Drone tragedy

[rg2020]

Had my first drone tragedy a couple of weeks ago. I was flying near a railroad bridge to get some cool video/photos. I was rolling along the side of the bridge and didn't notice in my blind spot I was getting too close to the end of the bridge where there were trees. I hit some branches and got stuck. I panicked and started over-correcting, instead of using the gimble to look around for a way out. The drone ended up draining of power and dropped down to the ground or into the river. I hiked out to the last known location and didn't find it. I'm thinking it was further away than where I looked, but I was unsure of access to that location. So, I lost my Mavic Air 2. I was hoping to recover it so I could send it in on my care refresh coverage.

DJI support was good when I contacted them. They had me send in the flight logs so they could analyze to see if there was a malfunction. I knew it was my fault, so I already knew what the outcome of the analysis would be. They offered me a replacement aircraft without the controller and charger, but with a battery and props for a 15% discount. I sold some stock I got lucky on and made some money so I could buy the replacement. Now I just have to wait for UPS to deliver it.

The moral of the story is to look around with your camera before flying and make sure you aren't going to run into anything. Also, don't panic. I should have tried yawing left or right and/or used the gimble to look around. I probably could have navigated out of the branches. I'm really looking forward to getting the new replacement. Flying has been a fun thing to do in pandemic times.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Had my first drone tragedy a couple of weeks ago. I was flying near a railroad bridge to get some cool video/photos. I was rolling along the side of the bridge and didn't notice in my blind spot I was getting too close to the end of the bridge where there were trees. I hit some branches and got stuck. I panicked and started over-correcting, instead of using the gimble to look around for a way out. The drone ended up draining of power and dropped down to the ground or into the river. I hiked out to the last known location and didn't find it. I'm thinking it was further away than where I looked, but I was unsure of access to that location. So, I lost my Mavic Air 2. I was hoping to recover it so I could send it in on my care refresh coverage.

DJI support was good when I contacted them. They had me send in the flight logs so they could analyze to see if there was a malfunction. I knew it was my fault, so I already knew what the outcome of the analysis would be. They offered me a replacement aircraft without the controller and charger, but with a battery and props for a 15% discount. I sold some stock I got lucky on and made some money so I could buy the replacement. Now I just have to wait for UPS to deliver it.

The moral of the story is to look around with your camera before flying and make sure you aren't going to run into anything. Also, don't panic. I should have tried yawing left or right and/or used the gimble to look around. I probably could have navigated out of the branches. I'm really looking forward to getting the new replacement. Flying has been a fun thing to do in pandemic times.

Most of us , that have become good pilots made these same mistakes and shook it off just like you did and became a much better pilot. Learning to not Panic is a skill created by misfortune and adventure.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Air 2 in the Rain and Float on water.

 

[rg2020]

Most of us , that have become good pilots made these same mistakes and shook it off just you like you did and became a much better pilot. Learning to not Panic is a skill created by misfortune and adventure.

Thank you so much! It definitely was a learning experience. I'm not a bad pilot. I just made a mistake. My replacement drone was supposed to be delivered yesterday, but it didn't make it to our local UPS depot until after 11pm last night, so I have to wait until Monday.

 

[Tentoes]

Fortunately, my spark landed on the bank when I did such a thing.

 

[Jay241]

Tufargon, thanks for the sharing the sad story but nice to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Glad you are getting a new MA2. Those mistakes share by users teach us a lot. Hope when something like that happens to me I'll be as calm as you were.

 

[A.O.]

Most of us , that have become good pilots made these same mistakes and shook it off just you like you did and became a much better pilot. Learning to not Panic is a skill created by misfortune and adventure.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Air 2 in the Rain and Float on water.

I was a motorcycle riding instructor for years, one of the things I tried to get across to my students was "not to panic".. don't panic and you will survive!!

 

[Rex Peters]

Most of us , that have become good pilots made these same mistakes and shook it off just you like you did and became a much better pilot. Learning to not Panic is a skill created by misfortune and adventure.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Air 2 in the Rain and Float on water.

I’m curious why the obstacle avoidance didn’t kick in. I’m thinking of upgrading from my mini for that reason. I also had a close call when I hit a bridge over water but fortunately the drone recovered before hitting the water and I was able to fly it out from underneath the bridge. It was only inches from the water when it stabilized itself. I love the DJI drones.

 

[hiflyer201]

Sorry about you losing your drone..you'll be a better pilot because of it if that's a consolation. The one thing I've learned is that I have lousy depth perception. I can't count the time's that a video will show that I was much closer to losing my drone than I thought. I think that's probably true for most people.

 

[Slade]

So sorry that happened. I’ve crashed drones and at least for me it’s been part of a painful learning curve

 

[Capt KO]

Did you check your flight records in the app? It will have a map of your exact flight to the end. Might even see which branches it hit in satellite mode. All in your device. Might be waiting for you. ?

 

[Tentoes]

I’m curious why the obstacle avoidance didn’t kick in. I’m thinking of upgrading from my mini for that reason. I also had a close call when I hit a bridge over water but fortunately the drone recovered before hitting the water and I was able to fly it out from underneath the bridge. It was only inches from the water when it stabilized itself. I love the DJI drones.

Because he was flying sideways at the time.

 

[rg2020]

Tufargon, thanks for the sharing the sad story but nice to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Glad you are getting a new MA2. Those mistakes share by users teach us a lot. Hope when something like that happens to me I'll be as calm as you were.

