Flying over water

[Shrimpfarmer]

Took a flight out over Ardingly Reservoir in Sussex this morning. Still have not managed a totally smooth flight but I shall keep trying. I certainly didn't want the engines to fail during one particular hover.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHvlbHS5UeQ[/youtube]

 

[Pull_Up]

Well done! I like the rapid return to dry land after going to look down the "bottomless pit"... I did an even quicker one myself after than centre arch shot in my Thames flood video.

Nice touch checking out the "No Unauthorised Persons" sign... doesn't say anything about quadcopters, so off we go!

Smoothness comes with practice (don't I know that; watching some of my early vids is quite painful!) and also with judicious use of atti mode and picking the best conditions to fly in.

 

[shortyuk]

both excellent videos, nothing like the water to tighten the old tea towel holder , here is a clip of something im working on


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7f07ssebjE

 

[Shrimpfarmer]

Some strong shots in there shorty. Its amazing how impactive reflections can be. When you were skimming the rushes was that flying FPV or line of sight. I am still finding it hard to rely on my iPhone screen to judge distance at the moment. I think I will have to set up some experiments to work out what things look like at set distances.

 

[shortyuk]

line of sight for the tricky stuff for me mate, i still find it difficult to judge distance as well, i tend to use a combination of fpv and los to get the shots i want, really glad i bought a monitor when i got my phantom, i almost went for goggles

 

[Shrimpfarmer]

lreally glad i bought a monitor when i got my phantom, i almost went for goggles

I agree with you there. I need to know who is coming up behind me :?

 

[Pull_Up]

both excellent videos, nothing like the water to tighten the old tea towel holder , here is a clip of something im working on


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7f07ssebjE

Lovely. Very atmospheric. Although the over-water glass-like reflection shots have wow factor, I really like the opening sequence over and through the bullrushes.

 

[shortyuk]

yes i like the bullrushes, i need to go back there a couple of times to get some more shots, funny how water draws you with a phantom lol, trouble is its got to get wet at some point :?

 

[syotr]

Some earlier over water flying. These were with the original GoPro Hero and no gimbal.
http://youtu.be/1IsndyyUJI8

 

[shortyuk]

really skillfull flying, very good video considering no gimbal!

 

[semaj]

Some earlier over water flying. These were with the original GoPro Hero and no gimbal.
http://youtu.be/1IsndyyUJI8

Are the empty bottles there for "just in case" it falls?

 

[Klaus]

Some earlier over water flying. These were with the original GoPro Hero and no gimbal.
http://youtu.be/1IsndyyUJI8

Yeah very nice.

 

[syotr]

Some earlier over water flying. These were with the original GoPro Hero and no gimbal.
http://youtu.be/1IsndyyUJI8

Are the empty bottles there for "just in case" it falls?

Yes. I later switched to smaller pill bottles that are not visible in the video. I also added blocks of styrofoam inside the landing struts.

 

[Pull_Up]

Wow! Looks like you could throw it in to help someone drowning...

 

[shortyuk]

Some earlier over water flying. These were with the original GoPro Hero and no gimbal.
http://youtu.be/1IsndyyUJI8

Are the empty bottles there for "just in case" it falls?

Yes. I later switched to smaller pill bottles that are not visible in the video. I also added blocks of styrofoam inside the landing struts.

that looks the best solution ive seen so far, well done, however no room for gimbal and fpv, i wonder if no foam but bigger pill bottles would work????

 

[syotr]

that looks the best solution ive seen so far, well done, however no room for gimbal and fpv, i wonder if no foam but bigger pill bottles would work????

The styrofoam is only about 1" thick and could be moved to the outside of the landing skids. As shown here, there is room inside for FPV transmitter and goPro in its housing. If the blocks were moved to the outside, there would be room for a gimbal.
I am building a waterprood quad now so I won't be using this scheme any more.

 

[shortyuk]

a waterproof quad sounds great, hope you can post some pics when you get it up and running

 

[nashvillephantom]

How many of you fly over water? I live in Miami Beach and I am fly mainly in land but I am tempted to fly out pass the docks and experiment but scared! Any precautions you guys take when flying over lakes and such?

The only precaution I've taken is at the beach. If I feel like the wind speed is faster than the top speed of the phantom, I don't fly!

 

[Byroman]

Been a while since anyone has posted to this thread.
Here's a more recent video over the water. It's becoming one of my favorite places to fly.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0KEfdHt0a8[/youtube]

 

[skyhighdiver]

I had a nice flight over xmas break, out at Table Rock Dam in MO. It was below a big dam, and there would be little chance of recovering the drone if it fell in the cold flowing water. There were also some big vultures that rested on the structure of the dam, and I didn't want to disturb them, and some power lines that I didn't want to get too close to. I did a few exploratory flights to test the conditions before going all the way out, but you can't get cool shots without accepting some risk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vFLiCgDW4Q

you need to send your camera back for a exchange really out of focus