With the weather being relatively OK here in the U.K my Father-in-law wanted to get me out on the water to take some shots of his boat. I knew this day was coming and frankly I was more apprehensive than excited about it.
Weeks of extensive reading and watching videos on best how to launch, land and fly over water from a boat I went in with a lot of knowledge before my maiden flight over water from a boat. However, what I didn't account for were birds!!!!
So 2 weeks ago we get out onto the boat in the middle of The Solent, no boats around, calm water....perfect! I launched the Mavic Air by hand no problem. Then literally with a few seconds of being about 20 meters a near miss occurs with a Seagull, the bird flew directly above the Mavic Air and must have been within inches. Close call!!! Heart pounding! The rest of the flight went OK.
With only the near miss, I brushed that off and felt confident in being able to fly it again from the boat. We headed out again yesterday to capture some more, this time with the idea of recording while the boat was moving!
We got out onto the stretch of water just outside the marina so I launched it by hand whilst moving, again everything great quite happily following the boat. I'd probably say no more than 5 / 10 meters high Then yup! Bird attack!
Two black / white looking birds out of nowhere fly straight into the Mavic Air clipping the top, Feathers go all over the place. I could hear the impact from the boat, the drone obviously dropped from it's position and wobbled but thankfully recovered and regained height pretty much instantly. The situation happened so quickly that I couldn't have increased my height that quickly.
Immediately I wanted to get the drone back on board ASAP. I got it back on board  , which was pretty hard trying to control it and catch it! Naturally, I checked for any damage and luckily no damage what so ever to the drone. The experience probably damaged my health in some way along with my confidence flying from the boat has now been knocked massively and I'm extremely worried about flying it around water where are likely to be birds, which is pretty much everywhere.
I guess there isn't really much that can be done when it comes to bird attacks? apart from assess the area before taking off. As mentioned in both situations I did this and no birds were to be seen from my perspective, I guess it's just down to what straw you pull on the day.
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lvl.3
Core User of DJI
, which was pretty hard trying to control it and catch it! Naturally, I checked for any damage and luckily no damage what so ever to the drone. The experience probably damaged my health in some way along with my confidence flying from the boat has now been knocked massively and I'm extremely worried about flying it around water where are likely to be birds, which is pretty much everywhere.
and hope for the best
lvl.4