Drones at sea

https://www.sail-world.com/news/2296...-Drone-Catches
--

Regards,

Eric Stevens

On Jun 21, 2020, Eric Stevens wrote
(in ):

https://www.sail-world.com/news/2296...-Drone-Catches

Yup! What I find extreme is the drone flying in the Southern Ocean, not so much the catch landings.

In the 35-40 flights I have made so far (I call all of them training flights) have made a few *hand-catch* landings as it is a technique which should be among one’s drone flying skills. There are times when a controlled landing in a safe *home* area can go awry, and a hand-catch can be the best way to make a safe retreival. The method I have used is more of a landing in the palm of my hand rather than actually snatching as the guys on those yachts do. Naturally my MA2 is a lot smaller, & lighter than the Phantom they are using. Of course they have far more obstacles to clear such as moving shrouds, crew members, the potential for crashes, and lost drones. Then once aloft they have to deal with some extreme weather, an the potential for a fly away, or other drone disaster.

All of that said, thanks for posting that great footage.

--
Regards,
Savageduck

On 6/22/20 PDT 4:31 AM, Savageduck wrote:
On Jun 21, 2020, Eric Stevens wrote
(in ):

https://www.sail-world.com/news/2296...-Drone-Catches

Yup! What I find extreme is the drone flying in the Southern Ocean, not so much the catch landings.

In the 35-40 flights I have made so far (I call all of them training flights) have made a few *hand-catch* landings as it is a technique which should be among one’s drone flying skills. There are times when a controlled landing in a safe *home* area can go awry, and a hand-catch can be the best way to make a safe retreival. The method I have used is more of a landing in the palm of my hand rather than actually snatching as the guys on those yachts do. Naturally my MA2 is a lot smaller, & lighter than the Phantom they are using. Of course they have far more obstacles to clear such as moving shrouds, crew members, the potential for crashes, and lost drones. Then once aloft they have to deal with some extreme weather, an the potential for a fly away, or other drone disaster.

All of that said, thanks for posting that great footage.

That's a heckofa video. I'd get plenty enough of a thrill just trying to
stand in the cockpit.

Duck- Does your drone have the undercarriage structure that serve as
handles?

On Jun 22, 2020, John McWilliams wrote
(in article ):

On 6/22/20 PDT 4:31 AM, Savageduck wrote:
On Jun 21, 2020, Eric Stevens wrote
(in ):

https://www.sail-world.com/news/2296...-Drone-Catches

Yup! What I find extreme is the drone flying in the Southern Ocean, not so much the catch landings.

In the 35-40 flights I have made so far (I call all of them training flights) have made a few *hand-catch* landings as it is a technique which should be among one’s drone flying skills. There are times when a controlled landing in a safe *home* area can go awry, and a hand-catch can be the best way to make a safe retreival. The method I have used is more of a landing in the palm of my hand rather than actually snatching as the guys on those yachts do. Naturally my MA2 is a lot smaller, & lighter than the Phantom they are using. Of course they have far more obstacles to clear such as moving shrouds, crew members, the potential for crashes, and lost drones. Then once aloft they have to deal with some extreme weather, an the potential for a fly away, or other drone disaster.

All of that said, thanks for posting that great footage.
That's a heckofa video. I'd get plenty enough of a thrill just trying to
stand in the cockpit.

Duck- Does your drone have the undercarriage structure that serve as
handles?

No. I have the DJI Mavic Air 2https://www.dji.com/mavic-air-2 which has a structure-clear undersurface. With some practice, and some confidence in one’s piloting skills you can get it to land in the palm of your hand. Then grab the entire body of the drone, while avoiding the cuisine art blades.

So far for me, the steepest part of the drone learning curve is dealing with various video editing software(iMovie, Davinci Resolve, & the DJI app). It is like going back to day one with Photoshop.

--
Regards,
Savageduck

On 2020-06-22 07:31, Savageduck wrote:
On Jun 21, 2020, Eric Stevens wrote
(in ):

https://www.sail-world.com/news/2296...-Drone-Catches

Yup! What I find extreme is the drone flying in the Southern Ocean, not so much the catch landings.

In the 35-40 flights I have made so far (I call all of them training flights) have made a few *hand-catch* landings as it is a technique which should be among one’s drone flying skills. There are times when a controlled landing in a safe *home* area can go awry, and a hand-catch can be the best way to make a safe retreival.


