Flying in humid environment, crash

[Arnold]

Was flying my Mavic on the beach in Brighton, UK foggy/cloudy morning with the fog/clouds at about 400 feet. The air was quite humid but i didn't feel that it would cause a problem. Without exceeding 350ft alt. I was cruising around the shore for half an hour. Since the beach was empty I decided to take the mavic out a distance along the shore (approx 5000 ft, alt. 40ft) constantly watching the signal strength. At 5000ft with almost full signal I decided to bring the bird back in sport mode. I go full throttle for about 30 seconds when suddenly I see the on the screen the bird make a sudden twitch, the drone start losing control, the screen show a week signal notice and then I lose contact. The live view screen showed the crash right before hitting the ground but the actual recording on SD card stopped before loss of signal. I found the drone with a minor scratch and the black plastic cap missing on one of the rear Legs. I shut down the mavic and brought it back to the hotel. An hour later I turned the drone back on and everything was functioning, including motors, camera and gimbal. I still have to take it on a test flight to make sure but all systems checked out ok.
My question is, has anyone had this kind of experience? My theory is due to the humidity/wet air, the internal electronics went haywire and froze up the system (possibly even made worse by going into Sport mode) and caused the crash. I'm lucky to get the drone back in one piece, but am worried that this glitch might occur again and next time maybe occur in a less safe environment.
Can I or should I send the drone in and even maybe use carefresh to replace the drone?
Any questions or suggestions are welcome.

 

[dieselwind]

Glad you got it back in what seems to be all in one piece. Yes, I would agree that moisture probably isn't good for the internals on the Mavic. You mentioned the fog. I would say that is a little denser than just humid air. Also, if your Mavic was in a cool and dry environment and then you moved it into a warmer, humid environment, condensation will collect on the body and possibly even inside.

 

[james_mav]

Maybe it clipped a bird.

 

[LoveJoy]

The water moisture probably did you in. I use this app called hover which gives me all the indexes I need. I always check precipitation, KP index (thunderstorms) and humidity before I fly. Its kind of a precaution and habit at this point. Glad your Mavic made it back in one piece though.

 

[Arnold]

Glad you got it back in what seems to be all in one piece. Yes, I would agree that moisture probably isn't good for the internals on the Mavic. You mentioned the fog. I would say that is a little denser than just humid air. Also, if your Mavic was in a cool and dry environment and then you moved it into a warmer, humid environment, condensation will collect on the body and possibly even inside.

Agreed. Question is how I should proceed now. How do I make sure that the mavic will function perfectly. I was lucky not to lose it to the ocean (because I was flying so low and at the edge of the shore). I need to be sure that the bird will operate at a 100% and not possibly whipe out again and injure someone or something. Is there any internal analysis that I can perform? I don't feel that just doing a preflight checklist will suffice.

 

[LoveJoy]

Agreed. Question is how I should proceed now. How do I make sure that the mavic will function perfectly. I was lucky not to lose it to the ocean (because I was flying so low and at the edge of the shore). I need to be sure that the bird will operate at a 100% and not possibly whipe out again and injure someone or something. Is there any internal analysis that I can perform? I don't feel that just doing a preflight checklist will suffice.

Take the battery out, props off, gimbal cover off. Anything that can hold moisture and just let it air dry out. Give it a day or two. Pop in a fresh battery and calibrate it and see what you get.

 

[dieselwind]

Agreed. Question is how I should proceed now. How do I make sure that the mavic will function perfectly. I was lucky not to lose it to the ocean (because I was flying so low and at the edge of the shore). I need to be sure that the bird will operate at a 100% and not possibly whipe out again and injure someone or something. Is there any internal analysis that I can perform? I don't feel that just doing a preflight checklist will suffice.

I would give it a few days to dry out. Keep it in a cool dry environment. After a few days, start out flying close and slow, then run it through a few aggressive flight maneuvers. Just my suggestion