Flying thru an arch, tunnel, etc.

[360 Guy]

When flying thru an arch way, or tunnel, etc., how do you judge the side allowance or the top and bottom allowance of the aircraft?
I'm half tempted to set up an obstacle course and find out the hard way but I'd rather try here first.
Any and all help appreciated.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

A tunnel I would be wary of, you might lose gps and sufficient light for the VPS to work then your in ATTI and probably headed for a crash unless you can handle ATTI.

 

[old man mavic]

@PANTHER apart from the visual aspect of lining up the drone using VLOS
a good way to help with flying through an arch way or gate way is to use the grid lines on the screen as a guide to centralise the drone in the opening you wish to fly through
of course you need the camera to be level before you start
when it comes to tunnels or other deep restricted areas such as caves etc then just remember that there is always the possibility of loss of GPS as you fly through the obstacle to contend with as well

 

[MA2 317]

Use prop guards and cine / Tripod mode.

 

[360 Guy]

I'll try the grid lines, good answer.....thx.

 

[vindibona1]

One more thing to be aware of is the narrowness and "solidness" of the tunnel. I practice flying indoors and the prop wash off the walls of a hallway or nearby objects can greatly affect the trajectory of the drone. Prop guards are sometimes a good idea, especially when you can't fully control the direction of the drone. I suspect that outdoors, between trees or less wall-like objects will be easier to control.

One of the things that I think helps, if one isn't too chicken, is to fly through objects/obstacles with a moderate amount of power so that the momentum helps keep the drone straight on track. Sometimes I think it just means being a bit bold, not worrying so much about damage to the drone if you mess up. I know I tend to be a little more conservative than I should, but I also know that I miss some of the best shots because of low level fear- that I'm trying to overcome.

 

[360 Guy]

. Thx

 

[Aerialskape]

Practice flying indoors first with prop guards on. Get the hang of no GPS and has been mentioned the effects of prop wash. Make it more fun by flying in very low level light after few flights. Once you’ve got some confidence then go for it. If using a mini the extra wind resistance of the prop guards can make the drone drift more than you’re expecting.

 

[twickers14]

Not sure what you are flying but on my MA2 I can switch off the sideways stick (left and right) on a small green button on the Fly app when I am about to fly. Not expressing this very well but by turning off this control you limit the chances of drifting sideways into the sides of the tunnel. Others will present this better and hope it makes sense.

 

[Chaosrider]

A tunnel I would be wary of, you might lose gps and sufficient light for the VPS to work then your in ATTI and probably headed for a crash unless you can handle ATTI.

I've got a "Tree Tunnel" that I fly through from the rear flight deck. The first time I tried it, I had a crash that was fatal to the drone, which Care Refresh fixed. I call this tunnel the Northwest Passage.

The problem was, I'd been bitten by a tree branch from above, that I hadn't seen.

That was before I had discovered the gimbal upward tilt option on the Mini-2. For the subsequent successful flight, I enabled the upward tilt option, and used it a lot. I also set the drone to "Cine" mode. The last thing that you want to do in that situation is make sudden movements.

Here's the video from my first successful navigation of the Northwest Passage:

21-07-28 Northwest Passage Success.mp4

drive.google.com

Note that I make small motions forward, and then pause and re-assess. Lather, rinse, repeat. Fast motions are not your friend!

In this circumstance, it's essential that you maintain full situational awareness both with your eyes, AND through the eyes of the drone. Failure to do both will likely have bad results. All of my Minis have strobes on the butt, and it helps a lot. I highly recommend strobes not just for night flight, but for all flight operations. They are a YUGE help for maintaining VLOS.

It will be a long time before I take my new FPV through the Northwest Passage, but when I eventually do, I'm sure it will be awesome!

If you try this, be sure to take vids to share!



MM-FPV!

 

[DSRT_VLTR]

I have seen you tube videos that say if you can see the horizon through your camera pointed straight, it is safe to fly through the bridge/arch. I'm too wary of abandoned dangling fish hooks to try it.

 

[Chaosrider]

I have seen you tube videos that say if you can see the horizon through your camera pointed straight, it is safe to fly through the bridge/arch. I'm too wary of abandoned dangling fish hooks to try it.

Now that's a risk I hadn't considered!

MM-FPV!

 

[MA2 317]

I'm too wary of abandoned dangling fish hooks to try it.

I call them the invisible threads of death.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I have seen you tube videos that say if you can see the horizon through your camera pointed straight, it is safe to fly through the bridge/arch. I'm too wary of abandoned dangling fish hooks to try it.

If you can see the underside of the bridge/arch before you pass under it, you are good to go. Elevating the gimbal slightly is the best way to be sure!

 

[Zbip57]

I'm too wary of abandoned dangling fish hooks to try it.

I once flew my old Phantom-1 under a bridge without first doing a proper up close visual inspection. From what I could see from my closest vantage point, it "looked" like it was all clear under there.

Nope. Turns out there was a long piece of blue plastic tape dangling from the bridge. I never even saw it on my monitor. I only noticed it when editing the video footage much later. Yikes! That could have ended badly if a prop had snagged that tape.

I could see the power lines at 0:40 and made sure to keep well clear of those. But check the blue tape hanging down on the right side under the bridge at 1:49 in this video.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

a good way to help with flying through an arch way or gate way is to use the grid lines on the screen as a guide to centralise the drone in the opening you wish to fly through
of course you need the camera to be level before you start

A good way to do this, various options in camera settings, select gridlines # and line up centre grid on clear area.
You can use the cross hair type options as well, just the grid lines are handy for 1/3 rule when flying anyway, and the centre grid is very clear in its centre spot.
Practice first when walking right behind it to ensure you are confident with it.

 

[HH-1]

When flying thru an arch way, or tunnel, etc., how do you judge the side allowance or the top and bottom allowance of the aircraft?
I'm half tempted to set up an obstacle course and find out the hard way but I'd rather try here first.
Any and all help appreciated.

Right now, I am trying to learn that myself. I am also using two to three good sized trash cans with flat lids, and I take-off and land on each, when you are new at this, it's not that easy. But, success comes with effort and patience. Good Luck!

 

[EpicFlight]

Not sure what you are flying but on my MA2 I can switch off the sideways stick (left and right) on a small green button on the Fly app when I am about to fly. Not expressing this very well but by turning off this control you limit the chances of drifting sideways into the sides of the tunnel. Others will present this better and hope it makes sense.

No no no no NO!!!!!!!!

This will not minimize drift. The drone will still have some inaccuracy, and in a tunnel you are likely to have increased GPS error, and unreliable VPS due to reduced light and a probably not too distinct patterned surface.

You most likely won't have positioning problems, but the risk goes up a lot, and that is the absolute worst time to be unable to correct with sideways movement.

This is exactly the limitation with the Motion Controller on the FPV, and it's the biggest reason it's unsuitable for slow, tight and crowded spaces.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Tight spaces turn OA off, and be prepared for atti mode in tunnels etc.

 

[Meta4]

Not expressing this very well but by turning off this control you limit the chances of drifting sideways into the sides of the tunnel. Others will present this better and hope it makes sense.

Without horizontal position holding that GPS gives, nothing will prevent the drone from drifting.
Forcing the drone to ignore left/right control inputs wouldn't be any help and could cause a crash by preventing corrective measures when they might be needed.