Almost Stupidly lost my Mavic...

[beach_Dr]

So had some fun along the beach this morning, and thought I'd finish the flight by buzzing past a little boat not to far off, just beyond the shark nets.
Yes, battery was on 35% and I didn't consider it may be a good idea to land and change batteries before heading out over open water, the boat was right there, after all!
But it seems I'm not a good judge of distance...

1.2km out and got a RTH warning battery on 28%

I'm almost there though, so abort return to home, carry on towards boat

Finally reach the boat, not photogenic after all (though luckily didn't try be really stupid and orbit the thing) 4min flying time left and 1.5km from the beach...

Now what?

Pop it back into P mode, which gives me 6min flying time, battery still shows 26%, then slowly fly home into the light offshore breeze, maxing out at 24kph, watching distance and battery life slowly drain in unison. Made a bee-line for closest piece of shore, probably saved 150m only, cleared the water with 12% battery life
(Mavic Auto-lands at critically low battery life of 10%...)

Turned up the beach for the last 350m stretch, and the bird initiated critical battery landing 2m from where I was standing...

Packed up, very glad to still be able to fold up the mavic next to my spare, fully charged battery...

Lesson learnt. Don't head out over open water with only 1/3 battery!

 

[4wd]

It's hard to be sensible sometimes.
Bear in mind even with critical battery you can stop descent for a while by holding stick up.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

So had some fun along the beach this morning, and thought I'd finish the flight by buzzing past a little boat not to far off, just beyond the shark nets.
Yes, battery was on 35% and I didn't consider it may be a good idea to land and change batteries before heading out over open water, the boat was right there, after all!
But it seems I'm not a good judge of distance...

1.2km out and got a RTH warning battery on 28%

I'm almost there though, so abort return to home, carry on towards boat

Finally reach the boat, not photogenic after all (though luckily didn't try be really stupid and orbit the thing) 4min flying time left and 1.5km from the beach...

Now what?

Pop it back into P mode, which gives me 6min flying time, battery still shows 26%, then slowly fly home into the light offshore breeze, maxing out at 24kph, watching distance and battery life slowly drain in unison. Made a bee-line for closest piece of shore, probably saved 150m only, cleared the water with 12% battery life
(Mavic Auto-lands at critically low battery life of 10%...)

Turned up the beach for the last 350m stretch, and the bird initiated critical battery landing 2m from where I was standing...

Packed up, very glad to still be able to fold up the mavic next to my spare, fully charged battery...

Lesson learnt. Don't head out over open water with only 1/3 battery!

Max range on the Mavic is at about 50 km/hr in no wind. You may be better off using Sport mode to get back against a headwind, which would need more airspeed than 50 km/hr for max range.

It's not so much a sin to go somewhere on 1/3 batt, but one has to be realistic about reserves. If I've finished my "task" and I have 1/3 left I usually use it for skills development like making a backward rising flying shot, continuous/smooth landings to a spot (landing pad) or spectacular S-mode take offs, (full stick on both sides - wide open areas mind you...), etc. Got to have fun flying the thing too.

 

[beach_Dr]

It's not so much a sin to go somewhere on 1/3 batt, but one has to be realistic about reserves. If I've finished my "task" and I have 1/3 left I usually use it for skills development like making a backward rising flying shot, continuous/smooth landings to a spot (landing pad) or spectacular S-mode take offs, (full stick on both sides - wide open areas mind you...), etc. Got to have fun flying the thing too.

I'm not saying land as soon as low battery warning, just that is was probably 'unwise' to head out over open ocean on 1/3 battery, and perhaps 'unwiser' to override return to home and continue further out over the ocean...

Would have had much more fun/less stress just maneuvering over the beach!