Looking for suggestions on Takeoff and Landing on a Kayak

[Spark 317]

I guess that's one better than losing the drone entirely and having to go fishing for it!

I'm not quite sure how I would manage the RC (with iPad attached) one-handed to hand launch/land. I prefer taking off from a landing mat, bench, the case, or anything else that's handy. I tried the car, but it's metallic black and the sensors didn't like it, not to mention the compass with all that metal!

It helps to have a Lanyard so it can hang around your neck while holding the Spark in one hand while sliding the launch slider on the device.

I never had much luck with the double tap thing to launch.

I fly with a mini4 in a tablet holder, but I also have two Droids that I fly with and I have a lanyard for those too.

It's real nice, small, clips on the remote while the phone goes in the arms and stores easily when not in use.

It looks like they may be out of stock.

 

[Chrislaf]

It helps to have a Lanyard so it can hang around your neck while holding the Spark in one hand while sliding the launch slider on the device.

I never had much luck with the double tap thing to launch.

I fly with a mini4 in a tablet holder, but I also have two Droids that I fly with and I have a lanyard for those too.

It's real nice, small, clips on the remote while the phone goes in the arms and stores easily when not in use.

It looks like they may be out of stock.

I always double tap when hand launching (99%) and just turn off gestures once airborne and away from me. Works perfectly for me. Launching from a kayak is a different story. Still haven’t decided if I will hand launch or just launch from a flat surface on kayak.

Chris

 

[Spark 317]

I always double tap when hand launching (99%) and just turn off gestures once airborne and away from me. Works perfectly for me. Launching from a kayak is a different story. Still haven’t decided if I will hand launch or just launch from a flat surface on kayak.

Chris

As long as the Kayak is stable, shouldn't be a problem if the top is flat.

I would suggest a piece of neoprene, perhaps from an old wetsuit, and use it as a launch pad as this may prevent the Spark from sliding off accidentally.

Heck, one of those mouse pads for a computer may work too.

Maybe attach it via Velcro or 3m all weather fasteners so the pad won't fly off and/or up from the turbulence of Spark and cause a problem.

 

[Chrislaf]

As long as the Kayak is stable, shouldn't be a problem if the top is flat.

I would suggest a piece of neoprene, perhaps from an old wetsuit, and use it as a launch pad as this may prevent the Spark from sliding off accidentally.

Heck, one of those mouse pads for a computer may work too.

Maybe attach it via Velcro or 3m all weather fasteners so the pad won't fly off and/or up from the turbulence of Spark and cause a problem.

I like the mouse pad idea. Just might try that.
Thanks
Chris

 

[Mandruka]

I did it once when I was very new with my spark (a year has pass and I have not become expert, that is for sure, as a matter of fact I am a bad pilot). What I did was just fly the Spark near me (almost hit way wife), catch it and turn it 90 degrees immediately. Work done. Great footage.

 

[jrhoffman75]

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I can't see how foam balls can possibly work. The drone's CG will be sitting above them so it will flip and be suspended below them underwater."

The center of gravity of just about everything is above the surface it is sitting on (including you and me). It won't rotate and go turtle if the wheelbase (in the case of the foam ball the distance between balls) is great enough. The Spark would have to rotate significantly before the CG goes past one of the foam balls.

 

[Tony Love]

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I will be doing some kayaking and canoeing this summer when we go camping and would like to try taking off and landing, especially from a kayak.

On land, I usually takeoff from my hand (double tap) and land on my hand but on a kayak this could become tricky as it will likely be drifting even with little wind, and space to manoeuvre is limited. Taking off should not be a problem, but landing most likely will. I am looking for suggestions from anyone who has done this sort of thing before. I am aware that the kayak or canoe will likely not be at the original home point and getting back to it would be next to impossible on water so I will probably be using AutoPilot since it has the ability to use dynamic home point. I will also make sure I start the landing process with lots of battery left (40%).

Anyone who has done this before, I welcome your tips or suggestions.

Chris

 

[Tony Love]

I will be doing some kayaking and canoeing this summer when we go camping and would like to try taking off and landing, especially from a kayak.

On land, I usually takeoff from my hand (double tap) and land on my hand but on a kayak this could become tricky as it will likely be drifting even with little wind, and space to manoeuvre is limited. Taking off should not be a problem, but landing most likely will. I am looking for suggestions from anyone who has done this sort of thing before. I am aware that the kayak or canoe will likely not be at the original home point and getting back to it would be next to impossible on water so I will probably be using AutoPilot since it has the ability to use dynamic home point. I will also make sure I start the landing process with lots of battery left (40%).

Anyone who has done this before, I welcome your tips or suggestions.

Chris

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[rhettduke]

This is good stuff !

Grown Men....supposedly more wise mature and such than in their teens.....Paying hundreds of dollars easily to buy a "toy airplane"

I ve mentoned before I think...With RC aircraft its not IF it will ever crash....its WHEN is it going to crash

We spend hours just talking about it.

Someone who is not me has NEVER been unable to fly and went to Mission Hub planned a flight they will never take and then try to figure out why the camera angle just doesnt look right....

Not being satisfied we must want to hear God laugh as we take the toy airplane into the water......

Ok Ill quit...And yes...I have an Aluminum we spell it Jon Boat around here that I need to take out because I too figured there would be compass issues.

Loaded plastic kayak couple days ago...spent more attention to how I was gonna keep spark dry than I did actually driving...Started raining about time I got to river...

Its a wonder we get anything really important done !

 

[Chrislaf]

Well tomorrow I head off to go camping and do some canoeing and kayaking. Want to try flying Spark from kayak or canoe. Will probably try it close to shore first just in case I have trouble getting it landed (likely hand catching), so I can go in to shore if it is too tricky and land there.

Chris

 

[Andro]

Look forward to viewing footage of your flight from kayak as I hope to be able to launch and land on a sailing boat in the future;]

 

[Chrislaf]

Just an update.
Did not launch my Spark from my canoe or kayak as the days I was flying there was a bit of a wind. I just went to shore launched and took video of my son in the kayak.

I now have an anchor for both our kayak and canoe so hopefully will get the nerve to launch and land from our kayak (small recreational kayak). I am itching to do a track/Follow Mission but with the Sparks battery time so short this may not be possible especially since I will want to land earlier than I would if flying from land. Am looking into using my Phantom 3 Standard instead since it gets almost twice the battery life.

Chris

 

[Chrislaf]

Well today, I finally mustered enough nerves to attempt a launch and land from my kayak. It was a beautiful sunny day with calm waters and little wind. I paddled out just about 5 or 6m from shore in case the Spark ended up in the water and set my anchor. I ran an Active Track mission while I paddled nearby the launch point.

The Good
•Hand launch was easy and painless with the double tap on the battery.
•Active Track worked well and only lost track once.
•the resulting video is unique in that it is basically the only way to capture myself kayaking.

The Not-So-Good
•keeping the controller and phone dry is a challenge
•the short battery life of the Spark is a pain in this case - I average just under 10minutes. By the time I get the Spark launched there is not much time to kayak before I have to prepare for landing.
•Hand landing is very difficult from a kayak with little room to move around. On my first flight, I hand landed ok but had to reach for Spark. The second time was scary - Spark for some reason did not like getting close to me or the kayak and kept moving away. This resulted in low battery RTH and my home point was a few metres out from where I was. I was shallow so I got out of the kayak, cancelled RTH and landed the Spark in my hand. Whew!!

What I Learned
•My dry bag was most useful to keep Spark and accessories dry while stored.
•I need a flat surface to place the spark and controller on while get ready and also when paddling. A small flutter board should work for this purpose.
•bringing a hand towel was a great idea to dry water splashes off the controller/phone and my hands.
•Sparks battery is too short for this type of activity unless you keep the kayaking short and stay close to shore.
•prepare for landing at 50% battery so that there is lots of time to get out of unexpected tricky situations.
•hand landing is very difficult in a kayak
•Use AutoPilot instead of DJI GO4. AutoPilot has better tracking as it tracks the controller not the person in the kayak, and it has dynamic home point so there is less worry about the home point being in a different location when landing.
•figure out how to use my Phantom 3 Standard instead. It has much longer battery life and should be easier to hand catch (do it all the time on land) and there are no sensors to mess up the landing.

