No precision landing on Mavic 2, "removed"

[FortuN]

Just a heads up, its been discussed in some threads about it. But things could go very wrong if you don't know about it.

-"Hi. Thank you for reaching DJI Forum. Upon checking to our engineers, Precision landing was removed."
-"As of now, this is just the information that we can provide."

*https://forum.dji.com/thread-164274-1-1.html

 

[gnirtS]

Just a heads up, there are 4 threads on here about it and a further 5 on the DJI forum and have been for several days!

 

[Lake_Flyer]

Makes you (me that is) wonder why it was supposed to be such a 'great feature' for the MPPro and Air. Who needs Precision Landing? Your take off area should be large enough, flat, horizontal, and clear from obstacles anyhow.

A recently published official study showed that cars with parking aids, lane warning systems, adaptive breaking, etc, were twice as much involved in incidents than cars without these systems. Those systems are great as an extra safety but should never be trusted enough to just hand over responsibility. Same goes for the mavics automatic systems.

 

[gnirtS]

Makes you (me that is) wonder why it was supposed to be such a 'great feature' for the MPPro and Air.

And the spark

Who needs Precision Landing?

Anyone who would like their drone in a last ditch scenario to not actually crash

Your take off area should be large enough, flat, horizontal, and clear from obstacles anyhow.

Right, so every takeoff you go to an area with a 5m radius. You completely sweep the area removing even the 2 inch small stones on the floor. You then go out pulling all the long grass, weeds and plants over 1/2 an inch tall. After that you make sure that 5m radius is completely flat, there are no trees anywhere near, no other debris and no wires.
Then you fly.
Do you not see that as somewhat restrictive in terms of site choice and launch location for a "go anywhere" drone?
Because if you DONT do the above and your RC goes down or the somewhere locks the drone will come back and can EASILY damage itself on these obstacles. You may not have the choice of whether to auto land or manually land.

A recently published official study showed that cars with parking aids, lane warning systems, adaptive breaking, etc, were twice as much involved in incidents than cars without these systems. Those systems are great as an extra safety but should never be trusted enough to just hand over responsibility. Same goes for the mavics automatic systems.

Firstly, the study was widely criticised as being unreliable statistically.

Secondly, there's a reason the most accurate, foul weather precision approaches on commercial aircraft can ONLY be flown on full autopilot. Because they are more accurate and make far fewer mistakes than a human.

 

[F34R]

I don't ever want a computer to control my landing or takeoff.

 

[gnirtS]

I don't ever want a computer to control my landing or takeoff.

Best not to fly on a commercial aircraft then.

Also, the computer is controlling your drone whether you think it is or not. YOU aren't flying it. The IMUs, compass, barometer, ESCs are all working together hundreds of times a second to stop the thing falling out of the sky. Things that are utterly impossible for a human to do.
All you're allowed to do is move it up/down/left/right. The computers see your input, then they work out how to do it.

Finally, if your RC cant talk to the drone you'll have a computer fully performing your landing whether you like it or not.

 

[F34R]

Best not to fly on a commercial aircraft then.

Also, the computer is controlling your drone whether you think it is or not. YOU aren't flying it. The IMUs, compass, barometer, ESCs are all working together hundreds of times a second to stop the thing falling out of the sky. Things that are utterly impossible for a human to do.
All you're allowed to do is move it up/down/left/right. The computers see your input, then they work out how to do it.

Finally, if your RC cant talk to the drone you'll have a computer fully performing your landing whether you like it or not.

1. I didn't say anything about a Boeing 747.
2. I didn't mean literally that I wouldn't want to fly instrument/tech free.
3. It was simply, I want to take off, and I want to land. I think you're taking my comment to the extreme. I don't want to auto land or auto take off with my Mavic 2 Pro. Hope that helps clarify.

 

[gnirtS]

3. It was simply, I want to take off, and I want to land. I think you're taking my comment to the extreme. I don't want to auto land or auto take off with my Mavic 2 Pro. Hope that helps clarify.

Thats great. Assuming 100% reliability of the RC and drone. Unfortunately we don't have that. If the RC cant talk to the drone for any reason the computers are landing it. With the old mavic that would be safely. With the new mavic, probably not unless you're in a very large, cleared open space.

 

[F34R]

Thats great. Assuming 100% reliability of the RC and drone. Unfortunately we don't have that. If the RC cant talk to the drone for any reason the computers are landing it. With the old mavic that would be safely. With the new mavic, probably not unless you're in a very large, cleared open space.

Goodness. All I'm saying is that if I have control over the drone, I'll land it. I wouldn't use auto-pilot landing or taking off if I had control. I hope we covered all the semantics now.

 

[gnirtS]

Thats fine as long as you have control.
I had catch 9 times out of 10 but losing precision landing as a last resort save-a-drone feature is a big step backwards.

 

[WilliamG]

This is a massive step backward, and one of the best parts of the Mavic Pro. I have to hope it comes back to the Mavic 2 series because it really is a massive oversight.

