First flight out to sea, nail biting stuff

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Hello all,

Today was my Phantom 4's first flight out to sea, around 2 miles out and 2 miles back, I really wanted to photograph a vessel. A few times I wanted to turn back with panic seeing the battery percentage drop!
I kept going and was rewarded with the footage I needed, turned the drone round in my direction and was horrified by the distance from shore it was... Deep breaths and slowly my reliable and precious phantom 4 got back to shore, scary stuff flying that thing worth more than my car out there.

A happy end, no loss which is the common forum threads here!
 

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My first ocean flights were like that too, you will eventually trust your craft and it gets better, a little bit of butterflies is always expected and makes it part of the fun. I really was able to relax when my wife told me that if I lost it we would just get another one. Gotta love that woman!
 
Being in the southern Mass / RI area, GMass does more than half of my flying over water. In fact, check out this vid captured in Newport, RI!
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GMass did have two ut-ow moments. In one, Gmass was across a river nearly a mile away when I got an error stating a prop was lost and the motor was idling. He was able to limp the bird to an abandoned parking lot nearby and drive the ~20 minutes to get to it. He also was an RCH away from crashing into the water due to battery life. He took a last minute turn back out over the water to capture a sailboat in the setting sun, and upon returning it began a forced landing, and was able to just barely make it back to the boardwalk.
 
I flew along the beach and then down and back along a long jetty when I decided to go straight out to sea to run the battery down. It was just a little nervous but I knew the wind was helping me on my way back.

What I do now is turn off the lights and obstacle avoidance to wring a hair more battery when it becomes a nail biter.
 
Being in the southern Mass / RI area, GMass does more than half of my flying over water. In fact, check out this vid captured in Newport, RI!
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.


GMass did have two ut-ow moments. In one, Gmass was across a river nearly a mile away when I got an error stating a prop was lost and the motor was idling. He was able to limp the bird to an abandoned parking lot nearby and drive the ~20 minutes to get to it. He also was an RCH away from crashing into the water due to battery life. He took a last minute turn back out over the water to capture a sailboat in the setting sun, and upon returning it began a forced landing, and was able to just barely make it back to the boardwalk.

That's a cracking video, love it - really do, you got so close to that sail boat mast, squeaky bum moment lol. Unfortunately I can't post my video as its being purchased by a media production company and they'll have the rights to it.
 
I've said this before, I'll say it again. Just like in boating - one third of your fuel load going out, one third coming back and one third as a reserve. Wind shifts can happen quickly and decisively.

Murphy was an optimist.
 
C'mon dude stretch those wings you could have made it all the way across! ;)

Hello all,

Today was my Phantom 4's first flight out to sea, around 2 miles out and 2 miles back, I really wanted to photograph a vessel. A few times I wanted to turn back with panic seeing the battery percentage drop!
I kept going and was rewarded with the footage I needed, turned the drone round in my direction and was horrified by the distance from shore it was... Deep breaths and slowly my reliable and precious phantom 4 got back to shore, scary stuff flying that thing worth more than my car out there.

A happy end, no loss which is the common forum threads here!
 
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That's a cracking video, love it - really do, you got so close to that sail boat mast, squeaky bum moment lol. Unfortunately I can't post my video as its being purchased by a media production company and they'll have the rights to it.
You can do what you like before they have the rights to it..... Lets see it :)
 
Flying over water is is a Frightening Endeavor to say the least... Especially from a boat. I filmed this and had several "Fly Aways" that I later discovered were the Wind and Tide working against each other while in P Mode. The Phantom 4 speed could not overcome the wind and tide so I had to chase it down. Luckily the Capt. was an understanding guy because one of the fly aways happened when we had a Swordfish on!

I still got a lot of great 4K footage and later learned that I need to switch to a more aggressive flight mode to overcome the W / T situation.

Here is the video.

Hunting Daytime Swordfish with Capt. Nick Stanczyk in Skurge of the Sea

Capt. Mike
 
If you would like some backup, you can always consider the WaterStrider. Here is a shot from a recent trip on an ocean bay in southern California. It works great on the P3 and P4!

View media item 2286
 
My first ocean flights were like that too, you will eventually trust your craft and it gets better, a little bit of butterflies is always expected and makes it part of the fun. I really was able to relax when my wife told me that if I lost it we would just get another one. Gotta love that woman!
Does she have a sister who is single? :)
 
That's a cracking video, love it - really do, you got so close to that sail boat mast, squeaky bum moment lol. Unfortunately I can't post my video as its being purchased by a media production company and they'll have the rights to it.
This was my close shave 4.5km out over the sea. The P4 ran out of signal and returned home safely all on its own.
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Being in the southern Mass / RI area, GMass does more than half of my flying over water. In fact, check out this vid captured in Newport, RI!
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.


GMass did have two ut-ow moments. In one, Gmass was across a river nearly a mile away when I got an error stating a prop was lost and the motor was idling. He was able to limp the bird to an abandoned parking lot nearby and drive the ~20 minutes to get to it. He also was an RCH away from crashing into the water due to battery life. He took a last minute turn back out over the water to capture a sailboat in the setting sun, and upon returning it began a forced landing, and was able to just barely make it back to the boardwalk.
Great Vid.
 
That's a cracking video, love it - really do, you got so close to that sail boat mast, squeaky bum moment lol. Unfortunately I can't post my video as its being purchased by a media production company and they'll have the rights to it.
Thank you!
Great Vid.

Thank you!

Watched it a few more times - many things I want to change on it. I've got a few more vids coming soon, including an awesome vid of boat races.
 
I'd like to watch this but when I try to open it I get an error message. And I searched on youtbue for it to no avail.

@ifsteve Here is the video that I think you're looking for. We only just published this one recently. BTW, our online store is now open so you are able to buy one if you'd like!

DroneRafts.com
Buy WaterStrider

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@ifsteve Here is the video that I think you're looking for. We only just published this one recently. BTW, our online store is now open so you are able to buy one if you'd like!

DroneRafts.com
Buy WaterStrider

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Adam I have had a set for several weeks now....pretty cool and being an engineer impressed with the quality and lightweight. Water striders rock!
 
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