Flying @ sea

Rory.m.2006 · Mar 23, 2017

Right need help,after reading about flying at sea I tried this evening but strange things happened,first off never had this problem on land but i calibrated compass on land before I left to go fishing,we were at sea tonight on a 64mtr trawler I work on,switched on drone,safe to fly came up but then warning satellite positioning off fly with caution came up on app,I was at the time picking up 20satellites,now we are probably 80mile from land so had no gps on my phone,was right up on bow of boat trying to stay away from steel structures,but I did take off in gps mode but it wouldn't hold it position,why?? I flew it about 20feet from boat switched Atti and back to gps but same warning came up and still wouldn't hold gps,boat was moving at less than 1mph with little or no wind so got drone back no problem but didn't want to chance it as once i stopped putting inputs into controls it wasn't long moving away.. So if I'm picking up 20satellites why is it not holding its position?? I launch it before from bow when in harbour with no problem,I even calibrated it on the bow,tried to calibrate it tonight but wouldn't work... Does my I phone need a signal or something,doing my head in thinking about what's wrong!! Any help would be great..

Meta4 · Mar 23, 2017

Rory.m.2006 said:
I flew it about 20feet from boat switched Atti and back to gps but same warning came up and still wouldn't hold gps,boat was moving at less than 1mph with little or no wind so got drone back no problem but didn't want to chance it as once i stopped putting inputs into controls it wasn't long moving away.. So if I'm picking up 20satellites why is it not holding its position?? I launch it before from bow when in harbour with no problem,I even calibrated it on the bow,tried to calibrate it tonight but wouldn't work... Does my I phone need a signal or something,doing my head in thinking about what's wrong!! Any help would be great..

No your phone doesn't need signal.
From the info given it's hard to understand exactly what the problem you had was.
What is the boat made of?
Looking at the flight data might be useful.
Go to https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/
Follow the instructions to upload your flight record.
Come back and post a link to the report it provides.

sparky1111 · Mar 23, 2017

What altitude sis you fly at? Flying low over water can cause eratic behaviour. I fly at least 100ft over water with no problems whatsoever.

DanMan32 · Mar 23, 2017

As for being 80 miles from land so no GPS on phone: your phone should still have GPS just as the AC does. No cell data sure but still should have GPS.

Rory.m.2006 · Mar 24, 2017

Boats made of steel,I've flown it lower over water before,I was about 6meters above the sea,the bow of boat is high out of the water,few other people had same symptoms as me and updated FireWire? They weren't at sea tho.. Mine does need to be updated alright but still works perfectly on land!! Uploaded few photos from flight log!!

Meta4 · Mar 24, 2017

Meta4 said:
Taking off from a steel vessel will always give you potential for compass problems.
NEVER calibrate your compass on a steel boat.
If you get a compass error, your Phantom will drop into atti mode and ignore the GPS.
This could be the problem you were describing.

Taking off from a steel deck can also cause problems.
You should hand launch from more than 1 metre above the deck.
If you can post a link to flight data as mentioned in post #2, it will help to understand the problem more.

You should hand launch from more than 1 metre above the deck.
If you can post a link to flight data as mentioned in post #2, it will help to understand the problem more.

Rory.m.2006 · Mar 24, 2017

Meta4 said:
No your phone doesn't need signal.
From the info given it's hard to understand exactly what the problem you had was.
What is the boat made of?
Looking at the flight data might be useful.
Go to https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/
Follow the instructions to upload your flight record.
Come back and post a link to the report it provides.

You know what,that sounds exactly what happened,i did take of from steel deck,the gps was ignored and it was telling me to calibrate compass so what your saying all happened,I do fly it with gps off at home but at sea there's not much targets to go by,if I lose sight of boat then she's gone!! I'll up load the flight data soon as I get a chance!! Must calibrate on dry land again..

Rory.m.2006 · Mar 24, 2017

sparky1111 said:
What altitude sis you fly at? Flying low over water can cause eratic behaviour. I fly at least 100ft over water with no problems whatsoever.

Do u fly yours at sea sparky?