Hi guys
I just watched a great video by Ian about how he lost his Mavic and learnt a ton from his advice. Some of his wise words re battery and flying resonated with me after a weekend experience and I thought it could help others too - even though the circumstances were a little different.
Birds, batteries and breeze
I sent my Mavic up and out about 300 ft over water to take a pano with the Litchi app.
The Litchi pano mode isn't quick and once it starts taking photographs the app is controlling your bird.
So first mistake I made was not checking the batteries. I'm about 60% through the Pano and my battery levels start to drop significantly. I guess taking 34 RAW files etc contributes to that.
I don't want to cancel the pano as I'm on my last battery so I take a risk and let it finish.
In the meantime, the wind picks up considerably (source of increased battery loss) and I get a high wind warning and the controller starts beeping loudly.
I'd literally taken the last photo before the auto RTH function tries to kick in. Problem is, I was flying earlier around the same spot and wasn't quite sure where the RTH had been set. Litchi app is also different than the DJI Go app and I must admit, I'm relatively new to it and unsure of my settings.
I try to land manually but panic a bit and don't consult my map to see which way the Mavic is pointing. I waste valuable seconds flying in the wrong direction.
I turn it around and race it back to dry land.
I'm above dry land but about 15 foot up when my Mavic explodes into a bloom of feathers. A pigeon has either attacked my Mavic or just didn't see it descend. It was so fast I didn't even see the pigeon before or after the collision.
Mavic has a major wobble but rights itself and I land it. No damage to the Mavic. I hope that pigeon is ok :-/
Take aways
Anyway - maybe most of you know all this but hopefully it'll help some new pilots (like myself) in future.
Ironically, when I downloaded my Pano files, all the photos were out of focus anyway!
I just watched a great video by Ian about how he lost his Mavic and learnt a ton from his advice. Some of his wise words re battery and flying resonated with me after a weekend experience and I thought it could help others too - even though the circumstances were a little different.
Birds, batteries and breeze
I sent my Mavic up and out about 300 ft over water to take a pano with the Litchi app.
The Litchi pano mode isn't quick and once it starts taking photographs the app is controlling your bird.
So first mistake I made was not checking the batteries. I'm about 60% through the Pano and my battery levels start to drop significantly. I guess taking 34 RAW files etc contributes to that.
I don't want to cancel the pano as I'm on my last battery so I take a risk and let it finish.
In the meantime, the wind picks up considerably (source of increased battery loss) and I get a high wind warning and the controller starts beeping loudly.
I'd literally taken the last photo before the auto RTH function tries to kick in. Problem is, I was flying earlier around the same spot and wasn't quite sure where the RTH had been set. Litchi app is also different than the DJI Go app and I must admit, I'm relatively new to it and unsure of my settings.
I try to land manually but panic a bit and don't consult my map to see which way the Mavic is pointing. I waste valuable seconds flying in the wrong direction.
I turn it around and race it back to dry land.
I'm above dry land but about 15 foot up when my Mavic explodes into a bloom of feathers. A pigeon has either attacked my Mavic or just didn't see it descend. It was so fast I didn't even see the pigeon before or after the collision.
Mavic has a major wobble but rights itself and I land it. No damage to the Mavic. I hope that pigeon is ok :-/
Take aways
- Always check your battery before you start anything automated like a Pano mission. Yes, you can over-ride the Litchi app but best not to have to cancel a shot that takes 2-4 mins to take.
- Next time I'll do my Pano mission BEFORE I start flying around.
- The wind was fine on take off but that doesn't mean it's not going to change suddenly. Especially on a coastal area (where I was), it wasn't an even breeze.
- Consider the wind further up in the skies too.
- Get to know your App. I could have been more familiar with Litchi
- Refer to your map before trying to fly home. it sounds simple but make sure you're pointing the right heading before you hit the throttle :-/
- Consider the bird life around the area. In my case the Mavic could have been in the flight path between buildings A on one side of the water and buildings B on the other. Essentially I was possibly in their flight corridor
- Pigeons I couldn't even see on the day are visible at speed on the video when I slow it down. These things are fast and can fly around 80km / 50 mph!!
- Finally, don't risk everything for a shot. If I'd time to think I would have sacrificed the pano instead of putting a £1000 Mavic at risk. I can always get back up there and resume or re-start the Pano.
Anyway - maybe most of you know all this but hopefully it'll help some new pilots (like myself) in future.
Ironically, when I downloaded my Pano files, all the photos were out of focus anyway!
