Into the Drink!!!

577-Jersey · Apr 9, 2017

I have a fair question I believe.

I love to fly my drone over bodies of water and such.

What if the drone quit and dropped from a malfunction into the river and was never able to be found?

Would Autel replace the drone?

How would we be able to prove our beloved bird is a sunken treasure?

lol

Was just wondering cause Im going to fly over the river this week and the thought crossed my mind

Tom

Cider Boy · Apr 9, 2017

I doubt they would .. but why worry about a sudden fall?

As long as you don't go to silly .. go for it!

Take a look at some of the posted videos..both here and on YouTube.

I took mine out about 25 yards over the sea a few weeks ago.

Regards,

Cider Boy.

577-Jersey · Apr 9, 2017

Its really ironic that i posted this thread today.
My buddy who has an XSP lost his into a lake this afternoon after I posted this.

He had the magnetic interference warning come up,lost control,switched over to ATTI but no luck because it was not enabled in his app.

There where no power lines or anything around him for miles so must have been a compass issue.

I asked him if he calibrated the compass before flight and am waiting on his reply.

100ft below the lake sits his pumpkin,i almost shed a tear.

Moral of the story,make sure you have ATTI enabled on the app!!!!!!!

577

Old Bama Dude · Apr 9, 2017

I haven't played around with ATTI that much, so in a case like that, would switching over to ATTI definitely help?

Drone1 · Apr 9, 2017

577-Jersey said:
Its really ironic that i posted this thread today.
My buddy who has an XSP lost his into a lake this afternoon after I posted this.

He had the magnetic interference warning come up,lost control,switched over to ATTI but no luck because it was not enabled in his app.

There where no power lines or anything around him for miles so must have been a compass issue.

I asked him if he calibrated the compass before flight and am waiting on his reply.

100ft below the lake sits his pumpkin,i almost shed a tear.

Moral of the story,make sure you have ATTI enabled on the app!!!!!!!

577

Put one of these on and you should be fine.
Amazon.com : GetterBack Rod Recovery System with Black Velcro Strap, Yellow : Fishing Reel Care Accessories : Sports & Outdoors

Guy · Apr 9, 2017

So I saw this elsewhere as well. . .I double checked with Autel support and if magnetic interference occurs, the xsp will automatically be in atti mode regardless of whether this is enabled in the settings. That part is fact based upon Autel support's response.
Hypothesis:. I am guessing that there really isn't much of an option. . .If there are GPS coordinates available and the drone is drifting from those coordinates it would need to know what direction to go in which to get there. Without that orientation autonomous navigation would be limited to gps and accelerometer data which would be inadequate.
Very sad about your buddy's loss. I have had that same fear on the few occasions I have been over water. To reiterate what many others on this forum have expressed, there is significant value in having some manual "stick time"…and even the value of that for me at least, degrades rapidly as visual distance increases.

Sent from my QTAIR7 using Tapatalk

LuvMyTJ · Apr 9, 2017

I use a Getter Back on all mine. Better than nothing.

DroneDriver · Apr 9, 2017

I would think if you cut some pieces of foam noodle from the swimming pool and fix it onto the bottom gear the drone shall not sink.

DroneDriver · Apr 9, 2017

DroneDriver said:
I would think if you cut some pieces of foam noodle from the swimming pool and fix it onto the bottom gear the drone shall not sink.

LuvMyTJ · Apr 9, 2017

DroneDriver said:
View attachment 403

Not exactly aerodynamic though is it.

Cider Boy · Apr 10, 2017

LuvMyTJ said:
I use a Getter Back on all mine. Better than nothing.

Do you have a photo of this attached please?

Regards,
Cider boy.

Old Bama Dude · Apr 10, 2017

Cider Boy said:
Do you have a photo of this attached please?

Regards,
Cider boy.

Amazon.com : GetterBack Rod Recovery System with Black Velcro Strap, Yellow : Fishing Reel Care Accessories : Sports & Outdoors

Old Bama Dude · Apr 10, 2017

I was talking with a guy recently who was flying a Phantom 2 behind their boat while deep sea fishing off the coast of Alabama. Now it sleeps with the fishes. The Getterback may have helped, if it was less than 100 feet. Would be kinda funny if one day someone caught a shark, cut him open, and there's the P2.

DroneDriver · Apr 10, 2017

LuvMyTJ said:
Not exactly aerodynamic though is it.

It's not exactly a winner in a beauty contest either.

577-Jersey · Apr 10, 2017

My buddy contacted Autel and he was pleased to find out they may help him.
They told him to send in a copy of his last flight log and if they can see what happened was a malfunction he will get a new drone.

I was reading the reviews on the Getter Back,looks like alot of people are putting them on drones.

Thanks for the info and piece of mind!

Tom

LuvMyTJ · Apr 10, 2017

Cider Boy said:
Do you have a photo of this attached please?

Regards,
Cider boy.

Sure do...

Cider Boy · Apr 11, 2017

How does this affect the balance of flight?

gareth5000 · Apr 11, 2017

Most of my flights are over water. I don't worry anymore...

xspwhite · Apr 11, 2017

Correct me if Im wrong, but I thought I read somewere in the manual that flying too close to water can cause a compass malfunction because of the water's shiney reflection.

gareth5000 · Apr 11, 2017

xspwhite said:
Correct me if Im wrong, but I thought I read somewere in the manual that flying too close to water can cause a compass malfunction because of the water's shiney reflection.

It shouldn't affect the compass, maybe the drift cam...