Hovering over water

[Mavic Pro Platinum]

Slip is the screen name of the second poster in this thread. [emoji16]. Excellent post.

The person saying slup needs to say @slup to avoid confusion. [emoji106][emoji16]

 

[Derek1159B]

Thank you - excellent information and much appreciated.

 

[syzygos7]

Don't go & calibrate everything on a regularly basis ... why fix thing's that are working, it's just a higher risk that you by mistake calibrate your compass in a magnetic disturbed area & the drone goes haywire 10 meters up in the air. Calibrate IMU + compass according to user manual, keep away from magnetic things like cars, metal tables & reinforced concrete at take off & compass calibrations. If the app recommend a compass calibration first try another launch spot on a far distance from the first ... if calibration still is recommended by the app do it, but only then.

True! I had bad experience calibrating when I was surrounded with mountains. thats why I just move from one place to another until its ok?

 

[Fire Fox]

I am also a quite new only about 8 hours of flight time. Would I be correct in assuming that most of this advice is with regard to flying low over water say below 6 meters? I have flown over a dam before but was about 35 meters up and the drone behaved the same as if it was flying over land.

 

[Manty]

Moderators Slups post should certainly be a sticky.

 

[Fire Fox]

Firstly, welcome to the forum ... Wasn't sure if you only were interested in thing's regarding hovering over water ...

But I anyway add in one very easy check you always should do after powering on your drone, connected to your RC/app & placed it in the take off spot ... but before lift off. This to avoid a really scary event coming from launching from a magnetic disturbed place with following flyaway at height in an uncontrollable "toilet bowl" shaped flight path.

Always check that the drone icon on the map in your app is pointing equal to reality ... if not abort launch attempt & move away and try take off elsewhere.

After this easy check to avoid a disaster ... I go over to thing's I posted in relation to all BlowAway's for the Mini around Christmas.

Thing's in general ...

Read the user manual ...the thick downloadable one, not only the quick start

Keep well under the wind spec were you fly ... and please note that it's not only at ground, it's at the altitude were you fly. The winds up to 400ft are very different then on ground.
Use for instance the UAV Forecast app were you can get a feeling about the wind on higher altitudes, but please note that it's forecasts we are speaking of, a bit of common sense is good to apply to that ... "better skip flying a windy day & fly more another day".

Don't go & calibrate everything on a regularly basis ... why fix thing's that are working, it's just a higher risk that you by mistake calibrate your compass in a magnetic disturbed area & the drone goes haywire 10 meters up in the air. Calibrate IMU + compass according to user manual, keep away from magnetic things like cars, metal tables & reinforced concrete at take off & compass calibrations. If the app recommend a compass calibration first try another launch spot on a far distance from the first ... if calibration still is recommended by the app do it, but only then.

Don't launch in a hurry ... wait until you have at least 8, preferable 10 locked satellites & wait for the lady voice announce that the Homepoint has been updated, check then on the map that it's in the correct spot. Learn how the RTH function works, don't set the altitude for that unnecessary high, look around were you are going to fly and set it to clear the highest obstacle, to high & the drone risks a blow away.

Seek up a large open place ... a soccer field, free of obstacles & people. Test off every function one at a time until you fully understand how it works & the logic behind, confirm through the user manual if needed. Fly low, slow & near.

Take the claimed control distance from DJI with a pinch of salt ... only doable out in the countryside completely free of WiFi disturbance & obstacles in between the Remote & Aircraft.

Don't use the RTH button as a "panic button" it's usually the weakest mode of them all ... you will always have access to more power in the manual modes ... if slow against a bit to strong head wind, go for Sport mode, drop altitude & maneuver the drone home manually.

Learn the rules & regulation ... keep the drone within Visual line of sight, if you can't avoid going out of visual keep it at least in line of sight (unobstructed line between Remote & Aircraft even though you don't see it).

So I guess if you go with the manual which says avoid bodies of water then you should never fly over water at any height. I guess this make me wonder how so many pilots on you tube are flying there Mavics over water filming surfers, boats and waves considering the Mavic was not intended for such use they are really taking a chance.

 

[irpnetgb]

Firstly, welcome to the forum ... Wasn't sure if you only were interested in thing's regarding hovering over water ...

But I anyway add in one very easy check you always should do after powering on your drone, connected to your RC/app & placed it in the take off spot ... but before lift off. This to avoid a really scary event coming from launching from a magnetic disturbed place with following flyaway at height in an uncontrollable "toilet bowl" shaped flight path.

Always check that the drone icon on the map in your app is pointing equal to reality ... if not abort launch attempt & move away and try take off elsewhere.

After this easy check to avoid a disaster ... I go over to thing's I posted in relation to all BlowAway's for the Mini around Christmas.

Thing's in general ...

Read the user manual ...the thick downloadable one, not only the quick start

Keep well under the wind spec were you fly ... and please note that it's not only at ground, it's at the altitude were you fly. The winds up to 400ft are very different then on ground.
Use for instance the UAV Forecast app were you can get a feeling about the wind on higher altitudes, but please note that it's forecasts we are speaking of, a bit of common sense is good to apply to that ... "better skip flying a windy day & fly more another day".

Don't go & calibrate everything on a regularly basis ... why fix thing's that are working, it's just a higher risk that you by mistake calibrate your compass in a magnetic disturbed area & the drone goes haywire 10 meters up in the air. Calibrate IMU + compass according to user manual, keep away from magnetic things like cars, metal tables & reinforced concrete at take off & compass calibrations. If the app recommend a compass calibration first try another launch spot on a far distance from the first ... if calibration still is recommended by the app do it, but only then.

Don't launch in a hurry ... wait until you have at least 8, preferable 10 locked satellites & wait for the lady voice announce that the Homepoint has been updated, check then on the map that it's in the correct spot. Learn how the RTH function works, don't set the altitude for that unnecessary high, look around were you are going to fly and set it to clear the highest obstacle, to high & the drone risks a blow away.

Seek up a large open place ... a soccer field, free of obstacles & people. Test off every function one at a time until you fully understand how it works & the logic behind, confirm through the user manual if needed. Fly low, slow & near.

Take the claimed control distance from DJI with a pinch of salt ... only doable out in the countryside completely free of WiFi disturbance & obstacles in between the Remote & Aircraft.

Don't use the RTH button as a "panic button" it's usually the weakest mode of them all ... you will always have access to more power in the manual modes ... if slow against a bit to strong head wind, go for Sport mode, drop altitude & maneuver the drone home manually.

Learn the rules & regulation ... keep the drone within Visual line of sight, if you can't avoid going out of visual keep it at least in line of sight (unobstructed line between Remote & Aircraft even though you don't see it).

I'd say in addition to Seek up a large open place - if possible always try to fly over land that it would be possible to recover the drone from (i.e. accessible, visible, no trees, no long grass, no water - all the things that would make your life easier to get your drone back! You can be more adventurous when you have more experience). I know this isn't always feasible, but if things do go tits up, at least you have a chance of recovering your drone in one piece!

 

[Phil17]

The safest way to hover or fly over water of any kind is to turn off your downward sensors and, visually pay attention to your height over the water, not by the numbers on the screen, but what you see.

Bonjour, je suis entièrement d'accord avec votre conseil.

 

[Phil17]

Excellent post!

Your welcome

 

[Gringorio]

Bonjour, je suis entièrement d'accord avec votre conseil.

Merci!