would be really difficult to get the blades weight-balanced properly, not to mention the risk from adding razors to blades that are already sharp. Your drone would go from something that could hurt you if contact was made to something that could potentially seriously maim or kill you.

Besides, if the blades can't currently prevent entanglement, I bet they'd still tangle it up with razors attached.

 

[dirkclod]

Come on ya know he was kidding .

 

[TheWolfen]

Come on ya know he was kidding .

I hoped as much but you never know! [emoji16]

 

[sdold]

Yeah that's actually a terrible idea, so I hope you are kidding. It would be really difficult to get the blades weight-balanced properly, not to mention the risk from adding razors to blades that are already sharp. Your drone would go from something that could hurt you if contact was made to something that could potentially seriously maim or kill you.

Besides, if the blades can't currently prevent entanglement, I bet they'd still tangle it up with razors attached.

I don't think anyone that would take that as a serious suggestion would be able to fly a drone, much less afford one.

 

[Olav van Gerven]

I hoped as much but you never know! [emoji16]

Me and being serious? Ask my wife...

 

[TheWolfen]

How is it possible that anyone could think that was a serious suggestion?

It wasn't the original suggestion that I thought might be serious but the reply to that by the OP. I hoped not, obviously, but wanted to be sure!

 

[TheWolfen]

Me and being serious? Ask my wife...

Yeah it was obvious you were kidding...

 

[sdold]

It wasn't the original suggestion that I thought might be serious but the reply to that by the OP. I hoped not, obviously, but wanted to be sure!

Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to imply that and that’s why I edited my post. By the way, this reminds me of something with me wanting to try with a roll of toilet paper.

 

[TheWolfen]

Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to imply that and that’s why I edited my post. By the way, this reminds me of something with me wanting to try with a roll of toilet paper.

No worries! Yeah a person would have to be pretty crazy to try a mod like that.