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Hi we are making a 5km water tunel in the mountain and I am supposed to film inside before we take water into the tunel. There are no gps signal. how shall i adjust my ph 4 to fly safe
Flying in a tunnel
- Thread starter Roger Holdorf
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Meta4
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Whether you "adjust" it or not, your Phantom will be in atti mode and flight will be tricky as the drone will have no brakes, so crashing will be easy.
Flying slowly and fitting propeller guards is recommended.
Why use a drone? Regular camera should work fine, shouldn't it?
Good LUCK !
A. 5km is a long way
B. Flying is going to be tricky without any GPS/etc. assistance
C. Is it going to be light enough to see in there?
D. It looks scarcely larger than a single lane roadway. Walk it instead with a real camera? You are going to need to walk along with the drone anyway in ATTI mode.
A. 5km is a long way
B. Flying is going to be tricky without any GPS/etc. assistance
C. Is it going to be light enough to see in there?
D. It looks scarcely larger than a single lane roadway. Walk it instead with a real camera? You are going to need to walk along with the drone anyway in ATTI mode.
RodPad
Premium Pilot
I'm confused, from the photo, why would you need to use a Phantom for the footage?
Why wouldn't the Vision system work?
I have never tried flying indoors, but I thought you could starting with the P3A and up?
Rod
Why wouldn't the Vision system work?
I have never tried flying indoors, but I thought you could starting with the P3A and up?
Rod
i personally wouldn’t use a ph4 for that type of flying because she is just to big of a bird,if at all possible use a spark or a mavic,i would turn off the sensors or fly in atti mode before going into a tunnel.
My thoughts exactly. If you need to smooth the video out, put it on a gimbal and mount it on some small vehicle, like a golf cart. And some decently lights on the vehicle wouldn't hurt, either.
There's an old adage..."If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail."
I agree that any drone may not be the best choice. Distance, lighting, control over the craft, etc.
Assuming that the entire tunnel is driveable, a GoPro equipped small car or motorcycle may be a better choice. Both could easily be equipped with extra lights.
If safety is an issue, then a RC véhicule similarly equipped.
Assuming that the entire tunnel is driveable, a GoPro equipped small car or motorcycle may be a better choice. Both could easily be equipped with extra lights.
If safety is an issue, then a RC véhicule similarly equipped.
Your P4 will be fine flying in the tunnel, there are just a couple of things to keep in mind.
Make sure your P4 is in Atti mode. You don’t want it to even try to get a GPS lock or you run the risk of it “correcting” its position when at the ends of the tunnel.
Be aware of magnetic interference from ferrous rock formations, or power lines used to support the work crews.
The compass is the only control system you can rely on, if you lose the compass, the P4 doesn’t know left from right or up from down. It will literally be out of control. At the first sign of compass interference, land! It won’t matter how you move the sticks if the P4 compass doesn’t know what it means. Compass failure is death. Move past that area and take off again when the compass is free of interference. All you need is some old fashioned pilot skill before we had all of these electronic aids. Which is fun to me.
Needless to say, make sure no one is within 100 feet of your flying operations. You may need to fly it in sections to make sure you have a clear flight path if work is still ongoing in the tunnel. You can clear workers for a short stretch, fly that section, and have them return to work with minimal interruption to their operations. You don’t need to clear the entire tunnel. If you can’t do that, I would decline the job.
Finally don’t forget to set your RTH settings. Don’t want any rapid unplanned disassemblies when your P4 tries to make its own skylight. In the general tab of GO4, go to advance settings, and you can set the RTH action. Your choices are RTH, land, and hover. I would choose land. Hover is fine, but it might be just out of reach for you to grab it if it is too high. Then you would have to wait for the battery to run out and the drone to auto-land.
Be smart, take it slow, and be safe, and it could be a fun project.
On a side note, I have held my drone out of a sunroof to get fast stabilized shots when I didn’t have a gimbal with me. (Take the props off so the motors don’t spin when doing that)
Safety should always be your primary concern and never compromised on. No job is worth the chance of hurting someone or having a recordable incident, and definitely not worth losing my license or having an FAA black mark. I have had to decline a couple of projects because the client was asking me to break FAA rules. Usually altitude or airspace restrictions. The first thing major industry clients ask me for is to see my logs. There are too many drone service providers out there for a company to risk their operations on someone they see bends the rules.
Hope that helps. Fly safe.
Make sure your P4 is in Atti mode. You don’t want it to even try to get a GPS lock or you run the risk of it “correcting” its position when at the ends of the tunnel.
Be aware of magnetic interference from ferrous rock formations, or power lines used to support the work crews.
