Flying here are five tips for flying your drone in winter, and these might just save your drone from accidents or damage. Hey guys. I want to help you get the most from your drone, so click that, like subscribe and notification bell, so youll miss any of my upcoming tips and tricks or tutorials to level up your drone game. Today, im sharing five tips for flying your drone in winter. To save you from having any accidents or damaging your precious drone, first up always monitor weather reports. Now this goes white saying all year round, but it is critically important in winter always check the forecast before you take off and also this may sound silly. But its happened to me before make sure your forecast app is set to the location youre going to be flying and not your home location, because if youre going 50 miles away to fly your drone, the weather could be dramatically different, so check the weather for where Youre going to be taking off from make sure to check for no fog, high winds or gusts heavy rain, or especially in winter heavy snowfall. I actually use an app that i would recommend called uav forecast and what this does is it allows you to plug the capabilities off your drone into this app, so how much wind speed it can handle, for example, and then it will immediately tell you using a Bunch of metrics, including wind, speed, weather conditions, etc, if its safe to fly now its important to not fly your drone in temperatures below zero degrees celsius.
The dji mini 2 has a minimum temperature rating off 0 degrees celsius. When you fly your drone in sub zero temperatures, the voltage of the battery can actually drop, and this will lead to a loss of power, a loss of rpm in the rotors, and this can obviously cause your drone to either not fly desirably or, in the worst Case scenario: have an accident always monitor the temperature and land if it drops below zero degrees celsius and when thinking about the weller and flying a drone, you need to also think of yourself, as well as the drone, if youre out, flying with freezing cold hands. For example, not only is it going to make it harder to control your drone, but youre also not going to get them smooth cinematic shots you desire, so you need to make sure you stay warm and, for example, when im out flying in cold temperatures, i use Gloves i use them gloves that you can still use your smartphone with and what that means is. I can still use the dji fly up when im flying my hands stay warm and i get them smooth cinematic shots in winter, but critically important to wrap up warm when its cold outside battery care, like most electrical devices in winter. Batteries are the main area of concern now: dji drones use lithium, polymer or lipo batteries and dji themselves stay at cold. Temperatures can put your batteries out of their comfort zone, decreasing the chemical activity within batteries as from dji themselves, and they also recommend in cold temperatures that you only go flying with fully charged batteries now.
This goes the way its saying all year round, but especially in winter, as dji recommends always make sure them. Batteries are fully charged before you go flying now. Dji also recommends that your batteries are room temperature before youre taking off now. This may be achievable if youre in a car driving to a location, because generally within your car, its going to be a warm environment. And then, at the last minute, before you go flying youre, going to take out your gear equipment and drone and take off and go flying, so your batteries should be around room temperature but in some scenarios, say youve had to walk or hike in the cold. To your location, before taking off your drone, getting your batteries to room temperature isnt always possible, so something i like to do in them. Scenarios is take my drone off and just let it hover close to the ground for a minute or two just to let the drone and batteries come up to operating temperature. Now, a really important point to remember is cold batteries drain much quicker, so always keep an eye on battery life and expect to have less battery life than you would normally have just keep an eye on that battery status on your dji fly app when youre out Flying in winter next up moisture is your enemy, the biggest enemy you will face when youre out in snowy wintry conditions is moisture too much moisture in and around your drone will absolutely cause irreversible damage.
So when it comes to taking off, if the ground is covered in snow either hand launch your drawer and ive actually got a video showing you, the techniques you can use to handle your drone click up here or you can buy them bright orange. Take off pads that you can put down in the ground and then you can set your drone on top off it, and that will mean that the snow wont penetrate or get into your drone, and this will help keep your drone dry when youre taking it off Again, remember: drones, like the dji mini 2 are not weatherproof, so do not go flying in the rain or in snowfall. I have seen some amazing drone videos online of people flying through blizzards people flying through light rain people flying through light snowfall. And yes, it looks cinematic and really epic youre, putting your drone in serious jeopardy if you do that. All it takes is a little bit of that moisture to get into the vents off your drone and it can cause damage. The electronics are really sensitive. So any moisture in there a drip of rain in there at the wrong time at the wrong moment, and it could be game over for your drone if it starts raining or snowing and you want to be extra safe, then land, your drone immediately top tap. Remember clouds also contain moisture so, where all possible try not to fly your drone through them.
I recommend bringing a couple of microfibers with you when youre out flying in winter and when you land your drone, always inspect it for any moisture on it. On the props. In and around the body, especially in and around the vents of the drone and immediately clean it with a microfiber, do not be putting your drone into your gear bag with moisture still on it. You are just asking for damage to happen, so just make sure you give it a clean one microfiber when you land make sure its dry before packing it away. Propeller icing: if youve done your a2 cfc training in the uk, you will know propeller icing in winter conditions is a big one in the uk in some climates around the world. Propeller icing might be the last thing on your mind, but it doesnt have to be below zero degrees celsius for propeller icing to occur in colder temperatures. There is always the potential for prop icing to happen. What is propeller icing if you dont know its a buildup of ice on the propellers during flight that can lead to damage to the props or, in the worst case scenario, an accident. The reason for this buildup is a combination of moisture in the air and cold temperatures, as your propellers on your drone spin really fast. That causes a reduction in temperature and can lead to ice building up on them. If youre flying in the clouds and mist you can get caught out really easily, and only once you land your drones, you realize oh theres.
Actually ice has formed on them propellers. So if you suspect youre in a scenario where propeller icing might occur land, your drone take a look at them, inspect them. If theres icing dont go flying again and if there isnt then youll know that taking the time was worthwhile to make sure that your drone stays safe, you can happily go flying again check sunset times, something that can be easily forgot when youre out enjoying capturing them. Cinematic shots in winter as the light fades really quickly in winter, always check sunset times so that you know you can get all the videos and photos you want well in advance of it getting dark. Something i like to do. Is you just fire up? Google, you put in your location plus the word sunset, and it will tell you the sunset time for that location as a beginner theres. Two main reasons you dont want to be flying as the light fades. Firstly, its gon na be much harder to see your drone and as a beginner, something you want to practice and get good at is maintaining v loss and always keeping an eye on your drone. Its super important, you also might not be super familiar with the app and so maintaining visual contact is going to be much much easier. Secondly, as light starts to fade its going to make it much harder to inspect the ground, where youre landing and taking off your drone, so where it might be easy to see some snow or moisture on the ground, maybe the grounds damp in daylight.
You might not realize that in darker conditions set your drone down and realize the ground is covered in jew or moisture and youll take off spin that up around the drone and thats when youll cover your drone in that moisture and also if snow is heading. Your way, for example in daylight, itll, be really easy to see that coming that cloud formation hidden your way in darker conditions, its going to be much harder to see that weller heading towards you also, you could have a whole days, video until it was planned. But when you get there and dont realize that the lights fading so quickly, you could end up coming home with an underwhelming amount of footage, as always check the sunset times head out nice and early and make sure you get all the videos and photos youve planned. All them epic winter shots at your location. So hopefully these tips help you fly more safely in winter. If you havent already hit the like subscribe and notification button, please do so. You dont miss any of my upcoming tips, tricks and tutorials to help level up your drone game. Thank you.
