Water nerves.

[BVC]

Just don't fly 5 feet above the water an you'll be alright.

One of my first flights was over water. Just be careful of wind/waves and you'll do just fine.

 

[Meta4]

I am wondering if some sort of ultra light weight waterwing sort of device could be attached to the undercarriage, at least for the first few flights.

Handicapping your Phantom with something that reduces its speed and catches wind and gets in the way of the camera isn't going to make it fly safer or more likely to come home.

Fly your Phantom over water the way it was meant to fly.
Out there is where all the best photos are and no trees, interference or obstacles.
Here are a few reasons to get out on the ocean .. far from all the commotion..

 

[ajpierro]

I was at first. But like a fellow flyer told me- "it doesn't matter if your 5 ft or 500ft out over the water, if it goes down it is going down". Just do it, 99.9% sure if you pay attention to what is going on and have done everything you were suppose to do before flight you have nothing to worry about. I have done so several times as far out as "visibly possible" with no problems, just watch the wind conditions if your at the beach.

 

[kie1an]

I was nervous at flying over the water on the first few times but im now at the point where I do nearly all my flying over the sea. There is much less politics and worry that you could be flying over somebodies house or property, if its going to drop out the sky then its not very likely your going to hit somebody or something. So I would say just get out there and go for it! Like others have said either way anything above 100ft and if it crashes on land its most likely going to be toast so it makes no odds

 

[dhsprogis]

Had my P3 Advanced for around 2wks now. Pretty comfortable flying on land, and have had around 10 trouble free flights (thankfully). I would love to take it to the beach and and out over the ocean (roughly 300 distance)

Is there anyways to over come the nerves of taking it out over water? I know that at the end of the day it is no different to flying over land, but there is always that worrying thought that something could go wrong, and sink to the bottom of the ocean (same could happen on land but you would in most cases be able to retrieve)

Any confidence boosters/tips would be greatly appreciated!


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

I fly mostly over water (vimeo.com/dsprogis). It's attitude. You're not going to get the great shots unless you take a chance. So either be cautious and get the conservative, pedestrian shots or be aggressive and get the amazing shots. All that said, (1) know your drone, (2) run test flights to know the area and perfect the flight and shot, (3) pay attention to changing conditions (wind), and (4) check your copter before every flight before arming motors, after arming motors, hovering off the ground for 20 seconds. I look for wobbles - if I see one, I stop and re-tighten props or replace them.

 

[andy238]

Goes without saying, but... be extra-vigilant about your remaining battery life. I fly over water a lot, but never when my battery is below 60%.

 

[epicSheep1080]

The first time I flew over water was a little bit scary; I was very reluctant to venture over the edge of the beach. Once you fly out there, however, it's actually easier than land as long as you turn off Vision Positioning System to keep the Phantom from getting confused by the moving surface. There aren't really any obstacles over water, so as long as you fly to 50 metres or so to check the wind before flying away, you'll be fine.

 

[Mr Billz world]

I had a P2 vision plus that survived 4 water landings before meeting it's final demise when the 90ft return home was in the line of sight with a grove of pine trees. I bought a phantom 3 professional that took a hard water landing and after drying it out is working great. I love to fly over water. The openness of the area and the photogrammetry is great. I most like to get on a jet ski and have the V3 follow me and set POI to other skiers.

 

[syotr]

This is what I've done. Keychain floats from West Marine zip-tied to legs. Then it still fit in my case too... Had no noticeable impact on performance. Luckily during my flights over the Bering Sea I did not get an opportunity to test if these would actually float it, but they are very buoyant so my guess is they would have.

View attachment 41208

I can tell you for certain that you do not have enough volume in those floats to keep it from sinking. I have tested lots of float systems. Assume your Phantom weighs 1200 grams, then it will take 1200 cubic centimeters of weightless flotation to make it neutrally buoyant. To safely keep it on the surface, I would use 1500 cc minimum. Think of a one liter bottle. You need one and one half of those.
Here are four 500 ml bottles floating a Phantom 1

 

[Don Miller]

It is a lot of fun to fly over water. I have flown over Joe's Crab Shack in Daytona Beach, FL, over area lakes and even on the Outer Banks of NC. I love chasing my brother in law in his boat.

 

[Don Miller]

 

[AubMar]

I fly over the ocean almost everyday. I've been 2 miles out over the ocean. Never had a problem

Love to see these posts! Thanks!

 

[NCRichard]

Had my P3 Advanced for around 2wks now. Pretty comfortable flying on land, and have had around 10 trouble free flights (thankfully). I would love to take it to the beach and and out over the ocean (roughly 300 distance)

Is there anyways to over come the nerves of taking it out over water? I know that at the end of the day it is no different to flying over land, but there is always that worrying thought that something could go wrong, and sink to the bottom of the ocean (same could happen on land but you would in most cases be able to retrieve)

Any confidence boosters/tips would be greatly appreciated!


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

I live on coast in norht carolina i only fly when wind is onshore to avoid salt air but ive flown way out there just have to nderstand if it goes down its over

 

[NCRichard]

I live on coast in norht carolina i only fly when wind is onshore to avoid salt air but ive flown way out there just have to nderstand if it goes down its over

I ment offshore breeze not on

 

[Nakelp86]

Had my P3 Advanced for around 2wks now. Pretty comfortable flying on land, and have had around 10 trouble free flights (thankfully). I would love to take it to the beach and and out over the ocean (roughly 300 distance)

Is there anyways to over come the nerves of taking it out over water? I know that at the end of the day it is no different to flying over land, but there is always that worrying thought that something could go wrong, and sink to the bottom of the ocean (same could happen on land but you would in most cases be able to retrieve)
Any confidence boosters/tips would be greatly appreciated!
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

I heard that if you eat a lot of spinach it helps................... no, no that was for something else

 

[shockwave199]

The trick is just to forget about the water. Ground, water, no difference really. Just concentrate on what you're filming, be smart, and don't let water scare you off. I film over water a lot. If your bird works and you have full trust in it, it won't let you down no matter what. Some of my water flights with the phantom and q500 -

 

[Dacon Productions]

 

[Meta4]

I'd be very interested to know how much this sort of thing affects flight performance.
They look like they would be a serious handicap in flight, catching the wind and providing plenty of wind resistance as well as extra weight.

 

[DAVEJF]

Just don't fly 5 feet above the water an you'll be alright.

One of my first flights was over water. Just be careful of wind/waves and you'll do just fine.

Hi, what's the problem with flying around 5' over water. Is it simply leaving too little room for error or something more technical to do with vps/gps?

 

[sdharris]

I agree with the comments that a fall over water or land from height equate to the same thing, the only benefit of falling over land is you might get the memory card back but the rest of the craft will be badly damaged. I wouldn't handicap the Phantom with any floatation device.

I have flown over lakes and large expanses of beach and shoreline. I found ensuring you have a good track on DJI Go or another app is important as it is very easy to lose your position when bringing the craft back as on large beaches with dunes it is difficult to spot yourself on the camera view or see the Phantom against a bright sky even when its relatively close. The map view is helpful to navigate back.

Wind direction is also important, I prefer to have the wind blowing towards the shore as you know it'll help to bring it back, but if you don't just be sensible with the battery.