Water landing skids

Whilst enjoying my second bottle of wine back in early April and pondering the risks of flying over water, I ordered a set of these… They still haven’t arrived but was assured today that the backlog has been cleared and they’re going to be with me in two weeks.

Anyone tried anything similar? I can’t say I would ‘choose’ to land on water but the skids might be a useful alternative to a landing pad potentially. Should help keep the props away from the ground, grass etc.? I’ll review and revert if they arrive :flushed:

I’ve not played the video, but looking at the thumbnail picture there’s no way that’ll float? :thinking:

Good call for additional height re grass though - that’s one of the main reasons I use a landing pad on the Mavic, is to stop it becoming a strimmer :rofl:

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He does attach large foam (pipe lagging?) to the bars.

But - there’s no way I’d ever want to intentionally “land on water”!

And “pondering the risks of flying over water” suggests you’re thinking about emergency situations?

So - the chances are …

  • the “landing” on water won’t be gentle
  • therefore it probably won’t land skids first
  • the surface of the water won’t be like glass

… so - I don’t believe they’re much use … and you still have to find a boat to get to it before waves mean it topples.

I’ve flown loads over water - long distances (Video - Thread) - and it’s simple … if something happens it’s a gonner!

The additional weight / air resistance just means you stress the motors and batteries more and increase the chance of a problem. My opinion.

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Yeah, on the vid, he does attach some prefabricated pipe lagging and does successfully land on a pond where the water is like glass. I think over sea it would be fekking useless, other than actually being able to retrieve it and then leveraging the DJI refresh program with a soggy drone :laughing:

I think the skids without the elephant tampons attached might be useful as an anti-strimmer device as @PingSpike suggests. The pontoons might be ok for short, very low water footage maybe… they were an additional $15 so I figured I’d try… Will let you know when they arrive and share some footage.

Ditto on a pond with a bit of chop on it.

There are more simple, cheaper, lighter, compact leg extensions available.