flying over water

syotr · Jan 5, 2016

Keith Lampman said:
Getterback

This cheap and simple device will help you recover your Phantom if it happens to take a swim in a lake, ocean, pool or any other body of water. Check out some details:

Setup

Just attach the Getter Back to the leg of your Phantom with the included velcro, then you are good to go.

Activation

When the Getter Back reaches a depth of 10 feet or less, it will automatically deploy the bobber. When the easily spotted bobber reaches the surface, you simply grab the bobber and pull up the line until your Phantom appears.

OR USE THIS, REDNECK WATER BOTTLES !!

That was one of my efforts to add flotation to the Phantom. I was able to land and take off from the water. I tried many other systems. The problems with all of these are:
1. Anything with enough volume to float the Phantom, will add weight, act like a sail in the wind, block air flow from the props, and likely be visible to the camera.
2. In a water crash, like buttered bread, the Phantom will probably land buttered side down, so these devices will not save it from damage, only aid in recovery.

I eventually decided to build my own waterproof floating quad.

syotr · Jan 5, 2016

happydays said:
The best videos are shot over water. Rivers. waterfalls, streams, lakes, the sea. Remember, the Phantom doesn't know it is over water, only the pilot.

Agreed. The difference is only in a crash, loss of power, battery failure, flyaway, bird strike and such. If it happens over land, you can likely recover and repair it. If you know you will never crash or have unlimited funds, it doesn't matter at all.

happydays · Jan 5, 2016

syotr said:
Agreed. The difference is only in a crash, loss of power, battery failure, flyaway, bird strike and such. If it happens over land, you can likely recover and repair it. If you know you will never crash or have unlimited funds, it doesn't matter at all.

Well, I've lost two to the water over the past two and a half years, so I know all about these that! First was with a P1 and GoPro - totally user error, and I got the Go Pro back after three months under the sea. Scroll to 2.00 onwards to avoid the boring bits (no gimbal in those early days!)

The next was with a V+ which suffered huge magnetic interference issues due to a combination of rebar in the dam and magnetic declanation of the surrounding rocks. This is an app screen grab, I lost control almost immediately I took off; I stopped to hover and see if everything was ok, but it flew all over the place and ended up in 60' of water.

The amount of information contained within the current app is simply tremendous compared to the P1 reliance on seeing the lights (no FPV on those!) and the P2 range which only showed the basics. There have been some serious advances in this hobby in the past two and a half years! I wonder what the future will bring?

syotr · Jan 5, 2016

happydays said:
Well, I've lost two to the water over the past two and a half years, so I know all about these that! First was with a P1 and GoPro - totally user error, and I got the Go Pro back after three months under the sea. Scroll to 2.00 onwards to avoid the boring bits (no gimbal in those early days!)

The next was with a V+ which suffered huge magnetic interference issues due to a combination of rebar in the dam and magnetic declanation of the surrounding rocks. This is an app screen grab, I lost control almost immediately I took off; I stopped to hover and see if everything was ok, but it flew all over the place and ended up in 60' of water.

The amount of information contained within the current app is simply tremendous compared to the P1 reliance on seeing the lights (no FPV on those!) and the P2 range which only showed the basics. There have been some serious advances in this hobby in the past two and a half years! I wonder what the future will bring?

Gravity always wins. No matter how careful we are, there will be incidents where she comes down in the wrong place. I have had 4 flyaways, all recovered. Two were user error, the other two for no apparent reason. The one that fell in the water was fortunately a waterproof and floating quad. It was easily recovered with no damage.

bschaub · Jan 9, 2016

Just remember that at least seagulls will rarely attack quads. Happened to me.

Cooter3690 · Jan 9, 2016

MikeST said:
If I buy my phantom, im going to have to drive out to wider open areas to fly/ I think it will be fun. Take a couple extra batteries on an early sunday morning drive.
But a lot of the areas I have in mind have ponds / lakes/ or lakeshore.
I have a good friend that lives in Michigan on the lake...

