Air 2S Active Track crash. Can somebody tell me why? Video attached.

[JustJeff]

Hey folks. I'm pretty much brand new to drone flying. Just prior to this crash, I had a successful video using Active Track. Not sure why this happened. One thing is, when I sent the drone up, I had intended to set the height of it to stay above the trees. Well, the ground level changed from where it set it's RTH spot by about 20'. But that shouldn't really matter, right? Regardless of what elevation you set the drone to fly at when using Active Track, it should still avoid obstacles, right?

When the drone got tangled up within the branches of the tree, I got out of the UTV and tried to fly the drone out of the tangle. It wouldn't let me fly it out with the sensors turned on. Also, I got a low battery warning, and I was worried that I'd run out of battery and crash to the ground. So, I put it into sport mode to circumvent the sensors, in an effort to get it out, and sure as (you know), I crashed the drone.

Did I do something wrong here, or was this possibly because the tree's branches weren't filled out very much with leaves yet, and the sensors couldn't pick up on the branches? I just mailed the drone back to DJI, and am waiting for my new one to get here. Hope I can avoid making the same mistakes again. Thanks for whatever input you guys.

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[JustJeff]

Okay, got the video to upload now.

 

[Yaros]

Please upload the logs and also the video.

 

[slup]

I'm pretty much brand new to drone flying...

... I had intended to set the height of it to stay above the trees. Well, the ground level changed from where it set it's RTH spot by about 20'. But that shouldn't really matter, right? Regardless of what elevation you set the drone to fly at when using Active Track, it should still avoid obstacles, right?

Did I do something wrong here, or was this possibly because the tree's branches weren't filled out very much with leaves yet, and the sensors couldn't pick up on the branches?...

Unfortunately you're one newbie among several others that have an over-reliance of the obstacle avoidance system ... most probably coming from DJI's marketing hype showing the drone flying autonomous around trees.

If you read through the downloadable user manual...
(get it here --> https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/DJI_Air_2S/DJI_Air_2S_User_Manual_v1.0_enIV.pdf )

... you will find a lot of warnings regarding trees, branches & thinner objects in relation to the OD system ...






You're correct assuming that the thin unfilled branches had something to do with that your drone got tangled ... keep away from trees, especially during autonomous flights, sooner or later the OD will fail & you will crash.

Please upload the logs...

The log will not help us here ... as soon as the drone is in a autonomous mode the commands are hidden for us ... simply put, we can see the drone movements but we haven't any commands to relate them to.

 

[JustJeff]

Please upload the logs and also the video.

As I said in my initial post, I'm VERY new to drones. How to I go about uploading the flight logs? I'll gladly do that. Also, I'm reuploading the YouTube video as I type this, so that will be up shortly as well.

 

[JustJeff]

Unfortunately you're one newbie among several others that have an over-reliance of the obstacle avoidance system ... most probably coming from DJI's marketing hype showing the drone flying autonomous around trees.

If you read through the downloadable user manual...
(get it here --> https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/DJI_Air_2S/DJI_Air_2S_User_Manual_v1.0_enIV.pdf )

... you will find a lot of warnings regarding trees, branches & thinner objects in relation to the OD system ...

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View attachment 148905

You're correct assuming that the thin unfilled branches had something to do with that your drone got tangled ... keep away from trees, especially during autonomous flights, sooner or later the OD will fail & you will crash.

Correct me if I'm wrong though. If I lock onto something, like in this case, my side by side, and then send the drone up HIGHER than the tallest tree near me, the drone should stay at that height, and I would no longer be in any danger of hitting an obstacle like a tree, right? That way, I wouldn't be relying on that part of the autonomous function of the drone, right? It would then just be following me, and keeping the shot centered if I'm not mistaken.

 

[FLDave]

When planning a flight it's important determine the maximum height of all obstacles along the path. I would then suggest setting your flight altitude to at least 25 high higher.
Next, you need to maintain visual contact with the drone throughout the flight. That's your first line of defense against obstacle crashes.
As for getting out of branch entanglement you need to use very gentle movement, not fast sport mode. If you need to change mode go to cine where you're less likely to make a mistake. Visual observation is really important here.

 

[JustJeff]

I did get the video uploaded now. So, if you want to scroll back up to the top and watch, you can. YouTube is still processing the HD version, but it's at least watchable now. I'll post the flight logs when somebody tells me how exactly to do that.

 

[FLDave]

So, it looks like the drone wasn't yet entangles in the branches as you could control it. In my opinion the right move at the time would have been to do nothing--just wait until you could fully view the situation and determine how to move the drone without making it worse. You might have been able to carefully back out.
You were carelessly flying below treetops with active track which should only be done in open space while you have clear view of the drone movement.
If you had recorded subtitles your playback could show actual altitude of the video.

 

[Lets Fly]

Hey folks. I'm pretty much brand new to drone flying. Just prior to this crash, I had a successful video using Active Track. Not sure why this happened. One thing is, when I sent the drone up, I had intended to set the height of it to stay above the trees. Well, the ground level changed from where it set it's RTH spot by about 20'. But that shouldn't really matter, right? Regardless of what elevation you set the drone to fly at when using Active Track, it should still avoid obstacles, right?

When the drone got tangled up within the branches of the tree, I got out of the UTV and tried to fly the drone out of the tangle. It wouldn't let me fly it out with the sensors turned on. Also, I got a low battery warning, and I was worried that I'd run out of battery and crash to the ground. So, I put it into sport mode to circumvent the sensors, in an effort to get it out, and sure as (you know), I crashed the drone.

Did I do something wrong here, or was this possibly because the tree's branches weren't filled out very much with leaves yet, and the sensors couldn't pick up on the branches? I just mailed the drone back to DJI, and am waiting for my new one to get here. Hope I can avoid making the same mistakes again. Thanks for whatever input you guys.

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Active Track crash. Can somebody tell me why? Yes, you hit a tree.​

 

[MS Coast]

I suggest avoiding all the intelligent flight modes until you have several hours of flying time with the drone. Then try them out only in a large area with no obstructions, like a soccer field.

DJI advertising gives the impression that the obstacle avoidance system will avoid all obstacles and the pilot can walk through the forest care free while the drone follows. It's not like that. Lots of new owners have been led astray. You're particularly susceptible when the drone is moving sideways, as the sensor coverage is limited.

If you find that the drone is inside a tree canopy, just let it hover until you can get near and visually understand what you need to do to fly it out without hitting anything. Switch automatic obstacle avoidance to off. Check your battery level. Take your time, center the gimbal vertically so you're seeing what's level with the drone, and slowly work your way out. Stop and rotate the drone and scan downwards a bit as needed to check your pathway. (I have to confess that this advice is based on first-hand experience with a large white oak tree.)

Be aware that if you have obstacle avoidance set to anything but off, the drone may make sudden movements if you get close to leaves or limbs. Be particularly wary of things below you. If you fly over a limb, the drone can climb automatically thinking that it's near the ground, and fly into an overhead branch.

Take it slow. Have fun. And don't trust the intelligent flight modes or the obstacle avoidance system until you've intentionally experimented with them under stable and non-challenging conditions.

 

[westwind77]

It is an interesting situation. First off I would never use active track anywhere near obstacles, however, it would be nice if you could set the drone to a height and not have it drop. You can clearly see in this situation the drone dropped altitude a fair bit right when it hit the tree. That said, I do not think the initial altitude was safe either based on the tree height vs the drone at the start of the video.