I Learned the Hard Way

[SatansApprentice]

I'm a novice. I was flying a DJI Mini 2 over a small bay at a distance of 3/4 mile. I ignored the low battery alert and flew a little longer since the drone always returned with plenty of battery life. I got a forced landing in the middle of the bay. That flushing sound was my $370 drone sinking to the bottom. Learnings:

1. Don't ignore the RTH alert. Live to fly another day.
2. Fly home as low as possible. It conserves battery life and delays the forced landing a bit. I had RTH set at 300'
3. Return to home over land, if possible. I could have veered the return 60 yards left or right and it would have stayed dry.
I immediately ordered a new Mini 2. Incredible piece of technology.
Live and learn.

 

[Droning on and on...]

The Intelligent Battery system is there for a reason, and other than factors like wind that it can't account for, it's become pretty good over many years of refinement.

Ignore at your peril.

However, should you, definitely DO NOT use RTH to come home. Assume you won't make it back, fly it yourself with full control, and be continuously flying a course over land that allows you to land somewhere safe and accessible when you're forced to.

BTW, was a victim of this too myself doing a range test with the MA1 along the coast. Was RTHing back, just 200m off shore because of the concave curvature of the shore. When it started forced landing I desperately tried to get it back to the beach while it was descending, didn't make it.

Had I been flying it back, I would have been over the beach the entire time.

 

[dmiles119]

A relatively cheap lesson, as long as it really was learned. Could have been much worse.

 

[MS Coast]

I'm a novice. I was flying a DJI Mini 2 over a small bay at a distance of 3/4 mile. I ignored the low battery alert and flew a little longer since the drone always returned with plenty of battery life. I got a forced landing in the middle of the bay. That flushing sound was my $370 drone sinking to the bottom. Learnings:

1. Don't ignore the RTH alert. Live to fly another day.
2. Fly home as low as possible. It conserves battery life and delays the forced landing a bit. I had RTH set at 300'
3. Return to home over land, if possible. I could have veered the return 60 yards left or right and it would have stayed dry.
I immediately ordered a new Mini 2. Incredible piece of technology.
Live and learn.
View attachment 153433

1. Don't ignore the RTH alert. >>>>>>> Don't ignore the battery meter.

Good on you for owning up to the error and getting back on the horse.

 

[maggior]

Yeah, when the "low battery return to home" alert comes up, I clear it and turn around and fly back on my own.

Something else you have to factor in is the wind direction. If you flew out with the wind, you may not have enough battery to come back against the wind even if you pay attention to the "low battery" alert. Wind speeds can be higher at higher elevations and/or over water.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

It happens to the seasons pilots as well..

Gear to fly your Mini 2 in the Rain and Float on the Water.
Phantomrain.org

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

I agree with 1) & 2) but there are some points concerning 3)

a) the RTH route is the straightest/shortest course, unless you have given up the idea of getting it home and are instead going for a remote but dry and safe landing then 'detouring' to RTH would waste battery.
b) I don't think you CAN actually push the Mini 2 off course during RTH flight home. If correct you wouldhave to cancel the RTH to detour.
If you want a confusing and perhaps self contradictory 'explanation', of "b)" have a look at the 1st section on page 16 of the manual. You can yaw the drone during the RTH flight home which can produce a nice panoramic flight home.

 

[mobilehomer]

One more thing to know, you can still fly after a "forced landing" alert. Give it up altitude and towards your home position. It will fly long after 0% battery shows.

 

[Meta4]

Learnings:
1. Don't ignore the RTH alert. Live to fly another day.
2. Fly home as low as possible. It conserves battery life and delays the forced landing a bit. I had RTH set at 300'
3. Return to home over land, if possible. I could have veered the return 60 yards left or right and it would have stayed dry.

Those are all good, but here's something else that should be top of the list.
Be aware of the actual wind speed and direction.
Consider how that will affect your flight home.

 

[CaptainRisky]

I'm new too, and have been using the RTH with intelligent takeoff, just because I've been amazed by the fact that it could find its way back from 4kms out and land itself on my cardboard box landing pad.

Wind speed and direction are definitely a factor, and I'm lucky to have access to thousands of acres of privately owned land to practice on, so I'm going to learn this thing well before venturing out over water.

I'm same as you mate. If mine dropped in the water I'd just get another straight away, totally hooked.

 

[Barbara]

Good on ya for owning it....sorry you lost the bird.

Your points are well taken, but I will reiterate, do your return to home as low as is safe, if returning against the wind, as wind velocity will always increase with altitude. If lying over water, I always set me RTH to "Return at current altitude".

