Question about flying over water and diving

[msinger]

I will also be flying VLOS but at a few hundred yards my eyes can get fooled easily

That's when things get complicated. If you cannot clearly see your drone, it's quite possible that you'll dip it into the drink if you're flying low. Don't rely on the sensors to save you.

Do you happen to know if there is a set height it will ascend to if something is detected?

There is no set height and this feature is not meant to avoid the ground (or water) when skimming along the surface quickly. It's just something that can happen when the downward sensors detect a nearby obstacle below the drone.

 

[BD0G]

I fly over water all the time. Lake Tahoe. Like I mentioned I descend slowly so that I dont over compensate and take the Mavic for a submarine ride. Forward facing obstacle sensors do sometime indicate an obstacle , but that is usually the low hanging sun. I just rotate slightly so that I am not facing directly towards the sun and carry on. I also fly over solidified water (also known as ice) and its a blast flying low and fast! Here is a sample shot in Alaska.

The Mavic is really the Cadillac of the sky compared to "freestyle" drones.

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[old man mavic]

Mikemoose55
I plan to think the situation through by practicing on dry land at the park and am trying to understand the equipment also. If I can't get any information on how the M2P actually works over water, then the only way to know is to try it so I thought I would ask here before doing that. I don't understand why some people act like they want to spank me for thinking of such a thing. So, if you read my first post, I am looking for a backup just in case I mess up. I'm not phoning it in or anything of the sort. I plan to fly manually but you have to have the electronics to do that, I can't fit my wide rear on the Mavic. I'm going to practice the flight for quite a while over land before ever attempting it over water. At the same time I will be getting a lot of practice on my flight skills. The one thing I'm not even close to being certain of is how the Mavic will act over water and if the sensors will save me if I make a mistake or if the sensors don't work over water or tall swamp grass. And I don't know how you cannot depend on the technology anytime you turn the Mavic 2 on. So, for the flight, I promise I will hone my flying skills, I will practice the flight over land until I feel like I am quite capable of completing it, I will fly manually, and I promise that I will not ask anyone here for a loan to replace my Mavic if it goes into the water. With all that said, I still want to know if the sensors may help if I mess up. Also, I want to thank Msinger, Speedmeister, Bdog, Meta4, Knewt, DanMan32, and Phantomrain.org for giving me advise instead of acting like I was a 62 yr old child that needs a spanking for doing something bad.

it was never my intention to treat you as stupid in any way and age has nothing to do with, i am 72 years young and i learn something each time i fly i wish you every success in your flying but i would not like you to destroy your mav just understand its capabilities yours Omm

 

[kilomikebravo]

Even the most sophisticated aircraft like a jumbo jet can't be flown on auto pilot in an abnormal situation.

Actually, you'd be surprised at what a good autopilot can do and you can most definitely use it during abnormal situations, even with an engine out. The M2's are not quite as good.

 

[kidroc]

We need to do is constantly keep an eye on your elevation what you’re doing if it goes into the red are you here at the controller saying the landing pull up immediately but if you’re only doing 10 miles an hour you should be fine if your drone is in good operational condition

 

[Lapeer20m]

I leaned a great lesson about flying near water the other day. Takeoff point was near the shoreline. Ended up with a rc disconnect when the bird was near the home point.

Rather than return to home, because I was within 20 meters? The drone landed right where it was. Fortunately, the lake was frozen and it landed on the ice, but this could have been catastrophic in the summer.

This changed the way we do business. Now, the home point MUST be at least 20 meters from the shoreline when launching aircraft.

 

[Dur8an Poison]

Thank you. I will definitely watch the videos on your site so I can check on the error message and possibly do some testing of my own.

Im also interested in the same as i would like to line up some video of our local scuba diver boats launching from shore,divers backward rolling off the boats as they drop in etc. But need to properly understand the AC and its limitations. Definitely will be shot on those calm still (wind and sea days) as its not for anything other than my own diving passion so I'm not under any time / deadline pressure.

 

[tcope]

If you have Landing Protection enabled, the Mavic will auto ascend if it detects something is close to the bottom of the drone. Considering that you'll be flying fast and water is not detected with 100% accuracy, I wouldn't rely on the downward sensors to help. Flying within VLOS (and nearby) is going to be your best bet in this case.

