Unfortunate new operator, in high wind, no understanding of how to recover...

[Dakarenduro]

I didn't get why some people called the DJI Mavic Mini incapable, until mine flew away

 

[Lastrexking]

Excellent article. I hope lots of people read it.

If this ever happens to anyone, the first thing you should do is descend. The lower your drone, the lower the wind speed (generally) you have to fight against.

 

[fificap]

I'm sory for your bad exeperience, for me the Mini is realy a good choice. As all aircraft, it has a max wind limit to fly. You gave not a lot of details except the title of the topic!
Basicaly it's like like in the water with current/flow: don't exhaust all resources to fight against, try to go lower to see if the wind is weaker, and use the remaining battery to choose a good place to land (and where you should retreive it) in the direction of the wind, not against.

Edit: I just understand that you post is a link! i haven't yet read your long article.

 

[TDZHDTV]

School boy errors, check wind profile at height using one of the many good free apps, respect the wind warnings, fly into the wind, and Always be mindful of flying directly over the controller, don’t rely on RTH to get your Mini back.

 

[Xanadu]

Saw this in another post. Another thing to note here is that the fly app did notify the user for strong winds.

 

[Dakarenduro]

first, it wasn't me! i just found the article.

agreed with everyone's comments. and i noticed how the pilot never really comes out and admits/says he was at fault...

 

[jwp721]

agreed with everyone's comments. and i noticed how the pilot never really comes out and admits/says he was at fault...

Actually ends the article saying buy an even more expensive drone as if that fixes flying when you shouldn’t......?

 

[Gkinghrn]

Honestly if the pilot has done his homework on this drone and are aware of the 2 potential issues (flying low over water and strong winds) there is no reason why a drone should get lost.

I took mine out today wanted to do some flying but tbh the wind just felt to me like it was too strong (it probably wasn’t) but my spider senses kicked in and I thought it would be wiser to not fly.

Sometimes I think people just don’t think before flying it then come on here to moan ‘it flew away’ - it doesn’t fly away ,..you just didn’t know how to fly it in the conditions..

 

[kidroc]

I do not agree with the novelty statement. You simply used the wrong aircraft for the job plus you panicked!!!! Do not take your MM to a windy beach and fly it high it will be blown away not fly away blown away big difference..

 

[Coco 60]

I do not agree with the novelty statement. You simply used the wrong aircraft for the job plus you panicked!!!! Do not take your MM to a windy beach and fly it high it will be blown away not fly away blown away big difference..

You guys stop arguing about wind problem ! To be on the safe side just download " UAV Forcast " free app. It tells you if you should fly or not !

 

[ChipDjipro]

What do people think is going to happen when they fly that drone in High winds. The drone is not designed for it. Use the right equipment for the right job.

 

[Gkinghrn]

You guys stop arguing about wind problem ! To be on the safe side just download " UAV Forcast " free app. It tells you if you should fly or not !

UAV is only an estimate .... but if it goes amber/red I wont fly ..if its green it doesnt mean its really good to go... it means you should use your senses...

 

[Zbip57]

If, for whatever reason, you ever find yourself in the unfortunate situation where your only option is to do an emergency landing in a remote location, here's something to think about. While you are manually trying to set the drone down in your chosen ditching site, if the drone descends behind a hill or tall building or thick forest, you risk losing control signal on the way down. Eleven seconds after loss of signal the Mavic Mini will go into its Failsafe routine, which by default is Return-to-Home. Upon loss of control signal (and loss of video signal) you might assume it had already safely landed, while it instead climbed to its programmed RTH height where the strong wind might prevent it from coming Home.
There is an option, when you press the Home button on the left edge of the app screen, where you can choose either "Land", or "Return-to-Home". It is reasonable to assume that choosing "Land" would cause the drone to land in the chosen spot, no matter what. However, it will only do that if you continue to have an uninterrupted control signal all the way down. If signal is lost, eleven seconds later it will again revert to its default Failsafe RTH. That might be a surprise if you had assumed it would land, no matter what.
With the upgrade to Fly app v1.0.8, dji added the option to alter the Failsafe response to your choice of;

1. Return to Home,
2. Descend, or
3. Hover.

Do not choose Descend if there is any risk of losing control signal while flying over water.

But, if you want to be absolutely certain that your drone will continue to descend and land in a safe ditching location of your choosing, even if control signal is lost on the way down, then consider changing your Failsafe setting to "Descend" before trying to land. This will ensure the drone lands within a searchable radius of your chosen ditching site, as opposed to being carried away by the wind for some unknown distance until the flight battery eventually runs out of charge.

 

[EyesWideShut]

Well demonstrated. Kudos!

