Flyaway or just too windy?

[Ian in London]

Reading a few articles and threads on flyaways and people losing their Mini in strong winds.
The Air / 2 Pro handle strong wind extremely well but given the specs and top speed of the Mini, this great little bit of kit is just not going to handle strong wind as well.

Here's a blustery day's test....
Cheers
Ian

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[old man mavic]

Reading a few articles and threads on flyaways and people losing their Mini in strong winds.
The Air / 2 Pro handle strong wind extremely well but given the specs and top speed of the Mini, this great little bit of kit is just not going to handle strong wind as well.

Here's a blustery day's test....
Cheers
Ian

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hi Ian great honest video, i hope all those new MM owners who get one for Christmas ,watch it to see what windy conditions can do to the little fella ,maybe then some of them will have them long enough to learn how to fly them properly

 

[wjkrysak]

Thank you for sharing. I learned early on with my own wind experience and reinforced with your video, this is a fair weather drone. These windy days are for the stunt kites, I always include in my flight bag. Thanks, again. Your videos are always informative and I like your homestead.

 

[WithTheBirds]

Inescapable fact- if the wind is moving faster than the max speed the drone can sustain you don’t have a hope in hell of getting home. Changing altitude and trying to fly across the wind is the only hope of making any headway...

 

[Antaire]

For the past few days wind has been 15mph or higher here. I’ve been very tempted to get the mini our but then I remember it’s cost me nearly £500

 

[StubbornSwiss]

An experienced RC/Drone pilot, with obvious insight into wind patterns (how wind speed/direction can change with altitude), and understands how wind can affect an aircrafts ground speed and direction. And yet, we see how he pretty much struggles to control the drone and bring it home safely.

Now compare that with a brand new, novice drone owner, who's probably NEVER flown anything RC, who knows NOTHING about winds and the effect it has on an aircraft, and who on their first flight wants to see how high and how far their shiny new 'toy' can go. Oh.... but they're not worried, because there is a button they can push, that regardless of the situation will bring the drone back home (RTH) - although they REALLY don't know how it works, and didn't bother to set it up, because they typically don't bother to read manuals.

This, my fellow RC/Drone pilots, IN MY HUMBLE OPINION, is the cause of the majority of the 'Fly Aways' that we see reported in this and other forums concerning the Mavic Mini.

Again, this is just my opinion, and I respect anyone who has a different opinion.

Thank you Ian, for this.

 

[BigAl07]

An experienced RC/Drone pilot, with obvious insight into wind patterns (how wind speed/direction can change with altitude), and understands how wind can affect an aircrafts ground speed and direction. And yet, we see how he pretty much struggles to control the drone and bring it home safely.

Now compare that with a brand new, novice drone owner, who's probably NEVER flown anything RC, who knows NOTHING about winds and the effect it has on an aircraft, and who on their first flight wants to see how high and how far their shiny new 'toy' can go. Oh.... but they're not worried, because there is a button they can push, that regardless of the situation will bring the drone back home (RTH) - although they REALLY don't know how it works, and didn't bother to set it up, because they typically don't bother to read manuals.

This, my fellow RC/Drone pilots, IN MY HUMBLE OPINION, is the cause of the majority of the 'Fly Aways' that we see reported in this and other forums concerning the Mavic Mini.

Again, this is just my opinion, and I respect anyone who has a different opinion.

Thank you Ian, for this.

BINGO!! You nailed it and very well.

 

[Ian in London]

Inescapable fact- if the wind is moving faster than the max speed the drone can sustain you don’t have a hope in hell of getting home. Changing altitude and trying to fly across the wind is the only hope of making any headway...

This is true, although the Air, Pro and 2 Pro all have their top speed limited by the software, proved by the fact you can often hit their top spec'd speed even when flying into a breeze, meaning they could in theory fly even faster if it was a still day. But yep, if the wind is as strong as the spec'd top speed, you're pushing your luck.....

Ian

 

[Ian in London]

An experienced RC/Drone pilot, with obvious insight into wind patterns (how wind speed/direction can change with altitude), and understands how wind can affect an aircrafts ground speed and direction. And yet, we see how he pretty much struggles to control the drone and bring it home safely.

