I have an Inspire 1 on order but it will be some weeks before it arrives.  Meanwhile, I am planning some video and camera shoots and would appreciate advice from current owners or those others familiar  with the Inspire 1.

1. Flying along a (flat) river.  

There are some locations in pretty countryside where I'd like to do this.  I'd assume that the Inspire would keep its heaight above the water normally and where the river is pretty much flat there should be little risk of a dunking.  Height above water is notoriously difficult to judge by eye, let alone by video.  I know there are no guarantees, but should I reasonably expect the Inspire to maintain its height above the flat water and what would be a reasonable minimum safe height?

2.  Flying uphill

This is the converse of the previous question, pretty much.

There is a lovely stately home at the top of a hill, overlooking a lake.  I'd like to launch near the lake and fly uphill to the home.  To what extent would ground effect affect a low level flight up the hill?

Flying above water at low level will be tricky as you will be unable to rely on vision and ultrasonic sensors to help you maintain height. DJI do warn you about this in the instructions.
If you were able to follow along close behind in a boat you would be better placed.
Regarding ground effect. Rotary wing craft are only affected by ground effect whilst stationary.
As soon as they move or there is a noticeable wind they fall off this column of air.
The more the craft is tipped in the direction of travel it will tend to sink which requires you to add additional power to counteract this. So moving uphill at the same time will need less pitch and probably more power. And if you have never practiced this and fly to fast and low you have an 85% chance of creating a recognisable Inspire 1 shaped indentation on the hillside.

I would recommend a boat ride but If you use a boat you should be aware of the distance limit. I see that there is an option to turn it off in the android app. My p2 would not go past that 1000m point so we ended up turning around and I landed on the boat. I was ? feet off the water when it stopped and it seemed to drop a bit. I also backed away from the limit once i realized I hit it.

I have had very good success flying low along the ground. I do see a small occasional slow dip but not much. If you fly along at 2m off the water you should have no problem maintaining altitude assuming the GPS is working. I would keep an eye on the screen and if the GPS drops out, throttle up and come back to shoot it again.

Thanks all for the advice.

ambambcopter: please could you give me a pointer to the relevant part of the instructions?  I do not want an "Inspire-Shaped" hole in the ground or (momentarily) the water!  

msjh Posted at 2015-1-20 17:43
Thanks all for the advice.

ambambcopter: please could you give me a pointer to the relevant part of ...

I was referring to page 16 in the instruction manual, about the vision positioning system.
I was worried that you might think that was there to help as regards low height operations.
The design is for indoor use only and that is to be able to keep stationary.
Any low angle tracking shots practice them first to get used to it.
Cos if something goes wrong you have only a moment to redeem the situation.

ambambcopter.em Posted at 2015-1-21 00:52
I was referring to page 16 in the instruction manual, about the vision positioning system.
I was w ...

Thanks.  Much appreciated.  I have previously owned a Phantom 2, which I have just sold so I'm not entirely in the dark but I like to get my mind right before I go flying rather than when I am picking up the debris.