Hi al,
So happy to be member of this great forum. I live in Western Australlia, and we have some great, uninhabited islands on our rugged coastline. Where I live there are 3 islands that are 2-3 km from the beach. I am so tempted to fly from the beach, where I will always have a direct connection to my drone without interference or buildings in the middle to fly my drone (
Mavic Air 2, regular controller with Iphone) to these islands have a quick look and return. I have a few questions, as the typical anxiety kicks in here, and not sure if my DJI replacement insurance would cover it if I ditch my drone.
There are no restrictions on flying in that area.
1. Is there a risk I will still lose drone contact even if it says you can go 10 km distance ?
2. How high should I fly in order not to ditch the drone, I know the altitude warning is not enough when flying over water and then there are waves.
3. can I rely on my RTH if the battery empties, will it be able to make it home to the beach ? Any shortcoming here means loss by ditching.
4. Would you recommend flying there in sports mode to be quicker or would that drain my battery even quicker ?
Thanks so much for your answers, can't wait to do this.
I would love to be in your position to explore islands like that:
What about using a kayak/canoe?
You're questions one by one:
1. Is there a risk I will still lose drone contact even if it says you can go 10 km distance ?
The
MA2 drone has got Ocusync and a claimed 10 km range plus your aiming off the coast and not over a city full of electrical interference
Re flight range where the
MA2 has 25 mins at least
I like the response of 'drbobk - take off into the wind and return home with it'
Under still or light headwind conditions the drone will cover the 4 to 6 km return trip and afford you some hang time over an island
Test these assumptions first by going to that beach and flying 3 km over land down the coast into a light headwind, hanging some time then returning with a light wind. Here its up to you about how you treat your batteries, IE come home and land at 2% or 30% left. Speaking of batteries use a trusted battery that has been treated well
2. How high should I fly in order not to ditch the drone, I know the altitude warning is not enough when flying over water and then there are waves.
Water is sea level and you are you standing on the beach so the tallest obstacle is on that island.
First i'm thinking about the trip to the island. Where you leave the shelter of the coast and winds become apparent
And sometimes a drones downward obstacle avoidance sensors are fooled by water and the drone lands in the water
Because of #1 you would want to head out and return as low as possible and I know that on the
MA1 you can disable the downward sensors for use over water and just fly to a set height like 30m then approach the island when you get there. The
MA2 may be similar.
Regarding progress to the island so that you arrive there under battery budget for the return home
Your drone and remote control will report high winds to you, typically where the drone is using GPS to remain stationary and a lot of 'effort' like %90 of max performance is required to maintain a stationary position.
But you don't get warnings prior to these thresholds so take note of how many meters per second your drone progresses under ideal conditions and monitor actual progress on the trip to the island.
So you're
MA2 does 19 meters per second in sport mode. And your proceeding toward the island at 5ms because of a headwind or 'worse' a strong side wind. Things looks like progress but you know that its going to take you 3x longer to arrive at destination and its possible that a sidewind is going to cost you on the home run as well.
Do you quit at the 1.5km mark and come back another day? (I would) That's the thinking required, you really are the pilot here
3. can I rely on my RTH if the battery empties, will it be able to make it home to the beach ? Any shortcoming here means loss by ditching.
Don't rely on RTH, consider it a last resort only
RTH does not automatically use sport mode to fight high winds when returning to you. A drone in RTH can still fall short by running out of battery, be pointing at you but blown backwards by headwind that exceeds the drone performance or the pre-set RTH height is faulty - too low causing a collision with an obstacle or too high and entering high winds.
On occasion I have been surprised by and warned about high winds. The only thing I have used RTH for is to quickly get the drone pointing toward me, I lower the height if I can safely then switch to sport mode to gun the drone toward me while I check direction and progress on the remote control. I always have battery % in reserve for this.
The other use for RTH and read your manual as each drone model is a bit different. On the
MA1 if I loose remote connection the drone will first backtrack a bit (pop back out from behind a building or obstacle?). If that doesn't work it will assume the RTH height if higher than current height then point in my direction and head home, not in sport mode.
You can see how its no guarantee
4. Would you recommend flying there in sports mode to be quicker or would that drain my battery even quicker ?
Interesting one and I have a question not an answer
I don't know which mode gives you greater flight range
What I want to know is which mode gives you greater certainty?
I'm going to start a thread on that one
I like your challenge and how it has got people thinking and planning - i'm wondering if I would try it
because of so many variables....
Do you know how to paddle?
