Night flight

[gglop]

Curious to try night flights. Any tips for a safe mission?

 

[John Locke]

Don't do this over neighbors and hover. This freaks people out, or annoys them. Make your first flights in a safe rural area, not in a city. Get at least 200' high to minimize noise and get above anything you can run into, assuming there are not high buildings in the area. Make sure you inspect the flight area during the day to insure there is nothing up high you can hit. Make sure you know how to use the radar screen in the Go app, in case you get lost. Also, make sure you clearly understand how to use RTH, and you have the RTH altitude set high enough for your test environment. Night photos are way more interesting than video. 2 second exposures are quite interesting. Become familiar with how to do a 2 seconds exposure before you fly, so you don't waste precious time in the air.

 

[ryantrax]

Good advise @John Locke
I very much agree with the photo vs video point you made. I have found 1 to 2 second exposures are best, any more than 2 seconds you will start to get some blur. Definitely get used to the manual settings on your camera prior to liftoff. The use of Strobon Cree strobe lights are very helpful at night, helps you keep an eye on your drone easily, @msinger sells them, they look like this (mount not included):


Also keep in mind if you are flying commercially you need a daytime flight waiver from the FAA.
This is a 2 second exposure using my Mavic trying to catch a lightning storm, the P4P does even better (I didn't have it with me at the time though).

Fly safe!

 

[msinger]

The use of Strobon Cree strobe lights are very helpful at night, helps you keep an eye on your drone easily, @msinger sells them

If anyone is interested, you can purchase STROBON Cree strobe lights from me here. I ship them from the US daily (except Sunday).

 

[ryantrax]

If anyone is interested, you can purchase STROBON Cree strobe lights from me here. I ship them from the US daily (except Sunday).

I purchased all my Strobon's from @msinger Great price and excellent customer service! Mike has always helped us out, I'd much rather throw my business his way as a thank you.

 

[gglop]

Many thanks for all the useful tips...just one more question, what setting should I use, P or Atti mode?
Happy 2018 to all!

 

[randun41]

Many thanks for all the useful tips...just one more question, what setting should I use, P or Atti mode?
Happy 2018 to all!

IF you haven’t flown in “Atti” mode prior ,don’t even attempt it in your first night flight!! But even then you can’t have a good enough visual to know what the bird is doing to fly in “Atti” mode, so I would say stay in “P” mode.