Have seen recommendations where and where not to carry out a compass calibration. Most are cmmon sense but one I've seen recommends not to calibrate the compass at a beach. Can anyone confirm this is correct and maybe educate me as to why this is the case - many thanks in advance.

Not sure why calibrating drone's compass at a beach would be of issue.  Haven't read of that being a problem.

Maybe possibility of ferrous metal being dropped by beach goers or washing up?  Remains of ships?

Outter banks have a lot of old ship wrecks.  Not unusual to come upon parts of old wood ships with iron spikes or pieces of metal hauled ships.  Storms will sometimes uncover a wreck that was previously burried under lots of beach sand.


If person(s) meant by beach, a marina or pier area on the beach, that could be point of concern.  Marina and piers are often made with steel and cement with rebar.  Along with having power lines run in metal conduit.  Metal safety railing along piers and docks would also be of issue.

It really depends where you live what beaches ie river lakes blacks sand beaches , many contain magnetite, it’s not found on all beaches, but if your not sure then it’s best to avoid calibration on beaches and take off for various reasons magnetite and sand getting into your motors.
It’s my guess most golden sand beaches don’t contain much if any magnetite.But the recommendations not to calibrate at beaches will be well known by lots of drone flyers, so it’s not entirely odd that you have read or heard of this .


Magnetite is sometimes found in large quantities in beach sand. Such black sands (mineral sands or iron sands) are found in various places, such as Lung Kwu Tan of Hong Kong; California, United States; and the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. WIKI,

If you have some webpages book marked that warn against calibrating compass on beach please post them.  Did several searches and only came up with one drone pilot reporting such a problem.

It amazing the amount of people who don’t know how to google.

I think the point here is beaches contain magnetite, dji clearly tells all users to avoid magnetite when calibrating compass, I believe it’s always best to give correct information to users and not guess , I have been flying for quite a number of years and I have been well aware of this, just as those who offered this advice to OP.

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 4-12 08:04
If you have some webpages book marked that warn against calibrating compass on beach please post them.  Did several searches and only came up with one drone pilot reporting such a problem.

With Little more digging in sand (pardon pun) in regards to beaches, sand, compasses...

Is sand magnetic?
Saying all sand is magnetic or non-magnetic would be virtually  impossible, or frankly, inaccurate.
Where the sand is located effects how it forms and what types of  materials form it. For instance, the composition of beach sand can be  very different from the composition of desert sand. In many types of  sand the main component is quartz.  On tropical islands with white sand beaches, the main component could  likely be calcium carbonate, usually from organic materials that have  decomposed over time.
Despite this, there is one type of sand that we know is usually magnetic -- black sand.

With black sand, one way to tell if sand is magnetic (from article)
bring a strong rare earth magnet and test the sands’ magnetism.  It will likely be attracted to the magnet in the same way that iron  filings are attracted.

Thus, blanket warnings about calibrating a compass on a beach is bad idea or never should be done is over kill.  A case of where such warnings need clarifying as to type of beach / type of sand.  
Summarized: Black Sand / Volcanic areas - be cautious about compass calibration.

You can make up your own mind, but this guy is clearly of his rocker, in his opening post he knows nothing, now after reading google he extrapolates the most ridiculous of the ridiculous .

This is a pretty simple question you posed and the answer is pretty simple, some people when they get it wrong think it’s better to ruin a thread with ridiculous statements, try to make threads about themselves and troll.

I hope my clear answer and explanation helps and is what your looking for.
Nobody gave a clear blanket of calibrate at all beaches, not to sure why this guy keep tripping over himself .

Nobody said sand was magnetic, but it is a well known fact that some beaches contain magnetite.

The recommendations you received were correct and fully concur with the manual, and because I know this guys form for ruining threads and trying to make them about him, I have given you best advice and in your interest will bow out here.

Well, I have a kind of follow up question.  Would even flying at such a "magnetic" beach create issues beyond the calibration issue?  Say, I calibrated at home with no problems and only drove 5 miles to Magnet Beach - fly or issue?

And the odds for me of such an instance are pretty low but now I curious.

ff22 Posted at 4-12 11:18
Well, I have a kind of follow up question.  Would even flying at such a "magnetic" beach create issues beyond the calibration issue?  Say, I calibrated at home with no problems and only drove 5 miles to Magnet Beach - fly or issue?

And the odds for me of such an instance are pretty low but now I curious.

Take off and landing (flying close to ground, 1-meter) would be times of risk.  With Risk level being a matter of how much compass interference the black "magnetic" beach sand is causing.
If GO-4 app is showing compass (magnetic field interference) bar(s) in green, then there should be no risk.  Possible risk when bar(s) are in yellow.  Definite risk when bar(s) are in red.  Drone should give pilot an alert about compass interference when bars are in red.   Again, we are talking about Flying, not calibrating drone's compass.


Part of fallacy (or perhaps internet F.U.D.) is black sand of beach, usually extends further into shore.  The sand itself is result of rock being ground up into sand.  Rock that is possibly part of surrounding area.  Point being, you could have same compass issues, couple hundred yards inland, in say nice lush green covered area.

Many thanks to all for your input - had forgotten the magnetite connection which obviously requires a cautionary approach.

With regard to flying from a "magnetic" beach - I have just returned from Iceland where I witnessed a young gent flying a Mavic Air on a black beach without any problems whatsoever. I believe that when flying from beaches special care needs to be taken to ensure there is no local magnetic interference and react accordingly.

Once again - thanks to all - Fly Safe