It’s freezing - should I fly?

[paparatzy]

It’s December and where I live in Central Oregon the temperatures are regularly falling below 32° during the daytime. I fly Part 107 missions for Real Estate clients and have started to consider the question of whether or not I should fly my Air 2s when the temperature is below 32°. I did buy a rechargable hand warmer to keep in the glove box along with a couple batteries so that they don’t get cold in the car prior to flying.

My question is whether or not I will experience flight issues if the temperature is below the recommended threshold of 32° starting the flight with a ‘warmed’ battery. Would that even make a difference and is the issue with air temperature related to the battery alone?

Advise from those of you with experience flying at or below 32° would be appreciated.

 

[old man mavic]

@paparatzy a few things to consider apart from the batteries getting cold
the lower temps will shorten the flight time and reduce performance of the drone
also if it is really cold then it could impact on the gimbals ability to keep the camera level and vibration free
in certain conditions there is the chance of prop icing taking place as well
and finally dont forget that the cold will have a negative effect on your ability to control the drone as well ,due to very cold hands ,and the possibility of hypothermia ,which is often something that creeps up on you without realising you are suffering from it
i am not trying to scare, you a lot of these things can be mitigated with some simple ideas,
such as warming yourself up between flights ,,and wearing suitable clothing for the conditions

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Assuming your flying from inside your car , freezing is a great time to fly.
As long as you have your controller / Phone protected and the drone starts up your good to fly .

The only awareness you have to maintain is icing on the props which you can check on each flight.
We would recommend getting the Air 2S Wet Suit to keep the Battery Seal Air tight which will increase the Battery Temps by about 6 degrees F.

As a rule of thumb if the Drone will not startup , its to cold but that rarely ever happens and we have flown in some extreme temps as shown in our videos.



Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Air 2S in the Rain and Freezing Cold.

 

[retiredNH]

Many of us fly in temps below freezing. After all, where I live in New Hampshire, that's half the year! (just kidding). As others have said, just watch out for performance problems. Probably not a good time, for instance, to test maximum flight range. You might learn about conditions that could lead to prop icing, too.

 

[paparatzy]

Thanks for the responses. I never fly from inside my car, VLOS being the concern, so yes, it can get very cold while outside and even when shooting exteriors of homes with my camera, in just 10 minutes or so the tips of my fingers start to ache.

It is high desert country, which comes with a drier air, so I don't think ice on the blades will be a problem, but good advice to be on alert for that. I'm not a risk taker and usually never fly far out keeping the drone just high enough and far enough to get good photos and video of the home for sale, which means quicker to return to home if there are problems.

Once again, great feedback from experienced pilots. Great forum.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

With regards to battery issues, if the motors will actually start ( I can't remember) perhaps letting the drone sit on the ground with the props idling would allow the battery to reach a 'good temperature' without draining too much power from it? I don't know if just having the drone switched on would have the same heating ability.

That said I put cold batteries inside my clothing to warm them up.

 

[retiredNH]

With regards to battery issues, if the motors will actually start ( I can't remember) perhaps letting the drone sit on the ground with the props idling would allow the battery to reach a 'good temperature' without draining too much power from it? I don't know if just having the drone switched on would have the same heating ability.

That said I put cold batteries inside my clothing to warm them up.

It's usually much easier to keep the batteries warm before use. In flight, I suspect, but haven't measured, that there's enough heating from discharge to keep them warm enough. (Has anyone ever found a cold feeling battery after a flight?)

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

It's usually much easier to keep the batteries warm before use. In flight, I suspect, but haven't measured, that there's enough heating from discharge to keep them warm enough. (Has anyone ever found a cold feeling battery after a flight?)

Yes that is correct but in the absence of body heat is not the point that, whilst the battery is cold, drawing appreciable current i.e. that that is down whilst the drone is in flight, is detrimental to the battery or charge?
The current drawn at prop Idle is possibly significantly less than that drawn when the drone is in flight, yet still enough to provide some heating.
Indeed don't or didn't some DJI batteries have a pre heat feature built in to them? Mavic 2 Enterprise batteries perhaps?

 

[retiredNH]

Yes that is correct but is not the point that, whilst the battery is cold, drawing appreciable current i.e. that that is down whilst the drone is in flight, is detrimental to the battery or charge?
The current drawn at prop Idle is possibly significantly less than that drawn when the drone is in flight, yet still enough to provide some heating.
Indeed don't or didn't some DJI batteries have a pre heat feature built in to them? Mavic 2 Enterprise batteries perhaps?

The point is, keep the battery warm before use. Don't waste limited battery capacity on pre-heating.

Simple, I think.

