Air 2 Foggy morning flight over the American River Parkway

[Vapor069]

Posting a video of a flight I did this morning under foggy conditions over the American River Parkway on the east side of Sacramento, California.
Much of the flight is on the edge of the fog bank when it is thicker. To minimize the hazard of moisture when the fog was more intense, I would only dip below it on relatively shorter intervals.

Awesome footage... I'm not brave enough to do that yet!

 

[Vapor069]

Hi Steve,
you have some really amazing and mistic shots/views! The music fits very well...But unfortunately the video is way too long. I´m afraid that no one will watch the video to the end! ?
cheers Paul

I watched until the end! ?

 

[MOC168]

Very cool footage! I did watch to the end the first time.

Could use please explain to a noob what your concerns/cautions are regarding moisture & the fog.
Thanks for posting!

 

[Steve F]

Very cool footage! I did watch to the end the first time.

Could use please explain to a noob what your concerns/cautions are regarding moisture & the fog.
Thanks for posting!

Thanks. The main issue when flying in the fog is the condensation that can form on the drone. If it covers the camera or sensors, it can occlude its vision. In addition to blurring your photography, the blocked sensors may get thrown off and cause the drone to fly erratically.

The other concern is that the moisture from condensation could get into the battery or electronics of the drone, causing some type of electrical malfunction. The drone itself has a cooling fan that seems to help (and I why I tend to wait a minute or two after landing before turning it off), but the battery could be a problem in a real wet environment and turn your drone into a brick in the worst case.

In one of my earlier experiences when flying in the fog for a longer time, the drone started to misbehave by ascending without my input. I was able to regain control after it got above the fog layer and hit the RTH button. For these reasons, when I fly in the fog, I tend to only dip in for shorter intervals of a few minutes at a time. Once out of the fog layer, the aircraft tends to dry out quickly due to the movement of air. Here is another video I posted earlier when flying for longer periods that I probably pushed it to the edge: