Frozen Anafi propeller sample

[MustangPhil]

Hi all,

Flying in icing condition can induce ‘props icing’.
This leads to a less efficient flight and decreases autonomy as the Anafi needs to deliver more ‘Watts’ to keep the bird in flight.

The image below is not mine but it was posted on Facebook in a French Anafi Owners branch.
He did not remark it until he landed, so no big deal ... but I saw props icing on real airplanes (and the technics to get rid of ice)... but never on a drone’s propeller, so I thought it was worth sharing.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Yup it happens, more on the carbon fiber props but I have seen it on plastic props also.

 

[ufosaboveus]

Wow! Good to know and that has to put much higher demand on battery since that would literally kill efficiency with all that ice on the props. One more argument for being a bit more conservative in winter cold temp flying. A return at 20% or maybe even 25% might be in order.

 

[MustangPhil]

I flew today and I had to stop my flight when the battery was still 32%... due to « my feet » icing... it was f...g cold !!
Temperature was -3°C and wind gusts 50 hm/h and I did not have warm shoes and clothes. So I kept my altitude less than 10 meters and had to stop quickly.
So in my check-list, I’ll add some Items that are more ‘telepilot’ related such as, in winter : Big sockets, boots and some shots of ‘chartreuse verte’ to keep the pilot warm.

I also did an analysis of magnetic interferences on the roof of the car, and found around 50° differences between the center of the roof and the sides of the roof near the top of the rear doors. As I did not believe my eyes, I took a quick video of this and I’m downloading it on YouTube.

The conclusion is :

1) Never EVER take-off or land on the roof or the trunk of a car !!!
2) Never calibrate your drone inside your car neither (even if it is cold outside)
3) The Anafi is more resistant to cold weather than I am.

 

[Thanev]

Love to get some fog shots today,but at -7 deg.C and humidity at 89% I think it would:
A)play havoc with the camera/lens
B) turn the Anafi into a brick within minutes.Now, if there were tiny de-icing boots for props....

 

[Seitenwerk]

Also be aware that fog can interfere with the sensors. (That the Anafis doesn’t have obstacle avoidance sensors is actually a positive thing in such a situation) but it could cause the Anafi to think that it is near the ground. Worst case would be that you want to go down and the Anafi inits a landing and shuts off the motors [emoji33]