I’ve had no issue so far with flying the Mini 3 over water when I’m in full control. But the moment I use any of the intelligente flight modes is when I’ve almost seen it dunk itself. Both directional hyperlapse and active track have issues detecting the surface level of the water due to the reflections. In active track, if you keep it 10m high above the water, you have no issues, but under 10 meters it starts to Tarzan around over the water around the subject. In directional hyperlapse, after locking the direction and pressing start, the drone started moving forwards and at the same time descending towards the water. It’s not supposed to change altitude but I couldn’t keep it from wanting to dive downc, but when I brought it +10m over the water it worked fine. I guess the lesson learned here is DO NOT USE intelligent flight modes when flying lower than 10m over water.
I have had my drone (Mavic Air 2) do uncommanded drops over water on 2 occasions. The first time I was traveleing about 2 meters above a slow moving stream and I saw the drone dropping down on itS own. I did a full stick up and saved it. On the second occasion I was about 5 meters above some breaking waves, having just completed a nice shot goin down the beach, when I took my eyes off the drone and down to the screen. When I looked back to the drone it wasn’t there anymore. It had dropped straight down and was heading into the roiling water. I was lucky enough to bring it up with full up on the left stick. My experiences have convinced me that uncommanded drops over water are very real and very scary. I still fly over water, but keep my height at 10 meters and am always ready for a left stick up move‼️
Loving on an island, my drone spends most of its time out to sea. No problems yet, although a RAF training plane did force to me to drop precariously close to the waves.
Henrik, thanks again for another of your great, informative videos. I do most of my flying over water. You’re don’t have to worry about flying into trees, buildings, or power lines and fewer karens over water too.
Thanks a lot for your permanent good mood and knowledgeable videos. Love your way of manual tracking the boat and doing a pan. Your against the sun sights are truly superb. keep it on !
I'm glad you added the pop up explanation. I was going to comment that the height measurement is from take off altitude but you got that covered. I enjoy your videos and instruction. When I fly over water or want to get close to the ground I use the sensor reading as I think it is more reliable as to height above ground at that location.
it always good to first lower gimbal to 90 degrees and look at water if you want to move close to surface. Mini 3 gimbal is makes it easier to control level. Just a tip 👍 nice video footage. Great view 🌄
Great tutorial sir, thank you! Quick question for you- how safe would it be to film a mastershot of a subject that is actually in the water? There is lighthouse that I want to film that is in a river near my house. How high should the drone be in comparison to the lighthouse before I draw the rectangle around it to select it? Would I be safe being level with the top of the lighthouse? I just don’t want the drone to do it’s thing and get confused over the water bc I know that the bottom sensors aren’t the best over water. Thank you very much in advance!
I have learned that the altimeter on the drone starts at the altitude you start from. So if you take off from a platform that is off the ground. Your altimeter will read zero from the platform.
I saw this comment at least 3 times now. Nobody read the forum post at 4:22 in the video from the dji representative? It's literally the same info he gave
Thanks to the DJI Super moderator. What I thought was GPS altitude is actually the difference in altitude from the launch point altitude. My long driveway rises up to the house on a hill. If I launch from the house and fly down the driveway and try to maintain a constant height above the pavement, when I get to the bottom of the driveway, I'll see a negative altitude!! Good to know!
I think the altitude readout is relative to the level of your takeoff point. So you could be 1m above the water, but be BELOW the level of the launch point. I could be wrong.
I always had the 8dea that altitude ZERO is the altitude at the launch pad. The reported HEIGHT after launch is relative to that point. So, from the platform you & your father was upon lakeside, it must've been about 4m above the surface of the lake for your reported HEIGHT to be -3.6m.
yup. was flying over the ocean at night and my m3p dove into the ocean... I was about 20ft above the water and it landed.. got the GPS and Google maps put me directly on it. I was standing at the sea wall with my spot light. the water is about 2-3 ft and murky. 💥 I see a dim outline of my precious! there was a broken net I found and I was able to fish it out! I darted to the store and got a shit load of alcohol and thoroughly rinsed it. it now sitting in front of a dehumidifier.. wish me luck! ps. I did have night lights on the drone and it was still flashing when I got it out but of course it landed upside down.. cannot believe I found it
Personally, testing the downwards sensors would have made more logic from a bathing bridge or some place where you where able to monitor the drone so that you could se the actual distance to the water surface. I'm surprised that the downwards sensors also works in sport mode - in the manual it says that all sensors ar disabled when flying in sport mode? As Usual - A Great fan of your videos - simple and instructive. BR. Ole
Well Hendrik, I have my mini 3 for two months now and i keep being scared that it will suddenly falls down from the sky. I hope the DJI technology is that good as it seems to be. Best wishes
I lost my mini 2 when it crashed into a lake for apparently no reason. I was hovering at about 4-5mt above the water, tried to take off and suddenly the screen showed the water as if the camera was pointing down. next thing I remember is seeing my drone crash into the lake at full speed ☹️ sent the flight log to DJI (which showed the stick positions and me pulling up the last seconds with no luck) luckily it was clear that it wasn't my fault and got a replacement aircraft. excellent customer care at DJI! I don't feel safe flying too low over the water after that though. cheers from the dominican republic 💪
Hi Hendrik. If pursued by a bird you advise to ascend. Will they still be a threat when you descend?. Early bird gets the half worm? Great videos. Thanks.
