I have not yet gotten enough courage to fly my new Spark over water but, because we have a house on a power company lake, I sure would like get some photos in the area.  I know I need to be especially careful of wind coming off the water but are there other factors that need to be taken into consideration?  It will probably also be a good idea to wait a few days until the firmware releases are fully tested in the field.

Advice and thoughts appreciated.

I am not an experienced pilot by no means but i think you should test all batteries, until almost fully discharged, at low altitude over a grassy field in the "off" chance you have a faulty drone or battery. as for me i have flown over water almost every flight(almost 50 flights logged) so i felt confident before the update but for now i will wait until the new update is fully tested like i suggested to you.

I personally would just get your confidence and skills up while flying over land a little bit.  Then make sure you know there are no obstructions to run into while out over the water.  Once you have your confidence and skills up and have confirmed no obstructions, get her out there and get some great pics/photos!

I fly it mostly over water from a boat... did a couple of test flights over land, then from land over water. I now launch and retrieve from the boat. I usually take off from a flat surface but grab it instead of landing which can be tricky on a boat as it swings on anchor

Wind isn't a factor. You may get a warning about high wind velocity but it's fine. I usually fly in 15 kts wind and it handles it fine even with a little turbulence due to cliffs. With all the criticism the spark gets, few have mentioned how steady it is in windy conditions, maybe even better than the mavic

Kloo Gee Posted at 2017-7-27 09:28
I personally would just get your confidence and skills up while flying over land a little bit.  Then make sure you know there are no obstructions to run into while out over the water.  Once you have your confidence and skills up and have confirmed no obstructions, get her out there and get some great pics/photos!

Now that's the ticket right there. +1

PascalG Posted at 2017-7-27 12:45
I fly it mostly over water from a boat... did a couple of test flights over land, then from land over water. I now launch and retrieve from the boat. I usually take off from a flat surface but grab it instead of landing which can be tricky on a boat as it swings on anchor

Wind isn't a factor. You may get a warning about high wind velocity but it's fine. I usually fly in 15 kts wind and it handles it fine even with a little turbulence due to cliffs. With all the criticism the spark gets, few have mentioned how steady it is in windy conditions, maybe even better than the mavic

Totally agree , flew sparky over sea , and off cliff side in fairly high wind and had no problems , and it gets used nearly every couple of days because it's easy to carry, and set up , my P4p + is sitting on shelf now lol