DJI Mavic, Air and Mini Drones
Friendly, Helpful & Knowledgeable Community
Join Us Now

Almost lost my brand new mavic just now...

geokoder

Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2017
Messages
9
Reactions
1
Age
29
Bought my first drone less than a week ago. After several short flights where I'm super cautious, I decide to go a tad bit farther. The wind and weather is the warmest and lightest it has been (15mph @ 100ft, but the river obviously had a different speed).

Here's the video (from my smart device). At 1:00 I realize I've flown too far and begin to come back. Then I realize I'm only getting farther away...

I panic near the end and turn off the video as I frantically try to get it back home, $1,000 is not something that comes lightly to me.

Eventually the wind lets up after 2-3 minutes of absolute torture and Return to Home brings it back.


What did I do wrong?


Aside from flying in bad winds, I believe there's a couple of things I did wrong. I could use some pointers here so this doesn't happen to me again.

- I frantically hit Return to Home, which ascended the drone some more.
- I should have descended manually (before heading back?), where the wind would have been lighter.
- I tried to switch into Sport Mode, not knowing that I needed to have a setting enabled in the menu. I didn't know how to access this setting at the time so ended up being unable to go into Sport.

If I'm assessing the situation correctly, if I switched into Sport and descended first, I should have been able to return home MUCH easier. GPS in high winds made it much harder to make the return home.

Any advice/tips appreciated. I very clearly have much to learn and this was almost a $1,000 lesson.
 
Last edited:
always an anxiety when i fly it out that far also - glad you got it back

only advice is always, always pre-flight check and post.
 
Atti mode is not manually selectable on a mavic, it happens only when GPS is unavailable and also the vision positioning system is either switched off or unable to work because you're higher than approximately 50 feet (it's limit of operation) or the light conditions are not good enough for it to work (ie. Probably because it's dark).

Switching to sport mode and descending with obstacles in mind are the things to remember, but also of course setting an appropriate RTH height bearing in mind not only obstacles but also wind.

Also, fly upwind of yourself.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rbruz and Karl2951
Atti mode is not manually selectable on a mavic, it happens only when GPS is unavailable and also the vision positioning system is either switched off or unable to work because you're higher than approximately 50 feet (it's limit of operation) or the light conditions are not good enough for it to work (ie. Probably because it's dark).

Switching to sport mode and descending with obstacles in mind are the things to remember, but also of course setting an appropriate RTH height bearing in mind not only obstacles but also wind.

Also, fly upwind of yourself.
Yeah, I ended up looking this up and realizing that. So Sport mode should have been what I switched to had I known how to properly, and descended slightly before flying back.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Slayerstwin
Switch to Sport Mode using the side switch on the Remote Controller immediately and head for lower elevation is a good rule of thumb in these situations. Remember that Obstacle Avoidance will be off so be very observant. Practice this alot so that it comes naturally and you do not fear switching up a gear and flying.

Also , why not spend 5 bucks a month with a State Farm Personal Articles Policy to insure that 1000 dollars that you dont take lightly. They cover everything for approximately 60 dollars a year.

Just make the call to your local agent. You dont have to be insured with them already for them to write you a policy for just the Mavic. It will take the sting out quite a bit if you were to loose your Mav.

I believe that some people in California have reported that State Farm will not insure drones. I have not researched to see if that is just County by County or statewide.
 
Switch to Sport Mode using the side switch on the Remote Controller immediately and head for lower elevation is a good rule of thumb in these situations. Remember that Obstacle Avoidance will be off so be very observant. Practice this alot so that it comes naturally and you do not fear switching up a gear and flying.

Also , why not spend 5 bucks a month with a State Farm Personal Articles Policy to insure that 1000 dollars that you dont take lightly. They cover everything for approximately 60 dollars a year.

Just make the call to your local agent. You dont have to be insured with them already for them to write you a policy for just the Mavic. It will take the sting out quite a bit if you were to loose your Mav.

I believe that some people in California have reported that State Farm will not insure drones. I have not researched to see if that is just County by County or statewide.
I'll likely be doing this soon along with also getting a Trackimo attached to it.
 
As a beginner you should just avoid flying with strong wind and far distance. First make yourself more familiar with your drone. Test out all off its modes, including sport mode, BEFORE you will have to rely on it. So you would have detected the enable switch within the GO app in time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rbruz and Richard X
Suggestions are this:

1) Do not engage RTH if you have control of the Mavic and you know where it is...

2) The quick fix for wind is always switch to sport mode. It should easily handle 15mph winds.
***** The Mavic can easily handle that wind but can you? That is the bigger question. Can you handle 15mph winds in less than optimal conditions..e.g. no gps.. If the answer is no then you need to avoid flying in those conditions.

3) Set an appropriate RTH altitude on every new flight location.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rbruz
Ya flying upwind is super key in high wind conditions so that it takes very little effort to make it back home. Also as a backup set your RTH altitude to be lower in this scenario
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rbruz
Ya flying upwind is super key in high wind conditions so that it takes very little effort to make it back home. Also as a backup set your RTH altitude to be lower in this scenario

This is critical. When flying on a windy day, fly away INTO the wind. Then getting back is no problem.
 
The Hudson traditionally has pretty strong winds and I'm actually surprised you flew it that way as I would have thought that was a pretty restricted area. Maybe I'm wrong but I live in NYC and know there are not a lot of places one can go to fly. I usually fly further update. I'm also a new pilot and am very cautious, I read everything I can here and do not take unnecessary chances. While I have the refresh I am also getting in touch with the State Farm insurance agent listed on the spread sheet here on the forum. I'm basically getting that insurance as a back up and for the post mavic refresh years as that policy is only good for a year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BD0G
Do you know how to fly a drone without gps ? if not you should, go buy a Hubsan X4, practice like crazy indoors, then when good take outside fly it in mild wind low, once you get the hang of this, then back to the mavic ( I have been flying RC over 25yrs) drones about 5 yrs now. Started this same way ( not the hubsan) but other smaller model, then built a few simplecopters using a kk2 board, really taught me lots of things. That way I don't panic when I fly my Mavic.. 8 flight on the mavic and I shot this surf clip HERE... so you need to go back to basics.. Learning to fly a small drone in wind really helps, also learn to take off and land indoors from a bar stool on the hubsan. I use a heli pad with the mavic HERE Will not be the last Mavic Panic you have ;)
 
Lycus Tech Mavic Air 3 Case

DJI Drone Deals

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
130,588
Messages
1,554,134
Members
159,591
Latest member
Albrecht0803