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# Winter flying checklist
- URL: https://matteson.ca/notes/winter-flying-checklist/
- Published: 2026-02-26T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-10T03:34:17.000Z
- Description: Cold-weather RPAS ops, learned the slow way: batteries, condensation, and knowing when the answer is no.
- Author: Matteson Machielse
- Tags: Spatial Imaging, #Import 2026-07-11 07:11, #Import 2026-07-15 05:50

Cold-weather drone work is mostly battery psychology and knowing when the answer is no. The checklist, as it currently stands:

- Batteries leave the house warm, in the inside pocket, and go in at the last second.
- Ten-minute margins become twenty below minus fifteen.
- The lens goes outside half an hour early or it fogs on climb-out.
- Gloves you can feel the sticks through, or don’t bother.
- Below minus twenty-five: it’s a photography day from the ground.

Every line item is a story, and two of them were expensive.