Ive seen posts of drones dropping out of the sky.....
you guys feel ok flying over water / rivers / lakes?

mike

I fly over my lake all the time. Get good and comfortable with flying first and then take it out.

Dusty · Jan 9, 2016

AIRNUTS said:
90% of my flights are out in to the open ocean, over 100 flights, so far not one issue, just keep checking your batteris while flying and you should be ok, this video shows a perfect example of a flight over 3000 meters out to sea
Enjoy

Impressed!! I have flow off shore 500m, (1650 ft) got chicken and came back, and you went 3,000. WOW

ervin tqnqkq · Jan 9, 2016

This is my drone upper water

pe9999 · Jan 9, 2016

Erroll said:
I fly over water frequently. There is no more or less risk. If it is going to 'fall out of the sky' it can hit a rock, tree, paving, water.....

Here is a nice, if somewhat long example:

The atmospher will affect the barometer akso the wind direction can change. When flying over the wave near the cliff, you are takung a big risk. When it is too close to the rock, the quad will get suck in (just like flying too close to ceiling)

Erroll · Jan 9, 2016

pe9999 said:
The atmospher will affect the barometer akso the wind direction can change. When flying over the wave near the cliff, you are takung a big risk. When it is too close to the rock, the quad will get suck in (just like flying too close to ceiling)

The discussion (and my example) is about flying over water, not near or over cliffs and rocks.

Case29247 · Jan 9, 2016

MikeST said:
If I buy my phantom, im going to have to drive out to wider open areas to fly/ I think it will be fun. Take a couple extra batteries on an early sunday morning drive.
But a lot of the areas I have in mind have ponds / lakes/ or lakeshore.
I have a good friend that lives in Michigan on the lake...

Ive seen posts of drones dropping out of the sky.....
you guys feel ok flying over water / rivers / lakes?

mike

There is no inherent reason why the machine is more likely to malfunction over water than land. Every time you fly, you assume a finite risk that something will go wrong. Hopefully, if something does go wrong, it won't run into an airplane and will return to earth within your line of sight on a feather bed.

Keith Lampman · Jan 13, 2016

snickell · Jan 15, 2016

ELHEAPO · Jan 15, 2016

flying over water isnt a problem ive had over 300 flights and im still on my original props only had to replace my p3 4 times after losing her out to sea!!

TheRealNick · Jan 15, 2016

Also mostly fly over water...I leave VPS on....

Alex Wisner Ribeiro · Jan 15, 2016

Hi there, awesome flight!
What app do u use to record the screen? I've looked everywhere but can't find one that works.
Thanks in advance
Alex

Scott Reed · Jan 17, 2016

For all you water flyers out there, do you always turn VPS off? Or does that not matter if you fly relatively high (since according to what I have read, VPS only activates within about 3 meters from the ground)? Thx

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

With The Birds · Jan 17, 2016

Scott Reed said:
For all you water flyers out there, do you always turn VPS off? Or does that not matter if you fly relatively high (since according to what I have read, VPS only activates within about 3 meters from the ground)? Thx

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

You likely answered your own question, it will provide little or no assistance in positioning and has been suspected as a contributing factor in crashes over water. Why not just turn it off?

adam1978 · Jan 17, 2016

I agree and have turned mine off full stop.

Dirty Bird · Jan 17, 2016

With it being kinda cold out would be nice if these could double as a coffee & cider thermos!

Meta4 said:
These ideas come up from time to time on the forums and they are ridiculous.
The Phantom is designed to fly in the air.
What do these monstrosities do for aerodynamics?
One can only imagine how they handicap performance, eat flight time and block the camera's view.
The inventor of the $300 3D printed floats doesn't even mention weight and hasn't tested them.
I wonder if the Phantom could even take off with them on.

Your Phantom is going to fly a lot better and safer over water without being handicapped with this sort of crap.
Get past the irrational fear that creates these unnecessary concoctions and you can enjoy safely flying over water ... like this.