To say it was sketchy is an understatement, I only just got the bird home, the wind was very very deceptive indeed.

Unfortunately I couldn’t circle the ship or do any nice cinematic movements as I needed to hover to preserve battery life.

Made it home on 9% battery, which for me, is unheard of as I always fly it home with 25% left in the tank, at least.

I shoved it on sports mode halfway back because it was only managing 15kmh!

Please give it a like! Even though it’s not exactly exhilarating....

Pretty stable, despite the wind. The return trip must have been hairy. I can imagine the sigh of relief when it landed safely

It was really odd, it didn’t appear windy, yet the drone was just like a lead weight flying into the wind! I think it’s because it was a steady strong constant breeze, on the trip out to the ship I noticed the drone was drifting, but on the way back it just seemed 10 times worse. I was thinking at one point ‘this is it, it’s going in the ocean’

Interesting video, glad it made it back.

Luck was with ya. Glad it made it back.

Cool video. Very interesting. Awesome.

That company Maersk, is one of the worlds leaders in shipping across the seas...
Thank you, for posting and sharing it with the forum drone community.


RedHotPoker

Nice video very interesting glad you got the drone back

Thanks all, yes they are a very well known shipping company, I live half an hour from a major uk port, so I may take a few trips up when there’s some of the big guns due to port.

Great work!

Nice video. It's always safer flying upwind to your destination as you did rather than flying downwind to it. The 50% rule has some cushion that way; that worked out well in your case but not by too much.

Nice video and an interesting subject.
Your comments on the wind are confusing though.
On the way out you say that high winds made it tricky to reach the ship.
But you later said it was difficult to fly home against the wind.
Which was was the wind blowing?

Out there you only get one chance.
Wind planning is a critical factor for flying offshore (if you like to take the drone home).
And the most important point is .. what kind of wind will the drone have for the return trip?
If the return will be into a headwind, how strong will it be?
And include that in the planning, perhaps heading back when the battery is showing 60% or even more depending on wind speed and distance.

Using Sport mode is generally a bad idea as it depletes the battery faster.
I'd be interested to see the flight data, to do some calculations.

You have nerves of steel. I went out over the frozen Delaware River over the weekend as the ice was breaking up. I was only out about 100 yds, and after less than a minute I started to shake uncontrollably and had to get back over land. Amazing views. I really like the way you gave views of the tug and the other side of the waterway too. Thank you for sharing. It's really incredible how much is aboard those ships.

Jeff

Labroides Posted at 2018-1-23 15:23
Nice video and an interesting subject.
Your comments on the wind are confusing though.
On the way out you say that high winds made it tricky to reach the ship.

That’s what I mean by it being strange, and deceptive! I was heading out at an angle - not filmed, into a cross wind, on the way back it was a head wind.

I’m usually pretty good at reading the wind, but the ocean is unpredictable and very different from the shore line

Felixstowe Used to keep my boat in the marina opposite, Shotley which is where I guess you flew from. That East wind can be strong and cold.

PeteHB Posted at 2018-1-24 01:13
Felixstowe Used to keep my boat in the marina opposite, Shotley which is where I guess you flew from. That East wind can be strong and cold.

It’s a nice industrial place! I wouldn’t want to live there though...

Filmed from harwich

BigBlueTsunami Posted at 2018-1-23 15:30
You have nerves of steel. I went out over the frozen Delaware River over the weekend as the ice was breaking up. I was only out about 100 yds, and after less than a minute I started to shake uncontrollably and had to get back over land. Amazing views. I really like the way you gave views of the tug and the other side of the waterway too. Thank you for sharing. It's really incredible how much is aboard those ships.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

What was your concern flying over water? I tend to treat it no differently than over land, it’s a mind thing!

Jakey boy Posted at 2018-1-24 09:06
Hi Jeff,

What was your concern flying over water? I tend to treat it no differently than over land, it’s a mind thing!

Yep, mind over matter right? If you don't mind losing a $1700 Phantom in the water... it doesn't matter. As I flew out over the river, I began to imagine how long I could survive in that water amongst the ice while crying out to the drone to hang on... Or how it would feel to see it crash into the ice, then watch it float up the river and wonder if it misses me?!? All the while I was shaking uncontrollably. It stopped the moment I was back over land. So obviously I have no sea legs/wings. I'm sure over time I'll become more outgoing, but probably not.