 

[kilomikebravo]

WG: You were reading my mind. I have done hundreds of CAT III approaches in a widebody aircraft with vis down to as low as 1000 RVR, and without a doubt, the computer-controlled autopilots did a far better job than any human could do. Even if it were legal.

KB

 

[mcsenerd]

It's going to be real interesting watching all of the "I want to control everything" and "I do my own **** driving" guys and gals drop off the roads as suddenly all cars available have some form of automated control in the next few decades. I mean, I get it to an extent, but what it "should" be in my opinion is: if you do nothing, then the AI or automated systems are always on and take care of things as best as they can...but, if you manually intervene, they should be setup to automatically disable or step back and allow manual control to supersede. I piped in on the DJI forums immediately when I saw/heard this, and you can count me into the camp that thinks that this is a "bad" idea (removing the feature that is) especially considering that I'm sure the drone is perfectly capable of still doing it.

 

[gnirtS]

It's going to be real interesting watching all of the "I want to control everything" and "I do my own *!#& driving" guys and gals drop off the roads as suddenly all cars available have some form of automated control in the next few decades..

A lot don't realise every single aspect of their car is already computer governed. The engine management computers control fuel flow and oxygen levels. The accelerator is no longer connected to the engine but goes through a computer that decides the inputs. The brake and steering systems the same.
The result is a far smoother, far more efficient, far more reliable control system than a human alone.

As mentioned above, they'd be horrified to know that the lowest visibility CAT IIIa,b,c approaches in commercial jets can legally ONLY be flown by computer due to the precision required.

Yes you still need to engage brain and computers do work on garbage in-garbage out and the more sensors feeding in the more chance of garbage so a human is still needed in the loop just in case but if everything is working, the computer wins.

I'd love to see someone try to fly a quad with no IMU, compass and their only controls were individual RPMs for each engine

 

[sar104]

A lot don't realise every single aspect of their car is already computer governed. The engine management computers control fuel flow and oxygen levels. The accelerator is no longer connected to the engine but goes through a computer that decides the inputs. The brake and steering systems the same.
The result is a far smoother, far more efficient, far more reliable control system than a human alone.

As mentioned above, they'd be horrified to know that the lowest visibility CAT IIIa,b,c approaches in commercial jets can legally ONLY be flown by computer due to the precision required.

Yes you still need to engage brain and computers do work on garbage in-garbage out and the more sensors feeding in the more chance of garbage so a human is still needed in the loop just in case but if everything is working, the computer wins.

I'd love to see someone try to fly a quad with no IMU, compass and their only controls were individual RPMs for each engine

Put an old P2 into manual mode and you effectively have exactly that. Almost unflyable without much practice, if it survives that long.

 

[gnirtS]

Or try an RC helicopter. Survival time measured in seconds for a lot of people!

 

[BlueBay]

One thing that disappoints me the most is that consumers are discovering these issues rather than DJI proactively informing us in advance. There is no harm at all in communicating that key features (that have previously been released within the Mavic 1 range) are as yet not available, but will be (or will not be) available with future firmware updates. This scenario that we find ourselves in creates unnecessary negative publicity for the brand as a whole in my view, but especially for the Mavic 2 Pro & Zoom product group. It almost devalues some elements of the positive PR created by the product release event, not to mention a degradation of trust from a very loyal customer base. In my view, it will be helpful if DJI quickly responds with some public announcement regarding the key software changes from the Mavic 1 range to Mavic 2. No doubt there is plenty to celebrate regarding innovation and improvements with the new Mavic 2 range, but there is growing evidence that key missing software features are causing pilot error and even mission failure, such as default autofocus (unusable footage) and the lack of precision landing assistance (autopilot landing) for limited & precise locations with challenging weather conditions etc. DJI?

 

[gnirtS]

On the flip side, DJI hasn't claimed any features that don't exist. Neither do the manuals.

However, we as consumers just assumed that basic features that were in all previous model drones from budget up would be fitted by default on this version. Turns out it wasn't.

 

[YorkshirePaul]

Or try an RC helicopter. Survival time measured in seconds for a lot of people!

Yep, I lasted about 4 seconds before destroying my kit assembled RC helicopter.!! 4 weeks building for 4 seconds flying/crashing [emoji25]

Amused me how easy the Mavic was to ‘fly’.

 

[BlueBay]

Yes, that's true.

The manuals don't mention what we consider to be missing key legacy software features. But then in the interest of completeness, I would assume that it's necessary for DJI to update the manual at some point as there will be a considerable number of firmware updates. It just seems to be a little untidy to me at the moment as they claim to have been working on this latest product range for 3 years. But as I said, even a little communication from DJI on the subject of missing key legacy software features (especially precision landing & autofocus) will resolve the uncertainty & confusion for the majority of loyal customers. Saying nothing is the worst possible approach (in my view).