Almost Lost My M3 In The Ocean !

[Tim3459575]

Thank you Meta 4, this resolves the question of why the forced landing didn’t occur earlier in the flight since those 2 conditions are required, low vps and stick down. I’ve reviewed the log again, and see that I had only 10% stick down for 1/2 second with low vps earlier in the flight (3m34s) whereas later I had full stick down for 2 sec , with low vps when the force landing was triggered (4m6s). So I guess the first instance was not long enough or not enough stick to trigger landing.

Also, based upon further testing and input from the dji forum, it now appears the faulty height was due to fog. I’ve tested with the stick and it gives accurate height readings in clear weather. The day of the incident, it was quite foggy. Surprised it would have such an effect but apparently it does.

I’ve also learned that forced landing can be aborted with stick up. I guess I panicked and failed to execute stick up.

thanks for your input !

 

[dfross]

You might consider getting the Rescue Jacket for the Mavic 3 , as its streamline , easy hand catching and fully tested and perfect for being on the boat.

Rescue Jacket in Action :
M3 on the water.
M3 in sport mode

It is easy for that stick you may to slide over the Landing Sensor, which could be a possible cause for that behavior.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain > Land on the water.
View attachment 150697

Have the rescue jacket. Have found it negatively affects flight characteristics- increases drag, harder to control in winds. It has saved my bacon in a similar situation, so to be fair, it beats a swim!

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Have the rescue jacket. Have found it negatively affects flight characteristics- increases drag, harder to control in winds. It has saved my bacon in a similar situation, so to be fair, it beats a swim!

I think you meant the Rescue Jacket stops the drone from sinking into Oblivion. Were glad you got some use out of the Rescue Jacket.. as it can be priceless on a Boat.

Although there is some drag we were able to fly it back to us in 50 Mph winds , as we made a video showing how that worked out.

The drag does slow the drone down when flying into the Head Wind but can also pickup momentum when catching the wind on the back ...

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water.

 

[MS Coast]

I think you meant the Rescue Jacket stops the drone from sinking into Oblivion. Were glad you got some use out of the Rescue Jacket.. as it can be priceless on a Boat.

Although there is some drag we were able to fly it back to us in 50 Mph winds , as we made a video showing how that worked out.

The drag does slow the drone down when flying into the Head Wind but can also pickup momentum when catching the wind on the back ...

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water.

Drag doesn't work like that. Wind has meaning only with respect to the ground.

If a drone is flying 30 mph into a 10 mph wind it's flying at 20 mph over the ground. If it's flying with the wind, it's flying 40 mph over the ground. But in both cases it's flying 30 mph through the air and the drag is the same.

(There is added momentum under any wind condition due to the added weight, but that's not related to drag.)

 

[dfross]

I think you meant the Rescue Jacket stops the drone from sinking into Oblivion. Were glad you got some use out of the Rescue Jacket.. as it can be priceless on a Boat.

Although there is some drag we were able to fly it back to us in 50 Mph winds , as we made a video showing how that worked out.

The drag does slow the drone down when flying into the Head Wind but can also pickup momentum when catching the wind on the back ...

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water.

I’ll take a second look at how I’ve attached it. Will check your website f

Drag doesn't work like that. Wind has meaning only with respect to the ground.

If a drone is flying 30 mph into a 10 mph wind it's flying at 20 mph over the ground. If it's flying with the wind, it's flying 40 mph over the ground. But in both cases it's flying 30 mph through the air and the drag is the same.

(There is added momentum under any wind condition due to the added weight, but that's not related to drag.)

Thank you - that’s helpful.
Using it for marine mammal observation as part of research protocol. We also fly a Phantom 3 and a Mini.
Trying to figure out why the M3/Jacket combo gets ‘strong wind warning’ when wind is less than 3 mph (see photo)
and drone is at 25 meters, open sea. Checked mounting instructions for the Rescue Jacket - it’s on right. Battery time roughly halved. Third episode.
Until I figure it out, I’ll fly here nice and close to the boat.

