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[Poll] Have you ever had issues flying over water?
712677 712677 2017-3-23
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theGrindLab.com
Captain
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I just may be lucky but I believe my success rate when flying over water is actually the norm for most. However, I thought I would ask around anyway. I personally have never had issues when flying over water, no matter at what height/elevation from the water. I have only flown over rivers and lakes though, but I cannot imagine the ocean/sea would affect flight any differently from inland bodies of water. Thanks for any votes or comments.

If you have had issues and they seemed to be related to your altitude, please indicate in comments.

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2017-3-23
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Labroides
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Australia
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I fly over water all the time and it's just like flying over land ... except that there's no interference and no obstacles to hit.
2017-3-23
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stalker
Second Officer
Flight distance : 13632 ft
Netherlands
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My first Phantom (1.1.1) took a dive and now I'm too scared to try...
2017-3-24
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ROBERTO SMERA
First Officer
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Brazil
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I fly almost exclusively over water and never had a single issue.
2017-3-24
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Mobilcams
First Officer
Flight distance : 2907674 ft
United States
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The only time I had an issue was at the beach when I was trying to get a family picture with my P4 just out where the waves rolled up onto the beach.  It tried to track the waves as they came in. I turned off VPS and everything was fine after that. I have even flown Litchi missions where the P4 was closer to the water and the waves and it continued on its automated course with VPS on no problem so I don't know if it's an issue when the craft is moving or only when it is hovering. Either way, it's not something that is hard to cope with. Just be careful as you would be in every situation.
2017-3-24
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theGrindLab.com
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Labroides Posted at 2017-3-23 21:04
I fly over water all the time and it's just like flying over land ... except that there's no interference and no obstacles to hit.

That's my experience too.
2017-3-24
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fansf4e53ae2
lvl.1
United States
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I've owned my P4P for about a month and have been flying over a large man-made lake without any issues. Although, I've avoided flying in strong winds so I'm not sure how I'd feel over the ocean.  It will be tested this summer for sure.  One scary situation happened after installing the most recent firmware upgrade where the controller locked up while my Phantom was hovering over the lake.  
2017-3-24
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Aeromirage
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I haven't had any problems.
Inspire 1 or P4P

Flagler Beach, Florida

Flagler Beach, Florida
2017-3-24
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hallmark007
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No issues with flying over water. I live on the Atlantic Ocean, best place to get a signal..

First video I done when I got my P4 1 year ago. Will try it with my p4p this year. My home town. Population 600..



2017-3-24
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theGrindLab.com
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hallmark007 Posted at 2017-3-24 08:34
No issues with flying over water. I live on the Atlantic Ocean, best place to get a signal..

First video I done when I got my P4 1 year ago. Will try it with my p4p this year. My home town. Population 600..

Looks like a lovely place!
2017-3-24
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hallmark007
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It's a great place to live, but can have some strange weather, Thursday wind 115 kph Friday wind 2kph, today was a good day for flying..
2017-3-24
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theGrindLab.com
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hallmark007 Posted at 2017-3-24 14:33
It's a great place to live, but can have some strange weather, Thursday wind 115 kph Friday wind 2kph, today was a good day for flying..

I understand completely. I live in Texas and the weather is very much like that. It's quite common any time of year for morning temps and afternoon/evening temps to vary 35+ degrees. Skies can be clear and blue at one moment and within a couple hours clouds can move in with thunder and hail storms. At least where you are, that can be explained by its coastal location. I live right in the middle of the (huge) state!
2017-3-24
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ACW
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The only potential issue in flying over water is if your altitude is low enough (<10M) to fully engage VPS. When engaged, VPS can make the drone act erratically and altitude drops have been known because if it. This is usually caused by the suns reflection from the water surface making the downward sensors malfunction. The same problems can also occur with the front/rear avoidance cameras when flying directly toward the sun. Keep your altitude over 10M or switch off VPS when flying over water and you should not experience anymore issues than you would ordinarily when flying over land. The only other issue in flying over water is that a crash would typically lead to a total loss in the sea etc. so even more need to be careful with regards to battery power and wind speeds, which tend to be faster. Plan the flight, keep it over 10M and you should be fine. I've never crashed in the drink!
2017-3-24
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CyFA
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The only thing was once ... it was following the wave on the shore back and forward ... i was laughing as i knew i was low and it was the sensor doing what it knows. he he he
2017-3-24
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theGrindLab.com
Captain
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Looks like flying over water has been overwhelmingly issue-free! Just as I had suspected. Thanks to all who contributed.
2017-3-31
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Cobra44Magnum
First Officer
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United States
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The only issue I ever had when flying over water had nothing to do with the water. I backed into a tree hanging over a pond and ended up with a broken, submerged Inspire 2. Ouch!

Anyway, I fly over water all the time with no issues. In fact, just took the following shots in the gulf;
Key West Florida Video

2017-4-1
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Cobra44Magnum
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hallmark007 Posted at 2017-3-24 08:34
No issues with flying over water. I live on the Atlantic Ocean, best place to get a signal..

First video I done when I got my P4 1 year ago. Will try it with my p4p this year. My home town. Population 600..

