I killed my Mavic Air

[qiqwuefbliqj]

I've recently gone through a very similar Mavic Air sinking as yours...

Was flying over a lake. All good with GPS before takeoff, and decent WiFi signal. Yes - I was flying out of view and did lose signal, and I couldn't get 'er back. Completely my fault. RTH kicked in, elevated, and flew a straight line back to me, directly hitting a tree and crashing into the lake.

It was close to being dark outside and would need a boat or kayak to get to the crash site. I could see the last GPS location and it was off private property. I came back very early the next morning in a Jon boat. Was able to find the MA quickly. It was submerged in about 2' of lake water (overnight).

Went home, disassembled as much as I could. Sprayed everything down with electronics cleaner, and let it dry for a few days. Did end up putting some pieces in a large bag of rice. Reassembled everything, and to my surprise, this thing powered right up. Now, it immediately had all sorts of sensor errors in the DJI Go app. Very well could be from me not taking it apart, or putting it back together properly. Regardless, for others who are better at this, there is a sliver of hope to bringing a MA back to life.

I sent it to DJI to get their quote to repair. They quoted me $565 USD on May 10. Said it would be for a replacement aircraft - "Please be advised that the quotation is for a replacement aircraft. you will get a replacement drone that is either new or equivalent to new in performance and reliability, and reaches the manufacturing standards of a new drone."

Out of curiosity, I asked their CS about the RTH function and if it was supposed to re-tarce it's flight path back to me, or fly a straight line. Didn't directly answer, but asked that I send my flight logs. Submitted those on June 12th. I have not heard back from them since. I have sent several follow up emails with no reply.

 

[Patmaherjfm]

A lake is one thing, salt Water is another. I would would still try.... RTH I believe you have to set the RTH height. Scary how many people are flying these things without understanding how they work, lucky it was a tree and not a person.

It would fly a straight line back, imagine the batt was gonna die, would it make sence to retrace the flight ?

 

[z28lt1]

A lake is one thing, salt Water is another. I would would still try.... RTH I believe you have to set the RTH height. Scary how many people are flying these things without understanding how they work, lucky it was a tree and not a person.

It would fly a straight line back, imagine the batt was gonna die, would it make sence to retrace the flight ?

In failsafe RTH, in the event of a disconnect like @Bradsnw, it will retrace it's path for 60 seconds awaiting a reconnect. If it still doesn't reconnect, it will then fly straight to the home point. That is different than a low battery RTH.

 

[mad monkey]

In rth mode it will still keep the apas set sors running. Unless you've turned those off. It should not have clipped the tree otherwise. Wires are common tho. Small surface area

 

[Ray Hasan]

I've recently gone through a very similar Mavic Air sinking as yours...

Was flying over a lake. All good with GPS before takeoff, and decent WiFi signal. Yes - I was flying out of view and did lose signal, and I couldn't get 'er back. Completely my fault. RTH kicked in, elevated, and flew a straight line back to me, directly hitting a tree and crashing into the lake.

It was close to being dark outside and would need a boat or kayak to get to the crash site. I could see the last GPS location and it was off private property. I came back very early the next morning in a Jon boat. Was able to find the MA quickly. It was submerged in about 2' of lake water (overnight).

Went home, disassembled as much as I could. Sprayed everything down with electronics cleaner, and let it dry for a few days. Did end up putting some pieces in a large bag of rice. Reassembled everything, and to my surprise, this thing powered right up. Now, it immediately had all sorts of sensor errors in the DJI Go app. Very well could be from me not taking it apart, or putting it back together properly. Regardless, for others who are better at this, there is a sliver of hope to bringing a MA back to life.

I sent it to DJI to get their quote to repair. They quoted me $565 USD on May 10. Said it would be for a replacement aircraft - "Please be advised that the quotation is for a replacement aircraft. you will get a replacement drone that is either new or equivalent to new in performance and reliability, and reaches the manufacturing standards of a new drone."

Out of curiosity, I asked their CS about the RTH function and if it was supposed to re-tarce it's flight path back to me, or fly a straight line. Didn't directly answer, but asked that I send my flight logs. Submitted those on June 12th. I have not heard back from them since. I have sent several follow up emails with no reply.

I’m sorry for your loss. I know the feeling only too well. I have been reflecting on this event for a while now and have started to wonder about the risk vs reward elements of ownership.

Will keep you posted on my repair saga once i’ve Settled up with DJI

 

[Patmaherjfm]

In failsafe RTH, in the event of a disconnect like @Bradsnw, it will retrace it's path for 60 seconds awaiting a reconnect. If it still doesn't reconnect, it will then fly straight to the home point. That is different than a low battery RTH.

Really, I don't know, I'll take your word for it, seems strange it could fly further away before it returns

 

[plainman007]

Really, I don't know, I'll take your word for it, seems strange it could fly further away before it returns

He didnt say it would fly further away. He said it would retrace its path. Meaning coming back the way it flew to see if it could reconnect with your RC. If it cant, then it will start return to home in a straight line from wherever it is after retracing is what he says.

 

[Patmaherjfm]

Retrace as in go BACK the way you came, so if if came from further away, it would go further away for 60 seconds. I did say could, and I guess it sort of makes sence, to regain connection.

 

[z28lt1]

Don't take my word for it, it's right in the manual.

In theory, if it had a connection to the remote before, flying back to where it had a connection should be the best way to get signal back (in case you went behind an object blocking the signal). And will also hopefully help it avoid any object blocking the signal.

 

[ruggb]

Rice Does Work - However, What it does is to help dry up the water. Now, the problem is water isn't water if it has other things in it like salt or sugar. It may be counter intuitive, but the first thing you do if you recover your drone from salt water is remove the batter, then submerge it in REAL water. Rinse it out good. If the salt dries inside, mass corrosion follows. Then put it in a warm place for days, in a rice bag if you want but I prefer heat and a breeze. You might try the top shelf of a dishwasher on dry cycle, or an oven at its lowest setting. Caution, some ovens don't go low enough. I would say 100-120°F is as high as you want to go, It must be totally dry b4 putting a battery into it.