Bad New Year! My 3 Weeks Old Mavic Mini Lost In The Wind

[DJI Mavic2440]

I was fly my drone earlier today (2nd Of January) and I took it up and I noticed the wind was too much so I tried landing it and it wasn’t responding to the remote control, I initiated the RTH but the drone keeps flying away into the wind! I waited for few minutes since I initiated the RTH but it’s almost 4 hours now and I still can’t find it. I check the flight log and it showed me a location where my drone is, I went there with my friends and we searched around for almost 2 hours but no luck. I followed the direction and I got to the exact point where my drone is, I tried to initiate the drone beeping but an error message came that my RC is not connected to the drone despite the fact that I was at the exact location the drone flight log directed me to. I check for a lot of solutions online and I saw a post on this blog where I can upload the flight log but I’m finding it difficult to read it because I’m still a rookie and this is my first ever drone I will be flying. The flight log link will be uploaded below for anyone who can help me to read it and explain what happened exactly and if possible I can find my drone because where it’s directing me to is A bit far from my home but I can’t find it there.

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload and view flight logs from your DJI drones

www.phantomhelp.com

Please someone should explain the log to me because I don’t understand what I’m seeing there, I’ve searched for the last location it picked and I couldn’t find it there

 

[25Vettes]

So sorry that your Mini is lost and I hope you find it. With that said:

1. Know the limits of your aircraft before flying
2. Check the environment at the altitude you attempt to fly, NOT at ground level
3. In an extreme wind situation, do NOT initiate RTH, switch to Sport Mode and fly it yourself.

 

[DJI Mavic2440]

So sorry that your Mini is lost and I hope you find it. With that said:

1. Know the limits of your aircraft before flying
2. Check the environment at the altitude you attempt to fly, NOT at ground level
3. In an extreme wind situation, do NOT initiate RTH, switch to Sport Mode and fly it yourself.

I never knew I could use the sport mode to control it myself, I’m really depressed right now because I used my savings to bought it to aid my cinematography classes. I hate the fact that I started this year in a bad way?

 

[m80116]

Saddened about your loss.

Because of my fly-away case I am also wondering if the Mini is actually able to be re-connected after some time, let's say an emergency auto-landing for empty batteries, providing there was still enough juice to keep the electronics running long enough...

 

[Gryphon962]

I took a look at your log and I'm pretty sure that the drone wont be at the final position shown in the log.

When the log ended, the drone was at well over 500' altitude, being blown downwind at close to 20 mph, with 36% battery remaining. The log ended because the signal was was lost, not because the drone flight ended.

After the loss of signal, the drone would have continued doing the exact same thing until the battery reached 10%, at which point it would have tried to land. While descending to land, it would continue to be blown downwind.

Other forum members are far better at estimating where drones land after signal loss and battery expiration, but until someone better does an analysis my estimate is that autoland would have begun at the pin in the image below. The actual landing point is probably near where the red line ends.

Method: I extrapolated the course from the 50% and 40% battery points to determine a 10% battery point (autoland start).

Good luck!

 

[Prismatic]

I was fly my drone earlier today (2nd Of January) and I took it up and I noticed the wind was too much so I tried landing it and it wasn’t responding to the remote control, I initiated the RTH but the drone keeps flying away into the wind! I waited for few minutes since I initiated the RTH but it’s almost 4 hours now and I still can’t find it. I check the flight log and it showed me a location where my drone is, I went there with my friends and we searched around for almost 2 hours but no luck. I followed the direction and I got to the exact point where my drone is, I tried to initiate the drone beeping but an error message came that my RC is not connected to the drone despite the fact that I was at the exact location the drone flight log directed me to. I check for a lot of solutions online and I saw a post on this blog where I can upload the flight log but I’m finding it difficult to read it because I’m still a rookie and this is my first ever drone I will be flying. The flight log link will be uploaded below for anyone who can help me to read it and explain what happened exactly and if possible I can find my drone because where it’s directing me to is A bit far from my home but I can’t find it there.

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload and view flight logs from your DJI drones

www.phantomhelp.com

Please someone should explain the log to me because I don’t understand what I’m seeing there, I’ve searched for the last location it picked and I couldn’t find it there

Clearly you exceeded your abilities with this flight; launching in such a high wind was unwise. I’m sure this is a hard lesson; I have had a similar lesson, so I know.

Perhaps @sar104 or @BudWalker can help here.

 

[sar104]

I took a look at your log and I'm pretty sure that the drone wont be at the final position shown in the log.

