The weather forecast for where I live is for fog this Friday morning. I am contemplating seeing if I can get above it. I think that could afford some great video. My question is have any of you seasoned UAV pilots had any experience flying in or through fog. How much could the moisture from fog affect or damage my MPP? Would it affect my birds ability to find it's home point or would GPS be enough? I know there are a lot of variables in these questions but what are your thoughts on this?
Fog?
- Thread starter clovis09
- Start date
I have flown in heavy fog, Or more to the point I rose straight up and then came straight down. I didn't dare touch the right stick for fear of not being able to find my way back without RTH.
Cool Video. Did you have much condensation on your bird? And that was of my biggest worries, could it find it's way back using RTH if I flew around a bit?
OP, you will lose all visual reference to the ground and to the horizon. All you will have for navigation when you are "in the soup" will be your telemetry on your device and controller. I would never solely rely on that.
I did not have a problem with condensation that I was aware of. I flew quite a bit more than just the edit that you saw. I never touched the right stick. The fog was very heavy and I would have had no way to get back to my home point if I would have flown away from my location. Im sure RTH would have worked but it still would have been a gamble.
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There was another thread of someone flying in fog in cold weather and crashed his drone. Here
I'd say fly with caution if you plan to do it. I've flown through fog myself, but that's in Brisbane and weather was ~20C, so there's no chance of icing on the props. It was low fog too, so I wasn't flying all that high. It was actually pretty cool flying above the fog, like I was above the clouds.
I'd say fly with caution if you plan to do it. I've flown through fog myself, but that's in Brisbane and weather was ~20C, so there's no chance of icing on the props. It was low fog too, so I wasn't flying all that high. It was actually pretty cool flying above the fog, like I was above the clouds.
I was thinking how cool it would be to get above it and be in the sunrise on top of the fog. Could make some interesting video. Icing won't be an issue. I live in Georgia in the southern US and the projected low that AM is 44F/7C. Thanks for your input.
I hadn't thought about the fog giving false readings on the sensors. I will definitely turn them off as I won't need them anyway. My plan is to take off from an open area on my own property that I know well and go vertical after getting GPS lock straight up to the 400FT ceiling and if I was above the fog layer at that point I would get some video. If I'm still in the soup at 400FT I will be coming straight back down. Thanks for the suggestion about the OA and VPS for as I said I hadn't considered that.
Fog is moisture (not good for drones), and you will probably lose VLOS, which is illegal is most places - for those reasons I personally would never do it.
Funny, I was cautioning someone in another thread about flying in the cold and a bunch of people chimed in to **** on me for suggesting they stay within DJI's recommended flying temperatures. An unfortunate outcome and a lesson learned, but I am not surprised to see what happened in that thread.
Funny, I was cautioning someone in another thread about flying in the cold and a bunch of people chimed in to **** on me for suggesting they stay within DJI's recommended flying temperatures. An unfortunate outcome and a lesson learned, but I am not surprised to see what happened in that thread.
AnotherMavicPilot
Well-Known Member
Here's a pic I took above the fog, however, I was lucky enough to launch of the top of a hill that was already above the fog. I think I'd be worried about moisture flying through the fog.
I have found that a word to the wise is sufficient. If this was full scale aircraft, and a VFR pilot was intentionally flying in IFR conditions, he would have his license revoked and/or crash his aircraft.
That's a good way to take a picture of the fog.
Beautiful pic! Moisture from the fog is maybe my biggest concern. If I go straight vertical and am not out of it within 400FT I'm bringing it straight back down. If I detect any moisture I'm going to let it sit with the props turning till the heat and propwash dry it off.
AnotherMavicPilot
Well-Known Member
Also just be aware of what others have said about the sensors, fog can play havoc with the sensors, so you may want to think about disabling them. There's also the real problem of remaining VLOS, once your bird goes through that fog you're gonna start getting really nervous. Any connections problems then you may find yourself in bother.
Anyways good luck, hope you do it the "correct" way.
Thanks. Yes I will definitely disable the sensors.Also just be aware of what others have said about the sensors, fog can play havoc with the sensors, so you may want to think about disabling them. There's also the real problem of remaining VLOS, once your bird goes through that fog you're gonna start getting really nervous. Any connections problems then you may find yourself in bother.
Anyways good luck, hope you do it the "correct" way.
AnotherMavicPilot
Well-Known Member
Was just watching a video on Youtube related to this topic, so thought I'd share it with you:
There’s another post in today’s email Yesterday’s New Posts where a guy did fly in fog and ended up losing his drone because the fog was read by a sensor as being an obstacle.
I am really happy to share the skies with so many of you responsible flyers. I personally do not believe in flying into clouds or condensation of any kind because it limits the abilities of your drones sensors and equipment to function property as has been stated in this thread by several members. It's the same thing as flying at night, it's cool but there are added hazards to flying.
The worst thing about fog is that if you lose your telemetry and you are already out of line of sight you can only go by the sound of the drone to try to figure out where it is. That would be impossible for even an experienced drone pilot to gauge.
I was flying the other day at the park with a friend and the ceiling was around 250'. I knew approximately how low the fog was hanging just by looking at it but I was not willing to test it by flying into it. Not worth it.
The worst thing about fog is that if you lose your telemetry and you are already out of line of sight you can only go by the sound of the drone to try to figure out where it is. That would be impossible for even an experienced drone pilot to gauge.
I was flying the other day at the park with a friend and the ceiling was around 250'. I knew approximately how low the fog was hanging just by looking at it but I was not willing to test it by flying into it. Not worth it.
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