The only time(s) the Mavic will auto ascend or descend is when it's in Active Track or Terrain mode. It will not ascend automatically otherwise. There is one other situation where it will auto ascend but this is when there is a very slight incline and the Mavic is moving extremely slow (almost never happens).

However, the OP's post does not make sense to me. See following post.

 

[tcope]

I have a question about diving down toward water while also going forward at a fairly good speed. If you do this will the sensors on the M2P keep you from going into the water and either stop the drone or just not let it go any lower but still fly forward.

It may.... but in my experience over land, it's 50/50 (at best). It all comes down to the angle of the drone due to its forward motion and how fast the drone is moving downward. The forward sensors needs to register the ground or water as being in front of it and with enough presence to register it as an object. It does not know the difference between land and water.

My answer would be, don't plan on the sensors stopping you from losing the drone in the water.

For experienced flyers, think about this.... you are flying forward at 5' above the ground. You then push the stick all the way down to lower the Mavic's altitude. You don't stop pushing down on the stick. How comfortable do you think you'd feel in the Mavic not crashing into the ground if you never left off the stick? If you think the Mavic won't crash..... try doing this very same thing. Let me know how that works out for you.

 

[tcope]

Relying on the electronics to fly, avoid, navigate , take off , land and so on is a huge mistake.
First off that crap only works if you know how to operate your drone completely and understand the limitations of such systems.
Just because it has some nice features doesn't mean you can "phone it in' so to speak and allow the drone to cancel you out as the PIC.
Even the most sophisticated aircraft like a jumbo jet can't be flown on auto pilot in an abnormal situation.

While I think the question was aimed more at gaining the knowledge you mention.... I agree 100% with your post. It's the baseline that everyone should use whenever they fly. Personally, at the point that I rely on the electronics to save the drone... I've already done something wrong.

 

[mikemoose55]

Mikemoose55
I plan to think the situation through by practicing on dry land at the park and am trying to understand the equipment also. If I can't get any information on how the M2P actually works over water, then the only way to know is to try it so I thought I would ask here before doing that. I don't understand why some people act like they want to spank me for thinking of such a thing. So, if you read my first post, I am looking for a backup just in case I mess up. I'm not phoning it in or anything of the sort. I plan to fly manually but you have to have the electronics to do that, I can't fit my wide rear on the Mavic. I'm going to practice the flight for quite a while over land before ever attempting it over water. At the same time I will be getting a lot of practice on my flight skills. The one thing I'm not even close to being certain of is how the Mavic will act over water and if the sensors will save me if I make a mistake or if the sensors don't work over water or tall swamp grass. And I don't know how you cannot depend on the technology anytime you turn the Mavic 2 on. So, for the flight, I promise I will hone my flying skills, I will practice the flight over land until I feel like I am quite capable of completing it, I will fly manually, and I promise that I will not ask anyone here for a loan to replace my Mavic if it goes into the water. With all that said, I still want to know if the sensors may help if I mess up. Also, I want to thank Msinger, Speedmeister, Bdog, Meta4, Knewt, DanMan32, and Phantomrain.org for giving me advise instead of acting like I was a 62 yr old child that needs a spanking for doing something bad.

You are taking this all wrong, Firstly I am actually older than you and compared to 1000's of Mavic flyers here I only have minutes in the air. But what I do have is 1000's of hours over 46 + years flying fixed wing R/C aircraft
where there is absolutely no technology or automatic save your butt devices like on the Mavic.

You learn to identify, think forward plan and gut react to stuff that goes wrong in the air or you spend a bunch of time building new airplanes.

My point is you have to know how how to fly the drone and the limitations it has, A jumbo jet pilot doesn't need an auto pilot he / she knows how to fly the aircraft and uses technology to augment their control...but they know the aircraft inside out first..
Your Mavic will do some stuff you do not expect especially if you do not correctly to set it up , program it and manage it when it all goes wrong. That is my only point you fly the drone it does't fly you.
best of luck get all the air time you can and be a great pilot.
mikemoose55

 

[msinger]

The only time(s) the Mavic will auto ascend or descend is when it's in Active Track or Terrain mode. It will not ascend automatically otherwise.

Enable Landing Protection and place your hand underneath the drone while it's hovering. What happens?

 

[BD0G]

It dusts off the cheeto's you are holding so they are cleaner.

