P3S From a Boat

[ghutch]

Looking for knowledge to successfully launch and retrieve a 3 Standard from a pontoon boat. I'm using the Go app on an iPhone 6 or iPad Air 2 w/hotspot.

I'm comfortable launching and retrieving by hand.

I assume I don't need to calibrate the compass?

I'm unsure about home point.

Does anyone have experience doing this?
Thanks...

 

[Oso]

Does anyone have experience doing this?
Thanks...

I don't have any personal experience, but many here have done this and there are hundreds of posts with good info. Good luck!

Search Results for Query: fly from a boat | DJI Phantom Drone Forum

 

[grin factor]

The home point may vary if the boat moves, (quite obvious really) if using you could cancel once close.
If the compass has already been calibrated, it should be okay. I only calibrated once and fly in different locations

 

[ghutch]

Thank you both for your input. After looking around quite a bit and sifting through it all, I've made a list of the process I think should work. I don't think I've left anything out or have anything wrong...

Flying From Boat:

1. Make sure calibration was done under 100 miles away.

2. Disable Max Distance setting in Go app.

3. Have RTH set to Hover.

4. Make sure RTH height is set appropriately.

5. Point the idling boat in the direction the wind is blowing.

6. Set RC in Atti mode.

7. Hand launch from rear of drone using CSC. Idle in hand for a minute, then give it enough power to get up higher than the bimini top.

8. Home Point will be set when the motors are started.

9. Switch to GPS mode once it’s clear of the boat.

10. Continually update the Home Point to the RC in the Go app.

11. Return to the boat when no less than 40% battery is left.

12. Point idling boat in direction wind is blowing.

13. Point drone front facing away from you.

14. Lower and hand catch then hold left stick down to shut off motors.

 

[Meta4]

1. Make sure calibration was done under 100 miles away.

It doesn't matter where the compass was calibrated.
In normal use there should be no need to calibrate your compass.

6. Set RC in Atti mode.
9. Switch to GPS mode once it’s clear of the boat.

I can't think of any reason that you would need to use atti mode for launching.

 

[ghutch]

I can't think of any reason that you would need to use atti mode for launching.

I was planning on holding the drone for a short time to make sure everything was ok and I was thinking that if it was in GPS mode and the boat was drifting a little, wouldn't the drone want to try to keep position? And if that's the case, Atti mode wouldn't be fighting for position. Am I wrong about this?

 

[Meta4]

I was planning on holding the drone for a short time to make sure everything was ok and I was thinking that if it was in GPS mode and the boat was drifting a little, wouldn't the drone want to try to keep position? And if that's the case, Atti mode wouldn't be fighting for position. Am I wrong about this?

That's something I hadn't thought of.
If the Phantom did attempt to hold position while idling, that would make sense.

 

[ghutch]

Thank you for your input Meta...

 

[hawk256]

It sounds like you have a good plan. The launch should be pretty easy but the hand catch on landing may be little more tricky. Any movement of the boat, whether side to side or up and down, will make the hand catch more difficult. Once I committed to grab the drone, I wouldn't hesitate. There is not a lot of room for error when you have 4 props spinning that close to your hand and body. I would practice hand catches on land until it was very comfortable before attempting it on a boat. I haven't seen any one use one but I personally would use a heavy duty glove on the catch hand as long as it didn't affect my dexterity.

 

[ghutch]

Good points Hawk, thanks. I'll be doing this on a lake and in an area that's not very busy during the week so that should keep down the boat wakes...

 

[solentlife]

I think the two main points have been covered :

Do not Compass Calibrate on the boat ...

RTH needs to be sorted so that you can retrieve without it going of to initial Home Point.

Nigel

 

[KAOS Imagery]

I have done this numerous times with no issue. The boats I launched from had either a hard top cabin or long front / rear deck that I could launch from easily. I did all my flights in GPS mode. We kept the boat as still as possible so the AC could get a GPS locked home point. In my case, I launched with the AC into the wind, so once it got the home point I would lift off and hover, the AC would stay in place and the boat would drift safely away.

Once, on a rougher day, I got many IMU error messages while the AC was warming up, I think do to the motion of the waves. In that case, a hand launch might work better as you could try to prevent some of the wave movement being a human gimbal.

We also try to stay away from other lake traffic. On one mission, a wake board boat passed by us and they had another Phantom filming their surfer, but the operator buzzed our boat, probably out of curiosity but didn't realize we were flying an AC as well. I had to move mine out his his flight path to avoid a possible collision. So if you do have lake traffic around you, an extra person onboard could be a spotter looking for other ACs.

 

[ghutch]

In my case, I launched with the AC into the wind, so once it got the home point I would lift off and hover, the AC would stay in place and the boat would drift safely away.

Thanks Kaos, make sense. Good points...

 

[Propster]

Noobe here with a P3 STD, getting ready to venture out in a boat for some over water action. I have read the above posts and still not sure of what to do. I fly very well over land in GPS mode but as I understand it, water is quite different and presents some challenges for controlling your drone for best possible video.

I've looked at allot of YouTube video's about the subject but none of them really address the entire process in baby steps, most clips are like: Here's the controller and the RC, lets go fly it over water....done.

That's anything but helpful. Has anyone ever made a tutorial for over water flight that they'd share ? I'm really looking for something very educational that walks through the entire process "from turning power on, make/adjust settings, calibration (if any), shooting video in what mode (GPS or ATTI), to turning everything off".

Thank you all for you time and the experiences you've all shared to help out the under educated fliers like me attempt to be come better............Gary

 

[Meta4]

I've looked at allot of YouTube video's about the subject but none of them really address the entire process in baby steps

That's anything but helpful. Has anyone ever made a tutorial for over water flight that they'd share ? I'm really looking for something very educational that walks through the entire process

Most of my flying is over water and it's just like flying over land except that there are no obstacles to hit.
If you want to fly from a boat, that adds the complication of hand launching and catching.
If the boat is traveling, you need to reset the home point to prevent the drone trying to return to the launch point when it thinks it only has enough battery for the long return trip.
Apart from those, there's nothing different.

 

[Propster]

Most of my flying is over water and it's just like flying over land except that there are no obstacles to hit.
If you want to fly from a boat, that adds the complication of hand launching and catching.
If the boat is traveling, you need to reset the home point to prevent the drone trying to return to the launch point when it thinks it only has enough battery for the long return trip.
Apart from those, there's nothing different.

Meta4:
Please bare with me as I'll ask allot of questions.....
Hand launching and catching: I've done that solo on land and have mastered that aspect (minus the rolling actions of a boat....LOL).
But when starting out on a boat for the day;
Calibration: Do i need to do this on a boat ? and since I have a large metal engine and electronic gear, what issues (if any) does this present ?
Flight Mode: Do you boat launch and fly in GPS mode or ATTI ?
Do you set the controller as the RTH point ? Once airborne if using "ATTI" mode do you switch to GPS mode while shooting video or stay in "ATTI" ?

Thanks for your support of my ignorance, Gary

 

[Meta4]

Calibration: Do i need to do this on a boat ? and since I have a large metal engine and electronic gear, what issues (if any) does this present ?

There should never be any need to calibrate the compass unless you rebuild or modify your Phantom.
Flying from a boat makes no difference.
Just make sure you aren't launching from on top of the engine or any electronics and you'll be fine.

Flight Mode: Do you boat launch and fly in GPS mode or ATTI ?

If the boat is moving along, it would be a good idea to start and launch in atti mode to prevent the Phantom fighting to hold position before launch.
Once it's up clear of the boat, you can change to P-GPS mode.
If the boat isn't mobile, P-GPS mode would be fine for launching.

Do you set the controller as the RTH point ? Once airborne if using "ATTI" mode do you switch to GPS mode while shooting video or stay in "ATTI" ?

Because you never want the drone to actually land on the boat, and I usually have the boat in sight so it's easy to fly back, I don't use RTH on the boat.
If the boat is traveling, you need to reset the home point to prevent the drone trying to return to the launch point when it thinks it only has enough battery for the long return trip.
Resetting home to either the controller or the drone's location is good enough to prevent that.
Atti or P-GPS mode for flying is a personal choice.
I mostly use P-GPS and I would guess most others would too.
Use whichever suits.