I'm glad I was able to get the money together to get a new one. I received it on Monday. Did a test flight outside the house and it seems fine.

 

[rg2020]

Did you check your flight records in the app? It will have a map of your exact flight to the end. Might even see which branches it hit in satellite mode. All in your device. Might be waiting for you. ?

I hiked out to where the GPS marked it as being. However, I don't think I went far enough. The legality of where I was (on Norfolk Southern Railroad property) prevented me from doing more. I'm also not in good shape physically, so I can't do too much hiking. The Norfolk Southern supervisor I spoke with was cool about me going out there (after the fact) and said I could go back out if I wanted. I decided not to. Maybe someone will find it and use my FAA ID from the drone to get in contact with me.

 

[rg2020]

Sorry about you losing your drone..you'll be a better pilot because of it if that's a consolation. The one thing I've learned is that I have lousy depth perception. I can't count the time's that a video will show that I was much closer to losing my drone than I thought. I think that's probably true for most people.

Yeah, I'm not so good at judging depth through a camera lens. I should have looked left and right with the camera before moving sideways. I was looking to get a cool shot of the rusty old railroad bridge and ran into the trees.

 

[rg2020]

I’m curious why the obstacle avoidance didn’t kick in. I’m thinking of upgrading from my mini for that reason. I also had a close call when I hit a bridge over water but fortunately the drone recovered before hitting the water and I was able to fly it out from underneath the bridge. It was only inches from the water when it stabilized itself. I love the DJI drones.

Obstacle avoidance is nice. However, as Tentoes said, I was flying sideways. If I hadn't panicked, and yawed left or right, I think I would have been able to fly out of the branches. Lesson learned.

 

[Jan Smith]

rg2020 -
You are not alone! When my MA2 was a couple of weeks old back in September, I was flying it carefully up a river that has a narrow canyon rimmed by rocks -- a very scenic spot. I flew it upriver, away from me, and then carefully turned it around and slowly brought it back. As it got a little close to the opposite bank, it stopped. The obstacle avoidance sensors on the front of the drone had done their job. But this is where my inexperience wrecked the day. The drone had stopped just under some very fine twigs that stuck out over the river -- I had not noticed them in my walk-though before the flight. If I had just stayed calm and backed the drone away or descended a bit, it would have been fine. But in my confusion, I pushed up on the left stick, and the MA2 climbed right into the twigs, hit one, and spun into the river. Fortunately it was at a time when there was not much water in the river, but even so the drone was totally immersed with the lights still on. I was able to walk on the rocks in the bottom of the river and retrieved the drone, and removed the battery and SD card and dried them. I took the MA2 home and dried it with a hair dryer and then put it in a container of rice. After a while, I took it out, and surprisingly it worked, but only for three days. On the third day I got and ESC error which prevented flight, and wound up using my DJI Care coverage. I had a replacement within a couple of weeks, and now I am much wiser about safety, a good learning experience. I hope you can get a friend or perhaps a local youth group to retrieve the drone for you so you can use your Care coverage and get a replacement you could sell. Good luck!

 

[Fly Petaluma]

Most of us , that have become good pilots made these same mistakes and shook it off just you like you did and became a much better pilot. Learning to not Panic is a skill created by misfortune and adventure.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Air 2 in the Rain and Float on water.

Sorry to hear about your lost drone. I've narrowly escaped a similar experience more than once. Good news: what I've learned from the mistakes leaves me less likely to make them again. My take away: keep my eyes on the drone. Don't get locked into staring at the controller screen. Wishing you safe flights with your new drone.

 

[spsphotos]

Thus the reason for VLOS. . But happens to almost every drone pilot at one time or another I've come to learn.

 

[Kajtek]

Had my first drone tragedy a couple of weeks ago. I was flying near a railroad bridge to get some cool video/photos. I was rolling along the side of the bridge and didn't notice in my blind spot I was getting too close to the end of the bridge where there were trees. I hit some branches and got stuck. I panicked and started over-correcting, instead of using the gimble to look around for a way out. The drone ended up draining of power and dropped down to the ground or into the river. I hiked out to the last known location and didn't find it. I'm thinking it was further away than where I looked, but I was unsure of access to that location. So, I lost my Mavic Air 2. I was hoping to recover it so I could send it in on my care refresh coverage.

DJI support was good when I contacted them. They had me send in the flight logs so they could analyze to see if there was a malfunction. I knew it was my fault, so I already knew what the outcome of the analysis would be. They offered me a replacement aircraft without the controller and charger, but with a battery and props for a 15% discount. I sold some stock I got lucky on and made some money so I could buy the replacement. Now I just have to wait for UPS to deliver it.

The moral of the story is to look around with your camera before flying and make sure you aren't going to run into anything. Also, don't panic. I should have tried yawing left or right and/or used the gimble to look around. I probably could have navigated out of the branches. I'm really looking forward to getting the new replacement. Flying has been a fun thing to do in pandemic times.

I am very sympathetic but when you use the word "tragedy" I thought that involved people's injury. What happened to you was a misfortune, drone crash, etc

 

[fabo]

I think most pilots have some type of incident - and typically within months of starting to fly.
I learned that being near trees on a windy day takes much caution. But we learn from mistakes. Glad you are able to get a replacement to fly another day.