 

[tcope]

Enable Landing Protection and place your hand underneath the drone while it's hovering. What happens?

1) that would be a good test. 2) I'd still not rule out that this is a reaction to a different situation and 3) I can only say that I've tested the Mavic in forward motion up and down a hill. It does not change altitude unless in Active Track or Terrain mode. What happens is that it flies toward the hill and the forward sensors stop it's forward movement (unless the incline is _super_ small the drone is moving at a super low speed... basically the incline is so little _and_ the speed Id so slow that this would happen almost never).

I think testing of the hand, if it does increase the altitude of the drone, would be found to be triggered for some other reason... not normal flight.

But again, I'd love to test it out.

I've said this many times before, I do have a video of my tests as mentioned above that I really need to finish and post. I lost some interest in finishing it when it became "old". But perhaps I now realize that it's not "old".

BTW, I try _never_ to contradict what you post. If I have that feeling, I take a moment to figure out why I'm wrong.

 

[msinger]

I think testing of the hand, if it does increase the altitude of the drone, would be found to be triggered for some other reason... not normal flight.

I normally see this occur when people are flying in foggy conditions or a 3rd party accessory (e.g. landing gear) is installed too close to the bottom sensors. While I haven't tested this over water myself (too dangerous to try), I'm thinking the sensors could trigger the same behavior. Either way, it's certainly not a safety net one should trust in when flying over water.

 

[dwolfe002]

I figured it would be easier and better if I just put all this into one post instead of replying to all that answered. First off, thank you all that gave me more insight to what the sensors will and will not do. I prefer to hear about real world scenarios while still understanding manufacturer do's and don'ts and carefull's. What I have learned so far is that the sensors may or may not save me if I make a MISTAKE. I can live with that and make a decision on whether to fly like I had planned or try to do like knewt suggested, which sounds like a less dangerous idea to get basically the same thing. So, after all the input I have decided that I will try it if the land testing works out and will decide then whether to try it my original way or knewts way.

Now, I probably should give an apology to Omm and mikemoose55. I now realize that you both were either concerned about my flying ability or the M2P or both. I have a lot of practicing to do over the next few months and I consider any mistakes I make are on me. I'm not really looking for something to save me from myself but I thought that if the sensors would work/ may work, then they may be a POSSIBLE backup to any mistakes I may make. All I was looking for is how the sensors work in that type of situation if anyone knew. Then, I would make a decision on whether to fly in that manner. So, I am sorry I took your posts the wrong way. I already plan to practice, practice, practice and learn, learn, learn. I promise you that is the first thing I'm doing. Then I will do the same on land for the type of flight and once I am satisfied that I can do it then I will take to the water. So, if I turn the Mavic into a boat you are welcome to tell me "I told you so" and I will still invite you to the funeral.

 

[FoxhallGH]

For what it's worth, every time I've flown my Mav' Pro over water, it has seemed to get this 'slow-death' idea in its head, where it just wants to keep [sloooowwwly] going down to the water. I have to continually watch altitude and compensate. I don't know for sure, but I think it gets worse the closer you get, due to the ripples being kicked up by the prop' wash ...

 

[tcope]

I normally see this occur when people are flying in foggy conditions or a 3rd party accessory (e.g. landing gear) is installed too close to the bottom sensors. While I haven't tested this over water myself (too dangerous to try), I'm thinking the sensors could trigger the same behavior. Either way, it's certainly not a safety net one should trust in when flying over water.

If the person is pushing down on the stick to lower altitude and something is placed under the drone (such as a hand), the drone _should_ register this as a land and other send a warning because it may not be safe to land (uneven area) or stop for a moment and then initiate landing. The difference is that the stick is being pushed down to land, the terrain is not rising. I suspect that the software won't go into landing mode if there is sideways momentum. If correct, that means placing a hand under the drone would illicit a different response then the OP's scenario.

That would make for an interesting test.

 

[dwolfe002]

For what it's worth, every time I've flown my Mav' Pro over water, it has seemed to get this 'slow-death' idea in its head, where it just wants to keep [sloooowwwly] going down to the water. I have to continually watch altitude and compensate. I don't know for sure, but I think it gets worse the closer you get, due to the ripples being kicked up by the prop' wash ...

Any experience with water is worth its weight in Mavics.

 

[Harro]

From my reading of the posts the answer is maybe, but no guarantee.