Phantom Rain post - Flying with a wingman - side by side

PhantomWetSuits

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Video shows how the Phantom 4 responds to a second drone in very close air space.
This is going to help us determine how close we fly the drones next to each other in a tandem mission.

The full video is of course posted on Phantomrain.org but we learned a lot as to what we can expect and what is possible.
Obviously we know the Risks involved but this our step 1. Wind is always a constant so will do this again at 20 mph winds most likely settle for 15 max

The funny thing is everything we read about this kind of flying such as the Vacuum effect was not something that was evident at all.
This is why its so critical to do your own testing as you learn so much more .

There were a lot of videos that warned of flying the drones closer than 6 ft but we found 2 to 3 ft just fine. So were thinking of a 4 ft spread for the tandem flying.

How we fly side by side is still up for debate , or who is going to lead the way if we stagger but side by side single file was the most compelling as they both hovered in that spot without fluctuations.

Obviously that came as a complete surprise as I thought it might push the drone forward some but it held.

Much of how this works will also be determined by what software we end up using for the tandem flights.

So this is a Phantom Rain Post - I mumble about stuff i love , if you dont like it, dont watch the video it is kind of boring, no music , just some quick clips and close encounters.


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Making the Phantom 4 the Rock Star as we dial in the angles were going to use for the wing man flights using the Mavic 2 zoom and the Phantom 4 as the lead drone.


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I haven’t watched the video yet as I am in an area with no wifi (enjoying Victoria Day long weekend [emoji554]️- Canada) but you could probably use AutoPilot and set up an AirSpace and do formation flying.

Chris
 
Update: Tripod mode on the Mavic 2 is so much slower than on the Phantom 4 Pro , thus the Phantom pulled so far away that even with the zoom I was loosing the Position to keep it insight..

The Variables on two different drones types is making this much harder to match speeds. Trial and error now as i we program the missions.

Thus two Mavics or two Phantoms at same speeds would warrant better accuracy.



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Without the zoom looks like this , so big pull away by the Phantom 4 Pro

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Huh? What is your point?

We are working on automating flying the drones side by side preferably in a thunderstorm .

What were noticing is that automating two different drones even on its most simple level is a task.



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Gear to fly your phantom in and out of the storm.
 
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Quite a while back ... I was videoing an RC Car meet and positioned at the jump area ... one of the other club guys brought his Mavic up to video the same ... he found the P3P I was flying caused his Mavic to buck and pitch as the wash from the P3P hit.
Distance was about 4 - 5ft and the P3P about 1 - 2ft higher ... it was so bad for him in fact - he aborted and flew of to another part of the track.

Here's the video taken at the time from the P3P and if you scroll to 4:50 ... you get a good shot of the Mavic unable to stabilise next to my P3P ...

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At other events we have had 5 or more Phantoms flying together but found we needed about 6ft (2m) separation between each otherwise turbulence affected the stable hovers.

We did try co-ordinated flying a few times ... with the idea of having two P's lifting the Club flag ... crazy idea I know ... we abandoned the idea and lifted a smaller flag on a single P.
 
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Phantom and Mav have become the best of Friends.

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Using Active Track - Spot Light mode to ISOLATE what and how to keep the Drone active in that mode.

We learned quickly that you do not want to use the Zoom function on the Mavic 2 while using Active track as the Camera is what is in control of the follow.

We also had a hard time getting the Active GO BOX to come up when level with the drone in the sky , once we Get the the GO BOX green we were good to go except when zooming in, than the Mavic 2 Zoom lost the ability to track.

The idea is still looking very promising as we dial in what to do and what not to do.

So the Phantom 4 is flying around and the Mavic 2 zoom is trying to follow its path, our concern is keeping it close but the zooming in with the camera is not the answer.

Phantomrain.org
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Update: Thursday May 26 2019 sprinkles all day and than this !

Mavic 2 and Phantom 4 Pro share an Unexpected down pour on low battery and we further the Extreme flying Tests.

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Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your drone in and out of the Storm.
 
Looking at this setup to control both the Phantom and the Mavic 2. Reading we can also use it as a Camera monitor as well. Not sure the quality but the price is under $150 seems cheap for 7 inch monitor but may work well.

Anyone use this setup > Not sure if it can power what it is connected to but that would be great.

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