When I get some time to edit the footage, I'll post it.

Chris

 

[Chrislaf]

Here's my video from my kayaking yesterday. Spark is a great size for kayaking but the short battery life and the difficulty trying to hand land it with very little room to manoeuvre makes it a risky endeavour. I need to figure something out as my other drone a P3S is too big for the kayak.

Chris

 

[cdouble]

I've heard of people launching and recovering a phantom 4 by attaching a handle (pvc pipe) to the bottom using a T- fitting and a pipe clamp. You hold it by the handle like an ice cream cone (drone is the ice cream, pvc pipe is the cone). Now obviously this is too heavy for a spark but the concept is pretty cool. You have a totally secure way to release and catch the drone without losing a finger.

Maybe zipties, a dowel, and some ingenuity could scale it down for a spark?

 

[Chrislaf]

I've heard of people launching and recovering a phantom 4 by attaching a handle (pvc pipe) to the bottom using a T- fitting and a pipe clamp. You hold it by the handle like an ice cream cone (drone is the ice cream, pvc pipe is the cone). Now obviously this is too heavy for a spark but the concept is pretty cool. You have a totally secure way to release and catch the drone without losing a finger.

Maybe zipties, a dowel, and some ingenuity could scale it down for a spark?

Thanks for the reply. I have thought of getting some landing legs for this purpose but not sure if they are strong enough to support Spark by grabbing a single leg.

The first hand landing went ok but on the second one the Spark wouldn’t come close. It did not want to come close enough to me or the kayak to reach it. The Spark was facing away from me so the downward VPS sensors must of got confused. I tried turning VPS off a while back on land and did not like the way the Spark dropped (very fast). Maybe the key is to turn VPS off and let it hover then just grab it.

Chris

 

[cdouble]

Here's a short video of the drone handle solution. If it works on a pitching boat under sail, it should definitely work from a kayak.

https://www.facebook.com/176910969143748/posts/1311402012361299

 

[Chrislaf]

Here's a short video of the drone handle solution. If it works on a pitching boat under sail, it should definitely work from a kayak.

https://www.facebook.com/176910969143748/posts/1311402012361299

That looks like a neat idea. Might need to investigate it more.

Thanks for posting the video.

Chris

 

[Chrislaf]

Went out Kayaking again today. Another beautiful day but there was more wind today (18.5km/h with gusts up to 19km/h). I decided to use my Phantom 3 Standard instead of Spark. I launched the drone from the shore, sent it out over the water to hover while I got in the kayak and paddled out. First flight, I tried Litchi Track. I have never had much luck with it on land as it always looses the lock. Today it wouldn't even let me draw a box around myself and the kayak - totally useless!! Next battery, I tried AutoPilot which I use a lot on land. Again took off from the shore and sent it out while I got in the kayak and paddled out. Engaged the Follow mission and it tracked me flawlessly. Returned to shore to land.

These last two kayaking excursions have taught me that the Spark is basically useless for kayaking as the battery life is way too short. By the time it's launched there is very little time to actually fly and record anything before you must prepare for landing which you have to do much earlier than on land.

My P3S has great battery life for kayaking. I got at least 15 minutes of flying and I landed with juice to spare, however the size is a big drawback. Not only is it large but the controller is as well. One other advantage is that I do not have to worry about VPS or OA messing up hand catching.

On both excursions in the kayak, I had trouble keeping both the Spark and P3S controller dry so need to work out a system for that. Also, I am going to focus on a system to hand launch/land my P3S from the kayak. cdouble's idea above is something I might research more.

If anyone else has any other ideas, feel free to let me know. I am mostly going to focus on my P3S rather than the Spark due to the battery life issue.

Chris

 

[Spark 317]

Spark is basically useless for kayaking as the battery life is way too short.

This might be worth a look. UAV MODS.

They have a battery clip that will attach to the Spark and allow another battery to be used.

They also have one that uses a Mavic Air battery on the Spark.

I had trouble keeping both the Spark and P3S controller dry so need to work out a system for that.

Try a good ol' Ziploc bag.

Gallon size works perfect and the touch screen still works.