 

[Meta4]

Trying to figure out why the M3/Jacket combo gets ‘strong wind warning’ when wind is less than 3 mph (see photo)
and drone is at 25 meters, open sea.

The strong wind warning comes on when the flight controller calculates the wind speed to be 7 metres/sec or more.
It compares the drone's speed over the ground with the tilt and roll angles to compute the wind speed.
That works pretty well for the drone without bulky accessories attached.
But with the added air resistance, the drone has to work harder to drag it through the air.
To fly faster, the drone tilts more, but because of the extra resistance, the drone now has to tilt further to achieve the same speed.

This is why you see a strong wind warning even when the wind isn't that strong.
This is the reason that the wind speed shown by Airdata shows an incorrectly high windspeed too in these circumstances.

 

[UAVquadman]

Hi

I fly my M3 drone from a boat, and use a home made catch handle which is a huge improvement for hand catching. However, although positioned between the two bottom sensors, I do get random messages that a vision sensor is blocked (see attached photos). These occasional warnings seemed to have no effect on flight performance. However, I recently had a close call when after a normal flight the drone, when 20’ up and 20’ away from the boat started descending on it’s own with a repeating audible warning: “landing, landing …”. it was not responding to the up stick, but luckily it would respond to go sideways, and as it came down, I just barely was able to get it to the side of the boat and catch it before it went into the ocean.
In view of this extremely close call, I’m wondering if anyone has thoughts on why this happened and how I can avoid this on future flights ? Could a blocked sensor cause this ?

Additionally, since then, I have received warnings about a vision sensor not working even when the stick was not attached.

I can post a flight log if that helps but would need a bit of guidance on how to do that. Any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you, Tim

is this a joke? LOL..... I would never attach that to my drone! no way! LOL...

 

[AnzacJack]

Drag doesn't work like that. Wind has meaning only with respect to the ground.

If a drone is flying 30 mph into a 10 mph wind it's flying at 20 mph over the ground. If it's flying with the wind, it's flying 40 mph over the ground. But in both cases it's flying 30 mph through the air and the drag is the same.

(There is added momentum under any wind condition due to the added weight, but that's not related to drag.)

Except that drag DOES effect it’s ability to fly at 30mph true airspeed. Nothing to do with ground speed.

 

[MS Coast]

Except that drag DOES effect it’s ability to fly at 30mph true airspeed. Nothing to do with ground speed.

That's exactly what I said.

"But in both cases it's flying 30 mph through the air and the drag is the same."

 

[AnzacJack]

I think the original post said that the wet suit adds drag. If it adds drag the the craft is effected. With no wetsuit, less drag and more speed.
Drag and speed are effected by adding wetsuit.

 

[AnzacJack]

Ahhhh. I reread the post. He thinks the drag is giving him an advantage in a tail wind. This is where he is wrong. As you have said. Drag is drag. The disadvantage works both ways

 

[Phantomrain.org]

We never said DRAG has any advantage but Tail Wind does a play a nice Role in how to use the Rescue Jackets to save your drone from sinking into the Ocean or Catching it on a Moving boat.

Wet Suits and Rescue Jacket come with a Purpose, They do it pretty nicely .

Everything has a Function and with it comes some Drag and weight.
Im sure people are concerned about the drag and weight of this , but its purpose outweighs its drag/weight/ look ect . Money to be made , Jobs to Bank,, $$$$ Tools to be used .



The Rescue Jacket can be used to baby sit your drone while it flies over the water as we sometimes use it.

However it was designed to TEST the air space over the water your flying to see if it is SAFE and not a Bermuda Triangle. Thus the Numerous posts of Forced landings on the water on the Internet.

The tail Wind can be pretty nice when used by a Season Pilot.
Unfortunately because of the New Laws we can no longer test the Long Distance runs with the Rescue Jackets or we would be having a blast doing so.