The compass is the only control system you can rely on, if you lose the compass, the P4 doesn’t know left from right or up from down. It will literally be out of control. At the first sign of compass interference, land! It won’t matter how you move the sticks if the P4 compass doesn’t know what it means. Compass failure is death. Move past that area and take off again when the compass is free of interference. All you need is some old fashioned pilot skill before we had all of these electronic aids. Which is fun to me.
Needless to say, make sure no one is within 100 feet of your flying operations. You may need to fly it in sections to make sure you have a clear flight path if work is still ongoing in the tunnel. You can clear workers for a short stretch, fly that section, and have them return to work with minimal interruption to their operations. You don’t need to clear the entire tunnel. If you can’t do that, I would decline the job.
Finally don’t forget to set your RTH settings. Don’t want any rapid unplanned disassemblies when your P4 tries to make its own skylight. In the general tab of GO4, go to advance settings, and you can set the RTH action. Your choices are RTH, land, and hover. I would choose land. Hover is fine, but it might be just out of reach for you to grab it if it is too high. Then you would have to wait for the battery to run out and the drone to auto-land.
Be smart, take it slow, and be safe, and it could be a fun project.
On a side note, I have held my drone out of a sunroof to get fast stabilized shots when I didn’t have a gimbal with me. (Take the props off so the motors don’t spin when doing that)
Safety should always be your primary concern and never compromised on. No job is worth the chance of hurting someone or having a recordable incident, and definitely not worth losing my license or having an FAA black mark. I have had to decline a couple of projects because the client was asking me to break FAA rules. Usually altitude or airspace restrictions. The first thing major industry clients ask me for is to see my logs. There are too many drone service providers out there for a company to risk their operations on someone they see bends the rules.
Hope that helps. Fly safe.
I'm not an expert on drones, but I am a professional photographer. GoPro would not be a good choice. The GoPro has a very small sensor, and because of that, they do not fare well in low light. You will get a very noisy image. A conventional camera with a full frame sensor would be a better choice, as they will handle the low light of a tunnel much better.
Even the cameras on most of the drones we're speaking of here have very small sensors, so the same low light/small sensor problem is in place.
Meta4
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To get GPS reception, the drone has to have a clear, unobstructed view of a large piece of sky.
There won't be a hint of GPS reception in that tunnel.
Without GPS there can't be any RTH.
The vision system would require a well lit tunnel and a clear pattern or texture on the floor.
RodPad
Premium Pilot
Thanks, I really thought it used a kind of IR or Sonar type signal.
Well there goes my Zombie hunting project, I sure happy I got money upfront.
When they ask me where the money went, I'll tell them I must be a Zombie.
Don't let this get out, could be bad for my business!
Rod
Well there goes my Zombie hunting project, I sure happy I got money upfront.
When they ask me where the money went, I'll tell them I must be a Zombie.
Don't let this get out, could be bad for my business!
Rod
Where’s Roger? Are you flying in the tunnel or the tube? Just wondering. If the tube, A small racing drone might be a better answer, if you can make it through before the battery dies. Better yet, the DJI robot with a decent camera. Anyways, Where will you be located to control the AC along route?
PS: THAT is going to be a FUN ride !!!
PS: THAT is going to be a FUN ride !!!
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Well?I am sitting in front of a wheel loader with lots of light and there are a «sjakt» which goes 25m downward and the drone is supposed to go down to the bottom for inspection
What are "«sjakt» " in your post?
Ahh...just looked it up. Norwegian for "shaft." If the shaft is pretty much vertical and not sloped, probably better off lowering camera on a rope. A pulley rig, like on a well, would make it smoother. Don't know if you're shooting video or stills.
If you use 2 lines on the camera (double pulley), you'll keep it from spinning around.
Ahh...just looked it up. Norwegian for "shaft." If the shaft is pretty much vertical and not sloped, probably better off lowering camera on a rope. A pulley rig, like on a well, would make it smoother. Don't know if you're shooting video or stills.
If you use 2 lines on the camera (double pulley), you'll keep it from spinning around.
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RodPad
Premium Pilot
@Roger Holdorf,
I think all of us are confused why you need to use a Phantom for this project.
Could you post a picture?
Rod
I think all of us are confused why you need to use a Phantom for this project.
Could you post a picture?
Rod
Shoot4fun
Drone bum...
Shoot4fun
Drone bum...
Looks like the Nato fuel storage tunnels hollowed out into the granite hills North Norway ...
Personally I would be considering a stabilised gimbal with large sensor camera on a two or three rope system for the shafts - then you can lower while rotating ... the stabilised gimbal would smooth out the 'jerks'.
For the horizontals - same camera on a stabilised hand held or motorised platform.
Personally I would be considering a stabilised gimbal with large sensor camera on a two or three rope system for the shafts - then you can lower while rotating ... the stabilised gimbal would smooth out the 'jerks'.
For the horizontals - same camera on a stabilised hand held or motorised platform.
