How far into water would you go?

[rotorhead42]

I was trying to shoot a boat from behind and for a few seconds lost control due to distance from stock Tx. I think I push the limits on this bird, I wonder how safe is it flying so far out into open water, anyone else trying this or I`m the only one thinking on risqué flying? this photo shows the catamaran I was trying to photograph by the reef, I lost connection as soon as I flew over it.

I see a lot of Phantom pilots fly so close by, I feel like a dare devil! :mrgreen:

 

[ElGuano]

I've been roughly this far. Other than coming home from a low-battery, there aren't that many failure scenarios when being 500ft from shore are much different than being 50ft from shore; if it drops, it's in the drink, sinks and is likely unreachable no matter how close, and even if you can reach it, if it's salt water it's toast anyways. So I see the decision to fly over water as kind of binary - you either accept the risk and do it however far you're comfortable with, or you stay over land.

 

[Roadkilt]

I've shot and flown as far as I can get out from shore over the ocean. I haven't lost signal yet, but only have 4.5 minutes of safe flying with a gimbal and gopro. I always check the battery first and run a timer. Usually within 45 seconds I'm about 400 to 500 meters away and 100 meters up. I have a very bright led on the front so I can confirm the orientation even in bright daylight. Otherwise the bird is not visible at that distance. Engage home lock and bring back in, with atti on for slow steady video. The bird doesn't know its over certain death, only us! It may as well be hovering over a farmer field. That's the funny thing, the dangerous part of flying is purely in our minds. So enjoy water flying and get great pictures.

 

[blackoakcreative]

This far:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNE4oOPW ... e=youtu.be

I keep to a very strict 4min timer.
Most of the stuff we do is over water.. It's scary as a motor fail or some other freak thing will cost us the heli, gimbal, fpv and go pro...but it's so darn fun.

 

[Colombus]

Nearly each of my flights are over sea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuvBkuuKXyk

I try to flight at most 5 minutes and I make sure my propellers are well tight.

 

[duijver]

I still have not received mine yet, but all of the researching is getting obsessive. So, when trying to figure out how to mount my camera vs. buying a goPro I found this. In my opinion, this video has amazing over the water shots and I wanted to share: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30HDdocMyAk I don't see that in my future. :roll: