P4P Take off & landing on a boat

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Hey.
I’ve been invited tonight to go on a 40’ yacht to see the fireworks.

I don’t think I’ll have any problem taking off. If nothing else I’ll have my friend hold it above his head by landline no gear & hand launch - if it isn’t getting a green light while on the deck.

My concern is coming back- especially if it’s after sunset (only 30 Min. of course!) -
Obviously we may not be in the same position as take off- near but not exact.
So I’ll need to steer it back manually, and have my buddy hand catch.

Do I need to worry about the Obstacle avoidance giving us a problem bringing it close enough to grab?
Any other concerns or tips?

Thx!
 
My concern is coming back- especially if it’s after sunset (only 30 Min. of course!) -
Not to be overly concerned about the "30 Min" if you are flying under Section 336. I fly at night a good bit. In answer to your question, better safe than sorry, since you will be over open water turn the OA off if possible. Most definitely turn off the VPS, it is notoriously adversely affected when over water. Other than that, it should not be a problem.
 
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Thanks - but What's section 336?
Everything I've been taught - even for 107 - which I have - specifically states No Flying more than 30 min after sunset.
Unless you apply for a Waiver. Which will takes 6 weeks to 90 days - if they deem to grant it.

As for flying over water - been doing that for 4 years. - at altitude. Don't do much skimming....
But I also always used a P3P without OA too.
My main concern was about bringing it back on the boat when I need to.
ChicagoSkyline_0220-Pano_1000pxWeb.jpg
 
Also unfortunately it turns out I have to work this evening. So, hugely disappointed, I can't go tonight.
Hopefully I'll get another invite.
The weather is going to be PERFECT tonight too....
 
First drone flying I ever saw was over water. We were on a shark cage dive off Guadalupe Island and we could see the sharks in the water. It is what got me interested in droning.
 
I keep looking for them in Lake Michigan, but oddly, they never show.
Must stay in deeper waters...[emoji57]
 
Hey.
I’ve been invited tonight to go on a 40’ yacht to see the fireworks.

I don’t think I’ll have any problem taking off. If nothing else I’ll have my friend hold it above his head by landline no gear & hand launch - if it isn’t getting a green light while on the deck.

My concern is coming back- especially if it’s after sunset (only 30 Min. of course!) -
Obviously we may not be in the same position as take off- near but not exact.
So I’ll need to steer it back manually, and have my buddy hand catch.

Do I need to worry about the Obstacle avoidance giving us a problem bringing it close enough to grab?
Any other concerns or tips?

Thx!
You won't have a valid Home point, if the boat moves at all, so be sure to adjust for that (in the Return-to-Home settings).
You don't want a lost signal to make it land in the water.
 
Although I fly over water all of the time, your plan looks to be pushing the envelope.

You have 1) Never flown over water 2) Never flown off and on a boat 3) Never been on this particular boat 4) ?? Ever hand caught the drone?

I would try all of these individually before putting them all together.

- The boat: Some boats aren't all that good for flying. Metal in the hull or superstructure can confuse the compass which is a big no-no (if you want to get the thing back). The bigger the boat, the more problematic it is although they make better targets. Boats rock up and down at times. The drone doesn't understand that. It can get very exciting, very quickly.

- Overwater flying: Although just the same as over land flying has a few caveats. Your home point wanders around. You can set it to track the RC but your tablet or phone has to have GPS. And the GPS has to work with the RC. Especially for Apple devices, this can be hit and miss. Practice before hand. Reference points are less over water so if you do have to visually orient your can be at a disadvantage. Even big boats look like little dots after about 1000'.

- Night time: Makes everything above harder.

- You have to be able to steer the drone into your hand and hand catch. Potentially in a small space.

- If you do a forced low battery landing on water, it can ruin your day. You want to be *very* conservative about flight times.

Its all fun and games but it I wouldn't start out like it seems you had planned to do.

Practice. Practice. Practice.
 
All good points mentioned above. Flying from a boat is an _advanced_ move. It is not for someone that does not have a _lot_ of experience flying. Flying from a boat... at night... even more advanced.

If you did not know to change your RTH setting from RTH to hover, I would not attempt flying from a boat.

It also appears that you may not be experienced with hand catching (and your friend is not). I'd not recommend trying this for the first time on a boat... at night.
 
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Appreciate the tips guys. Although I’m not sure where you got the information about my experience. I’ve been flying for over four years, fly over water much of the time that I fly. Just not off a boat. I’ve been hand catching for years as has my friend. Do understand the issues about movement and we’re pretty careful about it. Also the advantage of being out near where I want the drone to be for my firework shots, is that I won’t be flying very far away in distance from the boat.

Should be able to visually keep the lights in view and able to manually steer it back to the boat. I’m pretty conservative about him catching I bring it close and above my head or whoever’s catching it and gently bring it to where it’s within reach.

The tip about having it hover rather than RTH to avoid having it land in the wrong spot is a good idea as well. I’ve been practicing lately with rather than hitting the return to home button pay attention to where the icon is pointing and have a point back to me and flying back is closest possible until I have it actually in view.
Generally when I’m bringing it back from somewhere that is not real close I will hit the return to home just to get it oriented in the right direction heading back towards me and once it’s in view I cancel that and manually bring it in.
.
Also when taking off from the boat I assume that I’m going to have to lift off and hover off the boat for a little bit until I get my GPS green light.
Don’t leave Home without it....[emoji3]
 
Thanks - but What's section 336?
Everything I've been taught - even for 107 - which I have - specifically states No Flying more than 30 min after sunset.
Unless you apply for a Waiver. Which will takes 6 weeks to 90 days - if they deem to grant it.

As for flying over water - been doing that for 4 years. - at altitude. Don't do much skimming....
But I also always used a P3P without OA too.
My main concern was about bringing it back on the boat when I need to.View attachment 100104

See this is from Chicago. I’m part 107 also and see there’s a lot of confusion flying down town Chicago. What do you do. Looking to go down there and fly around. Thanks
 
See this is from Chicago. I’m part 107 also and see there’s a lot of confusion flying down town Chicago. What do you do. Looking to go down there and fly around. Thanks
Happy to help if I can- but what are you asking exactly?
There’s confusion here too. you want to keep a low profile. It’s technically legal to fly in many places especially on the lakefront. But if there’s a lot of people around the cops don’t like it. The main parks near downtown Chicago are off-limits for drones.
The park Nazis will be on you pretty quick if they see that you’re flying a drone anywhere around Grant Park and the being and near Michigan Avenue. If I want to fly the lakefront are usually go at sunrise down by Adler planetarium and nobody bothers me that I was beautiful. But the other day I went by North Ave., Beach mid day, around 1 PM and I was just noodling around playing with the new P for P, and a cop on an ATV rolls up to me and says you got to bring that down. And I went excuse me? Says can’t fly that around Here.
I said anywhere on the lakefront?
“Yes, there’s too many people, you could hit someone. “ I said, but I’ll be over water tomshoot skylines...
“There’s boaters ounthere. You could hit one...”

I told him I’d been flying for 4 years , had my 107 Commercial license and never had a problem before.
Told him I was going to only be flying over the water, not people. He pointed out that it was over people NOW- I had just put it up and was checking my settings before setting out.
Wanted to tell him that I’d been there all by myself, no one near, and he saw what I was doing and rolled himself under the drone...

But didn’t. We talked for almost 10 min. Finally he said “well I see you’ve got expensive equipment and talk the talk (about the safety refs & FAA guidelines) so I’ll let it go this time.
But when there’s lots of people around you can’t fly here...

Told him I can see exactly where it’s going, and always tip he lens down to check what’s under me before shooting and am very conscious of what’s under me.


They must be cracking down a bit. I usually have no issue if not in a tourist area.
Also I usually do the lakefront at dawn.
 
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Use Dynamic Home point, then it will update your home point to that of the RC.
 
The tricky part may be hand-catching the drone if the boat is pitching up and down on the waves. Plus all the other considerations mentioned already in this thread.
 
Here's how to hand catch the right way.... skipped to the 5:45 mark to avoid all of Casey's self promoting BS and you will see the lady hand catch. She does it twice, one more time a couple minutes later..

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Well- that’s how to catch an Inspire...
To hand catch a Phantom of course we need to grab it by the rear legs. And if I have someone else catch he can grab both at the same time.
Not worried about that part.
My original question was about if the OA would cause a problem.
And the answer is- turn it off...

But all the tips are appreciated.
 
Funny about the dynamic Home Point. I’ve not had a lot of luck yet with the P4p v2 with resetting the Home Point to the RC position.
Even though I’ve got a new iPad with GPS and have my iPhone’s Personal Hot Spot on, I always get an alert that the GPS signal is too weak to set the new Home Point.
Even if I’m in an open area. Any thoughts on this?
 
Funny about the dynamic Home Point. I’ve not had a lot of luck yet with the P4p v2 with resetting the Home Point to the RC position.
Even though I’ve got a new iPad with GPS and have my iPhone’s Personal Hot Spot on, I always get an alert that the GPS signal is too weak to set the new Home Point.
Even if I’m in an open area. Any thoughts on this?
Weird my P4 works correctly, I get a little "home point updated" voice when I go for a wander.
 

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