10 Things to Know before Flying Your Drone over Water!

[maxheadspace]

All good tips. Let me add one more. Know where the No Fly Zones are! Some extend out to sea.

Yes! Was in Monterey, California area a few months ago hoping to get some great coastal footage. Turns out there's a massive national marine sanctuary right off shore that bans all RC aircraft.

 

[ftttu]

Yesterday, I flew over a winding stream which eventually emptied into a lake. I've flown over streams, lakes and choppy seas before, but I've never thought anything about it being very different from flying over land other than the obvious of the possibility of losing your drone in the drink. Since I have been following this thread, it came to me yesterday that one thing to add is that is is more difficult(for me) to judge height over water unless you have a size reference. It just so happened that there were some wild ducks on this lake so they provided me a size reference which allowed me to judge my height.

I could have aimed my camera down and slowly descended, but that is to easy if you want to take the time to do it. I only had one charged battery, and I wanted to fly the extent of the lake so the ducks were good enough for me.

 

[why]

Nice quick video. Good tips.
I take off a lot from beaches and I try (whenever possible) to avoid sand...
I would stress out the point about wind. Because this is a tricky part. Not only the observed wind but also depending on the places: the wind tunnels that can form, especially if there are some mountains.

Thanks to the op for the nice video.

 

[Melvoid]

All good tips. Let me add one more. Know where the No Fly Zones are! Some extend out to sea.
Last week a friend took off from a ship, flew into a NO FLY zone, Phantom turned tail and did a RTH - BUT the ship had moved, and his Phantom drowned.
Friend might have been OK if he had realized what was happening and (somehow) overrode the automatic RTH, and then manually had flown the Phantom to the ship's new position.

OOPS!

 

[cneedelman]

The VPS does not need to be off. Even close to the water.

Here is a video that Ed Ricker Vlogs did:

Nice video!

 

[Melv]

We fly over the ocean all the time. We fly from a small motor boat and catching the bird can be very hard, especially when there is swell and some wind which moves the boat. I did some testing on a big lake to get the settings right (see video) P4P: switch VPS and landing protection off. If I fly very low (2 - 10 feet) over the ocean I always bring a spotter to warn me for swell and waves. Check No fly zones at sea. Regularly update your RTH position, especially when the boat moves (which it does all the time) otherwise you might see your drone fly over your boat and try to land on some big wave

When we fly really low over the ocean (1 to 15 feet) we switch off all sensors (obstacle detection off, VPS off, landing protection off). Flying this close to the ocean is always risky.

 

[UpLift Aerial]

So you had 10 quick tips.. but to know them I have to watch a not so quick video? What is quicker than posting them in text?

Pray for the day youtube videos and their ”quick tips” die...

It's only like 4 minutes...