My personal rule of thumb is to always try to return home with at least 20% battery, cause you just never know.

 

[PK&W Modelwerx]

Thanks for sharing this and letting us learn from your mistake!

 

[Droning on and on...]

One more thing to know, you can still fly after a "forced landing" alert. Give it up altitude and towards your home position. It will fly long after 0% battery shows.

My DJI drones don't work that way. Once it reaches the forced landing stage, it will not ascend. All I can do is slow the descent with the left stick, and maneuver horizontally with pitch/roll.

I speak with direct experience, several times.

Could you share the firmware version and model that you've been able to fly the way you describe? Nothing antagonistic... curious, as my experience has been different.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Those are all good, but here's something else that should be top of the list.
Be aware of the actual wind speed and direction.
Consider how that will affect your flight home.

And in light of this, simply don't fly that far away and push it auto RTH.

It's not worth the risk.

 

[Daytona500]

I always watch the flight time left as well as the RC bars. I keep my RTH set at 100ft this will clear anything around here, but not so hi as to waste battery getting there

 

[DSRT_VLTR]

When I fly my Mini 2, I always fly back at 30%-40% battery & avoid flying over water if at all possible. I also don't fly farther than 2000ft because I figure that's as far as I will hike to find it if it falls out of the sky. I also scout for power lines where I intend to fly with binoculars. Out of an abundance of caution I won't fly with ground winds gusting higher than 15mph because winds are much higher aloft. Finally, I consider any flight where I land my precious drone without damaging it to be a successful flight!

I'm a novice. I was flying a DJI Mini 2 over a small bay at a distance of 3/4 mile. I ignored the low battery alert and flew a little longer since the drone always returned with plenty of battery life. I got a forced landing in the middle of the bay. That flushing sound was my $370 drone sinking to the bottom. Learnings:

1. Don't ignore the RTH alert. Live to fly another day.
2. Fly home as low as possible. It conserves battery life and delays the forced landing a bit. I had RTH set at 300'
3. Return to home over land, if possible. I could have veered the return 60 yards left or right and it would have stayed dry.
I immediately ordered a new Mini 2. Incredible piece of technology.
Live and learn.
View attachment 153433

 

[macdog]

Good on ya for owning it....sorry you lost the bird.

Your points are well taken, but I will reiterate, do your return to home as low as is safe, if returning against the wind, as wind velocity will always increase with altitude. If lying over water, I always set me RTH to "Return at current altitude".

My personal rule of thumb is to always try to return home with at least 20% battery, cause you just never know.

This. I am a worry wart; I panic when the car fuel gauge is less than a quarter. I watch the battery strength on my Mini SE and am ready to return even before the warning comes on.

 

[koco2202]

Happened to me twice, but likely I was on a land and "find your drone", the most remarkable option helped me locate my drone precisely. Sorry for losing your drone.

 

[basyok]

My DJI drones don't work that way. Once it reaches the forced landing stage, it will not ascend. All I can do is slow the descent with the left stick, and maneuver horizontally with pitch/roll.

I speak with direct experience, several times.

Could you share the firmware version and model that you've been able to fly the way you describe? Nothing antagonistic... curious, as my experience has been different.

I can ascend with my Air 2 while it is in forced landing mode. I'd rather not, but I can if necessary. Firmware is old: 01.01.0610 so I don't know if it can be done with the current firmware.

 

[frcaloy]

I am a certified private pilot and I own a Cessna 150. There is a saying that all winds are headwinds.
Say you have to fly from point A to point B distant 120 knots from each other. If the average airspeed is 80 knots per hour, the trip is going to take 1 1/2 hours so 3 hours back and forth in windless conditions (which never happen).

Say there is a 15 knot headwind on one leg, making the average speed for that leg 65 knots, the travel time would be 1 be 51 minutes. You would think that the tailwind would cancel out the delay on the return home leg but that is not the case. The average speed on the return home would be 95 knots with a tailwind giving us a flight time of 1 hour 16 minutes. Total flight time is 3 hours 7 minutes. All winds are headwinds. The reason is that the headwind has MORE time to act AGAINST your aircraft and LESS time to act WITH your aircraft.

Glad that I did not learn that the hard way in a real world aircraft. The Cessna 150 has around 4 hours flying time and I am usually comfortable with a 1 hour fuel reserve for long queues in the traffic pattern or other reasons.

In the case of drones, I execute a return to home at 65% battery time but that's just me.