 

[StubbornSwiss]

If, for whatever reason, you ever find yourself in the unfortunate situation where your only option is to do an emergency landing in a remote location, here's something to think about. While you are manually trying to set the drone down in your chosen ditching site, if the drone descends behind a hill or tall building or thick forest, you risk losing control signal on the way down. Eleven seconds after loss of signal the Mavic Mini will go into its Failsafe routine, which by default is Return-to-Home. Upon loss of control signal (and loss of video signal) you might assume it had already safely landed, while it instead climbed to its programmed RTH height where the strong wind might prevent it from coming Home.
There is an option, when you press the Home button on the left edge of the app screen, where you can choose either "Land", or "Return-to-Home". It is reasonable to assume that choosing "Land" would cause the drone to land in the chosen spot, no matter what. However, it will only do that if you continue to have an uninterrupted control signal all the way down. If signal is lost, eleven seconds later it will again revert to its default Failsafe RTH. That might be a surprise if you had assumed it would land, no matter what.
With the upgrade to Fly app v1.0.8, dji added the option to alter the Failsafe response to your choice of;

1. Return to Home,
2. Descend, or
3. Hover.

Do not choose Descend if there is any risk of losing control signal while flying over water.

But, if you want to be absolutely certain that your drone will continue to descend and land in a safe ditching location of your choosing, even if control signal is lost on the way down, then consider changing your Failsafe setting to "Descend" before trying to land. This will ensure the drone lands within a searchable radius of your chosen ditching site, as opposed to being carried away by the wind for some unknown distance until the flight battery eventually runs out of charge.

Food for thought right there.

Thanks for pointing something out that might otherwise have been so easily overlooked.

 

[douglas_in_philly]

If, for whatever reason, you ever find yourself in the unfortunate situation where your only option is to do an emergency landing in a remote location, here's something to think about. While you are manually trying to set the drone down in your chosen ditching site, if the drone descends behind a hill or tall building or thick forest, you risk losing control signal on the way down. Eleven seconds after loss of signal the Mavic Mini will go into its Failsafe routine, which by default is Return-to-Home. Upon loss of control signal (and loss of video signal) you might assume it had already safely landed, while it instead climbed to its programmed RTH height where the strong wind might prevent it from coming Home.
There is an option, when you press the Home button on the left edge of the app screen, where you can choose either "Land", or "Return-to-Home". It is reasonable to assume that choosing "Land" would cause the drone to land in the chosen spot, no matter what. However, it will only do that if you continue to have an uninterrupted control signal all the way down. If signal is lost, eleven seconds later it will again revert to its default Failsafe RTH. That might be a surprise if you had assumed it would land, no matter what.
With the upgrade to Fly app v1.0.8, dji added the option to alter the Failsafe response to your choice of;

1. Return to Home,
2. Descend, or
3. Hover.

Do not choose Descend if there is any risk of losing control signal while flying over water.

But, if you want to be absolutely certain that your drone will continue to descend and land in a safe ditching location of your choosing, even if control signal is lost on the way down, then consider changing your Failsafe setting to "Descend" before trying to land. This will ensure the drone lands within a searchable radius of your chosen ditching site, as opposed to being carried away by the wind for some unknown distance until the flight battery eventually runs out of charge.

Great video!!!!

 

[NAZty]

I came across this article as well today and was surprised TechRadar published it!

It’s no fault of the MM and as everyone on here has already said it was “pilot error”.

What makes it worse was that he was aware of its limitations hence the title yet proceeded to fly it in such a manner ie ignoring warnings, no mention of pre-flight checks (wind speeds etc)

Again really surprised that it was published.

 

[Nonprophet]

Certainly no expert here, but launching with a 35% charge to your battery seems really, really dumb.....you just never know what's going to happen.

 

[HeliFreak]

See i come from old school rc, where nothing was guaranteed, period. I find these kind of stories funny.

Go put 2 years of pre teen savings $ and and 6 months of building into an rc plane. Obsess over evey detail, fine tune and triple check... finally, the big day, now watch it nose dive and disintegrate along your 13 year old hopes and dreams. I didn't give up, tape and glue, and that bird flew. Stuck with rcs in one form or another since the early 90's. You had to know what you were doing and lessons weren't cheap.

Afa the article, not going to say don't fly in high winds, i do all the time. But if you do, and you can't get it back, it's not the plane's fault. Sport mode, descend, relax, I'd bet any half skilled pilot could have gotten it back.

 

[timinator]

Wow. That article was just brutal to read. So many things wrong - lack of flight preparation, lack of aircraft knowledge, lack of basic airmanship and then the author blames the aircraft for flying outside the envelope! "Yeah officer, I saw the Stop sign but didn't think I needed to stop!"