Water question...

tomnjfl · Oct 13, 2017

So far I've had very little issues with my Mavic Pro (knock on wood), especially considering I was one of the first to receive mine back in early November last year. One of the things I've methodically avoided was flying over water, mainly because of some of the horror stories I've heard.

That being said, I've got a vacation to California coming up in 2 weeks, where I'll be around a lot of awesome mountainous areas, and...lakes! So my question is, what's the protocol for flying over water? I most likely won't be at a low altitude. I would say at least 30-50 ft above water at a minimum. At what altitude does it make sense to shut off the landing sensors? Or do I not bother at all? I don't want to risk a crash into a lake because of an error with the downward facing sensors.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

msinger · Oct 13, 2017

tomnjfl said:
I would say at least 30-50 ft above water at a minimum.

The downward sensors do not usually "see" the ground at that altitude. You should be fine if you keep them enabled.

If light bouncing off the surface of the water does happen to trigger the downward sensors, the worst that'll happen is your Mavic will auto switch to Forced Landing mode. That would only happen if you also have the throttle in the full down position (an unlikely occurrence). You could disable the Landing Protection setting in DJI GO if you want to eliminate this possibility.

BossBob · Oct 13, 2017

I flew over Loch Awe and at spots on the western coast of the Kintyre peninsula this summer. I always fly with landing protection off and had no problems with the Mavic trying to land at all.

dbyantis · Oct 13, 2017

We need a "sticky post with the over water details"

dewster · Oct 13, 2017

There's Landing Protection and Vision Positioning System in play. The Vision Positioning System can cause problems when flying over monochrome surfaces such as water or snow.

tomnjfl · Oct 13, 2017

dewster said:
There's Landing Protection and Vision Positioning System in play. The Vision Positioning System can cause problems when flying over monochrome surfaces such as water or snow.

Right, but at what altitude? Is it only when you're at a certain height, or at any height?

tomnjfl · Oct 13, 2017

msinger said:
The downward sensors do not usually "see" the ground at that altitude. You should be fine if you keep them enabled.

If light bouncing off the surface of the water does happen to trigger the downward sensors, the worst that'll happen is your Mavic will auto switch to Forced Landing mode. That would only happen if you also have the throttle in the full down position (an unlikely occurrence). You could disable the Landing Protection setting in DJI GO if you want to eliminate this possibility.

I assumed that at 30-50 feet I should be OK, but just wondering what others' experiences have been, particularly those who have had a crash that was attributed to flying over water.

msinger · Oct 14, 2017

tomnjfl said:
Right, but at what altitude? Is it only when you're at a certain height, or at any height?

Per the Mavic manual, the downward vision system is only effective when the aircraft is at attitudes between 0.3 and 13 meters (42 feet).

Rustynuts · Oct 14, 2017

I have had no problem flying low over water, don’t it many times. I was flying in sport mode for these shots in order to keep up. At one point I was going about 30mph about 4’ Off the water.

WAXMAN · Oct 14, 2017

Rustynuts said:
I have had no problem flying low over water, don’t it many times. I was flying in sport mode for these shots in order to keep up. At one point I was going about 30mph about 4’ Off the water.

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You have a lot of BIG NUTS ! Great job.