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Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water and Save your drone.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Have the rescue jacket. Have found it negatively affects flight characteristics- increases drag, harder to control in winds. It has saved my bacon in a similar situation, so to be fair, it beats a swim!

I know we have not tested it in a Long Distance Run yet.
We were amazed with how well the Rescue Jacket performed in some extreme winds.

If your flying in Winds like this you will find it harder to control if your not in Sport Mode but other than that we have not has any issues with controlling in the wind , even the video with the Extreme Wind was super clean.

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[Meta4]

The tail Wind can be pretty nice when used by a Season Pilot.
Unfortunately because of the New Laws we can no longer test the Long Distance runs with the Rescue Jackets or we would be having a blast doing so

That video (in post #32) gives a misleading impression.
The water surface and leaves of trees clearly show that conditions for the flight were almost calm.
Airdata's wind calculations are fine using the drone alone, but give a very false indication when the aerodynamic profile of the drone is changed (as explained in post #26).

But when the aerodynamic profile is modified to add significant frontal area and resistance to movement through the air like this ...

... and flown in near-calm conditions ..

... the drone has to work as hard as it would if flying into 17-20 mph winds without the added resistance..

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Wind or Zero Wind makes no difference its just an amazing flight send in by a client who uses the products to stay away from the Crocks ? If Air Data says the Wind is Fake, Ok

Very nice video as well. super clean.
No shaking, Jittering, gimbal flipping, and Easy to use and can be applied in seconds.
Its low Center of Gravity and Stream line appearance of the Rescue Jacket is hard to beat in this Category.


Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water ,

 

[AnzacJack]

I like your skins, but there is no way your going to convince me that the big chunk of foam strapped to the bottom of the drone is not going to impact flight performance.
The thrust is altered
Aerodynamics altered
Weight altered
And i would guess that CoG is altered.

That setup is always going to lean into wind to maintain attitude and thats going to introduce a greater surface area to the wind.

Flying in mild conditions and close flights over water, i can see its benefit. But normal operations with no impact, i dont think so.

 

[UAVquadman]

I like your skins, but there is no way your going to convince me that the big chunk of foam strapped to the bottom of the drone is not going to impact flight performance.
The thrust is altered
Aerodynamics altered
Weight altered
And i would guess that CoG is altered.

That setup is always going to lean into wind to maintain attitude and thats going to introduce a greater surface area to the wind.

Flying in mild conditions and close flights over water, i can see its benefit. But normal operations with no impact, i dont think so.

I fly my Mavic 3 low over the ocean more than over 99.9% of Mavic 3 owners and I would also need a boat to retrieve my drone (if I did a mod for it to float.) and I fly on windy days all the time, so I don't want to add drag to my drone, etc...

 

[MS Coast]

Its low Center of Gravity and Stream line appearance of the Rescue Jacket is hard to beat in this Category.

Buoyant? Yes.

Streamlined? No.

 

[KI5RLL]

Remember also that when flying over water there is quite a bit of DJI data about affected sensors and telemetry affecting landing and signal propagation. If over snow or water or flat metal the Mavic series CAS seems to have some odd behaviors. It needs some variable surface under its IR cameras. Sensor A sees the water temp, and when your warm hand confuses sensor B maybe it just decides landing is critical and does it as primary. We would hope it would refuse to land unless you hold the stick down to make it land over questionable substrate. Have heard of a few other people with the same issue.
If you look at the MA3 manual you can see their exact verbage and how to counter the issue.

Safe flying,
Mike

 

[Meta4]

Remember also that when flying over water there is quite a bit of DJI data about affected sensors and telemetry affecting landing and signal propagation. If over snow or water or flat metal the Mavic series CAS seems to have some odd behaviors.

There is more confusion among flyers than there is with the sensors.If flying low over water, there could be a problem with horizontal position holding, but your drone won't be sucked down by the water.

In a lot of cases where flyers come unstuck and lose their drone to the sea, the recorded joystick input data shows that the flyer held the left stick down past the three seconds of landing protection and unwittingly landed in the water.