IMO all landings should be on the ground. Because you planned the
flight that way including a clear takeoff area and a landing area (which
are usually the same). Since all TO points should be clear and
accessible automatic return-to-home points (no overhanging obstacles for
example), there's really no case for hand catching (other than boats
etc...).

I carry around a 60cm x 60cm piece of plywood to be a clean landing pad.
It also makes a good target for the automatic landing reference
image. Always do vertical takeoffs, slowly to 10m above the landing
spot and the reference point is recorded (DJI drones with bottom cameras).

Thus with hundreds of flights with 2 drones I've never hand caught and
don't intend to. If forced I'll manage. Planning to avoid it means
it's never even come close to a case.

The case of a boat is special, and (IMO) should be a 2 man job. One to
control, 1 to catch. Yes, I know some of these sailors are solo - so
they accept the risk that they may lose the drone.

On 2020-06-22 13:48, John McWilliams wrote:
On 6/22/20Â*Â* PDT 4:31 AM, Savageduck wrote:
On Jun 21, 2020, Eric Stevens wrote
(in ):

https://www.sail-world.com/news/2296...-Drone-Catches

Yup! What I find extreme is the drone flying in the Southern Ocean,
not so much the catch landings.

In the 35-40 flights I have made so far (I call all of them training
flights) have made a few *hand-catch* landings as it is a technique
which should be among one’s drone flying skills. There are times when
a controlled landing in a safe *home* area can go awry, and a
hand-catch can be the best way to make a safe retreival. The method I
have used is more of a landing in the palm of my hand rather than
actually snatching as the guys on those yachts do. Naturally my MA2 is
a lot smaller, &Â* lighter than the Phantom they are using. Of course
they have far more obstacles to clear such as moving shrouds, crew
members, the potential for crashes, and lost drones. Then once aloft
they have to deal with some extreme weather, an the potential for a
fly away, or other drone disaster.

All of that said, thanks for posting that great footage.

That's a heckofa video. I'd get plenty enough of a thrill just trying to
stand in the cockpit.

Duck- Does your drone have the undercarriage structure that serve as
handles?

The understucture on the drone you see (DJI Phantom) is not all that
sturdy. Handcatching that way is stressful on it. Also when you cut
power all that weight wants to fall and twist and so it's risky to the
camera too.

On Jun 24, 2020, Alan Browne wrote
(in article ):

On 2020-06-22 07:31, Savageduck wrote:
On Jun 21, 2020, Eric Stevens wrote
(in ):

https://www.sail-world.com/news/2296...-Drone-Catches

Yup! What I find extreme is the drone flying in the Southern Ocean, not so much the catch landings.

In the 35-40 flights I have made so far (I call all of them training flights) have made a few *hand-catch* landings as it is a technique which should be among one’s drone flying skills. There are times when a controlled landing in a safe *home* area can go awry, and a hand-catch can be the best way to make a safe retreival.

IMO all landings should be on the ground. Because you planned the
flight that way including a clear takeoff area and a landing area (which
are usually the same). Since all TO points should be clear and
accessible automatic return-to-home points (no overhanging obstacles for
example), there's really no case for hand catching (other than boats
etc...).

I have actually made two hand catch landings because for some reason, or another (perhaps wind, perhaps compass calibration off) the MA2 was several feet off the RTH point and it was simpler to stop the decent, hover at about 5 ft, then with my hand directly under it bring it down to grab it, and cut power.

For the most part I usually rely on RTH, and auto precision landing.

I carry around a 60cm x 60cm piece of plywood to be a clean landing pad.
It also makes a good target for the automatic landing reference
image. Always do vertical takeoffs, slowly to 10m above the landing
spot and the reference point is recorded (DJI drones with bottom cameras).

That is my procedure. I use one of the PGYTECH landing pads. When I power up I wait for the landing/RTH point to be established, I make the initial 4-5ft. take off then go vertically to 27-30 ft. and wait 10-15 seconds above the RTH point to firmly establish/record it.


Thus with hundreds of flights with 2 drones I've never hand caught and
don't intend to. If forced I'll manage. Planning to avoid it means
it's never even come close to a case.

Well I have two under my belt, and as my knowledge, skills and confidence improve I will avoid them as best I can in the future.