Nice video. Thank you for sharing.
2017-4-1
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hallmark007
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Cobra44Magnum Posted at 2017-4-1 11:22
Nice video. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you.
2017-4-1
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Quad Zeppelin
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United States
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I agree, no problems flying over water unless you are super low, like 2 or 3 meters. My biggest fear about water is the birds that come with it!
2017-4-3
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Silvestrone
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Italy
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Flying low caused me a sudden loss of altitude. Probably the difference of temperature between ground and water caused the barometer to miscalculate the altitude.
2017-4-3
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SPIKE_151
First Officer
Flight distance : 69767 ft
United States
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If you are flying very low over rough sea, you may get some signal scatter. But apart from that everyone seems to enjoy flying over the ocean, as stated previously ,, nothing to crash into , and nothing to to block the signal.
2017-4-3
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ZBW
New
Flight distance : 155125 ft

Norway
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No problems at all and the wind speed was around 11km/h I have fly on 80 meters and 3,1 km away.
2017-4-17
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ROBERTO SMERA
First Officer
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Brazil
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2017-4-17
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Pocket Sized
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United States
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Well, I suffered a loss of control over a pond this weekend with my P2. I was flying rather irresponsibly and entered a vortex ring with lots of pitch/roll oscillations. Splash.

I ran over, grabbed the drone out of the water, then brought it home to open it up and let it dry in the sun. It still functions as far as I can tell, but the battery wasn't so lucky. It's relatively new, less than 30 cycles. Due to unfavorable lighting conditions, I wasn't able to recover it until about 6hrs later. The circuitry was totally corroded and the battery refused to charge. The cells, however, all showed acceptable voltage values with no external damage. I removed the board and charged them to roughly 80% using an external charger. Gonna keep them in storage until I can figure out what to do with them.
2017-4-17
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Kevin minton
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United States
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I mostly fly over water, there is no interference, i hade my phantom 4 pro with high capacity battery 5.25 miles out from point of takeoff and still had reception. 10.5 mile round trip and still had 19% battery left
2017-4-17
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2Blades
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United States
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Mobilcams Posted at 2017-3-24 05:16
The only time I had an issue was at the beach when I was trying to get a family picture with my P4 just out where the waves rolled up onto the beach.  It tried to track the waves as they came in. I turned off VPS and everything was fine after that. I have even flown Litchi missions where the P4 was closer to the water and the waves and it continued on its automated course with VPS on no problem so I don't know if it's an issue when the craft is moving or only when it is hovering. Either way, it's not something that is hard to cope with. Just be careful as you would be in every situation.

I had this happen with the waves and honestly I was impressed with it tracking the waves.  AND like you said VPS was the cause.  Love my P4P!
2017-4-21
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fivetonine
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No issues at all - just stay way over the water because there's no reliance on VPS.
2017-4-21
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hdlou94
First Officer
Flight distance : 753163 ft
United States
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I love flying over the water, lakes,oceans , over bridges, under bridges. but it is a little nerve racking when your remote says  " battery level low you only have enough to RTH !!
2017-5-20
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BearDrone
lvl.4
Flight distance : 2887251 ft
United States
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I live on a coastal plain and I can't help but fly over some sort of water every time I fly. No problems at all. I've not done the low level ocean flying I want to do just yet, but I am being told to disable VPS and Obstacle Avoidance when doing so. That's a bit unnerving.
2017-5-21
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fansea1216d3
First Officer
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United States
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Fly over water all the time.
2017-5-21
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Spyder3534
lvl.4
Flight distance : 32375 ft
United States
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I enjoy flying over water... No people or property to fall on or crash into, worst that can happen is I lose my drone.
2017-5-24
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senatorkelley
lvl.3
Flight distance : 450525 ft
United States
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Very first time over a lake a couple weeks ago. Once I gained confidence in the drone my movements were smooth and I found it easier to fly because no obsticals were in the way. #TrustTheDroneIamOneWithTheDrone
2017-5-24
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Fontinalis
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United States
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ACW Posted at 2017-3-24 16:24
The only potential issue in flying over water is if your altitude is low enough (

This has been my only issue, too. I noticed that when flying low, <10m, with VPS enabled the AC doesn't hover well. It moves  in any direction about .5m.
2017-5-30
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FatherXmas
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I live on top of a mountain in rural Alabama. Several neighbors have cows, so they have stock ponds. Plus there's a spring fed river and a couple really beautiful waterfalls. Most of my flights will be over one or more of those and I've never had any issues at all with water.
2017-8-27
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FredAstra
First Officer
Flight distance : 595577 ft
United Kingdom
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Never had issues flying over water. My phantom 2+ was crap at flying under water... RIP Phanton.
2017-8-28
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MrRobert5823
Second Officer
Flight distance : 1385223 ft
United States
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I fly very low over water (less than 3 meters).  I don't go fast and I don't move around a lot, but I regularly get my drone floating up or floating down.  Not too much, and not fast, but I don't dare take my eyes off the drone for more than a moment or two.  It usually just takes a tap to get it re-adjusted, so it's not a really big deal, but if I am over land, she holds rock steady... over water, not so much.
2017-8-28
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Damon.0
lvl.1
Flight distance : 341785 ft
Italy
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Some shots with my P3P over Bilancino lake (Tuscany) ;)
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2017-8-28
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blackcrusader
First Officer
Flight distance : 689774 ft
Taiwan
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Took off from where my dive shop was and went out about 1.5km over water no issues at all

2017-8-28
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Mabou2
First Officer
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In my sizzle reel, you can see that I fly regularly over water.  I think there may be more shots over water than not.  There is even a shot where I flew about 3' over water, following some geese.
Aerial Sizzle Reel (4min version)
OceanDroneScreenshot.jpg
FlyingOverGeese.jpg
2017-8-28
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FredAstra
First Officer
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FredAstra Posted at 2017-8-28 03:58
Never had issues flying over water. My phantom 2+ was crap at flying under water... RIP Phanton.
[view_image]

Photo from 'find my Phantom' :-(
Phantom Lake 3.jpg
2017-8-28
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