DRONE DISCONNECTS / LOSSES SIGNAL WITHIN VIEW OF PILOT, THEN SPLASHES INTO 120meter DEEP ALPINE LAKE... yes, it was that simple. I was in the middle of NOWHERE. NO cell service, no power lines, and flying over Lake Omak in Omak, WA where I was nearly the only human being outside, at least within the entire side of a 6 mile/10kilometer long lake. I launched from a 300 foot / 100 meter high cliff. I followed the reading on the screen which displayed I was flying at an altitude of (- 60) feet altitude lower than the launch point, meaning I had a minimum of 150 to 200 feet of space below the drone while in flight above water. While I paused in flight, I simply began to fly slowly and steadily in reverse wanting to find a starting point for a clip of video on this gorgeous lake WITH NO WIND (the water was like a mirror reflecting the mountains above it no ripples let alone no crests.) While backing in flight, and watching my altitude, within 20-30 seconds of flight, my signal was lost and I received the black and white still of the last known view. I hit the RTH button instantly. At time of lost signal, I was less than 2 minutes away from the launch point and I had 22 minutes of battery flight left. SO, all is well, right? WRONG. Despite hitting RTH, despite the fact I had immediately stopped flight after signal loss and hit the RTH, after waiting over 30 minutes, the drone NEVER RETURNED.
UPDATE POST OF ORIGINAL POSTING:
IMPORTANT NOTES OF FLIGHT CONDITIONS:
1) I had just taken off, and I JUST recharged that battery. I had EVERY bit of 22 minutes left when craft disconnected. I had been in flight maybe 6-8 minutes.
2)Battery locked fully in place, craft stayed level, flight was slow, NO wind, NO rain, Sunny outside, NO obstacles.
3) NO obstacles around ... lake is HUGE, 6 miles long, 1 and 2 miles wide. I was not even a 1/4 mile, 200-300 meters away from craft standing in the OPEN VIEW. DIRECT line of sight with craft.
4) Craft launched at 250-300 feet above water from a cliff with line of sight to craft. Craft lowered (according to Smart Controller) -60 feet. This means 300-60= 240 feet above water. OR 250-60= 190 feet above water.
5) I will admit, from the looks of the trees relative to what showed on the Controller Monitor, it appeared to me I was closer to 80-100 feet off the water. HOWEVER, this should be NO ISSUE. Per DJI, flight over water is ONLY recommended in the reference of "do not fly 2 meters from above the water". In many places, very vaguely, including the manual, the warning is "do not fly above bodies of water, reflective, or transparent surfaces". BUT, this, again, is ONLY relative to flight at 2 meters above those surfaces according to one warning.
OBVIOUSLY, flying at 100 feet / 30 meters above water should have ZERO impact on positioning if the pilot has done as I have and maintained reference to his flight and paid extreme focus on use of flight controls. I ONLY REVERSED flight, NOT lowering the craft.
I do believe the issue to be aimed at a firmware problem now.
THANK YOU to those who have replied.
TO ALL READERS, please read this thread. I TRULY BELIEVE the outcome of this WILL HELP ALL OF YOU in understand possible issues with firmware, disconnects, and crashes.
THIS CRASH OF MINE IS A VERY VALID ISSUE TO BE ADDRESSED!!!
I have read the Mavic 2 may have a known issue with low altitude flight over water. I have seen a few youtube videos showing this happening to other pilots (just 2 that I have seen).
QUESTIONS TO OTHER PILOTS:
QUESTION #1 - do any of you know this to be a possible issue?
QUESTION #2 - do any of you have any pointers, tips, clues, questions, input as to what the heck happened to me?
STATEMENT - I wish to hold DJI responsible. I AM SICK of fly away issues & android issues using DJI apps that nearly crashed me twice due to DJI apps crashing midflight causing fly aways before upgrading to a SMART CONTROLLER (which is THEE only way to fly, though it is still problematic with update messages that are false). False messages on both smart controller and android based flights are confusing. On android, it would end up in a fly away though firmware was updated and matched between controller, android pad, and drone. On the day of my loss, MY SMART CONTROLLER was up to date and matched my drone. However, just before flight, a mismatch warning popped up (again) for just less than 2 seconds, then read firmware matched. 5 minutes later, my drone disappeared using an 800 dollar Smart Controller.... RIDICULOUS!!! I feel DJI should research my flight, find it is their fault, and replace my drone.
QUESTION - How can I best press DJI to replace my drone?
Thank you,
Jon
UPDATE POST OF ORIGINAL POSTING:
IMPORTANT NOTES OF FLIGHT CONDITIONS:
1) I had just taken off, and I JUST recharged that battery. I had EVERY bit of 22 minutes left when craft disconnected. I had been in flight maybe 6-8 minutes.
2)Battery locked fully in place, craft stayed level, flight was slow, NO wind, NO rain, Sunny outside, NO obstacles.
3) NO obstacles around ... lake is HUGE, 6 miles long, 1 and 2 miles wide. I was not even a 1/4 mile, 200-300 meters away from craft standing in the OPEN VIEW. DIRECT line of sight with craft.
4) Craft launched at 250-300 feet above water from a cliff with line of sight to craft. Craft lowered (according to Smart Controller) -60 feet. This means 300-60= 240 feet above water. OR 250-60= 190 feet above water.
5) I will admit, from the looks of the trees relative to what showed on the Controller Monitor, it appeared to me I was closer to 80-100 feet off the water. HOWEVER, this should be NO ISSUE. Per DJI, flight over water is ONLY recommended in the reference of "do not fly 2 meters from above the water". In many places, very vaguely, including the manual, the warning is "do not fly above bodies of water, reflective, or transparent surfaces". BUT, this, again, is ONLY relative to flight at 2 meters above those surfaces according to one warning.
OBVIOUSLY, flying at 100 feet / 30 meters above water should have ZERO impact on positioning if the pilot has done as I have and maintained reference to his flight and paid extreme focus on use of flight controls. I ONLY REVERSED flight, NOT lowering the craft.
I do believe the issue to be aimed at a firmware problem now.
THANK YOU to those who have replied.
TO ALL READERS, please read this thread. I TRULY BELIEVE the outcome of this WILL HELP ALL OF YOU in understand possible issues with firmware, disconnects, and crashes.
THIS CRASH OF MINE IS A VERY VALID ISSUE TO BE ADDRESSED!!!
I have read the Mavic 2 may have a known issue with low altitude flight over water. I have seen a few youtube videos showing this happening to other pilots (just 2 that I have seen).
QUESTIONS TO OTHER PILOTS:
QUESTION #1 - do any of you know this to be a possible issue?
QUESTION #2 - do any of you have any pointers, tips, clues, questions, input as to what the heck happened to me?
STATEMENT - I wish to hold DJI responsible. I AM SICK of fly away issues & android issues using DJI apps that nearly crashed me twice due to DJI apps crashing midflight causing fly aways before upgrading to a SMART CONTROLLER (which is THEE only way to fly, though it is still problematic with update messages that are false). False messages on both smart controller and android based flights are confusing. On android, it would end up in a fly away though firmware was updated and matched between controller, android pad, and drone. On the day of my loss, MY SMART CONTROLLER was up to date and matched my drone. However, just before flight, a mismatch warning popped up (again) for just less than 2 seconds, then read firmware matched. 5 minutes later, my drone disappeared using an 800 dollar Smart Controller.... RIDICULOUS!!! I feel DJI should research my flight, find it is their fault, and replace my drone.
QUESTION - How can I best press DJI to replace my drone?
Thank you,
Jon
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