When the log ended, the drone was at well over 500' altitude, being blown downwind at close to 20 mph, with 36% battery remaining. The log ended because the signal was was lost, not because the drone flight ended.

After the loss of signal, the drone would have continued doing the exact same thing until the battery reached 10%, at which point it would have tried to land. While descending to land, it would continue to be blown downwind.

Other forum members are far better at estimating where drones land after signal loss and battery expiration, but until someone better does an analysis my estimate is that autoland would have begun at the pin in the image below. The actual landing point is probably near where the red line ends.

Method: I extrapolated the course from the 50% and 40% battery points to determine a 10% battery point (autoland start).

Good luck!

View attachment 89581

I think you have the wind direction slightly off, and calculated distance to the start of autolanding without including descent time, but close to my calculation - I'd put it on the ground about 400 meters due south of your estimate. Note also that the SMART_BATTERY_landBattery level was 16%, not 10%, and the ground level is 30 meters lower at the end point than the home point.



On Google Earth, that translates to:

 

[fuzzball]

I think you have the wind direction slightly off, and calculated distance to the start of autolanding without including descent time, but close to my calculation - I'd put it on the ground about 400 meters due south of your estimate. Note also that the SMART_BATTERY_landBattery level was 16%, not 10%, and the ground level is 30 meters lower at the end point than the home point.

View attachment 89594

On Google Earth, that translates to:

View attachment 89595

Absolutely amazing how you do these. Are you using any paid sites to see these?

 

[sar104]

Absolutely amazing how you do these. Are you using any paid sites to see these?

Not for the analysis, although I do look at the AirData wind field map as a check. The analyses are described in this post - also linked in my signature panel.

A more detailed explanation is also here: FOUND! Lost my Mavic Pro during storm

 

[DJI Mavic2440]

GOOD NEWS GUYS!!! I found my Mavic Mini Yesterday Evening!!! I was so happy when I found it! A big THANK YOU to everyone who took out of their busy time to contribute to this thread, most especially those that helped me to read the flight log. I wish I could see you guys one-on-one and give you a tight hug, I love you all.

THANK YOU ALL ONCE AGAIN

 

[sar104]

GOOD NEWS GUYS!!! I found my Mavic Mini Yesterday Evening!!! I was so happy when I found it! A big THANK YOU to everyone who took out of their busy time to contribute to this thread, most especially those that helped me to read the flight log. I wish I could see you guys one-on-one and give you a tight hug, I love you all.

THANK YOU ALL ONCE AGAIN

Excellent news. Can you tell us exactly where you found it?

 

[Lastrexking]

Well, there’s a happy ending. Makes a nice change.

 

[Ben B]

Wow, amazing you found it. Great work everyone.

Had it landed OK?

 

[Gryphon962]

@DJI Mavic2440
If you have any photos taken at the location where you found it, post one, as we can get the exact location from the image metadata.

 

[RayKelly]

GOOD NEWS GUYS!!! I found my Mavic Mini Yesterday Evening!!! I was so happy when I found it! A big THANK YOU to everyone who took out of their busy time to contribute to this thread, most especially those that helped me to read the flight log. I wish I could see you guys one-on-one and give you a tight hug, I love you all.

THANK YOU ALL ONCE AGAIN

Glad that you found it. Look forward to seeing some pics with it. Fly safe.

 

[Deleted member 113929]

???congratulations from Brazil.

 

[Skywatcher2001]

GOOD NEWS GUYS!!! I found my Mavic Mini Yesterday Evening!!! I was so happy when I found it! A big THANK YOU to everyone who took out of their busy time to contribute to this thread, most especially those that helped me to read the flight log.

Congratulations. Now you owe to help someone else. You can start by helping @sar104 by letting us know exactly where you found it. It helps him in future SAR (Search and Rescue) operations so he can find more birds.

Pass on what you have learned and help someone else.

 

[AntDX316]

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[AntDX316]

I think you have the wind direction slightly off, and calculated distance to the start of autolanding without including descent time, but close to my calculation - I'd put it on the ground about 400 meters due south of your estimate. Note also that the SMART_BATTERY_landBattery level was 16%, not 10%, and the ground level is 30 meters lower at the end point than the home point.

View attachment 89594

On Google Earth, that translates to:

View attachment 89595

How did you get the 3D telemetry over time like that?

 

[sar104]

How did you get the 3D telemetry over time like that?

I created a KML file from position and altitude data up to the end of the recorded log, and the then extrapolated the direction and speed of travel to the point of smart battery autoland.