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Need advice: Possible drone flight off of an airboat

Ice_Man_CPRA

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Hello,

Like the title says, me and my team are looking into a possible drone flight that would require us to takeoff and land on an airboat. I personally am concerned with this flight proposal because the team hasn't done any official missions (so far only flown a half-dozen practice/test flights). Ultimately, I do not make the final decision, so I am trying to do my best to gather as much info as possible to have the highest probability of success. Has anyone had any experience flying off of a small boat? (approx. 17 ft. long airboat) Also, what would you recommend we do about battery storage? We will not have the ability to return the batteries to an air-conditioned environment until the whole flight is done and I am worried that prolonged heat exposure post-flight will damage the batteries. My initial thought was to bring an insulated box (yes, a cooler, lol) with cold packs to create a pseudo climate controlled environment. Any advice is welcome.

Thank you,

Ice Man
 
I've flown in 95 degree heat while changing out 5 batteries during the course of an afternoon and just let them cool down on their own. Didn't have a problem, but probably a good idea to use a cooler afterwards. But I wouldn't keep them too cold before flying. Flying off a small boat with limited flying experience is not hard if the boat is stationary and you hand catch it when it returns. The biggest risk to the drone is the water environment. You probably wouldn't want to go diving in after it with gators around. You can use your case or small box as a flat launching pad in the boat. Just make it level.
 
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I've flown in 95 degree heat while changing out 5 batteries during the course of an afternoon and just let them cool down on their own. Didn't have a problem, but probably a good idea to use a cooler afterwards. But I wouldn't keep them too cold before flying. Flying off a small boat with limited flying experience is not hard if the boat is stationary and you hand catch it when it returns. The biggest risk to the drone is the water environment. You probably wouldn't want to go diving in after it with gators around. You can use your case or small box as a flat launching pad in the boat. Just make it level.
Thank you for the reassurance about the batteries. Catching our drone is not very practical considering we have a Mavic. If we had a Phantom, I could see us doing that, but we will likely have to land on the boat directly. We will not be moving the boat while the drone is in the air. I don't imagine we will make any attempt to retrieve the drone if it falls in the water, lol.
 
Thank you for the reassurance about the batteries. Catching our drone is not very practical considering we have a Mavic. If we had a Phantom, I could see us doing that, but we will likely have to land on the boat directly. We will not be moving the boat while the drone is in the air. I don't imagine we will make any attempt to retrieve the drone if it falls in the water, lol.

Handcatching the Mavic is very simple to do. If flying from a small boat it is something you must learn to do proficiently. Even if you don't have to do it there may be a time when you will need to do it on a small boat.
 
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Thank you for the reassurance about the batteries. Catching our drone is not very practical considering we have a Mavic. If we had a Phantom, I could see us doing that, but we will likely have to land on the boat directly. We will not be moving the boat while the drone is in the air. I don't imagine we will make any attempt to retrieve the drone if it falls in the water, lol.
Hand catching is not terrible with a Mavic once you get used to it. Yes it is MUCH easier with a Phantom but it can be done with a Mavic.

If you are on a boat I would highly recommend both hand launch and hand catch. Even if you are not moving, you actually are moving (swaying, drifting, bobbing). It may not seem like a lot of movement to you on the boat, but it is a lot for a drone that is doing its absolute best to remain stable in 3-D space. You will most likely cause damage or lose the drone if you attempt landing on the boat itself without hand catching.
 
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Thank you for the recommendations. Me and one other pilot will try to practice hand launch/land at some point tomorrow, since a few of you have suggested it. Hopefully we get comfortable with it so we can put it to the test during a real mission.
 
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I've launched from my 16.6 foot boat, however you're better off hand catching. When you launch from the boat, have the drone in sport mode to get up in the air quickly. My concern is all the metal you're around, you could encounter frequency bouncing around giving you false input.
 
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There are several threads in the MavicPilots forum on launching from boats and then retrieving on a boat. Here are some results from searching “launching boat”
EBEE2F33-EFB7-4E04-AA77-2875EDA6CA96.png
 
We have worked a bunch off of different size boats and so far so good. (I'm knocking on wood right now!!!!) But we do hand launch and land because otherwise trying to launch off the deck of a boat you will sometimes get a compass error or good as well as a taking off and you will hit the bottom of the Drone which has almost lead to disaster. We have had much more success using to him lunch.

Also I would suggest turning off all the anti-collision sensors and bottom sensors. I have watched numerous times now other people get close to the water and the sensor not be able to figure it out (because the water is moving) and crash into the water.

And just remember that your return home well probably not work because your location will be moving around in the boat so you cannot rely on that. I know our goal was to come back way before 30% just so we were safe

Good luck!!!!
 
Make sure your if your using a tablet it's cellular if it's ios so you have dynamic home points. You wouldn't want it to RTH and drop in the drink
 

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