how to avoid forced landing because of low battery

[Droning on and on...]

The fact that anything is forced is Negative , for example if you drone is coming down between a group of people and a lake I should have the ability to make the decision to save the people and dump my drone in the lake, Forced landing is just a stupid idea of DJI that we have to deal with . Its not about a properly trained pilot. When Helicopters have a forced landing and there happy about it , let me know ., lolll

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain, Land on the Water and Rebel against Forced Landings

Do you oppose the forced shutdown of lipo chargers at 4.2V? (oversimplified, but the point is made)? What if someone wants to get a bit more out of their batteries by charging them to 5V... should a well-designed lipo charger allow them to do that?

The point here is a principle that anything being "forced" is automatically "Negative" is overly simplistic, and obviously not true in many cases.

We all welcome guardrails for safety's sake all the time. This is no different. The problem is it's like smoking... people are foolishly dismissive of the risk until they get lung cancer.

 

[Droning on and on...]

To be clear, I'm not concerned about your drone, it's yours and entirely up to you what risks to it's integrity you want to take. Some people freak out that I "risk" my drones flying over the ocean. None of their business.

My concern here is the risk to others.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

To be clear, I'm not concerned about your drone, it's yours and entirely up to you what risks to it's integrity you want to take. Some people freak out that I "risk" my drones flying over the ocean. None of their business.

My concern here is the risk to others.

Do you Remember GEO ZONES and how people went on an on about how they were absolutely nesscessary for the Future of the flying a Drone . LOL So Forced Landing make no sense , no way no how,

I was one of the first to have the Drone Para Chute , I was flying over the river 1 minute and after engaging the Parachute was landing on the High way. Lesson learned, Forced Landing are a bad Idea , the only time they made sense is when we had Geo Zones and than I could understand a forced landing . Thus I think the Programmers are just lazy
and it wil be gone soon .

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain, Land on the Water, and stay away from drone Parachutes and Rebel against forced landings.

 

[MS Coast]

Rebel against forced landings.

It's not a forced landing feature, it's a landing safety feature. It's a rational design decision, not an indicator of lazy programmers.

It's obvious that there will be situations where drones are flown until the battery level is too low to safely continue flight. No matter the total battery capacity or the low-power cutoff level, there will always be those who fail to plan properly or who disregard flight planning and common sense and fly their drones into a critical low power state.

At that point the DJI landing safety feature engages and lands the drone at a reasonable speed. Without it, the drone could continue until the motors stop and gravity accelerates the falling object to higher, and finally, terminal velocity, until impact.

It's a safety feature to avoid high speed impacts, made necessary because operators cannot be depended on to avoid flying the drone until motor shutdown.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

I would imagine based on how many videos there are of people landing in the water, that DJI Makes some nice coin on this fail safe feature. It made sense for the Geo Zones but there gone now < no need for this forced landing, maybe bring the drone down to 15 ft or so but still be able to fly it would make more sense if it all about safety.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain, Land on the Water.

 

[GFields]

Do you Remember GEO ZONES and how people went on an on about how they were absolutely nesscessary for the Future of the flying a Drone . LOL So Forced Landing make no sense , no way no how,

I was one of the first to have the Drone Para Chute , I was flying over the river 1 minute and after engaging the Parachute was landing on the High way. Lesson learned, Forced Landing are a bad Idea , the only time they made sense is when we had Geo Zones and than I could understand a forced landing . Thus I think the Programmers are just lazy
and it wil be gone soon .

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain, Land on the Water, and stay away from drone Parachutes and Rebel against forced landings.

I must say that I am disappointed in reading your comments. I'm not going to expound further.

 

[Dmcvey]

If only there was a warning for a low battery. Ignoring it is at your own peril.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Let me Clarify : I am in full agreement of Geo Zones and having Drones Force land upon entering them.
This is when a Forced Landing made sense to me . This is why the Software had the Forced Landing Features.

I am hoping that soon we will see an update on the Forced Landing as well,
Force landing are hard on boaters , those that fly over the water and may have to Negotiate birds or just simply flying in the cold,

I have posted several videos of where the Forced Landing challenged me and why I stated that you need to acquire the skill of flying against a forced landing rather than hacking your software.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain, Land on the Water, and Negotiate the Forced Landing Safety Features.

 

[MS Coast]

I have posted several videos of where the Forced Landing challenged me and why I stated that you need to acquire the skill of flying against a forced landing rather than hacking your software.

One translation:

I have posted several videos where I flew the drone to a dangerous low battery state. I was able to reach my landing area by holding the left stick fully forward to temporarily postpone the landing safety feature.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

One translation:

I have posted several videos where I flew the drone to a dangerous low battery state. I was able to reach my landing area by holding the left stick fully forward to temporarily postpone the landing safety feature.

One of the reason why I was not able to make a Rescue Jacket for the Mini 3 Pro and Mini 4 Pro was that the force landing feature was triggered so quickly in those particular drones. .

Anything that involved taxing the battery , high wind, extra weight could set it off.
Another reason why they need to change the Parameters of the forced landing on those drones in particular.

I have been hoping for the update so I can put out the Rescue Jackets or Floats for them but sadly it never came.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain, Land on the Water, and pray for Updates.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Disabling the forced landing safety feature simply changes the situation to an unpredictable forced crash risk. It's not like this hasn't happened.

