How low can it fly?

[retiredNH]

I'd love to do some low level flying over some of our many wetlands, photographing the water lillies, but am afraid of losing my 2S to auto landing or something similar. Am I being too fearful? Anyone have first hand experience to share?
Thanks

 

[dirkclod]

I fly low over lots of water. You do take a chance but I have found if I pan my camera down just abit I get the affect I want without being to low. Helps if you know where you are flying and have flown it before. Little stems you might not see with your eyes will kill ya.

 

[retiredNH]

I fly low over lots of water. You do take a chance but I have found if I pan my camera down just abit I get the affect I want without being to low. Helps if you know where you are flying and have flown it before. Little stems you might not see with your eyes will kill ya.

How low? 10 feet? 2 feet? ever went down?
Yea, cattails and pickeral weed need to be watched for.

 

[dirkclod]

How low? 10 feet? 2 feet? ever went down?
Yea, cattails and pickeral weed need to be watched for.

Just depends where I am at. I can’t answer that for you with you just asking. No I’ve never went down but I know where I’m at from flying in the same places. You have to experiment over and over
Looking each time at the footage to know how low you can go.
I’ve never went below say 2 foot but never needed to. And just did that for meanness. . Sometimes you play with fire ya get burned. I’ve been lucky but hey I’ve been flying over 7 years.
What you got to ask yourself if you fill lucky.
Just don’t start out filling lucky. Experiment just don’t get brave to quick.
And fly slow.

 

[MS Coast]

There's definitely no need to fret until you see the propwash on the water.

If the edges of the lily pads are being folded over, you might want to bump it up a foot or two.

Air2S, no zoom.

 

[dirkclod]

If your sitting still like in a hover you can see propwash easy. Moving slowly it’s not so bad and that depends on how much you have your camera panned up. These things do put out a lot of ripples in a hover.

 

[retiredNH]

wow. Two great posts! Thank you both!
I think I'll go low initially over shallow water - where I can wade out if bad happens. Thank goodness we only have beaver, ducks and good tasting fish in our waters up here - no alligators or water moccasins.

 

[dirkclod]

wow. Two great posts! Thank you both!
I think I'll go low initially over shallow water - where I can wade out if bad happens. Thank goodness we only have beaver, ducks and good tasting fish in our waters up here - no alligators or water moccasins.

Lol we have both here. Just ease into it and you will do fine. Just
watch what your doing. Experience is everything.

 

[a2tomm]

My 2 cents ,Never trust the remote or software ,line of sight is best ,and yes the auto land feature can kick in .Mini 3,2,1 air2s and Autel evo2 can all kick into auto land ,we need a pause to land button

 

[retiredNH]

My 2 cents ,Never trust the remote or software ,line of sight is best ,and yes the auto land feature can kick in .Mini 3,2,1 air2s and Autel evo2 can all kick into auto land ,we need a pause to land button

Yes, auto landing is one of my fears. At least we don't have 'gators who might mistake the drone for a duck!

 

[HoozierDroneDaddy]

Lol we have both here. Just ease into it and you will do fine. Just
watch what your doing. Experience is everything.

And if you have aggressive wildlife such as a gator, don't hover to close to get the shot. There have been videos of drone pilots trying to get that great shot where the gator came up and grabbed the drone.

 

[dirkclod]

And if you have aggressive wildlife such as a gator, don't hover to close to get the shot. There have been videos of drone pilots trying to get that great shot where the gator came up and grabbed the drone.

We have a video here some where in the line of that happening.

 

[R2TheTroll]

If your sitting still like in a hover you can see propwash easy. Moving slowly it’s not so bad and that depends on how much you have your camera panned up. These things do put out a lot of ripples in a hover.
View attachment 154305

Just curious. Are quadcopters troubled by "settling with power" like conventional manned helicopters?

 

[dirkclod]

Just curious. Are quadcopters troubled by "settling with power" like conventional manned helicopters?

I havn’t had no issues but I stay with everthing updated.
Like I will let mine hover while I switch to camera then back to Go. Course I keep my eyes on it

 

[Phantomrain.org]

So we run the Air 2S with a 1 ft over the tree tops and 2 ft over the water .

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain, Land on the Water

 

[Dbez1]

So we run the Air 2S with a 1 ft over the tree tops and 2 ft over the water .

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain, Land on the Water
View attachment 154335

You’re braver than me.

 

[dart106]

Just curious. Are quadcopters troubled by "settling with power" like conventional manned helicopters?

I’ve only experienced that with my M2 when hovering over water. But, that was due to the sensor and the subsequent “LANDING” announcement. I was able to easily recover by commanding a climb from about 15’ above the calm, glassy water.

 

[moldorf]

I hope that pilots back off a bit when they spot wildlife. Use zoom if you can and try not to disturb the animals

 

[dirkclod]

You have to know how your bird reacts and over what your flying over. If you don’t stay high. I always start higher then just work down To where I am confident with what I am flying.
Have a saying..if I’m scared I stay on the pourch
As far as wildlife I always have Cream Of Mushroom Soup on hand and if your not from the south you want get that

 

[BigAl07]

I recently flew about 3' off the water for a project on a local river we were documenting. I was able to hover, traverse the rover, and do anything I wanted at an estimated 3' AWL with no issue.

I located the tallest item on the section of the river where I was about to flow, determined it's height, then made sure I was a "pinch" above that for the flight. Here's a quick shot I did (screen grab) from part of the project: