Flying over water @ low altitude

Mark11 · Oct 16, 2023

I have a shoot that may require me to fly at a low altitude over calm water tracking a subject rowing. I know this flight profile can be problematic as aircraft altitude can be unstable as water confuses sensors. I would approach this by turning off collision avoidance and perhaps radar warning> I think the flight altitude might be in the 6- 10 ft range above water tracking subject(s) Are there any recommendations for this flight profile besides " watch out and be careful" or "don't do it" ?

herein2021 · Oct 16, 2023

Mark11 said:
I have shoot that may require me to fly at a low altitude over calm water tracking a subject rowing. I know this flight profile can be problematic as aircraft altitude can be unstable as water confuses sensors. I would approach this by turning off collision avoidance and perhaps radar warning> I think the flight altitude might be in the 6- 10 ft range above water tracking subject(s) Are there any recommendations for this flight profile besides " watch out and be careful" or "don't do it" ?

I have the EVO V1, and I know plenty of people have said that they are unstable over water, but I live in FL and have probably flown over 100hrs over open ocean; never had a single problem. I have also flown in Hawaii, Canada, and other places with huge waterfalls, other than making sure to stay upwind of the spray (for waterfalls), I've never done anything differently when flying over or near water and I have had to track everything from long distance swimmers to sailboats to international boat races....so various speeds, altitudes, etc.

I've flown as low as 3' or so over ocean waves, the same height above calm lakes, and right next to 400' waterfalls.....not a single problem. I have left the OA on for all of it. The only problem I really have when it comes to sensors on bright sunny days is sometimes it says something is above it when nothing is above it, but that happens regardless of what is below it.

I have been shooting professionally for over 10yrs and still to this day if I have a job scheduled where I am unsure about the equipment I will test everything that the shoot requires prior to the shoot. So in your case I would find some calm water before the shoot, leave all of the sensors on and just see how the EVO V3 reacts. You don't want to find out on the day of the shoot that your particular EVO goes haywire over water.

Hopefully the hardest problem about your upcoming job will be flying slow enough

Mark11 · Oct 17, 2023

Did a quickie test at varying altitudes from 3 M down to 1 M above water and the V3 flies well without any hiccups, forward, backward, sideways over flat water. Some years ago I had an Inspire 1 which did not like flying low over water but the Evo V3 handles this situation perfectly.

herein2021 · Oct 17, 2023

Mark11 said:
Did a quickie test at varying altitudes from 3 M down to 1 M above water and the V3 flies well without any hiccups, forward, backward, sideways over flat water. Some years ago I had an Inspire 1 which did not like flying low over water but the Evo V3 handles this situation perfectly.

It might also have something to do with the angle of the sun in relation to the drone and its sensors. The warning about obstacles overhead when there are none only seems to happen on cloudless days and only in a certain relation to the sun; possibly with a specific angle the sun reflecting off of the water will cause an issue but I've never encountered it myself. Lens flare is a far bigger problem for me than that; the EVO's lens flare is very uncomplimentary.