New hand catch hardware option for Inspire 2

[MrTVR]

Safe boat operations has nothing to do with boat length, it is landing area available along with weather and swell conditions, a rib is totally unsuitable as well as a metal boat IMHO

Whilst my gut reaction would be that a rib is not likely to provide a suitable base for launch & recovery of a drone, as I have no direct experience of this I am not in a position to make an informed comment.

Metal boats, however, are something that I have experience of and can state with certainty that a 20+m vessel can be a perfectly safe place from which to launch and recover a drone.

I presume that you have had a bad experience of drone operation from a metal boat?

Perhaps you could enlighten us all with your knowledge?

 

[Douglas Bader]

Whilst my gut reaction would be that a rib is not likely to provide a suitable base for launch & recovery of a drone, as I have no direct experience of this I am not in a position to make an informed comment.

Metal boats, however, are something that I have experience of and can state with certainty that a 20+m vessel can be a perfectly safe place from which to launch and recover a drone.

I presume that you have had a bad experience of drone operation from a metal boat?

Perhaps you could enlighten us all with your knowledge?

Yes certainly, do you get compass errors taking off directly from the deck? I get that from metal boats and on an assignment of a very well known london landmark I got exactly the same having realised that there must have been metal underneath a thin amount of Tarmac !. The compass error goes away after a foot or so however it does make you ask the question ...is it because of the metal or do I have a fault in the drone?

 

[MrTVR]

Yes certainly, do you get compass errors taking off directly from the deck? I get that from metal boats and on an assignment of a very well known london landmark I got exactly the same having realised that there must have been metal underneath a thin amount of Tarmac !. The compass error goes away after a foot or so however it does make you ask the question ...is it because of the metal or do I have a fault in the drone?

Yes, launching from a ferrous metal deck can be problematic due to compass interference.

As you have observed, the compass error will go away once you are a couple of feet up, which is why hand launch and recovery can provide a much safer option.

I have also found that many of the modern small vessels have aluminium decks, as do the majority of the helipads I have launched from.

Whilst aluminium decks often remove the compass problems, it is important not to get lulled into a false sense of security.

No matter what the deck is made of, launch & recovery from a moving platform is not recommended. Any drone and especially (in my experience) the I2 will get very twitchy and there is a risk of a flip or worse. Again, hand launch & recovery, in my experience, is the best option.

 

[theirishdroneranger]

We're on the same page with vessel size

 

[theirishdroneranger]

Safe boat operations has nothing to do with boat length, it is landing area available along with weather and swell conditions, a rib is totally unsuitable as well as a metal boat IMHO

Of course boat size has an affect. Are you telling me a 15 foot rib is as easy to operate from as a 50 mtr + vessel with a large open deck area? thats just common sense!
Vessel stability is certainly affected by overall size, as are safe drone operations.

It's never a great idea to launch directly from the metal surface. A landing platform is usually the best option and can help with the compass errors. When I'm involved in a tv production/documentary etc, that is what they usually have.