Yes, from other threads I've read that some enterprise batteries have heating built in. But we're not talking about enterprise drones, are we? No DJI consumer drones that I'm aware of have battery heating.

 

[akdrone]

I wouldn't worry about it. At all. A few days ago I spent the day flying and it was -20F and colder with 20mph winds and it wasn't even close to the most extreme flying I've done. If I waited till it was warmer than 32F....I'd do very little flying for more than half the year. Other than dressing warm if you're outside and keeping the batteries warm, it's no big deal. Above zero even the battery life is not -hugely- impacted from my experience although some caution is warranted to be sure. Just fly. No problem.

 

[Vic Moss]

As others said, keeping things warm is very important. However, NEVER fly from inside your car. There is no way to maintain situational awareness unless you're in a convertible with the top down. And then what's the point?

If there is any humidity at all and you're worried about icing, put the drone up and 6' and let it hover for a couple of minutes. Land and check the props for icing. It there isn't any, you should be fine. But watch for any anomalies during flight. If it's starts handling weird or shudders, bring it back and check again.

 

[HoozierDroneDaddy]

With regards to battery issues, if the motors will actually start ( I can't remember) perhaps letting the drone sit on the ground with the props idling would allow the battery to reach a 'good temperature' without draining too much power from it? I don't know if just having the drone switched on would have the same heating ability.

That said I put cold batteries inside my clothing to warm them up.

Have flown in commercial jobs -20F. 1) Keep everything warm in the vehicle until your ready to start your motors. 2) If your motors start, lift off the ground about a foot or two and hover for a minute or two to warm it up. 3) If the air is dry as you say, you should not have a problem with icing, however, if there is light snow or mist, check after a few minutes to see if your are getting icing. 4) Flying from your vehicle has limited visibility, Park where you CAN see your flight path with the door or window open. I have sat with the door open sitting sideway with my legs out to keep VLOS, but sitting with my feet hanging out I still get the heat from the vehicle and protection from any wind chill. 5) Carry a small plastic garbage bag with you. When you land put the drone in the bag and wrap it tight around the drone before putting it back in the warm vehicle to warm up. This will keep it from building condensation from going from cold to warm as it limits the amount of air around it while warming. It's been awhile and there are others that have cold weather experience that may chime in. But hopefully these suggestions will help.

 

[Tofino]

I just did a search for “flying in cold weather” and on the first page there are 20 posts about this and there are 6 pages. Do this and read through them and you will learn lots. I fly in cold weather and do what others have suggested and no problems at all. The coldest I have flown in was -18 F with a windchill of -25. Your fingers will get cold very fast, nose start to run and glasses fog up, so plan the flights and enjoy flying in the cold.

 

[lensimages]

Assuming your flying from inside your car , freezing is a great time to fly.
As long as you have your controller / Phone protected and the drone starts up your good to fly .

The only awareness you have to maintain is icing on the props which you can check on each flight.
We would recommend getting the Air 2S Wet Suit to keep the Battery Seal Air tight which will increase the Battery Temps by about 6 degrees F.

As a rule of thumb if the Drone will not startup , its to cold but that rarely ever happens and we have flown in some extreme temps as shown in our videos.



Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Air 2S in the Rain and Freezing Cold.

Hi Phantom Rain, thought I would show you my new design for keeping my drone dry in the rain, and Merry Christmas, cheers Len

 

[old man mavic]

@lensimages and i would imagine it doubles up as a parachute,as well

 

[B52-D]

One factor to keep in mind are the Manufacturers SPECIFICATIONS.
Operating Temperature Range
(32 degrees F to 104 degrees F)
Operating outside of Mfg Specs could create a denial of a warranty claim.
Just Sayin

 

[akdrone]

One factor to keep in mind are the Manufacturers SPECIFICATIONS.
Operating Temperature Range
(32 degrees F to 104 degrees F)
Operating outside of Mfg Specs could create a denial of a warranty claim.
Just Sayin

You're right on that account! However.... but I'd get like 3 flights a year if I couldn't fly below 32F! LOL (perhaps a bit of an exaggeration but I think it's supposed to get to -20F today and you know what I am going to do....)

 

[Tofino]

I just had a flight last night and it was -5C and No wind but even in that cool weather after 10 minutes of standing there I froze my thumbs. The Air 2s preformed excellent just myself that suffered.

 

[akdrone]

I just had a flight last night and it was -5C and No wind but even in that cool weather after 10 minutes of standing there I froze my thumbs. The Air 2s preformed excellent just myself that suffered.

Come on up here for a week of flying. You'll go home and think of -5C as ... not so chilly.. . Overheard yesterday at the grocery store line on a nice day at -8F " I heard it's going to start to get cold". Reply something like..."Well, -20F in a few days but that's all so nothing bad in the forecast yet".