Who here wants to fly from a boat but doesn't want to lose their drone?

[OSullivanStudios]

Now I can't guarantee that you won't lose your drone.... but in this video, I outline a few of the precautions I take whenever I fly a drone from a boat.
I have learned a few of these lessons the hard way so why not learn from my mistakes.

https://youtu.be/kAHL5rdcnno

Thanks for check out the post. - john o

 

[DDS]

the turn shutoff trick is nice will try next time

i always catch my MP from just under the gimbal as you mentioned when on a vessel

 

[Deleted member 3792]

the turn shutoff trick is nice will try next time

i always catch my MP from just under the gimbal as you mentioned when on a vessel

Or You can 3D print these and avoid shopped fingers.?

 

[FoxhallGH]

Or You can 3D print these and avoid shopped fingers.?

Just wondering ... usually a hand-catch retrieve involves one hand on the RC controller and the other grabbing the Mavic under the belly. With these 'attachment handles' - it looks like you'd have to grab both handles while somebody else does the shut-down??? It appears that - if you grabbed one of these and the Mavic did its pre-shut-down hand-catch rev-up, it would be hard to stop it rotating around the handle and mincing your arm??? - Or does the handle give you enough clearance to avoid the downward sensors, and therefore, you don't get the rev-up before shut-down???

 

[Deleted member 3792]

Just wondering ... usually a hand-catch retrieve involves one hand on the RC controller and the other grabbing the Mavic under the belly. With these 'attachment handles' - it looks like you'd have to grab both handles while somebody else does the shut-down??? It appears that - if you grabbed one of these and the Mavic did its pre-shut-down hand-catch rev-up, it would be hard to stop it rotating around the handle and mincing your arm??? - Or does the handle give you enough clearance to avoid the downward sensors, and therefore, you don't get the rev-up before shut-down???

No problems at all. The handles sits very steady and I grab it with one hand and the other on throttle down. The point is to keep your fingers away without shopshop.?

 

[old man mavic]

Just wondering ... usually a hand-catch retrieve involves one hand on the RC controller and the other grabbing the Mavic under the belly. With these 'attachment handles' - it looks like you'd have to grab both handles while somebody else does the shut-down??? It appears that - if you grabbed one of these and the Mavic did its pre-shut-down hand-catch rev-up, it would be hard to stop it rotating around the handle and mincing your arm??? - Or does the handle give you enough clearance to avoid the downward sensors, and therefore, you don't get the rev-up before shut-down???

i agree with you these things are really to lift the drone higher off the ground, or attach floats to that are supposed to enable you to land on water or shall i say keep it afloat till you can somehow retrieve it

 

[DanMan32]

Or You can 3D print these and avoid shopped fingers.[emoji6]

I'd love it if someone was interested in buying my fingers. [emoji6]

 

[1Boater]

Or You can 3D print these and avoid shopped fingers.?

Where can I get those?

 

[TTP]

Overall, many sensible advice for flying from and over water.

I am planning a strategy for flying over water from land or boat, with solid advice for "TakeOff" and "Landing", but it will be in the spring, unfortunately here is soon winter so I concentrate on trying different theories on land, no risk of getting lost drones.

 

[OSullivanStudios]

Or You can 3D print these and avoid shopped fingers.?

I was thinking it would be easy enough to print out some legs or a handle to mimic how I used to catch my phantoms. I should have known someone would have come up with that. I have hit my fingers a number of times already. What a nice, simple design. I will have to look into that. Thanks

 

[Deleted member 3792]

Where can I get those?

They are 3D printed and you can find those at Thingiverse.com

 

[Capt KO]

They are 3D printed and you can find those at Thingiverse.com

I hope somebody will print those for the mini.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

These look a more usable design than the arris raptor skids . . . I feel these are good for raised advantages, and attaching things liek tracker, getterback, strobes / other lighting, etc.

These are closer together as they cleverly clip on to give torsional force to the arms to keep them in place (arms and skids), and obviously no interference with OA ?
Slightly higher position I think.

Ok, so if you still can't get a grip across both of these, but managed to snare one arm (like a Phantom skid), I assume you couldn't just do the left stick down to kill motors ?
The sensors don't see what they think is ground (your hand) under them.

You would have to do a csc to kill motors ?
That would be a bit tricky.

With a second person to catch arm, the pilot could csc, but then that's got potential timing issues.
Still good to see another option for skids and a nice design.

In a light crash, they could well keep the arms a little safer too perhaps ?

 

[silverdragon]

Just wondering ... usually a hand-catch retrieve involves one hand on the RC controller and the other grabbing the Mavic under the belly. With these 'attachment handles' - it looks like you'd have to grab both handles while somebody else does the shut-down??? It appears that - if you grabbed one of these and the Mavic did its pre-shut-down hand-catch rev-up, it would be hard to stop it rotating around the handle and mincing your arm??? - Or does the handle give you enough clearance to avoid the downward sensors, and therefore, you don't get the rev-up before shut-down???

I visualize your point. I can see it as a issue. Maybe there is a work around.

 

[sas8888]

Thanks John

 

[macfawlty]

Now I can't guarantee that you won't lose your drone.... but in this video, I outline a few of the precautions I take whenever I fly a drone from a boat.
I have learned a few of these lessons the hard way so why not learn from my mistakes.

https://youtu.be/kAHL5rdcnno

Thanks for check out the post. - john o

John,
Thanks so much for that full featured tutorial. You packed about 3 dozen settings/factors into 7+ minutes I'll be certain to check the next time I'm flying from water. You also mentioned a number of general factors I hadn't considered previously (that could have saved my a** a few times).

I'm typically flying my drone from a kayak, sometimes in precarious situations. I love flying over rivers and rocky/treed islands close to water/ground level and natural features. With it comes a degree of caution and anxiety. Pulling the card after every flight will be S.O.P from now on. I'm less concerned with losing the drone than the footage. I have insurance on the drone, but a low tolerance for data loss. Again, well done tutorial.

 

[Gindra]

Really nice tutorial. Well done!

When I've been hand catching, I just keep my outstretched hand, palm up with fingers spread wide. The drone recognizes that surface as ground and lands normally. I do this with sensors on. So far so good!

 

[glanrock]

Thank you for posting this, I will be editing my settings to assist myself when flying from our boat. Great info!

 

[dwolfe002]

Really nice tutorial. Well done!

When I've been hand catching, I just keep my outstretched hand, palm up with fingers spread wide. The drone recognizes that surface as ground and lands normally. I do this with sensors on. So far so good!

The only problem with that is a boat will bob up and down with small movements or waves. If the sensors are on and your hand moves due to boat movement the M2P will increase its altitude by about a foot or more. On a movable object, I turn the sensors off.

 

[ChrisOutdoors]

I launch/recover routinely in the gulf stream in calm and bumpy conditions. It's not rocket science; turn off all sensors, practice a ton on land in an open area with different shut off techniques and grab the UAS while walking to simulate the fight, shut off and repeat. If you're timid about getting cut by the UAS (I've been nicked, it's not bad) wear tear resistant gloves typically made for chainsaw operation. Practice is what makes the whole thing easy.