Jeff

BigBlueTsunami Posted at 2018-1-24 09:20
Yep, mind over matter right? If you don't mind losing a $1700 Phantom in the water... it doesn't matter. As I flew out over the river, I began to imagine how long I could survive in that water amongst the ice while crying out to the drone to hang on... Or how it would feel to see it crash into the ice, then watch it float up the river and wonder if it misses me?!? All the while I was shaking uncontrollably. It stopped the moment I was back over land. So obviously I have no sea legs/wings. I'm sure over time I'll become more outgoing, but probably not.

Jeff

I can understand that! The ironic thing is, things are less likely to go wrong over the sea, lakes etc as there’s less to crash into, less to obstruct signal and less obscure the line of sight.

Totally understand your worries though, it certainly worried me when the battery was draining on the return flight home!

Like I said, you have nerves of steel.

Jeff

Nice vid, i used to live in Bucklesham, frequented Felixstowe quite often

This

I needed to hover to preserve battery life.

I was under the impression that the hover uses more battery power than flying about?

Bashy Posted at 2018-1-24 21:58
Nice vid, i used to live in Bucklesham, frequented Felixstowe quite often

This

Hovering uses less battery than flying fast .... but you don't get much distance when you are hovering.

Labroides Posted at 2018-1-24 22:54
Hovering uses less battery than flying fast .... but you don't get much distance when you are hovering.

Ah ok, thanks, i only mentioned it because i have read on here many times where folks have said this as it uses a lot to stay in one place. is that just a generalisation? i.e. not taking in  to account say sports mode? What about translational movement giving it additional lift, this would use less poer than a hover wouldnt it?

Then again, it was very windy for him so wouldnt it use a  lot of power trying to hover in one place, fighting the wind? bear in mind he didnt know he was going to fight a strong wind on the return journey thus needing sports mode, had that not been the case wouldnt it have been prudent to not hover.

Im still learning so the above is just a question for future reference, i.e. do i ignore the "hover uses more power "  from now on? or does it still hold true but under different conditions?

Bashy Posted at 2018-1-24 23:11
Ah ok, thanks, i only mentioned it because i have read on here many times where folks have said this as it uses a lot to stay in one place. is that just a generalisation? i.e. not taking in  to account say sports mode? What about translational movement giving it additional lift, this would use less poer than a hover wouldnt it?

Then again, it was very windy for him so wouldnt it use a  lot of power trying to hover in one place, fighting the wind? bear in mind he didnt know he was going to fight a strong wind on the return journey thus needing sports mode, had that not been the case wouldnt it have been prudent to not hover.

This from the Mavic specs suggests that hovering uses the battery slightly faster than flying at 15 mph
Max Flight Time        30 minutes (no wind at a consistent 15.5 mph (25 kph))
Max Hovering Time        27 minutes (no wind)
The difference isn't much and wind will complicate calculations
Flying faster uses the battery even faster.

The OP was just saying that he didn't fly around the ship because he was conscious about trying to use his battery economically.
Whether or not he had perfect knowledge of battery economy is another matter.

Yes, I agree sports mode is more power hungry opposed to normal flight mode....

Bashy Posted at 2018-1-25 00:56
Yes, I agree sports mode is more power hungry opposed to normal flight mode....

What happened was, on the way out to the ship I had to hover to wait for it to get close enough to film, this was because I didn’t want to go much further out to sea in the wind.

I figured hovering would use less energy than carrying on in the cross wind..

I didn’t use sports mode untill around 3/4 of the way back, and that’s because I had to, the drone was making such slow headway in the wind that I had no choice. In fact I’m so glad it has sports mode because that really got it back quickly. It covered the distance more efficiently though using the battery faster, that’s a trade off I had to except to get the drone back.

If I’d kept it on standard mode, I don’t know if it would made it...

Thanks for the reply, its just good to know how things occurred, what height were you at on the way back and was this yesterday? it was very windy up here in Norfolk yesterday

Jakey boy Posted at 2018-1-25 01:08
What happened was, on the way out to the ship I had to hover to wait for it to get close enough to film, this was because I didn’t want to go much further out to sea in the wind.

I figured hovering would use less energy than carrying on in the cross wind..

Did you have Obstacle Avoidance enabled?
With OA on the Phantom is quite slow but you get a handy speed boost by turning it off.

Labroides Posted at 2018-1-25 03:56
Did you have Obstacle Avoidance enabled?
With OA on the Phantom is quite slow but you get a handy speed boost by turning it off.

Yes I believe it was on, that could have been why it was slower...