Did I Have a Fly Away or Did the Drone Return to Home?

[yellowtennies]

gpsHealth dropped from 5 to 1 four times during this flight. That's not supposed to happen at all. One of those gpsHealth drops resulted in a drift away and finally crashing at the end. If my Mavic did any of this I wouldn't fly it until it had been repaired by DJI.

Where are you getting this information from?

Would the drone be at risk if I just power it up, see if it confirms it has a return Home Point GPS lock, then fly it in beginner mode?

 

[BudWalker]

Where are you getting this information from?

Would the drone be at risk if I just power it up, see if it confirms it has a return Home Point GPS lock, then fly it in beginner mode?

See post #46 in this thread. The data for that analysis came from the .txt that you provided.

 

[BudWalker]

The Mavic didn't crash. The battery reached critical level and the drone landed. Halfway through, it disconnected from the controller. That was how I was able to approximate its landing location. If it truly crashed it would have landed in a random location, and likely be in pieces.


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You're right. Without the .DAT file there is no way to know what happened in the final moments. The point I was trying to make is that the gpsHealth issue set off a sequence of events that resulted in a drift away, and finally landing because of a low battery. As it is, isn't the Mavic drying out and it's unknown if it's airworthy?

 

[m0j0]

Seems like this is a case of technology failure (gps signal loss) and the built in safety features kicking in


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[m0j0]

I have 100 monopoly bucks that says the bird is fine


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[yellowtennies]

You're right. Without the .DAT file there is no way to know what happened in the final moments. The point I was trying to make is that the gpsHealth issue set off a sequence of events that resulted in a drift away, and finally landing because of a low battery. As it is, isn't the Mavic drying out and it's unknown if it's airworthy?

 

[yellowtennies]

You are correct. Drone is drying out and will be powered up, connected to the RC. I would like to have it take off and hover to determine if will will lock onto a Home Point GPS reading. If all that checks out, would you consider it air worthy?

 

[BudWalker]

You are correct. Drone is drying out and will be powered up, connected to the RC. I would like to have it take off and hover to determine if will will lock onto a Home Point GPS reading. If all that checks out, would you consider it air worthy?

You'll have to decide this for yourself. If this were my Mavic I wouldn't consider it airworthy. This flight had 5 gpsHealth drops. Each causing a switch to ATTI. This is not usual. If it happened 5 times in this flight it will probably happen in a future flight.

I'm guessing you waited a long time for your Mavic and don't want to give it up unless it's absolutely necessary. Good luck.

 

[m0j0]

Ok I will qualify. The bird was not damaged in the landing any more than it was prior than the landing.


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[m0j0]

You are correct. Drone is drying out and will be powered up, connected to the RC. I would like to have it take off and hover to determine if will will lock onto a Home Point GPS reading. If all that checks out, would you consider it air worthy?

I will be honest. I would fly it in a sanitized area. I would run several batteries through it. If there are any issues - RMA to DJI.


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[m0j0]

I just checked all of my flights. I have had mine sense November. I don't have any flights where GPS swapped to ATTI. That said I would still change locations and fly it. I would keep it close and look for any of the issues that occurred in the bad flight. If it reoccurs send it in.


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[Cyberpower678]

I will be honest. I would fly it in a sanitized area. I would run several batteries through it. If there are any issues - RMA to DJI.


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If you're going to do that you should keep it a low altitude, but in an open area. That way if the drone suddenly does start drifting away for no reason and even to the point where steering doesn't work right, you can just use the CSC to power down the rotors and let the drone fall to the ground. You should still submit the flight logs to DJI for them to professionally analyze. You don't want to push the drone to a point where the warranty won't cover the defect.


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[OO05REN]

You are all assuming it "landed" how far did it descend in the last 27seconds of flight ? I calculate it to be 7.5m / s (about 24.5ft/s) - that's a crash not a landing !
I would fly it close in for a few batteries then go back to that location where you had the GPS issues and monitor the GPS signals whilst flying close quarters.

 

[Alex Baxter]

That is true but the Mavic didn't land upside down or in a pool of water. My money is on, "its fine." Use some canned air to lightly blow out the motors.. they face up and are most likely to catch snow and rain. The bottom side could get wet but just thinking about the dynamics leads me to believe melted snow is unlikely to flow up. If you really want to be safe the bag of rice trick..

That pups fine. Dry it out and fly it.


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It'll have been warm when it landed in the snow, so may have melted itself a nice puddle to founder in.

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[maikm]

You are all assuming it "landed" how far did it descend in the last 27seconds of flight ? I calculate it to be 7.5m / s (about 24.5ft/s) - that's a crash not a landing !

Wouldn't it have sensed the ground at the end, and slowed the descent to a normal soft landing in the final few meters?

 

[Cyberpower678]

Wouldn't it have sensed the ground at the end, and slowed the descent to a normal soft landing in the final few meters?

This. The drone probably did a somewhat of a free fall and then slowed on the final meters. There's no way in hell the Mavic would be unscathed otherwise.


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[yellowtennies]

You are all assuming it "landed" how far did it descend in the last 27seconds of flight ? I calculate it to be 7.5m / s (about 24.5ft/s) - that's a crash not a landing !
I would fly it close in for a few batteries then go back to that location where you had the GPS issues and monitor the GPS signals whilst flying close quarters.

 

[yellowtennies]

As the photo shows, the drone appeared to land in the proper attitude. Visually, there was no damage, other than one of the blades had a slight cut in it. I have replaced it.
The weather has cleared this morning and I am going to power it up out on the lake. No obstructions to contend with, other than a few fish houses. Go thru a preflight review of all the setting on the DJI Go app.
Will launch and hover for at least 5 minutes. If all is ok, fly in Tripod Mode, keeping it well within line of sight.

 

[Cyberpower678]

As the photo shows, the drone appeared to land in the proper attitude. Visually, there was no damage, other than one of the blades had a slight cut in it. I have replaced it.
The weather has cleared this morning and I am going to power it up out on the lake. No obstructions to contend with, other than a few fish houses. Go thru a preflight review of all the setting on the DJI Go app.
Will launch and hover for at least 5 minutes. If all is ok, fly in Tripod Mode, keeping it well within line of sight.

Don't fly over the water. You don't want it to land the way it did last time, into the water.

 

[yellowtennies]

Don't fly over the water. You don't want it to land the way it did last time, into the water.