Long range mission over water

[MBurris]

Hey all, I'm flying a longer than usual distance, around 3 miles, straight line. This would be over water, LOS and I'll be launching and piloting from the beach so at sea level but maybe a few feet up from the water.

My questions:

1. Should I set the Smart Controller to Dual frequency or manually set to 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz? I was considering 2.4 GHZ as I thought the longer wavelength would help over the long distance.
2. To aid reception over that long range (and avoid higher winds aloft) I was going to keep the M2P low, around 60' to 70'. Will this altitude help or hurt reception?

Thanks, all.

Seems to me a 12 minute or so flight would be fine either room to spare but why on earth would you do that?

 

[mr.bill]

It’s was an exciting challenge.

 

[GadgetGuy]

This guy flew his M2 14 km out with a double battery and Alientech panel antenna :

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2065332880434270

Are there any issues with the 7900 mAh double battery? I've been tempted to try one, but no one here has reported back after ordering one. Got a reliable link to buying one?

 

[Jasonr38]

Hey all, I'm flying a longer than usual distance, around 3 miles, straight line. This would be over water, LOS and I'll be launching and piloting from the beach so at sea level but maybe a few feet up from the water.

My questions:

1. Should I set the Smart Controller to Dual frequency or manually set to 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz? I was considering 2.4 GHZ as I thought the longer wavelength would help over the long distance.
2. To aid reception over that long range (and avoid higher winds aloft) I was going to keep the M2P low, around 60' to 70'. Will this altitude help or hurt reception?

Thanks, all.

did you make it back

 

[mr.bill]

did you make it back

Sure did. See post #33 in this thread.

 

[HRMavic2]

I had a P4 Pro for 2 years and most of my flights were over water. Now I have the M2 Pro and have gone 4 miles out and back with no connection or video issues. I find the signal to be more stable over water than land.

 

[Andrex]

And @apeel, I appreciate what you're saying and agree with you for the most part. I would never do this over land. I believe the line of site rule was made specifically for over land as the chances of hitting something are 100%. I don't agree with this rule when over water, especially open water. I'm not going to damage anything there and if the drone fails, it's in the water and not damaging someone's property. And kudos on being the nanny of the thread ?

I don't agree with your assumption at all. What if a coastguard helicopter had been approaching from 90 degrees 3 miles out? Or any private helicopter or aircraft? You wouldn't have seen them coming let alone make adjustments such as lowering your altitude. Other craft use the air over water just as much as land. Not flying BVLOS is an imperative and rules shouldn't be ignored.

I find the lack of questioning of your illegal flight reprehensible, to be honest.

 

[mr.bill]

I don't agree with your assumption at all. What if a coastguard helicopter had been approaching from 90 degrees 3 miles out? Or any private helicopter or aircraft? You wouldn't have seen them coming let alone make adjustments such as lowering your altitude. Other craft use the air over water just as much as land. Not flying BVLOS is an imperative and rules shouldn't be ignored.

I find the lack of questioning of your illegal flight reprehensible, to be honest.

At 50', which was my max altitude, the odds of impacting any aircraft are astronomically low. If anyone aside from the CG were to fly that low should be considered dangerous in their own right. And I could see my target from where I launched, remember I was LOS. So I would have seen any aircraft approaching. I also had a spotter with me who would have alerted me to any aircraft in the area. Considering my altitude, location of flight and time-on-site, I think you're overreacting. But I'm certain we will never agree on this so for me, this conversation is over. PS. don't break the speed limit when driving because that's illegal and reprehensibly dangerous, too.

 

[AirShark]

#Brockrock Don't get many days like that here in Mass. Great footage.

 

[skyrex]

The thing that would scare me the most for a flight like this (that I know of in Australia at least) is manned craft are allowed below their minimum height when over water.
Without much of a FOV and potentially inaudible approach of said craft it's much riskier than perceived.

But otherwise congratulations for a successful flight, not one I'd have the courage to do that's for sure!

 

[Brockrock]

#Brockrock Don't get many days like that here in Mass. Great footage.

Yeah man. We have had a few nice sunsets this winter on the CT shores, but only a few...

 

[jpzend125]

Drone pilots here routinely fly over water. With a regular battery and no wind, M2 can do about 8 km out. No antenna mod needed. This guy flew his M2 14 km out with a double battery and Alientech panel antenna :

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2065332880434270

Be prepared to handle auto landing on the way back.

New2Mavic, please explain why he should be prepared for auto landing, is it activated solely for a low battery or are there other conditions that can cause it to ending auto landing mode?

 

[GadgetGuy]

New2Mavic, please explain why he should be prepared for auto landing, is it activated solely for a low battery or are there other conditions that can cause it to ending auto landing mode?

You'll likely need to dip into the last 10% of the remaining battery on the return, and Autolanding kicks in at 10%. It can be overridden with full left stick input, but the controls lose their fine tuning settings, and it acts more like Sports mode without the speed, as max speed is also reduced to 27mph or less.

 

[Jasonr38]

Is the dual battery setup sold by dji

 

[GadgetGuy]

Is the dual battery setup sold by dji

Definitely not.

 

[Jimbo in Thailand]

Yeah, I’m definitely nervous about this [over water] flight.

Yeah, you should be nervous mr.bill as there are a gazillion YouTube videos of owners crying about losing their drones while flying long distances over water, Mavic Minis included. I guess my questions are:

Are you willing to lose your Mini?
Is the risk worth it?

Sounds like you're going for another distance flight. Is there no suitable area over land that you can accomplish this that will allow you to retrieve the drone if it doesn't make it back?

Gotta admit, as small and light as the Mini is I simply don't trust flying mine very far from me. And I've always avoided flying my drones over water where I can't retrieve them. Maybe it's because early on I lost a drone due to a flyaway a few years ago. These days I'm flying the crappy range CE version here in Thailand. Even with the FAA version there are many factors beyond your control that can cause your Mini to fail to return. And if you're flying over (highly corrosive) salt water, even if you're lucky enough to immediately get it back after a splashdown, it's freakin' toast.

One more time... Are you willing to lose your Mini? I'm not trying to be a wet blanket mr.bill. I just want you to think about the very real possibility of a long distance flyaway.

Good luck buddy!

 

[E90RAW]

I fly those distances quite regularly, mostly over inland waterways..not too many times from the beach, using an M2P...but NOT with the SC. (It gathers dust on the shelf....too flaky, IMHO). I have never lost a drone in ~9 years, but I have donned my catcher's mitt for the return descent. The M2P is a very capable AC, but surfside winds shift more than it may seem...IMHO, one should do all their pre-flight setup with 1 battery, and then swap in a true 100% charged battery before flight. Ensure that you have triple checked all of your fail-safe parameters, i.e. RTH ALT, Low Batt alert, and warning levels etc....and cut your power budget by 5-10%, for good measure.

3 mile range is well beyond VLOS; Binocs do not qualify. When flying long distances over land, I have spotters down range, on VHF radio.

All the best!

And don't forget the Beta blocker/Valium!!