Mavic 2 Pro Drops Into the Ocean at Takeoff

[SethB]

…Being a sailboat and trying to capture images under sail makes stopping the boat very difficult (vs a power boat).

If the skipper is cooperative the speed of a sailboat can easily be reduced dramatically to allow launching and landing. A process known as “luffing up”, in which the boat is turned almost into the wind. Of course on a blustery day things can change rapidly with changes in the wind.

 

[umanbean]

The mobile device the RC is connected to gives the audio message “take off” on issuing the CSC command

I stand corrected chastised.
Most people have a mobile device stuck to their RC anyway, so that it becomes a part of the controller.

but you’ll certainly fly VLOS.

VLOS is the law in the US, so it's best to do that anyway... I do.

 

[BossBob]

Nope, the mobile device is just a display unit with an interface to the RC. You can turn the mobile device off, or disconnect the cable and you still have full control of the drone through the RC, just no view through the camera and no fancy flight patterns.

 

[umanbean]

Stick a fork in me, I'm done

 

[Interficiam Stercore]

Don't hold onto the drone. It should just be resting on your hand or a platform. Let it take off on it's own. It should just lift off and hover. I also don't think it would be a good idea to let a drone lift off from the boat, if the boat is moving faster than the drones maximum speed. It might be ok, but I'm not positive. It may cause the drone to tilt too much. Maybe someone else will know.

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Here is a video of an Autel representative showing how to take off from a boat. GO TO 2:44 in the video to watch how simple it is. He rests it on the back of the boat and lets it take off on it's own. Basically leave it to it's own devices. It'll do what it needs to do.

 

[Meta4]

Being a sailboat and trying to capture images under sail makes stopping the boat very difficult (vs a power boat). Attached is recent sample image.

Nice boat.
Being on a sailboat adds complications with rigging and your cockpit canopy.
One solution is to have an assistant to (lightly) hold the drone and release immediately when you hit the left stick.
But you need to have practised an land so everyone knows what they are doing.
Out on the water is the worst place to learn new techniques.

Heaving to can be a useful manouevre if you need to stop.
And always bring the drone back in early as it can take a few attempts to get it down safely.
Again, an assistant can be very useful, but practise what you are going to do beforehand.

 

[Tim3459575]

Thanks for all the great input ! I will certainly practice this in my yard. My first mate (wife) is not up for anything to do with drone operations so I’m on my own. Agreed with luffing up and will do so in future to reduce risk. I have a catch handle which has made retrieval much easier by flying it straight into the back of the boat. Had this drone for 2 years and got lots of great footage of our travels (very little underway though) so I do feel I got good value from it. Have considered the Air 2s as a replacement but it sounds like camera / app is a bit better on the M2P pro, plus I have all the M2P accessories so will likely go that route.