Landing in water fix?

[johnburton]

I've been reading about fly aways and blow aways that end up in a body of water. I have lakes around me and I also travel to the ocean and I'm nervous about flying over the water or even near it. I wonder how feasible it would be for DJI to fix this through programing.

Maps are integrated so simply program the drone to refuse to land in water. I mean, have it fight with everything it has until the battery reaches zero.

In fact, even if there's no water it would seem such a response would be beneficial. Automatically going into sport mode would be another idea when returning to home in high winds. I'd like it to drop to 50 feet or so too, automatically, as a last resort, to drop below higher winds, but I do see how this maneuver might be problematic.

But, the general idea is for the drone to automatically do in crisis moments what we'd do manually if we still had control. This would eliminate some newby errors too.
Thoughts?

 

[DanMan32]

With water being transparent and sensors often getting fooled, it would be difficult for DJI to make any contingency over water. Landing would likely be due to critical battery so it really needs to land in a controlled power descent rather than freefall with no power.

I could agree about allowing a greater attack angle in high winds when in RTH mode, especially when one reason for RTH is signal loss, in which case pilot has no control.
However pilot should not allow himself to be in this position.

 

[johnburton]

I'm thinking it should know where the water is based on GPS and integrated maps.

 

[Thomas B]

I'm thinking it should know where the water is based on GPS and integrated maps.

Unfortunately the drone doesn’t read the map, but simply displays it on the controller.

 

[Eka]

Unfortunately the drone doesn’t read the map, but simply displays it on the controller.

and than rc sends back info to drone not to land.. it would work as long as there is a phone hooked and a connection between rc and ac

 

[4wd]

Does the Mini have landing protection?
Not that it would help much if the reason it is going to land there is exhausted battery, why else would it be likely to be going down over water.

 

[sar104]

I've been reading about fly aways and blow aways that end up in a body of water. I have lakes around me and I also travel to the ocean and I'm nervous about flying over the water or even near it. I wonder how feasible it would be for DJI to fix this through programing.

Maps are integrated so simply program the drone to refuse to land in water. I mean, have it fight with everything it has until the battery reaches zero.

In fact, even if there's no water it would seem such a response would be beneficial. Automatically going into sport mode would be another idea when returning to home in high winds. I'd like it to drop to 50 feet or so too, automatically, as a last resort, to drop below higher winds, but I do see how this maneuver might be problematic.

But, the general idea is for the drone to automatically do in crisis moments what we'd do manually if we still had control. This would eliminate some newby errors too.
Thoughts?

If you have a control link then you can do all those things manually. If the control link is down then the aircraft can't know that it is over water because it has no onboard maps. Those could be added in future versions perhaps.

 

[old man mavic]

sounds like you are a" skydio" customer apparently they fly themselves and cant be crashed now i will wait for the c__p to hit the fan

 

[Mavic madness]

sounds like you are a" skydio" customer apparently they fly themselves and cant be crashed now i will wait for the c__p to hit the fan

Hahaha i bet i could crash one...

 

[Mac Man]

That brings up a question. When a Mini is returning to home and hovers above the HP refusing to land. What does it see or not see? What does the FC need to feel safe to land?

 

[garrillaga]

Hahaha i bet i could crash one...

The mini is a garbage but beautiful, care him...

 

[TDZHDTV]

Does the Mini have landing protection?
Not that it would help much if the reason it is going to land there is exhausted battery, why else would it be likely to be going down over water.

Yes it has basic vision, it will halt and ask for a prompt to land if it senses uneven ground

 

[TDZHDTV]

sounds like you are a" skydio" customer apparently they fly themselves and cant be crashed now i will wait for the c__p to hit the fan

Yes they do crash, already an early YouTuber has hit a cable and trashed it

 

[TDZHDTV]

That brings up a question. When a Mini is returning to home and hovers above the HP refusing to land. What does it see or not see? What does the FC need to feel safe to land?

Level ground

 

[pmshop]

It is not that the water is transparent as it is reflective.
The reflected light "blinds the sensor and then it can either drop altitude or raise altitude.
99% it is going to drop.
Just be aware of the effect and keep your eye on it when flying over water.
Then you can do this:

Captured with a Spark but the principal is the same.

 

[tcope]

As mentioned, the map is displayed on your display device only. The Mavic knows noting of this map. It does lock flight out of certain GPS positions. A fly away means that the Mavic is not functioning correctly. So I don't see how knowing it is over water would make a difference. A situation where the Mavic would try to land in water is usually user error and rare. Given all of that, I don't see why this would be done. There are many other things that the CPU could do that would be more viable.

 

[Capt KO]

I am flying over water at the beach as we speak. Wedding, not mine. You have to be mindful of your altitude at all times. Mine just started dropping by itself from 20 ft which I never had before but it was immediately after clouds came over. Guess it couldn't tell where it was suddenly. Just a touch of up stick stopped at from going any further. Noticed altitude dropping on my screen before visual confirmed it. All good having fun.

 

[SpitFire]

I agree with Capt KO. You have to be mindful of your attitude at all times when flying over water. We keep discussing this same subject over and over. KO was flying from 20feet, and situation changed after clouds came over and the drone started dropping. Same thing happened to me, that's why I started flying higher over water, and faster. Not in beginner mode or in tripod mode. Anytime flying over water, pilot has to have 100% attention on what is happening with his drone. To continue having fun and not be trying to find drone that has sunk.

 

[Lifeisfun]

I have to say my Spark never had problem flying over water even very low 3-5ft. Used it like that a lot and for extended periods of time

 

[paul050079]

I have to say my Spark never had problem flying over water even very low 3-5ft. Used it like that a lot and for extended periods of time

One day!