As weather conditions change with the approach of winter, drone enthusiasts are presented with unique challenges when taking to the skies. As winter blankets the landscape with its icy embrace, The cold temperatures, snow, and icy conditions can pose significant risks to the drone and the operator.
Although it’s not advisable to fly in extreme winter weather conditions, we understand many drone pilots won’t run inside at the first sight of snow. When you need to collect critical information, like topographical surveys, waiting for a more placid day might not be an option.
To help you overcome the elements and keep your drone flying in winter, we’ve put together some best practices and tried-and-true advice.
Keeping an eye on your battery life
The greatest inconvenience to flying a drone in winter is the cold temperatures’ effect on your drone’s lithium polymer (LiPo) batteries.
Cold temperatures reduce chemical activity in Lipo batteries used in drones. This causes your drone to lose power faster — 50% faster in some cases. In extreme cold conditions, your drone might even shut down mid-flight.
Here’s what to know if you plan on flying in cold weather:
- Turn your drone on and let it warm up for a couple of minutes before launching.
- Begin with fully-charged batteries and check your battery life more than usual mid-flight. If you track the rate your drone is using power, you can plan when it’s time to bring the drone back to home base, averting a crash.
- Bring extra, fully charged, LiPo batteries if you plan to fly for a while. Taking extra time to swap out a drone battery is preferable to your drone losing power and crashing.
- Consider where you store your drone and LiPo batteries when you’re not flying. If the space is significantly cooler during cold weather, move them somewhere warmer.
- Keep your extra batteries inside your vehicle while you’re flying. It’s not just your drone that you have to worry about. The batteries in your controller will also use power faster in cold weather. Don’t leave your controller exposed to extreme cold more than necessary.
- If you’re working in especially frigid weather conditions, consider investing in a battery warmer.
Monitor Weather Conditions
Stay informed about the weather conditions before heading out to fly. Strong winds, snow, and low temperatures can all impact the stability and performance of your drone.
Flying in windy, blustery weather conditions
Unless you’re a seasoned drone pilot and comfortable flying manually, you should not fly your drone when the surface wind speed is above 15 mph. Flying in anything stronger than that jeopardizes a safe flight, and you risk a crash.
In addition to the cold temperatures, strong winds will negatively affect battery life, sacrificing flight performance. Your drone will have to work harder to fly against the wind to overcome the turbulence. So, even if your drone is able to handle the high winds, you still risk a crash if you let your LiPo battery levels drop too low.
If you must fly in windy conditions, follow this advice to ensure a safe flight:
- Fly perpendicular to the wind. If you can’t, fly upwind first and then downwind, back toward you.
- Be more attentive to your drone than normal, especially when flying with the wind. If you notice that it’s having a hard time staying level, bring it home immediately.
- Be careful during your takeoffs and landings. Though winds are more powerful the higher the altitude, your drone can veer off course more easily when it’s just getting off the ground or decelerating during landing.
Coping with flight performance issues caused condensation
In many areas, cold weather also means increased condensation. Too much moisture in the air can cause a number of issues with your drone’s ability to operate properly. With enough exposure, moisture can ruin the drone’s propeller motors, camera, and internal systems. If you’re using a GPS-enabled drone, condensation can also disrupt those signals, distorting your geotags.
Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Although it may seem obvious that you should skip flying in the rainy or snowy weather conditions, flying a drone in fog is not a good idea, either. Fog can trigger the drone’s obstacle avoidance sensors, making it think something is in front of it and thereby stopping the flight mid-mission.
- Choose a drone with high-visibility lights on the body of the craft, so you can spot it in the sky in extreme weather conditions.
- Not only do you need to account for the moisture in the air, you should avoid contact with snow on the ground, too, as moisture can damage your drone’s motors. Use a pad or another elevated surface for launching and landing your drone.
Cold weather
As we have mentioned, when the temperature decreases, the performance of your drone’s batteries deteriorates. This situation will most likely occur when weather conditions approach or drop below 0 °C or 32 °F. Aside from battery life, here are other specifications you should review for your drone to determine if yours is suitable for flying in cold weather:
- Maximum wind speed your drone can fly
- Range of optimal operating temperatures
- Maximum flight altitude
- To combat moisture and freezing precipitation, ensure your drone has an IP rating of at least IP43 to fly during winter.
Choose the Right Gear
As the drone operator, you have to remain in the cold temperatures for the entire flight time. Dress accordingly. Bundle up, and choose gloves that won’t prevent you from operating your mobile device or the drone controller. Numb, frostbitten fingers aren’t just uncomfortable — they make operating a touchscreen almost impossible.
Plan your mission before flying your drone
Preparing for your flight before you travel to the site makes good sense. It can help minimize the time you’re out in the cold. Only plan to survey the areas of your worksite where you need new, up-to-date data. And when possible, choose the best camera to minimize your drone payload weight, which will help to maximize your LiPo batteries’ life in cold weather.
Ultimately, if you think the cold or inclement weather will be too much to handle — move your flight to another day. Keep up with the seven-day forecast so you can reschedule your flight as soon as you know you’ll be facing poor weather conditions.