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Flying over the ocean? Tips?

Yeah, there is no such thing as a stationary boat in the salt, there is always wind and current and the boat bobbing around.

I’m thinking of trying to take off and land from a carpet to keep it from sliding. It will be interesting to see if I can convince it to stay down.

I’m probably making way more out of this than it is.
 
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You should be OK if you are careful- for hand catch I always bring the drone down to just over head height, and then reach up and grab it from below- that is the safest way. You might be able to use tripod mode to make the movement slower and more precise when bringing it back to boat. I practiced a few hand launch & catches on land before doing it on the boat.
 
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My two cents from taking off and landing on sailboats and motor boats (you might know most/all of this):

  1. Ive seen ppl write that waves make the drone uneasy. IMO this is wrong. The waves make YOU uneasy so to speak. In calm conditions (meaning no/little wind) the drone will usually be very stable in "GPS space". It will stay on a fixed coordinate. But since the boat is moving, you are not stationary in "GPS space", hence you will move away from the stationary drone. I am probably being a nit pick here, but I believe in as precise language as possible =)
    This means that if you take off from a moving boat, the moment you let go of the drone (hand launching), it will stop in "GPS space" and this will look like its drifting away from you.

  2. When landing (hand catching) from a moving boat you will have to "fly forwards" (or backwards if it is easier for you to orientate with the drone facing away from you) so you match the speed of the boat. My method is to carefully fly in from the stern of the boat (that way, if the drone suddenly loses connection or anything that makes it hover and stop (thus, relative to the boat, move backwards), it will not hit objects on the boat). If the boat is moving I always use an assistant and I fly the drone and put it exactly a foot or so above my assistant's hand. Then I lower the height of the drone so my assistant can reach up and grab the drone (never reaching above the buttons on my MPP to avoid the propellers). This will make the drone go crazy and try to get away. A firm grip is necessary. Hold the left stick (altitude/height) downwards for more than 3s and the drone should stop. One time it took several attempts to make the drone stop, I guess because the boat was moving fast and up/down in the waves, still thinking it was in the air with a changing altitude. Using the emergency stop could also work I guess, just make sure the assistant has a firm grip as the drone first respond to the stick movements for a few seconds (sticks inward and downward).

  3. If there are waves, the boat (and you) will change height/altitude as the drone stays still. The way land in these circumstances is to fly the drone above my assistant's hand (always from the stern of the boat) so he/she can catch it on the top of a wave (the wave pushes you up towards the drone and you can catch it "on top" of the wave).

  4. Remember to change the "home point" setting from (I forget the exact words) "takeoff point" to "remote" or something like that. I believbe its the symbol with the person on it. If my understanding is correct the drone will now use the phones's gps (the one connected to the remote controller) in case of RTH or similar. This requires a good GPS signal on the phone though.

  5. Keep in mind that many things on the boat might create a magnetic field and this can make the drone react weirdly. Keep away from radio equipment and speakers for example. Also remember to never take off if you get a compass error or similar, find a different takeoff spot. There is no need to recalibrate the compass if you have done it correctly once (as a compass calibration only corrects for the drone's own magnetic field and this typically never changes.

  6. I leave the downward sensing sensor on (this way I can execute a "landing procedure" if I am stationary relative to the drone. It may confuse the drone if flying near to the water (in my experience it typically happens when only a few feet (2-5) above water). This can cause the drone to suddenly drop in altitude and you will have to counteract this by increasing the height (move left stick upwards). This has happened to me several times, but in my experience it is never dramatic as the change is rather slow. I always look at the drone visually (I usually only use the screen on the remote to compose a shot for a few seconds, then my eyes focuses on the drone, this way I notice those altitude changes immediately and correct for it).

  7. Be confident in your hand catching and hand launching technique, or in the capabilities of your assistant. Practice at home standing still. Its easy launching the drone in a moving boat with waves, but landing it in your (e.g.) right hand while working the RC's left AND right sticks with your left hand, is more of a challenge than I would be comfortable with.

  8. Have fun and be safe!!
 
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I plan on stopping the boat (it will still be drifting with the current) shut the engines off as I have twin V-6’s, and back the drone into the boat.
 
