Sailboats and drones

[njlarry]

All the great videos here have inspired me to consider becoming a droid dude myself. I am considering the dji mavic pro or air. However I know watching it splash and sink will lead me to kick the poor dog.
So my question is how does one launch and retrieve from a moving sailboat with the associated rigging?

 

[Will Gilmore]

Radio opaque shrouds?
I would recommend a transom arch with a landing platform.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[Tally Ho]

I think you need a “catcher”. Trying to land on a moving target seems frought with disaster...ask these kids...I think their drone is toast.

Greg

 

[RussC]

Or don't use a drone at all. quite a bit of info via Google on kite aerial photography (KAP). I've been researching that as well.
https://forums.sailboatowners.com/i...al-photography-ideas-and-a-cool-video.190047/

 

[Meriachee]

The Mavic is a poor platform for landing on the boat. There's about 4" of freeboard, and grabbing the body puts your fingers within about 1/2" of the props. No thanks.
On the Mavic, it's pretty well known that it's not great at altitude determination over water. Yes, you can change the settings, but all that does is disable it. People have videos out there about this, and I've seem it on mine, I've also turned off the settings with the same results, it gets a little wild when it can't see the ground.
The Phantom has legs, and there are lots of videos out there of people grabbing it and coming away with all 10 fingers attached. I can't speak to its altitude controls.

 

[markwbird]

I am just astonished by all of the really bad decisions here. Launching and catching that thing by hand is soooo dangerous. Spinning blades right in front of her face. No gloves. No protection from the blades at all. Leaning out over the rail with no pfd. wow.

 

[Meriachee]

Sorry Wil, a transom arch is a disaster in the making. The landing facilities in the Mavic are dependant on altitude, and at about 3', it takes over. If the ground is coming up too fast, the props speed up to slow it down. Not to mention that the target is moving essentially forward.

 

[agprice22]

I hand launch and hand land. No problem. You cannot easily land the Mavic on a moving platform. I fly it right up to my hand. I grab it from below with my right hand and shut it down with the left hand. Because you are moving the drone with the boat as you shut it down, the engines will rev, trying to return it to the spot where you first grabbed it. However, it shuts down in 3 seconds, and it only pulls 3 lbs, so it doesn’t take an iron grip. If you can totally stop the boat, you can land it on the boat. I don’t need to. I just grab it. Works fine.
I have outriggers on which I can stand to launch and land. I even have small decks on the outriggers from which I can land.
Keep your eyes on your drone, as per regulations, and you will not crash it. You can fly it via the camera, but that is a major factor in crashes, as the pilot cannot see behind the drone, and gauging the ground is difficult.

 

[Meriachee]

Brave man.

 

[agprice22]

Brave man.

I think it seems daunting, but once you do it a few times, it is easy.

An interesting item: the RTH function is aircraft based, so the drone will return to where it took off, not where you currently are. So keep an eye on your drone. However, you can simply climb, scan the area through the drone camera to locate yourself, and fly to your boat.

 

[njlarry]

Things are not looking good for the poor dog.
What about flying it into a net?

 

[Meriachee]

Fly to the boat is the easy part. It's the boat moving while your grabbing the body that could cause finger removal. No thanks.

 

[Will Gilmore]

Sorry Wil, a transom arch is a disaster in the making. The landing facilities in the Mavic are dependant on altitude, and at about 3', it takes over. If the ground is coming up too fast, the props speed up to slow it down. Not to mention that the target is moving essentially forward.

Perhaps it hasn't been done yet but all the tech is there to paint a symbol on your landing platform, recognize it through the camera by your smartphone ap (object recognition), judge the vector movement of the platform relative to the drone and have the computer land it. The only thing that is needed is a capable programmer to create it. Put an electromagnet in the platform to hold the drone once it touches down and gently moving platform wouldn't be a problem. That doesn't answer the immediate need, only shows that there can be an answer.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[agprice22]

Watching the film, I think they were not great pilots. I think they should have luffed up, landed, then sailed again.

 

[Ted]

I think that Space X has a solution to the landing issue. Take a look at the February 6, 2018 recovery of the boosters from the Space X Falcon Heavy test launch. The 30 minute mark in the video is incredible. Now all they have to do is scale down the hardware a bit. Even Space X had a problem pulling off a successful landing on the moving drone platform for the rocket's center core in the ocean.

 

[JRT]

One of our RC club members was flying his new DJI Spark yesterday at the field, it was impressive and smaller in size too. I never liked them and still prefer helicopters and Fixed wing planes but the Spark looked like fun and the options and interface were impressive in an under $500 package.

 

[agprice22]

One of our RC club members was flying his new DJI Spark yesterday at the field, it was impressive and smaller in size too. I never liked them and still prefer helicopters and Fixed wing planes but the Spark looked like fun and the options and interface were impressive in an under $500 package.

I loved my RC planes! But I can’t get over how cool it is to fly the drone and get high def pictures and film. We would have needed a 1/4 scale with a chainsaw motor to hold a video cam when I was flying RC! And there were a couple of 1/4 scale flyers in the club in Gainesville back in the 80s.

 

[Ron20324]

Can you use the drones to provide wind to the sails on a calm day?

 

[agprice22]

Can you use the drones to provide wind to the sails on a calm day?

Haha! No. You can, however, get 50 drones to give you a tow!

 

[JRT]

My favorite plane is my 85" Carbon Cub, not exactly 1/4 scale but is nice and big! I have a racing drone, but my flying skills on it are not good enough to want it any where near my nice new sails!