As far as I can work out, which is also mentioned in the insert from DJI, is that the built in barometer controls the altitude hold in the drone. GPS is great for latitude and longitude stability but notoriously bad for determining altitude. I remember a friends GPS telling us that we were 40m below sea when we were actually a few meters above sea level. If the downward sensors are not working and barometric pressure changes while you are flying, the drone can easily either rise or drop suddenly by a meter or two. Obvious;y low over water, this can have disastrous consequences. I had a Bugs 3H drone that had no GPS but did have a built in barometer for altitude hold and I observed this often.
Nice video. Interestingly enough, this is exactly what I was trying to do with a phantom 4 pro. However, at about 15m height it's like someone pulled the battery out. Motors quit, video feed quit, I looked up and saw a decent splash. Still quite shocked, as I've never had this happen to an RC plane in decades of flying them. Unfortunately, this changes my perception on reliability of these units.
Hi er det normalt at de blishøns ikke reagerer på overflyvning? Hvis de er ligeglade, så skulle de fugle folk du har haft problemer med måske lige tage det med ro. :)
Thx good informative vid as always. I find that hoovering a couple of meters over water can cause loss of altitude (mini 2), not sure if the mini 3 will do the same as I just avoid it completely.
Have you ever had the H point follow the drone? I wait for confirmation but it doesn’t stick. But if I then change the battery it stays with me. Like you showed I also get the negative height readings. Following a boat side view I panicked because I saw I was -6m and almost ditched it…I love beach flying :D (mini3)
I lost my dji fpv in cristal clear water (like in the video). I started at 10 meters and then I followed the altitude and it looked like I was climbing, despite I didnt touch the altitude. So I compensated by going down and I hit the water. The indicated altitude was 7-8meters but because it was so clear I couldnt really tell how high I was. The drone went into failsafe mode, stayed still above the water. I thought I was saved and started to get my breath back. After 3-5s the drone dive into the water without any input, probably because the altitude sensor was giving false info. So ne careful above water!
The altitude records "0" at takeoff point. So if shows height at -2m, it's -2 of takeoff point. However I've noticed it's not always 100% accurate either.
2 years ago I lost my mavic air 2 flying over a Norwegian fiord. The drone was about 200 metres out when it suddenly dived into the sea. Most disconcerting because it was the beginning of my travels in Norway. At first I thought it was my mistake, but upon looking in the flight data the drone was 9metres above the water when it suddenly disappeared. I never found out why it suddenly just took a dive.
@@terencepevreal2912 But that will not help because as I understand it will only sync to the App when Connected by wi-fi. This will only happen after the flight So if you Crash and lose your drone There is no flight Record? I am using the RC controller. Will you need to put a memory card into the controller and record flight data live?
Tip: You aren't pointing your controller at the drone. This is ok as long as you have a strong RC signal, but it is generally frowned upon. Just a heads up. Otherwise great video man!
6:30.... When you were pudding forward here... I wish you had the gimbal 90° down... And slowly gimbled up over the moving water revealing the boat then the sunset....
My mini failed over water (lake) and I made contact with DJI and they asked me to send the files. DJI analysed them and sent me a new drone. I was very impressed with their customer service.
The height shows a negative number because your take off point was at zero and the water surface or altitude you were flying at was below the take off level 😉
Like you said, the technology is there, just have to know how to read it once you do your trust level goes up but I know that in the moment you do not always see it 👍
Use floatation!!! 3 inch styrofoam balls below each leg or foam logs down each side! Already put one in a pond and DJI would NOT cover it until I returned the sunken hull. It took five months, sonar behind an RC boat and a SCUBA diver!!!
GPS signals can be reflected of the water which can confuse the drone at low levels so its vital that you have good visual contact with the drone. The drone height is also measured by the drones internal barometer as GPS is better at determining position rather than height.
I flew my Air 2 about 1 foot (.3 meter) over a reservoir with mist rising off the water. I went out over a mile, into tributaries and out of vlos. When I was done, my hands were shaking. This was the 2nd day after I got it. Noobie overconfidence!
you set home on deck. Deck was above the water. That's why the altitude seemed wrong. Mostly it seems risky to fly close to water--sensors and chance for a minor mistake just aren't worth the risk. I came close to a wet landing that was not due to any mistake on controls one time in bay--2s just settled lower and lower. MAKE SURE TO BE CAREFUL ON HOME POINT!
If it crashes in water it will get destroyed but it will also get destroyed if it crashes into ground .. that is why you have DJI refresh :) ... cant be afraid to crash , but use your brain and most accidents can be avoided ... but accidents do happen but if you cant fly without being afraid maybe dont fly a drone :D
I advise not to go low and fly over the water in sports mode. That's how I have lost a Phantom 4 drone. In sports mode, the drone was asking more power from the batteries, causing the drone to lose hight. I started at 4m altitude and the drone had lost these 4 meters within half a minute in sports mode or so. I did not touch the left controller stick where you control the altitude. DJI did not want to accept this as a technical failure, where I think they did not have their priorities right. Altitude hold should be more important than speed in my opinion. I had to pay a new drone. Better be safe than sorry guys...
Watch out for fishermen, it might be an accident and they cast their line into your drone or they might be making a point. 1 guess who has just lost a drone due to a fisherman casting a line at the drone.
