Blogs

100KM

A FPV visit to an offshore drilling rig, using Cruise Mode

Posted by Hein du Plessis on October 29, 2013 at 1:00am

I thought I'd share my recent marine excursion to a drilling rig that's anchored about 5.2km offshore. I was testing my new ReadyMadeRC 8000mAh 3S batteries (awesome, light) and the new pan & tilt mount, from Flite Evolution (changed my FPV life). As I was cruising down the beach I noticed a drilling boat that I recently saw in the harbour, so I thought I'd pop over and have a look. It was upwind all the way there, crawled along at 15-20km/h ground speed. Some of you might notice I passed the the E Whale on my way there..

 

Beautiful views that I was able to take in at my leisure thanks to the Cruise mode of the APM and the pan & tilt.

 

I eventually turned around but got a shock to see how much ocean 5.2km is! Made it back in 3 minutes averaging 70km/h ground speed, thanks to the tail wind.

 

Enjoy.

 

E-mail me when people leave their comments –
Follow

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Comments

  • 100KM
    Hein du Plessis October 31, 2013 at 1:35am

    Thanks Justin

  • Justin M October 30, 2013 at 3:54pm

    Thanks for sharing - pretty awesome and different

  • 100KM
    Hein du Plessis October 29, 2013 at 6:07am

    @Cronselaar - thanks. I'd rather crash trying to do something special than crash doing something mundane :)

  • 100KM
    Hein du Plessis October 29, 2013 at 6:07am

    @Gerard, no, inverted V and Biquad for Video. Never mix circular and linear (spw + biquad). Well spotted - but it's a stock Range Link antenna. Tx is stock Range Link antenna. I forget now what it is.

  • Cronselaar October 29, 2013 at 6:02am

    Well Done! Looks great... I am just to afraid to chance anything so far over water..

  • Gerard Toonstra October 29, 2013 at 6:02am

    allright. So that's a spw + biquad for video. You seem to use a dipole UHF near the tail and I recognize it as scherrer, correct?  what's your tx antenna?

  • 100KM
    Hein du Plessis October 29, 2013 at 5:33am

    Shadows, of course, being caused by reflections off the water because of linear antennas. The first 1/2 second of the clip shows my base station - bi quad for video, but normal 1/4 wave dipole for the 433mhz Range Link. I must say, I'm very fond of the Range Link. Always brings me home, no matter how dire.

  • 100KM
    Hein du Plessis October 29, 2013 at 5:28am

    Pretty much, standing on a dune, about 3m ASL. I first saw some shadows on my OSD, then noticed the ripples on the water, then almost lost bladder control when I saw I'm at 50m. So now, kids, when you see a shadow on your OSD, PULL UP!!

  • Gerard Toonstra October 29, 2013 at 5:24am

    50m @ 3km is pretty awesome, the usual rule is +100 for every km away. How do you rig up your control r/c link, antennas and control system?  Are you at sea level yourself here? 

This reply was deleted.