flotation

[Goosedrone]

I’m looking for ideas on flotation for a Matrice 4T. I fly over water pretty regularly and insurance will cover it as long as we can retrieve the drone, so that’s really the only goal. I’d rather not put anything bulky on the aircraft if I can avoid it. I also understand that this could make flight worse off however I am just going off of what my employer would like.


Right now I’m thinking about making a mount similar to the speaker mount and attaching a Restube (or other water-activated inflatable) just for recovery. Curious if anyone’s done something like this or has a better idea.

 

[jaja6009]

While we do carry a Restube for water rescue on the Matrice 4 series, Mavic 3 series and Autel Evo 2 series, we do not use it as your use case would, to save the drone.

Ours is attached via a drop device so it can be dropped to distressed swimmers.

The drone can easily handle the payload but be careful where you mount it. We let it dangle down 10 to 15 feet by paracord so it does not interfere with any downward facing sensors.

You will take a hit to handling and flight times. I actually cannot say how long because our use case is for the drone to fly to the swimmer and drop it. I have never conducted an endurance type test, of proof of concept and training drops.


I have seen floats like this for other drones. Maybe you can find one for the Matrice 4 or fabricate/modify something.