The case of a boat is special, and (IMO) should be a 2 man job. One to
control, 1 to catch. Yes, I know some of these sailors are solo - so
they accept the risk that they may lose the drone.

Anyway, I am having a reasonable amount of fun with this new experience, and I am learning a whole bunch of stuff. Here is my dawn pano this morning at 05:45 from above my house.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Air-2-Work/i-fG4M5B7/0/64227414/5K/DJI_0002b-5K.jpg

--
Regards,
Savageduck

On Jun 24, 2020, newshound wrote
(in articleDoWdnU5OhPh0627DnZ2dnUU78XvNnZ2d@brightvie w.co.uk):

On 24/06/2020 16:35, Savageduck wrote:

Anyway, I am having a reasonable amount of fun with this new experience, and I am learning a whole bunch of stuff. Here is my dawn pano this morning at 05:45 from above my house.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Air-2-Work/i-fG4M5B7/0/64227414/5K/DJI_0002b-5K.jpg
Apart from the nice picture, I'm intrigued by the "small scale"
topography in the near foreground.

Where I am in California things are subject to tectonic forces and the myriad fault lines we have throughout the state. This is earthquake country after all. These are the foothills of the Santa Lucia mountains which are to the West, and drop down to the coast. We have several fault lines running through this area and we have the occasional earthquake, usually minor, but some such the 2003 “San Simeon� 6.6 quake had its epicenter about 5 miles South of us. When that hit it felt like a truck had hit the house. We also have the major San Andreas Fault Zone just a few miles to the East of us.


In the UK, we sometimes see features like this where there have been old
mining activities, perhaps medieval or sometimes stone age. We also get
it with sand dunes in regions that are (or were once) coastal.
Otherwise, in our relatively lowland areas the slopes are usually more
gentle except where big rivers from the ice age cut through harder
bedrock, giving us steeper scarp slopes typically a few hundred feet high.

So much of our local terrain is due to tectonics, to the East with the Sierra Nevada mountains which have been pushed up by the sliding California plates, they were also subject to glaciation to create valleys such as Yosemite, and Kings Canyon.

--
Regards,
Savageduck

On 2020-06-24 11:35, Savageduck wrote:

Anyway, I am having a reasonable amount of fun with this new experience, and I am learning a whole bunch of stuff. Here is my dawn pano this morning at 05:45 from above my house.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Air-2-Work/i-fG4M5B7/0/64227414/5K/DJI_0002b-5K.jpg

Very nice. Extraurban sprawl excepted ...

On 24/06/2020 17:32, Savageduck wrote:
On Jun 24, 2020, newshound wrote
(in articleDoWdnU5OhPh0627DnZ2dnUU78XvNnZ2d@brightvie w.co.uk):

On 24/06/2020 16:35, Savageduck wrote:

Anyway, I am having a reasonable amount of fun with this new experience, and I am learning a whole bunch of stuff. Here is my dawn pano this morning at 05:45 from above my house.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Air-2-Work/i-fG4M5B7/0/64227414/5K/DJI_0002b-5K.jpg
Apart from the nice picture, I'm intrigued by the "small scale"
topography in the near foreground.

Where I am in California things are subject to tectonic forces and the myriad fault lines we have throughout the state. This is earthquake country after all. These are the foothills of the Santa Lucia mountains which are to the West, and drop down to the coast. We have several fault lines running through this area and we have the occasional earthquake, usually minor, but some such the 2003 “San Simeon� 6.6 quake had its epicenter about 5 miles South of us. When that hit it felt like a truck had hit the house. We also have the major San Andreas Fault Zone just a few miles to the East of us.


In the UK, we sometimes see features like this where there have been old
mining activities, perhaps medieval or sometimes stone age. We also get
it with sand dunes in regions that are (or were once) coastal.
Otherwise, in our relatively lowland areas the slopes are usually more
gentle except where big rivers from the ice age cut through harder
bedrock, giving us steeper scarp slopes typically a few hundred feet high.

So much of our local terrain is due to tectonics, to the East with the Sierra Nevada mountains which have been pushed up by the sliding California plates, they were also subject to glaciation to create valleys such as Yosemite, and Kings Canyon.


I should have thought of that. I've seen some dramatic aerial imagery of
the San Andreas Fault but I can see how other earthquake damage could
weather down to give that sort of feature. We get about one "window
shaking" earthquake a year here in the UK, but usually only at "county"
scale (50 mile diameter).