3 miles over water with Litchi

[Geoelectro]

I made a mission in Litchi to capture a bridge. The bridge is hard to access since it's mostly surrounded by either water or private property. Launching from a nearby marina, the total trip is 15,000 feet. It looks great on the map and the data suggests an easy flight of 16 minutes. I went out last Monday to just look at it in person and said No WAY! That bridge is way over a mile away and it's all water! Still... I wanted it.

Well today, we had perfect drone weather. Practically no wind all day! I had my son come along for moral support and we launched. I watched it go off in the distance until I could not see it. According the the video, it was right on target. I nervously watched the battery meter as it flew the mission. The video was awesome but not being able to see it was nerve racking! Finally it came back into view. Right on time and target. Suddenly, I see a bird in the video feed. I look up and it's hanging around the P4 making me nervous. I ended the mission and brought it back quickly. When it was back over land, I finally started breathing again. Wow! I did it AND got the P4 back!

So, a quick edit just to get it on FB so my friends who were waiting for it could see. Nearly three miles over water! I'm pumped!!

Geo

 

[macoman]

Pretty nice smooth video, well done.

 

[Alan Russel]

Cool video mate...looks like the adrenaline was flowing, glad you where able to breath again..lol.

 

[ukracer]

Great work and a **** site braver than me!

 

[tevek]

Nice work, I know that feeling the first time on a fairly long flight and you start doing a little nervous dance willing your bird back to you. Give it a try at 30,000 ft and bring a towel to wipe the sweat off yourself!

 

[erickwill]

Amazing! Thanks for sharing

 

[cym0123]

Very nice

 

[wa5tef]

Fantastic!!! It just so happens I made my longest flight today also. It was NOT over water though! In fact, it was mostly over farm land that I could have easy access to in case I had to do a fast "rescue"! I too got nervous when it flew to its target, a church at a road junction, roughly 1.3 miles away. I was flying waypoints in Litchi of course, and it made the turn exactly as planned, flew on to the next point and then proceeded to head back my way. I have the brass colored parabolic reflectors I purchased on Amazon.com so I did not lose the signal at all. In fact, I maintained a strong signal, (78%) or so and had perfect video feed all the way. I think the farthest I got away from the home point was only 5,012 feet where I figured it would be about 5,500 feet or better but guess I missed it. Anyway, the Litchi waypoint mission was perfect with no problems. The Phantom 4 performed as expected with no issues. I'll make it a mile yet! It seems that I did fly another long mission today.

 

[Pharm]

I love Litchi. I'm well acquainted with the emotions of abject, heart-pounding fear as the Phantom flies away under Litchi control as well as those of childlike glee and exhilaration when it finally comes home.

Wait until you fly Litchi on a mission out of range where the little lady's voice says, "Warning! Disconnected!" and the video freezes and you have no telemetry and the minutes seem like hours as you stare helplessly at your watch. "It should have been back at least thirty minutes ago!", you think, then realize it's only been disconnected for 20 seconds. Suddenly, the screen comes to life and you can see by the video that it's still in the air and it's heading home! THAT will get your heart rate up!

 

[macoman]

I love Litchi. I'm well acquainted with the emotions of abject, heart-pounding fear as the Phantom flies away under Litchi control as well as those of childlike glee and exhilaration when it finally comes home.

Wait until you fly Litchi on a mission out of range where the little lady's voice says, "Warning! Disconnected!" and the video freezes and you have no telemetry and the minutes seem like hours as you stare helplessly at your watch. "It should have been back at least thirty minutes ago!", you think, then realize it's only been disconnected for 20 seconds. Suddenly, the screen comes to life and you can see by the video that it's still in the air and it's heading home! THAT will get your heart rate up!

That look to me as a scene of a scary movie. I do not like the litchi app and I will never buy to do missions. I rather have my aircraft under my control all the time.

 

[marcel79]

That look to me as a scene of a scary movie. I do not like the litchi app and I will never buy to do missions. I rather have my aircraft under my control all the time.

Then your missing al lot of fun flying missions and doing flights that where otherwise impossible to do.

 

[tevek]

Then your missing al lot of fun flying missions and doing flights that where otherwise impossible to do.

Yep, just flew a quick 3 Klm mission around the lake where I live and I did the little dance as it came back over the trees. I have a boosted set up so full signal throughout the trip so no issues and even managed a sip of beer while 'Dorothy' did the hard work.

 

[macoman]

Then your missing al lot of fun flying missions and doing flights that where otherwise impossible to do.

I understand that but to me it's like giving your car away to someone and I just hope he return back my car. Not able to see my expensive aircraft it's something that I can't do... at least for now.

 

[tevek]

I understand that but to me it's like giving your car away to someone and I just hope he return back my car. Not able to see my expensive aircraft it's something that I can't do... at least for now.

I see your point, but I put Litchi in the same bag as relying on the DJI go4 app delivering its purported deliverables when flying line of sight. You have to take a punt and have faith in exploring the capabilities of your drone. And they are many.

 

[Vichian-Bruno]

Not able to see my expensive aircraft it's something that I can't do

I understand your point regarding flying the bird.
But from the video-graphing point of view, you will never and ever be able to record smooth camera movements between two or more landmarks/POI's manually.
It's a matter of priority, playing with the RC sticks or creating clips from a birds-eye-view.
For me the latter counts, that's why I fly a Phantom and not a "wasp in attacking mode"

 

[Geoelectro]

This is what I discovered. Originally I couldn't see any real need for waypoint flying having always flown vLOS. I actually got it for a unique situation to create a POI without having to fly over an object as required in go4. A monument over 560' high) In Litchi, just select it on a map. However, in my first test run I set two POI's in a mission near my home. Reviewing the video, I was more struck by the smooth motion of the transitions. Now I want to reshoot recent videos using waypoints. I couldn't have filmed the bridge vLOS. Heck, I couldn't even see the P4 as it approached the bridge. As you use the app you learn how to imagine the results from your settings. I worked on this mission for a couple of weeks before running it. It pretty much did what I hoped for...only better.
BTW, here's the full length version. Kinda long...I know. I guess since I was there and worrying about it ever making it back, I can't stop watching it!

Geo

 

[wa5tef]

Yes! Hard to beat the thrill of laying out a Litchi waypoint mission, flying it, ant then tweaking it for more action, better shots or longer flight time. It reminds me of playing with model railroads as a kid. There's nothing like watching the mission run and seeing the downlink video run by as your drone flies your commands! Best $23 I've ever spent.
Jim
WA5TEF