Flying over deep water

Marich · May 10, 2017

Here's a strange little idea I tried a few times in the past. I'd use two rubber balloons and a little connector gizmo carved from a cork and an inch of brass tubing.One balloon contained 3 Alka Seltzer broken into small pieces. The other was empty and the valve constructed to only allow air in that one from the other. The neck mouths were separated a short distance by the cord, which was itself attached to a light rc seaplane I few a lot (it was really tiny and light) by heavy fishing line. Never actually had to use it for real....
Anyway, dunking the thing allowed a couple of ounces of water into the lower balloon. As the Alka Seltzer started fizzing properly the increasing pressure forced the balloon mouths together and partially inflated the top balloon. Seemed pretty nifty at the time.
Not sure it'd have lifted well enough but think so.
It could easily be scaled up into a super-light unit, I'd imagine.

dorniiif · May 11, 2017

timzee said:
I wonder how buoyant the Solo is (or isn't). IOW, how much flotation would be needed-- not to offer a safe water landing but simply to keep it from sinking and allowing it to float long enough to be retrieved on the surface of the water? Perhaps attaching some kind of very lightweight foam device prior to flying over water that wouldn't impact flight characteristics that much but could provide a margin of safety in the event of a water crash.

I attached (2) GoPro "Floatie" to avoid a sinking ship! One under belly of bird & One in rear - Floatie is "BRIGHT" Orange. Hope this helps!

Burb · May 11, 2017

Check out shapeways.com. They have 3D printed stuff for drones and one person did an idea for pontoons on a Phantom.

Burb · May 11, 2017

I also saw someone make adaptors that screw into 2 liter pop bottles (empty of course) that would act as floatation.

vmaniqui · May 11, 2017

Burb said:
I also saw someone make adaptors that screw into 2 liter pop bottles (empty of course) that would act as floatation.

vmaniqui · May 11, 2017

isn't attaching a thin styrofoam be a better idea. styrofoam is so light and can be bent to configure to the body.

andrew.baker.142 · May 11, 2017

Rich said:
getterback seems best to me, but there is a review that says he had two that didn't deploy.

Others need to get their recovery 'balloon' to inflate, and they may not be able to inflate if the drone went too deep (this has been demonstrated as someone else has said).

But I'm not sure on the spec's of the getterback. Does it need a minimum depth to deploy?

IMHO, the Getterback is the PERFECT solution for recovering a drowned Solo. It is very light (11g), fits perfectly on the Solo leg, and does not affect the flying qualities of Solo. It is small enough to leave on the quad, but I usually remove it when not flying over water.
The minimum advertised depth is about 8', and it includes 100' of Kevlar line to the bobber.

kluulz · May 25, 2017

dorniiif said:
I attached (2) GoPro "Floatie" to avoid a sinking ship! One under belly of bird & One in rear - Floatie is "BRIGHT" Orange. Hope this helps!

Hey there! Have you done a float test to see if it works?
Thanks