Really cold weather flying

[Steel63]

? greetings

 

[Chetk7677]

Welcome from central Florida.

 

[rickfmdj]

Welcome from Chi-Town!

 

[PinpointUAVS]

Flights with the M300 and M2Z went off without a hitch yesterday. Flew the same flight plan with both, but used RTK with the M300. Gonna process both datasets as 2D and 3D in DroneDeploy, Pix4D Mapper, DJI Terra and Agisoft Metashape to figure out which one is the best fit for me

 

[RPA by Dave]

I flew in -35C with a 30km/hr wind the other day. Weather network said with the wind chill it felt like -45C. Kept the batteries warm in my truck, short 5 minute flights to try to keep from freezing up. It flew well, no issues. The gimbal on the other hand, froze up every flight about 3 minutes in. It just overloaded and wouldn't move. I would expect whatever lubricant is used in the gimbal firmed up. Couple minutes back in the truck and it was ready to go again. Anyone else have experience flying in minus 40? Anything else a guy could do to prevent gimbal lock up besides waiting for a nicer day?

I have flown 3 times in -20 with winchill ranging from -25 to -35. I didn't have the gimble freeze ever. The battery life was reduced but went until the 20% mark and then landed and replaced battery. Honestly was impressed with how well it flew. I also flew yesterday in a freezing drizzle. kept the Mavic Air 2 low as I expected ice build up but nothing. Temp was -4 with drizzle and full on overcast. Again, totally impressed with the result.