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Hawk or buzzard attack today!

45er

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For the first time since flying my Platinum Pro today, I was attacked! Thank goodness the mid-air impact was not severe enough to damage the drone and I was able to safely return home. I was doing a video of a piece of land near me for the new owners. I'd seen two hawks and a few buzzards flying over the ranch, but didn't think anything of it. All of a sudden the video was all over the place! After a tense 4-5 seconds, things stabilized and I flew back home. Will watch more closely for my winged friends next time.
 
Glad you were able to bring it back home.

It’s those **** common starlings that always harass me. Ballsy little birds with their dive bombing kamikaze tactics.
 
For the first time since flying my Platinum Pro today, I was attacked! Thank goodness the mid-air impact was not severe enough to damage the drone and I was able to safely return home. I was doing a video of a piece of land near me for the new owners. I'd seen two hawks and a few buzzards flying over the ranch, but didn't think anything of it. All of a sudden the video was all over the place! After a tense 4-5 seconds, things stabilized and I flew back home. Will watch more closely for my winged friends next time.

Unless you have definite video or log evidence of an impact, that was more likely to be a gimbal reset.
 
I think the same, and @sar104 knows his stuff.

Just to be clear - I'm not saying that it could not have been a bird - just that in all the similar cases I've seen, examination of the flight log has shown that it was just a gimbal reset.
 
Wasnt it usually right the moment it ends a file, then starts a new one. Like at the 4gb mark or so?
I havent spent much time on my Mav 1 since Mav 2 has been out. But do remember reading enough to know that I was having that same issue, and it looks and feels like a bird strike on the screen, but if you watch your other telemtry, the Mavic isnt moving, just the gimbal going nuts.
 
If it was a bird it probably was a Hawk. I have buzzards flying around here all the time and they don't pay any attention to my drone at all .
 
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For the first time since flying my Platinum Pro today, I was attacked! Thank goodness the mid-air impact was not severe enough to damage the drone and I was able to safely return home. I was doing a video of a piece of land near me for the new owners. I'd seen two hawks and a few buzzards flying over the ranch, but didn't think anything of it. All of a sudden the video was all over the place! After a tense 4-5 seconds, things stabilized and I flew back home. Will watch more closely for my winged friends next time.
post your log and a video of the episode
 
Unless you have definite video or log evidence of an impact, that was more likely to be a gimbal reset.

I didn’t even think about that, but yeah reading the original post again I’m inclined to agree. Haven’t had it happen yet on the 2 Pro, but on my original Mavic it went crazy like that annoyingly frequently. Scared the heck out of the 1st few times it happened.
 
Wasnt it usually right the moment it ends a file, then starts a new one. Like at the 4gb mark or so?
I havent spent much time on my Mav 1 since Mav 2 has been out. But do remember reading enough to know that I was having that same issue, and it looks and feels like a bird strike on the screen, but if you watch your other telemtry, the Mavic isnt moving, just the gimbal going nuts.

With my 1st gen Mavic Pro, it usually happened just I was ending a recording. Happened many times but I never did manage to catch it on a recording. With mine is was so problematic and frequent I ended up sending it back under DJI Care instant refresh.
 
For the first time since flying my Platinum Pro today, I was attacked! Thank goodness the mid-air impact was not severe enough to damage the drone and I was able to safely return home. I was doing a video of a piece of land near me for the new owners. I'd seen two hawks and a few buzzards flying over the ranch, but didn't think anything of it. All of a sudden the video was all over the place! After a tense 4-5 seconds, things stabilized and I flew back home. Will watch more closely for my winged friends next time.
I was flying my Mavic Pro over a lake a month or so back. Didn't notice a pair of hawks circling below and ahead of me. Suddenly got a flashing red warning on my screen OBSTACLE! My Mavic came to a dead stop (at 400' AGL!) I collected my wits, turned slightly, and was able to move forward and brought it home. No damage. I noticed the video bumped a time or two, but the hawks were never captured on video. My question is....how close was the hawk or hawks, to trigger the onscreen warning? How far away can an object be to trigger a reaction? Is it purely an optical event, or is there an ultrasonic sensor (forward facing and/or downward facing) at work here?
 
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Why would it do a GIMBAL reset anyway? Sounds like something is not right.
 
Not directly facing the sun. Maybe 20-30 degree deflection angle to the sun from my course.
 
Unless you have definite video or log evidence of an impact, that was more likely to be a gimbal reset.


Can you educate us on what might cause airborne gimbal reset? I have not experienced a reset with my M2Z, but I recently notice a "jump" in a video like the gimbal got stuck for a split second when I was doing a 360 pan.
 
Can you educate us on what might cause airborne gimbal reset? I have not experienced a reset with my M2Z, but I recently notice a "jump" in a video like the gimbal got stuck for a split second when I was doing a 360 pan.

I wish I could. I never seen on myself either, but numerous logs have been posted showing it happening.
 
Lots of good points here, and yes, I was rather surprised that the drone withstood a direct strike from a hawk or buzzard. I suspected a bird attack because I has seen two hawks and three buzzards right in the path of the drone as I flew the property. The incident, whatever it was, occurred right in that area and it was just a tad too far to ascertain what actually was happening. I've has some weird "stuff" happen during flights, but nothing like this. Who knows?

I will say this, buzzards in my area definitely are attracted to my drone. I had two circling over my backyard today and when I flew the drone in to land, they immediately started flying right at it. Since it was in good sight, I just rapidly dropped the altitude and they didn't want to come down too close to the ground and went on with their nasty business.
 
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