Launching from a cargo ship

[Jim Z]

Anybody have any experience launching / landing a drone from a large ocean-going container or tanker ship? I have a client (a shipping company) who wants me to do that, but I'm afraid there's too much interference and steel. I'm suggesting that we shoot from a work boat trailing the ship from astern.

 

[The Editor]

Anybody have any experience launching / landing a drone from a large ocean-going container or tanker ship? I have a client (a shipping company) who wants me to do that, but I'm afraid there's too much interference and steel. I'm suggesting that we shoot from a work boat trailing the ship from astern.

I think using the search function would be useful.... (Although some are for the I1, the principles are the same).
However, the I2 can be more stubborn with dual magnetometers.

Inspire 2 Unable to take off when magnetic interference.

Last week i was shooting on a ship so there is magnetic interference. i do try to goes around to find a better spot but no luck everywhere show magnetic interferences. causing me unable to take off event i switch to (ATTI mode). luckly i bring along my trusty old inspire 1 and a phantom 4 (...

inspirepilots.com

Takeoff from ships

Does anyone has any experiences on takeoff your I1 from a ships (metal ships/construction such as tanker, tug boat, O&G offshore platform, etc)? I have found several thread on this forum as well as other forums regarding to this, but who know that someone has recent/updated hands-on experiences...

inspirepilots.com

Compass calibration on a ship...

Hi all, I have seen this question come up on other forums for phantoms etc but with no real answer, however not found anything on here. I have a conundrum, in that I have a potential job flying from a huge steel ship to survey stuff, but I need to be able to calibrate the compass. I will be...

inspirepilots.com

Inspire 2 won’t take of with compass error whilst other DJI products do.

I have flown many times at sea of various types & sizes of vessel. Prior to flight I will usually perform a compass calibration & test flight on dry land before taking to the sea. Often, the steel structure of the vessel will interfere with the compass calibration but on the Inspire 1...

inspirepilots.com

 

[nandoarr]

Anybody have any experience launching / landing a drone from a large ocean-going container or tanker ship? I have a client (a shipping company) who wants me to do that, but I'm afraid there's too much interference and steel. I'm suggesting that we shoot from a work boat trailing the ship from astern.

i've done a ton of work on ships with lots of metal. After a while djs's firmware brings a lot of magnet interference, but you can lunch the drone with someone holding the drone, it works sometimes (70% of times), turn it on when its up and then just fly.

Best choice is having a support boat to fly the drone, but if you don't have one you can try taking off from handheld.

what i have done sometimes, and i only recommend if you have a LOT of experience, and in LAST case, is to find a place with some space to take off at least 4m each side... you gonna turn on the drone and right after you turn on the drone and he beeps the dji's beep, turn on the motors (don't lunch it yet... wait for the gps, don't turn off the motors...and after the gps, lunch it. Still gonna have interference but after you go further a little from the ship...it will go off the warnings. and when you are going to land, go to the same spot.

REMEMBER:to fly over the sea, you need the GPS MODULE (is best to have one for the drone to mark RTH points near you. Still you can do that manually but it is a pain in the *** to do manually). Vision sensor off and try to take off and land with minimum of acceleration from the ship.

Good luck! (i think you already did the job, but i hope i said something new here)

 

[Jim Z]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I boarded the cargo ship underway and powered up my Phantom 4 Pro on the bridge wing (did not bring my Inspire Pro). Got the expected strong magnetic interference, so I did not risk taking off (there was no room at all on the aft deck, as the ship was fully loaded with containers. I had additional shots to get with GoPro's, so the trip was not a total bust. The following week, the client provided a work boat to launch from, so I got the drone shots that way.

 

[nandoarr]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I boarded the cargo ship underway and powered up my Phantom 4 Pro on the bridge wing (did not bring my Inspire Pro). Got the expected strong magnetic interference, so I did not risk taking off (there was no room at all on the aft deck, as the ship was fully loaded with containers. I had additional shots to get with GoPro's, so the trip was not a total bust. The following week, the client provided a work boat to launch from, so I got the drone shots that way.

Cool! At least they arranged a support boat to shoot. ?