Now compare that with a brand new, novice drone owner, who's probably NEVER flown anything RC, who knows NOTHING about winds and the effect it has on an aircraft, and who on their first flight wants to see how high and how far their shiny new 'toy' can go. Oh.... but they're not worried, because there is a button they can push, that regardless of the situation will bring the drone back home (RTH) - although they REALLY don't know how it works, and didn't bother to set it up, because they typically don't bother to read manuals.

This, my fellow RC/Drone pilots, IN MY HUMBLE OPINION, is the cause of the majority of the 'Fly Aways' that we see reported in this and other forums concerning the Mavic Mini.

Again, this is just my opinion, and I respect anyone who has a different opinion.

Thank you Ian, for this.

Thanks for that. I reckoned there's going to be a fair few new flyers getting this for Christmas and this video is pretty much a warning that GPS RTH is only as good as the drone's capacity to actually fly.

We have to remember lots of new flyers are getting into this area not for the fun of flying (as many RC Pilots do) but instead purely to be able to take stunning pictures and videos from a new perspective. Which is great, but brings the issue of being unaware of actual flight requirements and issues that can arise quickly.....

Cheers, Ian

 

[mavicn00b]

Yup suspect there will be a bunch of cheap MM RCs/chargers/batteries in the classifieds/CraigsList/Gumtree/Kijiji etc as people find out the hard way what it can and cant do.

 

[Dave Maine]

Physics trumps aspirations every time.

 

[Ian in London]

Physics trumps aspirations every time.

My degree is in Physics! Guess that's why I like testing this stuff out so much!

 

[hiflyer201]

Smart RTH on the Mini is supposed to be at around to 18 mph and that's a just about the cruising speed( my term). With the Spark you have a slow 6 or so mph cruise and a RTH at about 30mph. I think the return in cinematic on the Mini is around 8MPH. I'm wondering if there could be glitch and the Mini is returning at 8mph..Which translates to ..NOT returning in anything but very light winds... let's face it...18 is marginal. To repeat what everyone else is sayin

 

[harle83]

Reading a few articles and threads on flyaways and people losing their Mini in strong winds.
The Air / 2 Pro handle strong wind extremely well but given the specs and top speed of the Mini, this great little bit of kit is just not going to handle strong wind as well.

Here's a blustery day's test....
Cheers
Ian

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Ian this is really a gutsy and impressive test. This is also why I won’t buy this drone for use with my services as a Pilot. It’s hard to believe that the Spark still fares better not by a lot in these kinds of situations. If the Spark had the Mini’s camera it would be the perfect small drone weight aside. I know my Air does do better but living in Western Iowa the wind is always a constant here. It looks much like the area you’re in actually. We can be home in town and really no issues. I can drive out to the fields to fly and sometimes it’s just a no the winds will be howling off the Plains. I will not lose my investments in drones. I think we all know that caution is always going to be a better option. It can be something like a Raptor appearing and going after you drone or a flyaway. With drones getting smaller and lighter we are going to need to be more vigilant about how we fly. It’s just going to be a rule of our hobby/profession even, more so. Again very, very good. I’m glad you didn’t have to ditch or that you didn’t lose your Mini. Merry Christmas to everyone ??????

 

[Ian in London]

Ian this is really a gutsy and impressive test. This is also why I won’t buy this drone for use with my services as a Pilot. It’s hard to believe that the Spark still fares better not by a lot in these kinds of situations. If the Spark had the Mini’s camera it would be the perfect small drone weight aside. I know my Air does do better but living in Western Iowa the wind is always a constant here. It looks much like the area you’re in actually. We can be home in town and really no issues. I can drive out to the fields to fly and sometimes it’s just a no the winds will be howling off the Plains. I will not lose my investments in drones. I think we all know that caution is always going to be a better option. It can be something like a Raptor appearing and going after you drone or a flyaway. With drones getting smaller and lighter we are going to need to be more vigilant about how we fly. It’s just going to be a rule of our hobby/profession even, more so. Again very, very good. I’m glad you didn’t have to ditch or that you didn’t lose your Mini. Merry Christmas to everyone ??????

Thanks for the good words. Yep, when I was flying on the huge open Wyoming plains the wind would really whip up and the 2 Pro would fight and handle it but the Mini wouldn't' stand a chance.
Lucky where I live as I can do these wind tests without too much risk; this one was one of the more adventurous ones though
Cheers
Ian

 

[Flynz]

Thanks great video. Looks like the MM is a fair weather drone. Might make coastal photography tricky.