Thoughts on flying over water

Ed Windham · Oct 17, 2016

BruteForce65 said:
Ed, is 30m the VPS range for Mavic? So as long as I was above that height I could leave the VPS on?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

The specs state 13m.

Lees23 · Oct 17, 2016

I own a surf boat and plan on doing most of my flying over water. I guess I will have to practice hand recoveries. Also taking a trip to Maui during whale season so I am hoping to get some gold whale shots while there.

Mike_Flys · Oct 30, 2016

Dronebow said:
It gives a bit of comfort which is why I purchased a GetterBack to put on my P3 a while back.

Thoughts? Is this just a stupid question/concern?

I always use getter backs as well.
My thought is even if the drone doesn't fly again I want to try to recover the footage and pics. I want the micro SD card. . . And even if the electronics are damaged some of the parts maybe usable.

Has anyone put getter backs on a Mavic yet? I would love to see a pic.

They tell me I won't have mine till the middle of November

Mavic1 · Oct 31, 2016

tomnjfl said:
As a general rule, I always take a few moments to say "goodbye" to my drone any time I fly it, whether it's over land, water, trees...wherever.

You just never know...LOL

ROTFLMAO!!!!

Brad de Leon · Oct 20, 2017

Well as the only person in this forum who has landed in water, I can speak to the fact that after drying the unit out in the sun on a windy day, she came back to life without a hiccup. Mavic spent about 15 minutes in 3' of Lake Ontario water. When I got to it it was still showing flashing LEDs. Had backed up into a tree leaning out over the lake. Fell about 40' into the drink. Immediately pulled the battery and put it in a safe place should it decide to explode, not to be used again.
After a month it is still functioning well with the exception of some intermittent glitches with gps and more importantly, the sun lens flare is very noticeable if shooting less then 90 degrees away from the sun.
One note, DJI care does cover water damage. I will be sending it in for replacement as I find it hard to rely on motors that have been submersed.

charliesRig · Oct 21, 2017

OP
your Topic say flying over water..?
But your post asked a different question Recovery after landing in the water
...................flying over water is ok.!
Recover after a water Landing has so many variables Like Types of water Temp of the Mavic upon entering water
I would recommend Not doing Landing in the water if possible....

kruzlifix · Oct 21, 2017

Mike_Flys said:
I always use getter backs as well.
My thought is even if the drone doesn't fly again I want to try to recover the footage and pics. I want the micro SD card. . . And even if the electronics are damaged some of the parts maybe usable.

Has anyone put getter backs on a Mavic yet? I would love to see a pic.

They tell me I won't have mine till the middle of November

I use getterbacks since I mostly fly over up to 10 m deep saltwater at the Northeast brazilian coast...
but recently, back in Switzerland (i should have removed the getter back) I lost my drone in a steep mountain forest and after 2 hrs rescue I found it still flashing.... but the getter back had probably released in full flight because the mavic was totally entangeled in the thread! see picture.
I now use the getter back only if there is a slight risk of drowning lol

kruzlifix · Oct 21, 2017

lolo780 · Oct 21, 2017

As long as there's no salt corrosion, Mavic boards don't mind water. DJI sticker turns red.

QuadKid · Oct 21, 2017

Fastrack said:
Using Rice... lol... I've read this so many times.. It does nothing! It's more likely the TIME in the rice that's drying it.

Ask yourself, does a bag of rice at 80% RH turn into a soggy mess? (It doesn't...........)

Best solution is to purchase bulk Silica Gel from Amazon or such. Buy orange (it turns green when 80% absorbed with water), you can re-generate it in the oven. Blue works too, it turns pink, but the color changing element causes cancer or something - so I stick with the orange. It needs to be "cobalt free".

As for flotation, not sure where to attach it yet, I'll have to wait until I receive mine before I rig that up.

