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

[TTP]

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.

Very good advice, whether I have sensors on or not, there are two sensors that are always switched off.
- Landing Protection
- Smart Return Home

And to practice practice practice on dry land before flying over water.

 

[RobH2]

@OSullivanStudios
Great info. Yes, thanks for this.

 

[Pieter Einthoven]

Great advice from osullivanstudios

I have flown my DJI Mavic Pro off the back of sailboats several times. I am always nervous about getting the drone back, but so far, so good.
Here is one of my better flights:

Or this one:

I mount a handle on the bottom for easier catching. I found this mount on thingiverse
Mavic pro mount for Gopro accessories by Aljeraiwi11, I printed it and added a light weight GoPro handle (from Amazon). See attached photo. I cut out some plastic from the mount where there are three slots to keep the down sensors clear. The handle does not appear to interfere with the down sensors (although sometimes right after launch the drone just climbs a bunch on its own, so that might be from the mount). I have not tried this in high winds yet.

I have someone else release and catch my drone, then I can focus on bringing it up to the boat and not crashing into the rigging on the boat. I always take off and return to the back of the boat. If something is not right, I just let the drone hover and it separates from the boat. (stopping a sailboat is a little less practical, especially in a race!).

I have had some problems.
- Active Track is good but not great when the drone is in front of the boat. It appears that the boat is catching up to the drone (the video above was using Active Track and distance from the boat is not well maintained).
- The technique to stop the drone shown by osullivan usually works, but twice it did not. In those cases, I put my hand under the down sensors and that got it to work. I bring heavy gloves for more serious emergencies.
- The obstacle sensors prevent the drone from getting close enough to the back of the boat to be caught. Active Track requires that obstacle sensors are on. I usually turn the drone around when close to the boat and fly it back to the boat backwards.

I would love to hear what if others use Active Track or just manually follow a moving boat, or other advice.

Pieter Einthoven

 

[TTP]

Thank you Pieter for your nice pictures and your very sensible advice that you came up with when handling the drone from a boat, and then also a sailing boat that makes it much more difficult.

Many will consider that your "grip" under the drone affects flight capability, I mean it`s completely insignificant, I have just done tests with Pontoons, and PropsGard on my M2P, and the reduction in flight speed is negligible. (Will report the result in a separate thread.)

Your use of AcktiveTrack, for the lone sailor, is the good alternative, if not the only and in relatively moderate wind.
Your solution to another person holding the drone is probably the right solution.

On way i something that I developed at "LiftOff", you push the left joystick throttle, gently for lift, the person holding the drone holds it in a firm grip, and depending on the boat speed you also push the right joystick slightly forward, the drone's rear propeller increase the speed and tilt the drone slightly forward in the direction you intend to fly, which is aft of the boat, you do not want to get the drone in the rig or in the spray hood.
The coordination between the drone pilot and the person holding and releasing the drone is important for good results.

An exercise that one should practice first on dry land to understand how it works and how to adapt it to the speed of the boat, applies primarily to sailboats, for motorboat there is hardly any reason not to stop.I myself have sailed more or less throughout my adult life, wishing we had had drones before. Now this year, only drone flying from a motorboat will be much easier.