things to know about taking off/landing from large boat?

[aratson]

Hello,

I have an opportunity to shoot from a large boat (80-100ft long old cargo vessel) and although I know there is no 'boat mode' yet for Solo I was wondering if there would be any issues doing this from a sizable ship in relatively calm waters?

I am fully aware that manual landing will be needed as the ship will have moved a bit which I feel comfortable with... More concerned about the on onboard stabilizer being to smart for its own good.

 

[PdxSteve]

The problem is with arming to take off. It goes through a lot of calibration checks and is very conservative about the conditions that it allows itself to take off in. You might, or might not be able to. It depends on how much the boat is rocking, how much metal is around (hopefully not the deck you're taking off from) as you can get mag interference, and probably several other variables. Solo, as the software currently is, needs a very stable platform to take off from. Most people aren't able to take off. A few lucky ones have. It's hit and miss until the actual boat mode comes out. If on a boat, personally I'd try to hand catch when landing and throttle down all the way and to the left to kill the motors. Normally I'd never suggest that unless an emergency, but Solo can have just as much trouble landing on a moving/rocking platform as taking off from one. And again, all the metal and mag interference. If you're able to get it up, I'd not chance it again coming down. You just don't know what it will do under the specific circumstances until you're right in it and that's often too late. I hope you can fly well in manual mode.