Air 2 Good bye brave little drone , rest in peace

[Ralph thompson]

I had a Phantom 0 end up at the bottom of a lake in very gusty conditions, struck a post on the jetty when trying to land. I eventually fished it out, took it appart, dried it with a hair drier and it flew perfectly for a couple of years. Still have on a shelf. The GoPro was toast (2013 when the camera was a GoPro strapped to a Zenmuse gimbal).

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Immersions in fresh water and salt water are very different thing, especially if prolonged. I am fairly certain that, in some places, the corrosion that attacked the Mavic 2 I mentioned was electrolytic in nature, i.e. in the the salt water 'battery cells' were created between the steel screws and the "light metal" components.
Where those materials where in close proximity to one another or in contact with one another the corrosion was worse. In fact the bottom cover was actually held attached to the drone by ONLY a ribbon cable, the areas around each of its securing screws had been eaten away. From memory the screws themselves were fine.

 

[Mazdaman323lx]

UPDATE - She lives ! well exists , would be more accurate.
No doubt a write off after 24 hours in the sea .
I returned today armed with long pole , battery work light in waterproof bag , and a wire hook , stood on a slippery beam above the water with waves breaking against the ship soaking me , and went fishing .
Pure madness as I cant swim !
Against the I odds I eventually snagged and managed to rescue the plucky Mavic air 2 that served me so well. There's not a mark on it , even the props are reusable .
Even got the footage off the sd card so that's another win . Thankfully I have care refresh so getting back in the air shouldn't break the bank .

Interesting side note , had it not been for the luminous orange skin I doubt I would ever have recovered it . I don't think I would have been able to make out a gray drone through 8 feet of gloomy water on such a dark overcast day .

 

[Mazdaman323lx]

Immersions in fresh water and salt water are very different thing, especially if prolonged. I am fairly certain that, in some places, the corrosion that attacked the Mavic 2 I mentioned was electrolytic in nature, i.e. in the the salt water 'battery cells' were created between the steel screws and the "light metal" components.
Where those materials where in close proximity to one another or in contact with one another the corrosion was worse. In fact the bottom cover was actually held attached to the drone by ONLY a ribbon cable, the areas around each of its securing screws had been eaten away. From memory the screws themselves were fine.

I agree , so I'm putting down as a write off . I could soak it in alcohol and see if it comes back but I'd never trust it in the air .

 

[Mazdaman323lx]

If you get it back remember to remove the mSD card and give it a wash in fresh water. I have retrieved footage from a card that spent a week in the sea. The innards of the drone were literally mush in places.

Got the card back and it works ! This is my second loss to water , interesting how the last video clip gets corrupted . In both instances the video of the resulting crash wasn't readable

 

[Mazdaman323lx]

Well, amazing shot tbh and being greedy is a must when you have a drone. Hope you got it by now....

My only question is it worth upgrading to MA2S since it's has more sensors and in these places will work well.

I was using my Air 2 because IMO its superior to the 2s . Air 2s has 5 - 8 mins less time in the air which alone is almost a deal breaker . Also it freaks out more in Atti mode (No gps), likes to have more satellites before it flies and I usually turn off those sensors , so no , not really worth it .Air 2s has slightly better camera footage , but the Air 2 has HDR which is brill on bright sunny days . No way you could fly through that gap with the sensors on .

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Well........ since you have nothing to lose, try putting the memory card back in the drone and seeing if the drone will boot.
If it boots the corrupt video might be repaired.
It was most likely corrupted because the recording was not stopped before the drone switched off (common documented foible) or fried and a reboot of the drone is often the cure, though only if the drone and card have not be used or altered since the improper recording stop. I suspect the drone will NOT boot otherwise why wouold it have switched off.......but.........

There's a thread running about this on the DJI forum and it become rather repetitive and borin.

 

[Mazdaman323lx]

Well........ since you have nothing to lose, try putting the memory card back in the drone and seeing if the drone will boot.
If it boots the corrupt video might be repaired.
It was most likely corrupted because the recording was not stopped before the drone switched off (common documented foible) or fried and a reboot of the drone is often the cure, though only if the drone and card have not be used or altered since the improper recording stop. I suspect the drone will NOT boot otherwise why wouold it have switched off.......but.........

There's a thread running about this on the DJI forum and it become rather repetitive and borin.

 

[Mazdaman323lx]

Ah no ,I'll pass , putting a fresh battery into a salt water soaked drone can't end well for either the drone or battery . I'm not bothered by the loss of that clip , more than happy with recovering the other footage . It was a oddity I wasn't aware of is all.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Ahhh I didn't think of the risk to a different battery, whooops, sorry

 

[Michael Ainsworth]

Great story, great shots. Those videos are worth the risk, no harm to anyone/ anything apart from the drone. I probably would have stopped after the first successful run but only because “her indoors” would have made me sleep outside for a month.
Glad to see you retrieved the drone.

 

[Capt KO]

Bad-ars little bird, hope you can retrieve for Refresh. Smart purchase considering your …um, flying habits. Good thing used A2’s have become quite affordable now. Best bang for the buck, Imo. Best o luck

 

[Mazdaman323lx]

Finished video here if interested

 

[Rubenc87]

Thanks for the followup and glad that you were able to recover the A2. Good point of risking a good battery for something that may or may not work.

 

[Rubenc87]

Finished video here if interested

Good finished video

 

[jentb0y]

Did you get it back? I need closure

 

[jentb0y]

Did you get it back? I need closure

 

[Rubenc87]

Did you get it back? I need closure

It's posted In the thread.

 

[PAW]

Hmmm, I like happy endings.
Wonder if the ship had Care Refresh...

 

[Mazdaman323lx]

Ha ha , apparently not .