Need safety feature when flying over a pond

[Roger Donnay]

P3's are pretty stable altitude wise. I fly 2-3 feet off the water all of the time. Turn VPS off as suggested. Practice. Practice. Practice. The P3 won't lose altitude unless you push the left stick. So don't push the left stick. When you're done stop, take a deep breath and think about what do do next.

Do you have access to an RC car? You could find a nice flat field and practice. One advantage of water is that it won't sneak up in altitude like land can. Tends to stay pretty flat.

Also, this would be an excellent mission to plan with Autopilot. It adds a whole new level of complexity to the game, but if you are really serious that is probably the best way to go. You can choreograph the P3 and fly autonomously, leaving you to manipulate the camera while somebody else flies the boat.

It is how a pro would do it. (Along with having three boats, four aircraft, 10 crew and a caterer.)

2-3 feet all the time? That gives me a boost of confidence. BTW - I have to push the left stick to make my turns. Remember, 007 is trying to get away.

Very good advice. The practice part is a no-brainer. I intended to do that over a large grass field that is very flat.
An RC car? Hmmm. Another toy? OH Yeah!!!! My friends already think I'm nuts for spending all this money on the boat to make a video. But the boat is beautiful and I would have wanted it anyway. I need to learn more about Autopilot. I liked the ground station I used with my Phantom 2.

 

[Roger Donnay]

Do you pinch the sticks or use all thumbs? Easier to maintain altitude by pinching, but I learned with my thumbs and it was easy enough.

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I use thumbs. Never tried pinching. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Roger Donnay]

An example of a very close call:-

That WAS close! Nice video. Did you fly FPV or watching from shore?
Were you monitoring height with FPV data or just eyeballing it?

 

[Susruth]

Insure the **** thing...simple

Sent from my MI 5 using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[FantomFlier]

That WAS close! Nice video. Did you fly FPV or watching from shore?
Were you monitoring height with FPV data or just eyeballing it?

Cheers.
I was completely unsighted and had to rely on FPV.

 

[Wolfiesden]

BTW - I have to push the left stick to make my turns..

I have remapped my controls so it makes more sense and it makes these flights easier. At least for me.

Left stick:
U/D = Altitude
L/R = Strafe L/R

Right stick
U/D = Forward/Back (throttle)
L/R = Rotate L/R (yaw)

This mapping makes the right stick your steering stick and the left stick your scooting stick (as in scooting side to side up and down). Makes it pretty darn easy to fly. While this is not the common AC control scheme, it works very well. It also makes manual orbits fairly easy too.

 

[Roger Donnay]

I have remapped my controls so it makes more sense and it makes these flights easier. At least for me.

That makes a lot of sense, but it's kinda like learning all over again. I think I'll give it a try.

 

[Wolfiesden]

With the yaw and throttle on the same stick you simply push it forward and then steer left/right at the same time. Then if you need to scoot sideways, its easy to hit the left stick or bump it up or down with the left stick while you continue to throttle and steer with your right hand.

But its different. I wouldn't practice at 2' out over water

 

[snerd]

With the yaw and throttle on the same stick you simply push it forward and then steer left/right at the same time. Then if you need to scoot sideways, its easy to hit the left stick or bump it up or down with the left stick while you continue to throttle and steer with your right hand............

For me, that would be like trying to walk and chew bubble gum at the same time!

 

[Wolfiesden]

Its not for everyone. But its an option

 

[Roger Donnay]

For me, that would be like trying to walk and chew bubble gum at the same time!

I just reprogrammed my remote sticks and I really like that configuration. It's intuitive to me. It took me a long time to get used to the standard configuration because it didn't seem right. Now it's right!

 

[Tenly]

I'm fairly good at flying my Phantom 3 and so I decided I want to create a video adventure in which I chase my RC boat across the pond. I got the idea from re-watching an old James Bond film - From Russia with Love.

It's a great Chris-Craft style boat and would make a good video. This will take 2 operators of course. One for the boat and one for the Phantom.

After some trials however, I realize that I can't get a close enough video unless I'm flying 6 ft or less above the water. This can be very dangerous. I have good GPS in the area (12 satellites) so vertical stability shouldn't be a problem. My biggest worry is that I will accidently move the altitude adjustment when making sharp turns and find myself hitting the water.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to add some safe guards? I thought about putting a mechanism on the left joystick that would require much more pressure to move the stick up/down but still allow free left/right movement. I can visualize how I would do this with a simple washer and rubber band.

