Hurricane Marie Storm Swells and FPV flight to Oil Rig Emmy

jflyer3 · Aug 30, 2014

Flew my DJI Phantom 2 over the large waves produced by Hurricane Marie on August 27, 2014. The 10+ foot swells were the largest to reach SoCal in a number of years and made for an awesome sight.

Flew all the way to the oil rig named Emmy, 2,200 meters from start point in Huntington Beach. Totally stock DJI transmitter. Boscam 400 mW video Tx and Boscam diversity receiver/monitor. The mist obscured the Phantom almost immediately after takeoff and I had to rely on my FPV system for navigation.

Shot a 6:30 AM using GoPro Hero3+ Black.

Edited in GoPro Studio. Background music is Coldplay Remix Master Cut.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG7PATkpsrU[/youtube]

SanCap · Aug 30, 2014

Re: Hurricane Marie Storm Swells and FPV flight to Oil Rig E

WOW! Pretty amazing. I bet you were glad to see it come home! That is a lot of water between you and the oil rig.

RedRyderMedia · Aug 31, 2014

Re: Hurricane Marie Storm Swells and FPV flight to Oil Rig E

Sweet.....didn't even know those rigs were out there.

smaugnaut · Aug 31, 2014

Re: Hurricane Marie Storm Swells and FPV flight to Oil Rig E

jflyer3 said:
Flew my DJI Phantom 2 over the large waves produced by Hurricane Marie on August 27, 2014. The 10+ foot swells were the largest to reach SoCal in a number of years and made for an awesome sight.

Flew all the way to the oil rig named Emmy, 2,200 meters from start point in Huntington Beach. Totally stock DJI transmitter. Boscam 400 mW video Tx and Boscam diversity receiver/monitor. The mist obscured the Phantom almost immediately after takeoff and I had to rely on my FPV system for navigation.

Shot a 6:30 AM using GoPro Hero3+ Black.

Edited in GoPro Studio. Background music is Coldplay Remix Master Cut.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG7PATkpsrU[/youtube]

Dude this is on my top 3 coolest videos so far. Nice work! Good choice for song to.

FRS · Sep 1, 2014

Re: Hurricane Marie Storm Swells and FPV flight to Oil Rig E

AMAZING.. I really loved everything about the video. The song was perfect as well. I was thinking about taking the real plane out tomorrow to do some filming.. This isn't making my decision any harder, with a 35 min flight time, Port Aransas, TX here I come!

We have a ton of off shore rigs, but I'm not really sure on the distance. I guess google earth could figure that one out for me. How long does it take you to fly that distance? You did say 2200 meters correct? Does anyone know typical travel time of 1000 meters?

UrAwFuL · Sep 1, 2014

Re: Hurricane Marie Storm Swells and FPV flight to Oil Rig E

Awesome video! I'm still pretty scared about putting my Phantom over long distances (on land) because my FPV starts getting static-ish after about ~500 feet away. I flew around that same area though and also the same day. :lol: Sad we didn't catch each other. :lol:

EMCSQUAR · Sep 1, 2014

Re: Hurricane Marie Storm Swells and FPV flight to Oil Rig E

You need to submit that to BestQuadcopter -> http://bestquadcopter.com

mliew · Sep 1, 2014

Re: Hurricane Marie Storm Swells and FPV flight to Oil Rig E

EMCSQUAR said:
You need to submit that to BestQuadcopter -> http://bestquadcopter.com

Thanks! Submitted!
http://bestquadcopter.com/huntingon-beach-oil-rig-emmy/

madxm · Sep 1, 2014

Re: Hurricane Marie Storm Swells and FPV flight to Oil Rig E

very nice video!

jflyer3 · Sep 1, 2014

Re: Hurricane Marie Storm Swells and FPV flight to Oil Rig E

mliew said:
EMCSQUAR said:

You need to submit that to BestQuadcopter -> http://bestquadcopter.com

Click to expand...

Thanks! Submitted!
http://bestquadcopter.com/huntingon-beach-oil-rig-emmy/

Cool, thanks for submitting, milew.

It's pretty amazing what these Phantoms can do!

FRS, it took less than 10 minutes to go out and back 2,200 meters. That left another 5 minutes or so to goof around the waves.

I calculated that if I wanted to visit oil rig "Eva" (3,550 meters offshore) it would take 15 minutes round trip traveling at a conservative 8 m/s in GPS mode. That's really cutting it close to the battery limit! Plus, I don't even know if the DJI Tx can reach that far on stock antenna. I'm curious to try though.

BaldEagle · Sep 1, 2014

Re: Hurricane Marie Storm Swells and FPV flight to Oil Rig E

Thank you for posting that. It was inspiring in many ways. Beautifully flown and beautifully shot.

Awesome.

bpippin · Sep 2, 2014

Re: Hurricane Marie Storm Swells and FPV flight to Oil Rig E

That was great! Perfect music also. Really enjoyed that.

I didn't know they could go that far...

SilentAV8R · Sep 2, 2014

Re: Hurricane Marie Storm Swells and FPV flight to Oil Rig E

Neat video. Keep in ind that those rigs are a reporting point for traffic inbound to John Wayne. I've been VFR through there at 500 feet fairly often. Plus it is a practice area for student pilots. Just keep a sharp eye (and ears) out for traffic.