Brand new Mini 2 landed in lake

[Slami]

This is my first message to the forum and unfortunately it's not so positive

I had original Mini almost a year and then decided to upgrade to Mini 2. Today I finally got my brand new Mini 2 and went to a close by lake to test it out. I had flown my previous Mini in these kind on circumstances many times so I didn't have any doubts. First prior to the maiden voyage I updated all firmwares and downloaded the latest DJI Fly app from DJI's website. Then I calibrated the compass and waited to get 10+ satellites before take off. I flew the drone few meters on top of the lake but then all of a sudden drone just lowered itself on water. I tried to lift it up again and it rose to about 1 meter high but then it just cut off and dropped to the lake. Those were fun few seconds with my brand new Mini 2 !

I saw from other threads that here are capable people to dig through these flight logs. I uploaded logs from that flight to the link below. Can someone notice any mistakes that I made or any errors from drone's side? I don't see any mistakes that I made. There was decent satellite signal, compass was calibrated, home point updated and I didn't notice any error messages or warnings during take off. Only warnings in those logs are from weak signal and those came when the drone was already submerged.


I also uploaded flight animation from Fly app to youtube if that helps at all.

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Now the drone is in sealed bag with rice but I don't have high hopes on it surviving. It was covered and filled with mud and I had hard time rinsing it all away.
The lake was still partly frozen and I was almost frozen solid when it took almost 15mins to find the drone from the water and it was neck deep.

 

[Altanore]

Have you contacted DJI support yet? They may just replace it if they found it was a fault with the mini 2 after analyzing the flight data they'll ask for.

 

[Meta4]

I saw from other threads that here are capable people to dig through these flight logs.

Your flight data doesn't give any clues to help solve the mystery.
It just ends without showing any problems.

Now the drone is in sealed bag with rice but I don't have high hopes on it surviving.

Rice won't do anything to help.
Flush it with alcohol and leave it somewhere warm to dry.

 

[shaneb50]

Oh no I'm so sorry. I hope and pray you can get it back working or replaced soon. You have my sympathy and prayers

 

[Slami]

Have you contacted DJI support yet? They may just replace it if they found it was a fault with the mini 2 after analyzing the flight data they'll ask for.

Thanks for info! I sent this story to DJI Support, let's see whats their input

Rice won't do anything to help.
Flush it with alcohol and leave it somewhere warm to dry.

I let it stay in the bag with rice overnight and now in the morning I then rinsed it thoroughly with alcohol. Now it's drying. Is 24hours enough?

Oh no I'm so sorry. I hope and pray you can get it back working or replaced soon. You have my sympathy and prayers

Thanks! I think I need to buy a new unit. I don't feel so confident to trust water damaged drone even if it would come back to life. I don't want it to cut off or face other problems mid flight

 

[PascalG]

Sorry to hear of the mishap. I mostly fly over water from a boat but always do a couple of flights on land to test every new drone or firmware update

what about DJI care refresh, if you retrieved the drone check your coverage.

 

[Slami]

what about DJI care refresh, if you retrieved the drone check your coverage.

I decided not take it since I didn't have any issues with the first model either...

I will for sure test drone on dry land first from now on

 

[fd123_2000]

if your mini 2 doesnt function correctly after you get it dried out and you want to try and repair it yourself let me know. i have a mini 2 that has some physical damage but all electronics, camera, etc. is good that i will sell you.

 

[Adolf]

What a bummer . Hope it is being replaced foc by DJI.

 

[Crash Pro]

Same thing happened to me after owing my first Mavic Mini for a week. Did all the same things you did plus did many test runs prior to setting out to get the footage that I wanted. For some stupid reason I decided to fly home manually rather than hit the RTH button. Got halfway home and the drone just landed itself in the river. There was nothing I could do to make it stop. Unfortunately, it was too far away and the river too deep to retrieve the drone. I had no choice but to hang my head and go buy another one.

 

[Meta4]

Same thing happened to me

You say that yours landed - his just stopped flying and fell out of the sky.
Quite different incidents.

For some stupid reason I decided to fly home manually rather than hit the RTH button.

There's nothing stupid about flying home yourself.

Got halfway home and the drone just landed itself in the river. There was nothing I could do to make it stop.

That sounds unusual.
Thee recorded flight data should show exactly what happened and help prevent a similar incident.
Post your flight data to see what caused your incident.