Again disbelieve at your own risk: Batteries are not like gas tanks. "10%" doesn't mean you have 10% of the battery's capacity to fully use. Ambient temperature, age of the pack, number of cycles, and many other factors significantly impact getting those electrons out of the battery. You may in theory be able to do so, but the voltage drops too much during that last 5% (indicated), causing the drone to shut down.

 

[Droning on and on...]

One of the reason why I was not able to make a Rescue Jacket for the Mini 3 Pro and Mini 4 Pro was that the force landing feature was triggered so quickly in those particular drones. .

Anything that involved taxing the battery , high wind, extra weight could set it off.

Do you understand why that's happening? I makes the case to not disable forced landing!

The above happens because the extra load from wind, etc., is causing the voltage to drop so much that it appears the remaining charge is down to the FL level, when it isn't actually.

This problem gets worse as the battery is further depleted.

The system estimates State of Charge by the voltage on the pack. This is at best an estimate, with error bars getting bigger as it depletes.

Ignore FL and one of those wid gusts will turn the drone off, even when it could make it further.

I get the annoyance with FL. it's irrational. One should be annoyed with themselves for poor planning or judgement, not DJI for engineering safety into the system.

 

[Meta4]

for example if you drone is coming down between a group of people and a lake I should have the ability to make the decision to save the people and dump my drone in the lake,

You have that ability.
Have you ever tried moving the right stick on your controller?

Forced landing is just a stupid idea of DJI that we have to deal with . Its not about a properly trained pilot. When Helicopters have a forced landing and there happy about it , let me know ., lolll

Nonsense .. show me the pilot who would prefer their aircraft fell from the sky and crashed rather than landed normally ????

 

[Meta4]

I would imagine based on how many videos there are of people landing in the water, that DJI Makes some nice coin on this fail safe feature

You are imagining that all those imaginary drones are landing on water because of forced landings.
If they were it was down to poor operation and the flyer's fault.
But if you examined the flight data, you'd find very few were actually due to forced landings anyway.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

My phantom 4 Pro is still a fantastic drone and I have never had to worry about a forced landing , an given the choice , not many if any would raise there hand to sign up for the Forced Landing .

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain and Hoping for the Removal of the Forced Landing trigger.

 

[MS Coast]

My phantom 4 Pro is still a fantastic drone and I have never had to worry about a forced landing , an given the choice , not many if any would raise there hand to sign up for the Forced Landing .

I like having that feature in my drone. If I screw up and create a potentially dangerous situation, it's good to know that the drone won't free fall.

And again, it's not a forced landing. It's a graceful landing feature to ensure that the drone descends to the surface at a reasonable velocity rather than falling like a lump.

It's a logical and necessary safety feature that assures the drone will not become a free-falling object. It's there because operators cannot be depended upon to accomplish that.

The only way that it can be considered a forced landing is that it forces the drone to land safely when the operator hasn't planned the flight well and has flown the drone into a dangerous low-power situation.

 

[Meta4]

given the choice , not many if any would raise there hand to sign up for the Forced Landing .

How does one sign up for a forced landing?
You could:
Flying until the battery runs down too low
Launching in an NFZ before getting GPS location data that would prevent takeoff
Ignore wind and distance and flying to a point where return to home is not possible

 

[ryguy80]

Disabling the forced landing safety feature simply changes the situation to an unpredictable forced crash risk. It's not like this hasn't happened.

Again disbelieve at your own risk: Batteries are not like gas tanks. "10%" doesn't mean you have 10% of the battery's capacity to fully use. Ambient temperature, age of the pack, number of cycles, and many other factors significantly impact getting those electrons out of the battery. You may in theory be able to do so, but the voltage drops too much during that last 5% (indicated), causing the drone to shut down.

Absolutely. I don't understand all the discussion trying to squeeze every last bit of voltage out of the battery. For heaven's sake, common sense needs to prevail.

Ugghhh. I can't take any more of this thread for my own sanity. Peace out - unwatched.

 

[mj2019]

guys please put things in what we all agree, safety first and last ok
idont care for the drone or the battery when any thing is in danger, i ment to discuss this for only exclusive cases when we or i as a pilot get into trouble!!!
the aim is not squeezing the battery out
what guys here suggested like managing the critical landing is what i usually do , using a high left stick to fly out of the trouble if possible or lower the risk at least
i didnt say that the critical landing is always bad let me be honest with the regular or beginner pilot it maybe more safe, i only suggest it to be optional to edit for example when u go out on a boat and suddenly wind go mad!!!! dji warnings are still there at say 25% at 15% at 10% those warnings should go glowing its a very good reminder...

 

[GadgetGuy]

"10%" doesn't mean you have 10% of the battery's capacity to fully use. Ambient temperature, age of the pack, number of cycles, and many other factors significantly impact getting those electrons out of the battery. You may in theory be able to do so, but the voltage drops too much during that last 5% (indicated), causing the drone to shut down.

Actually 10% Remaining Battery with DJI batteries means you have MORE than 10% of the battery's capacity remaining. It still leaves over two minutes of flight time remaining, before it can no longer sustain flight, and the battery will not shut off until the voltage drops below 3.0V on one of the cells.

Your last sentence is simply not true. 0% Remaining Battery is not 0% battery and a shutoff. 0% Remaining Battery on DJI aircraft is still 3.5V per cell while in flight, proven by Air Data flight log analysis. The voltage drop from 5% to 0% is no faster than from 10% to 5%. Once below 0%, when it gets below 3.25V (around 2 minutes after the 0% Remaining Battery display), it does drop precipitously faster.