I would feel much better if I could set a minimum height. The home point for takeoff would be about 6 feet higher than the water level. It would be great if there were a safety feature that makes it stop or slow dramatically if the height ever goes below home point height.

Any ideas?

Have you tried the digital zoom in post editing. If you have a 4K camera, you can essentially divide the screen into 4 equal quadrants and each quadrant will be true HD (1920x1080). This might allow you to fly a little higher but still get the shots you want. With an Advanced, shoot in 2.7k and you still have some room to zoom in post without losing any quality (as long as your target output is 1080p).

Also - as others have suggested - if you have Autopilot, you can strap an iPhone to your RC boat and have Autopilot lock on to the iPhone with the camera and/or follow it. If you just use the focus lock, you can fly the drone manually and trust that Autopilot will handle the yaw and keep the camera focused on the boat - or you can set up a follow mission with an orbit that follows the boat, keeps the camera locked on and circles it! If you don't want the orbit, you can just use follow and throughout the flight you can change the follow position to stay on the left, the right, behind or even in front (but I've never had good results with the 'in front' option).

Autopilot really gives you a ton of options and is worth investing the money and time it takes to understand all of its capabilities!

 

[Roger Donnay]

Have you tried the digital zoom in post editing.

Yes, In fact I used that for another video. I have only a 1080p so I won't get good quality if I zoom too much.

I have a large android phone. I wouldn't want to put it on the boat. I thought that the GPS phone had to be connected to the remote. I will look a bit closer at Autopilot to see how it works.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Tenly]

Yes, In fact I used that for another video. I have only a 1080p so I won't get good quality if I zoom too much.

I have a large android phone. I wouldn't want to put it on the boat. I thought that the GPS phone had to be connected to the remote. I will look a bit closer at Autopilot to see how it works.

Thanks for the advice.

I don't think they have an Android version yet. But Autopilot has a (free) companion app called Airspace that turns any iOS device with GPS into a homing beacon. It works best with the later iOS devices that also include a barometer for accurate altitude data.

I would assume that if you were going to put a phone on the boat, you'd put it in a ziploc bag to prevent any water damage.

Anyhow, if you don't run iOS, Autopilot may not be an option right now although I believe they are working on an Android version.

 

[snerd]

I just reprogrammed my remote sticks and I really like that configuration. It's intuitive to me. It took me a long time to get used to the standard configuration because it didn't seem right. Now it's right!

Please report back after a few more flights. I may think about trying it.

 

[WetDog]

An example of a very close call:-

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Near misses don't count. You were a good 6 inches off the water......

You were also rotating. Would be interesting to see your stick movements. That's why using a program like Autopilot or Litchi and practicing would be an excellent idea.

 

[WetDog]

If it is a small RC boat, that is a different story. You would have to setup an Airspace in Autopilot defining an airspace device that is in the RC boat (like an iPhone). Then define that device as the focus. One big note of caution (aside from protecting the iPhone from water ) - If you are in an area with poor, or no cellular service, Airspace is severely limited in distance (distance between your RC/iPad and the iPhone in the boat). If the airspace communication breaks down, the bird remains focused on the last known position.

You would probably want to be pretty close to the boat since it's small and you are going for a 'real life effect' (bonus points for tiny little cannisters of napalm launched off the back, but that's probably another thread in another board) so perhaps that would work. Or just have two operators.

 

[Wolfiesden]

Litchi also has a companion device option. You run Litchi on your device on the RC and install Litchi Magic Leash on another phone (with internet and gps) and you can have the drone follow it.

 

[WetDog]

An RC car? Hmmm. Another toy? OH Yeah!!!!

Sorry.

 

[Wolfiesden]

Please report back after a few more flights. I may think about trying it.

Go try it. Doesn't cost anything. You can put the stick config back in just three taps on the screen (assuming you are currently on one of the default configs).

If you are unsure about it, take off using your current config and once you have it safely up and away from anything, try the custom config. Fly it for a whole battery to give it a fair chance. If you don't like it switch back before landing. No harm no foul.

Like I said, it works for me. I know its not standard AC stick layout. But when I handed the RC to firends, family and 9yr/12yr old girls, I simply pointed out the 4 movements and everyone I handed it to flew it just fine. Even my SIL who crashes every flying thing in every game he plays and he never had a moment of hesitation with the P3 with this config. I offered it as an option to try as I find it easier than the default and I thought it might help the OP in his close follow situation. If you don't like the setting, no worries, you aren't changing anything that can't be unchanged.