Flying over Water

[SlabRyder]

I have a Mavic Air. I have been reading conflicting posts about flying the MA drone over water, everything from saying it will crash over water, to turn off various sensors IOT fly over water, to it’s fine to fly over water in the original configuration.

Like everyone else here, I don’t want to lose my Drone, what is the real story about over water flying? I keep my soft and firmware up to date.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

I have a Mavic Air. I have been reading conflicting posts about flying the MA drone over water, everything from saying it will crash over water, to turn off various sensors IOT fly over water, to it’s fine to fly over water in the original configuration.

Like everyone else here, I don’t want to lose my Drone, what is the real story about over water flying? I keep my soft and firmware up to date.

We fly over the water almost every flight it is best to fly with the sensors all off including the landing sensors. This takes much of the risk of something going wrong based on what the drone thinks is happening . The real threats are than birds and wind , and of course magnetic interference from some under ground volcano and a loch ness monster wind pushing it downward into the water . Now keep it simple and have some fun.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your mavin in the rain
Maker of the Lunar Landing Pad
Coal

 

[FoxhallGH]

I have a Mavic Air. I have been reading conflicting posts about flying the MA drone over water, everything from saying it will crash over water, to turn off various sensors IOT fly over water, to it’s fine to fly over water in the original configuration.

Like everyone else here, I don’t want to lose my Drone, what is the real story about over water flying? I keep my soft and firmware up to date.

My experience with flying over water is simply to say, watch your height! My Mavic Pro will tend to slowly descend when its less than a couple of metres above the water - and especially when the prop-wash is making surface ripples. I think that's due to the downward/landing sensors getting a bit confused (as post #2 above), but it doesn't seem to be a catastrophic sudden-dive type of thing, it's just a gentle descent that can be corrected if you know to watch for it ...
The other thing is to look out for low-hanging trees on the water's edge! Be aware of your flying area before you go into it, and you'll avoid problems. Also - keep VLOS because you'll see the drone descending toward the water by looking at it before you notice the altitude numbers changing.

 

[River 93065]

I was thinking about flying to an island called anacapa, its a 3 mile fight,i have the zoom, was wondering if i should be aware of any settings other then the usual. I plan on flying above the water by 100 ft..??

 

[PhantomFandom]

I was thinking about flying to an island called anacapa, its a 3 mile fight,i have the zoom, was wondering if i should be aware of any settings other then the usual. I plan on flying above the water by 100 ft..??

I fly over water all the time. Stay at least 30 feet above the surface and there's no need to do anything different. No need to turn off any sensors. Always keep an eye on your altitude of course.

3 miles one way? You do know that regulations limit you to Visual Line of Sight?

 

[River 93065]

I fly over water all the time. Stay at least 30 feet above the surface and there's no need to do anything different. No need to turn off any sensors. Always keep an eye on your altitude of course.

3 miles one way? You do know that regulations limit you to Visual Line of Sight?

Thk you very much,,still jus learning...

 

[Gecko10]

Thk you very much,,still jus learning...

You could follow along in a boat

 

[Jaysjob]

I have a Mavic Air. I have been reading conflicting posts about flying the MA drone over water, everything from saying it will crash over water, to turn off various sensors IOT fly over water, to it’s fine to fly over water in the original configuration.

Like everyone else here, I don’t want to lose my Drone, what is the real story about over water flying? I keep my soft and firmware up to date.

I fly a Mavic Pro and I fly over water from the shore all the time. I get really good contact with the drone being clear of all obstructions ie: trees and whatnot. It’s a blast!

One caveat worth mentioning is that I never fly under or too close to bridges. I know local people that have and have lost contact and drowned their drone. I guess you could get floats or a life jacket or the like just in case but all that stuff cuts into performance so I never have.

Be sure you can fly well even without the automatic functions like RTH and gps in case things go sideways. It takes a bit of guts as well. But besides that I’ve never had a problem.

 

[charlas]

Never had issues with my Air over water, whether that's sea or river.

Just don't get too close to waves [emoji4]

 

[James in the Desert]

Watch a lot of you tube videos and you will be fine, all my flights go over water however took me a lot of practice to get the confidence. For the person going to fly 3 miles over water. 1st go to the DJI website and buy anther Drone now as you will one day lose yours. There are so many Variables Over water. Not even an old time will think that is a good idea

 

[AirShark]

I fly my MP a lot over water, haven't changed any settings. I did attach a Getter'back float just I case.

 

[AirShark]

As an fyi, once I did have trouble getting back to shore due to strong gusts. The MP should have been able to handle the stated winds but not at this time. I was able to drop to about 20' and the trees on shore blocked the wind. The elements are much less forgiving over water

 

[PhoebeSnow]

As a newbie I was flying over water and the obstacle avoidance came on? SAY WHAT - a 1/2 mile over a lake there's an obstacle? Turns out sun reflecting on the water fooled the obstacle avoidance system. As a newbie I was confused, didn't know where to turn it off, was afaid to leave the screen, and flew back 1/2 mile across the lake to the other side and followed the land home. Landed with only 7% power. Wife suggested I Could have flown backwards (never thought of that), turned off the obstacle avoidance system (didn't remember where it was), was too new and very confused at that moment. So beware, know how to turn off the obstacle avoidance system when over water.

 

[nemonlizzy]

Mine started braking while 300' up and 1000'+ out over the atlantic. I was confused at first, to say the least, but it only did it twice and that was it out of a 20 min flight.

 

[pinoydrone]

just watch your height,I never turn off the sensors at all!

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

When you're flying close to the surface, do not take your eyes off of the craft. At all. Don't look at your screen. Always be able to immediately react to that drift towards the water you keep reading about.

Too often, the stories of people doing this and losing the craft in the drink go like this: "I was looking at my feed when suddenly I see the black screen and "Lost Signal", looked up to see the craft no longer visible" (or going under).

Don't be that person. It's an expensive lesson in over-confidence.

If you have to stop looking at your craft for whatever reason, raise the latitude by 10m first. Then when the distraction is gone, go back down and continue filming.

Chris

 

[AirShark]

Raising your altitude is also a good idea ?

 

[Drgnfli]

No water in AZ - not something to worry about...LOL!

 

[Tkoglin]

I found this video a while ago on YouTube. He test his drone with both the sensors on and off.

 

[irpnetgb]

I found this video a while ago on YouTube. He test his drone with both the sensors on and off.

I've flown over water with my Mavic Air. I left all sensors turned on and flew about 2-3ft above the water. I had VLOS all the time (I was only about 20-50ft away). The biggest problems are obstacles such as overhanging branches, ship masts, cables etc. I had a few close calls with overhanging branches.
Based on the video above, I would NOT turn any sensors off AND ensure I had close VLOS at all times if flying close to the surface.