Sounds like a plan. Stationary (eg at a beach) the way I personally hand catch the drone is to deacend it carefully straight down towards my outstretched palm. The drone will stop a foot or so above the hand (noticing “ground”) and while I keep the left stick (Mode 2 / descent) all the way down the drone will enter landing mode (or forced landing) and I grab it when it hits my palm. If you have to fly the drone forward to keep up with the speed of the (drifting) boat the drone might not want to land like this. The way I’ve always done it is to fly it forwards (or backwards) to match the speed of me and my hand and just grab it. It will try to get away, but Keeping the left stick all the way down should force the drone’s engines to stop.

Let us know how it works out for you or if you figure out other ways to do it :)
 
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I have had an MPP for 14 months (flown over 1200km). Fly it over the ocean all the time. I always do a compass calibration before each session (I have 6 batteries) and an IMU calibration if I have travelled overseas or a fair distance from home.

I use Litchi, I like to be able to pre-program my missions especially over hills where it will be out of range. Go 4 is fine for line of sight.

It's scary, but you need to trust it. If you trust it over land, what's the difference?

View attachment 67019IMG_20190309_185729_251.jpegIMG_20190310_205610_486.jpegIMG_20190310_205130_012.jpegIMG_20190310_205428_811.jpegIMG_20190305_164631_250.jpegIMG_20190305_164940_535.jpeg
 
Maybe, with over 1200km of distance flown, I have never had a runaway or an out of control drone or a crash.

If I travel OS and it takes me a few minutes to do an IMU calibration on my first flight, so be it. A compass calibration at the start of 2 hours of flying (6 batteries) takes < 1 minute, piece of mind.
All that recalibrating is completely unnecessary.
 
Maybe, with over 1200km of distance flown, I have never had a runaway or an out of control drone or a crash.
If I travel OS and it takes me a few minutes to do an IMU calibration on my first flight, so be it. A compass calibration at the start of 2 hours of flying (6 batteries) takes < 1 minute, piece of mind.
That Maybe is the key word.
I have over 1200km of distance flown, I have never had a runaway or an out of control drone or a crash.
I've traveled extensively including OS and still haven't calibrated a thing on my Phantom 4 pro.

Understanding what calibrating does and when/if it's necessary makes you a safer flyer - not unnecessary ritual recalibration.
 
I plan on stopping the boat (it will still be drifting with the current) shut the engines off as I have twin V-6’s, and back the drone into the boat.
With the thirty years I spent at sea when it comes to launching or landing a drone if I was to do it I would make sure the vessel was always idling with the weather if any that way you will only need to deal with the pitch of the vessel and not so much the roll . Better late than never.
 
Hello, may be a bit late answer. But I use my MPP above water more frequently than grass.
Things to keep in mind :
If you are onboard, for the pilot :
- RTH point must be set to the remote and Hover as soon as possible
- Fingers on joystick may be hardly disturbed by waves and/or other boats speeding nearby
- no trees to block sunlights, hard to see video and use Zebra to correctly set the exposture
- distances are sometimes difficult to appreciate due to low level mist

for the drone :
- low altitude is hard to maintain and you must correct it, sensors behave weirdly when near surface and the drone climbs or falls suddenly ( I fly under 1meter frequently)
- wind is unpredictable and power consumption hard to estimate
- RTH needs at least 10% power more to take time to stabilize when wind and boat are jerking...
- water is a mirror that could reflect the sun just like snow and alter color balance and luminance data
- in low altitude above calm water and in a go forward trajectory, the surface should reveal the rotor's turbulences, idem for the grass if in river.
- BEWARE of birds, I got disturbed many times by seagulls, really really close to the drone... and even they do not attack, they rot the footage
- do not hesitate to repeat the same flight with 10 meters more or less, photographic perspective of shore is a bit hard to get.

you can see 2 youtube on my page sea and river (really close and really high both).

I hope this helps
 
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Well folks I did it, got my State Farm insurance, took the boat out today for a spring run to get ready for offshore fishing. Pulled into a cove and went for it! Launched from the deck, flew
Around and after messing with the camera controls inadvertently, but when I went to autotrack it also fixed that. It was weird seeing my position sliding away from the home point and the drone moving in another direction, made it through brought it back and hand landed it anfter trying to land it in the deck I just said heck with tha and landed in on my hand, easy peasy! Completely stable all the time regardless of altitude, no fluctuation in anything, when I hit the autotrack on the boat it showed a little icon of a boat, it knew?

 
Just have a 3ft clear landing area. I launch from my boat all the time, with waves and wind. Just be prepared to grab it out of the air if its too rough.
 
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