Ben

This guy is producing these for the Mavic,

DJI Mavic floats for Water Recovery

Says it does not interfere with down sensors, and may not avoid physical damage but will surly help with retrieval if you can get to it. I agree any salt water on electrical components of the Mavic spells certain death. Know this by having boats in salt water for years.

Ian in London · Oct 21, 2017

MavicPro83 said:
I've always worked on the principle that water or land, a crash from anything above 50 feet probably means its a write off in any case, generally find water best for flying over, nothing to hit, great signal... all good so far!

Yes; once you get your head round the 'total loss that will occur if it drops in water', you actually have a way better flight with no obstacles and no people to woirry about. Unless of course you're flying over a river and hit a tree.....

Ian

Timecode · Oct 25, 2017

kmaluo said:
Not if you can find some boats to buzz!

Or gators

FlyGuy8675309 · Oct 25, 2017

Lot's of flotation devices out there that would help if you ditch over water:
mavic floats - Google Search

These seem to be pretty simple to make and effective:

stratos · Oct 26, 2017

Dronebow said:
Ok, weird question I know but here is my logic. With the P3/P4 I have heard many stories of the bird going into the water, then retrieved and put in rice for several days then finding that the bird is alive. It gives a bit of comfort which is why I purchased a GetterBack to put on my P3 a while back.

But the Mavic seems so technology driven component wise I'm wondering how it would fare in the same situation. I plan to purchase the DJI warranty but it specifically does not cover water damage.

Thoughts? Is this just a stupid question/concern?

BruteForce65 said:
Ed, is 30m the VPS range for Mavic? So as long as I was above that height I could leave the VPS on?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

I have been flying over the water since I got my Mavic, you can fly even lower than that , just need to be careful and no need to disable VPS

CyberdyneSystems · Oct 26, 2017

kruzlifix said:
I use getterbacks since I mostly fly over up to 10 m deep saltwater at the Northeast brazilian coast...
but recently, back in Switzerland (i should have removed the getter back) I lost my drone in a steep mountain forest and after 2 hrs rescue I found it still flashing.... but the getter back had probably released in full flight because the mavic was totally entangeled in the thread! see picture.
I now use the getter back only if there is a slight risk of drowning lol

Wow I never considered the GetterBack poping open in flight! But that would indeed bring the Mavic down. I strap my GetterBack to one of the rear arms when flying over water. I wonder if the prop vibration shook the cap off? I might reconsider using it at all, I have had no issues in flight with my Mavic and would hate to loose it due to an ill thought out preventive measure.

Thanks for the photo.

Hotelone · Oct 26, 2017

Lees23 said:
I own a surf boat and plan on doing most of my flying over water. I guess I will have to practice hand recoveries. Also taking a trip to Maui during whale season so I am hoping to get some gold whale shots while there.

I'm going to Kaua'i in February and trying to gather the nerve to get that far out...

Gr8polarbear · Oct 26, 2017

If it lands in saltwater it's done. If it is freshwater put it in the refrigerator. Sounds strange but works with electronics. Think about a pizza in the refrigerator and how dry it gets.

Ping^Spike · Oct 26, 2017

kruzlifix said:
the getter back had probably released in full flight because the mavic was totally entangeled in the thread!

Ok, that's worrying... because I fly with twin getterbacks

stratos · Oct 26, 2017

l

Gr8polarbear said:
If it lands in saltwater it's done. If it is freshwater put it in the refrigerator. Sounds strange but works with electronics. Think about a pizza in the refrigerator and how dry it gets.

lol, no this is not how it works buddy.
that would be worst thing to do, you will rust the electronics.

Problem : Getting the Mavic into the water
Solution: Buy a new mavic.

Simple, it always works!!!

Gr8polarbear · Oct 26, 2017

stratos said:
l

lol, no this is not how it works buddy.
that would be worst thing to do, you will rust the electronics.

Problem : Getting the Mavic into the water
Solution: Buy a new mavic.

Simple, it always works!!!

I have schooling and a background in electronics and physics how about you.