 

[tlswift58]

This is my first message to the forum and unfortunately it's not so positive

I had original Mini almost a year and then decided to upgrade to Mini 2. Today I finally got my brand new Mini 2 and went to a close by lake to test it out. I had flown my previous Mini in these kind on circumstances many times so I didn't have any doubts. First prior to the maiden voyage I updated all firmwares and downloaded the latest DJI Fly app from DJI's website. Then I calibrated the compass and waited to get 10+ satellites before take off. I flew the drone few meters on top of the lake but then all of a sudden drone just lowered itself on water. I tried to lift it up again and it rose to about 1 meter high but then it just cut off and dropped to the lake. Those were fun few seconds with my brand new Mini 2 !

I saw from other threads that here are capable people to dig through these flight logs. I uploaded logs from that flight to the link below. Can someone notice any mistakes that I made or any errors from drone's side? I don't see any mistakes that I made. There was decent satellite signal, compass was calibrated, home point updated and I didn't notice any error messages or warnings during take off. Only warnings in those logs are from weak signal and those came when the drone was already submerged.


I also uploaded flight animation from Fly app to youtube if that helps at all.

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Now the drone is in sealed bag with rice but I don't have high hopes on it surviving. It was covered and filled with mud and I had hard time rinsing it all away.
The lake was still partly frozen and I was almost frozen solid when it took almost 15mins to find the drone from the water and it was neck deep.

It's called water. You probably were flying too low and drones do not do well flying super low over most water.

 

[tlswift58]

Your flight data doesn't give any clues to help solve the mystery.
It just ends without showing any problems.

Rice won't do anything to help.
Flush it with alcohol and leave it somewhere warm to dry.

Desiccant is best.

 

[Meta4]

I flew the drone few meters on top of the lake but then all of a sudden drone just lowered itself on water. I tried to lift it up again and it rose to about 1 meter high but then it just cut off and dropped to the lake.

Looking at your data again .. I'm a little confused.

The data shows you flying forward and slowly rotating it clockwise.
The data shows the drone descended about 13 metres even though the left joystick was centred.
From 13-13.4 seconds the pitch and roll data might be showing the drone bumping on something (?) although the VPS is still indicating that the drone is 4.9 metres above whatever is below it.
At 16.4 seconds you pushed the left stick fully up and the drone climbed back to about the level of the launch point and about 13 metres out and the data stops there.

Was the drone getting wet at 13 seconds, climbing and then failing?
How far above the lake was your launch point?

The descending was uncommanded and is something you should check with DJI.
Sync your flight data to upload it to DJI's server and then start an online chat with their support people to start a claim.

 

[Meta4]

Desiccant is best.

Nowhere near as good as alcohol and warm air.

 

[ATW]

My first drone was a mini, crashed into a lake, and promptly sank, it was 2 weeks old. Went home, and ordered another mini, was back flying a few days later, but new found respect for keeping higher above water.

 

[FragUPlenty]

The only thing that I can see is that he was in class D airspace and I know that in airspace that requires authorization the DJI app will autoland you after 60 seconds if you dont acknowledge the prompts on the screen. I wonder if maybe there was a glitch where for some reason the prompt didnt display properly so he didnt know and because he was in class D the drone autolanded in the lake

 

[PascalG]

The only thing that I can see is that he was in class D airspace and I know that in airspace that requires authorization the DJI app will autoland you after 60 seconds if you dont acknowledge the prompts on the screen. I wonder if maybe there was a glitch where for some reason the prompt didnt display properly so he didnt know and because he was in class D the drone autolanded in the lake

mate you saying that the software will let you take off in restricted airspace and then just land the drone anywhere? Would not make sense

 

[Capt KO]

Minis don’t like flying low over water and tend to descend uncommanded. Did it possibly touch water the first time it dropped? Would explain the final drop. Hope you get it dry and flying again. Good luck.

 

[FragUPlenty]

mate you saying that the software will let you take off in restricted airspace and then just land the drone anywhere? Would not make sense

I don't know just a thought my grandma lives by Santa Barbara airport which is a class c and when I took off it allowed me to then prompted me to put in some information and check that I was liable for anything that happens but the prompt didn't come up until after I was about 5 feet up according to the prompt if you ignore it you will be autolanded in 60 seconds.