We have some pretty good thunderstorms these days and I was wondering if I should try to get some great shots before/after the rain has moved through.
If the drone gets hit by lightning I have no doubt it will be toast.

My questions are:
- Will the SD card have a chance to survive it?
- Can I be harmed by voltage that runs through my drone as I am holding the remote?

In the following video the guy is holding the remote so I guess it is safe for the pilot?
Obviously I should stand somewhere where I am not exposed to possible lightning strike ;-)

I'd love to get some shots like in the second video...

Not to smart to stand outside in the open during a lightning storm.

Common sense says the card would be toast.. I have viewed several videos of aircraft lost in water, and completely shorted out , and later recovered where the card was still readable.  I would think that would be the least of my concerns though.....   As far as your remote,  Electricity will not travel through your drone to your remote via radio signals..   I would however, be aware of your surrounding while out in a t-storm, as not to put yourself in an unsafe situation....    Happy flying..

BTW.  thanks for the video links.  and please post any "experiments"  and or information you learn..  I think you just gave me enough encouragement to capture some of my own video as i've been wanting to try this out as well, but have been very leery.      Thanks again....

Interesting thread  

That sounds interesting. DJI will still not recommend flying the drones for safety purposes. For your question, there might be a big chance that SD card on the aircraft will be malfunction after being hit by lightning. There is no guarantee that we can retrieve the files since it will directly save on the SD card. Also, it will not harm you directly on the remote controller since it is not connected physically on your aircraft. But we still not recommend you to fly it during lightning. Be safe!

There are a few other factors that you must consider or be willing to accept the risk from.
Thunderstorms not only have lightning but also bring winds (i.e. first gusts, straight-line, wind sheer, turbulence etc.), then hail in all sizes, and tornadic activity...all of which can happen miles away from a thunderstorm, too include the lightning.

Best advice I would give is to make very sure you check the weather and then keep a close eye on it via radar, if you are shooting at night then expect that will further add to your challenges.  Lastly, while the payoff can be great, you should be fully prepared to lose your drone in that environment.

Very interesting video’s. I wonder if the phantom was able to write to the system log and what would have been witten in. “Total annihilation in 0.0000001 second”

Goodbye drone....Amen !

Very tempting, thunderstorms can be super beautiful.
But.....

I would hate to hear of a drone fatality, due to thunder and lightning video recording.


Be careful in the future.



Chas

Nothing ventured nothing gained

If you turn on cache During Video Shooting in General Settings, you'll have to videos on your mobile device. The quality will not be near as good as what is stored on the SD card, but at least you'd have them.

BTW - awesome videos!

When you do, please keep an eye on the altitude compared  with your experience, would like to hear if you notice any strange measurements before/after the thunderstorm.

Enjoy.

Doesn't seem to be much of an advantage in videoing from a drone. I would think a time lapse from a GoPro inside it's waterproof housing would make for a smarter choice, then go fetch it after the storm passes.

blackcrusader Posted at 2018-6-5 06:37
Nothing ventured nothing gained

Hahaha,  I love it!  True

Can I borrow YOUR drone??  

Living in San Diego,  these storms don't exist.  But we do, once in a great while get a few lightning strikes.

I WON't be putting my crafts in the air........

Randy

great video, thanks for sharing, as for flying in lightening, the safety aspect is mind blowing, i mean for yourself, you really need to be in a car when out in the field, good luck, film from all angles please ;)

rwynant V1 Posted at 2018-6-11 18:35
Hahaha,  I love it!  True

Can I borrow YOUR drone??  

Sure you can borrow my drone. It's already lightning tested.

Well, know this. It looks like the drone is grounded (to earth) by some wire hanging off the landing gear? The drone is in a laboratory and directly subjected to the high voltage discharge. I think that a drone flown out doors in free flight would be less likely to be struck and subsequently damaged.

Here is a youtube video from DJI forums member "Dirty Bird" flying his drone with lightning occuring, although the lightning looks to be a few miles off in the distance. Look for the lightning in the upper left of the video frame.

Air/America Posted at 2018-6-17 03:50
Well, know this. It looks like the drone is grounded (to earth) by some wire hanging off the landing gear? The drone is in a laboratory and directly subjected to the high voltage discharge. I think that a drone flown out doors in free flight would be less likely to be struck and subsequently damaged.

I think they attached a string to the drone so when it gets hit and becomes uncontrollable it can't fly all over the room.
I don't think this is a wire for grounding.

I took this with my mini 2 right over my house 200’ agl. Be careful! Get them shots!!!