Flying drones from ships at sea is always challenging, & as DJI’s aircraft have become more sophisticated, taking off & landing from moving surfaces like ships has become harder & harder – for example on the newer drones it’s not possible to circumvent hovering before landing, which means crash landing is inevitable at times with the ship having travelled several hundred metres while the drone is trying to land!

Take-offs are equally difficult, with metal surfaces, radar, the ships travelling 15-20 knots, winds & potential passengers all to be taken into account, & since I fly single operator with Fred. Olsen, I decided early on to travel with as many drones as possible in case of incidents when far away from drone repairers or retailers. Since I fly on commercial airlines to join the ships abroad, often Ryanair with its extraordinarily diverse European route network, I’m limited by the number of batteries a single passenger can carry on to the aircraft (Lithium Polymer drone batteries must always be in the passenger cabin, not checked in to the hold), so I generally take 6 drones with me & two batteries per drone.