I lost air 2s at sea... after 12% battery drone was not responsive.

[The Admiral]

I just love this site. Not when pilots lose their drones :-(
But for the in depth data that comes from these incidents by the guys on here who have vast knowledge and input. It’s reassuring to know that for almost all of these sad incidents its almost always operator error. Fingers crossed when I get into trouble I will remember what to do and not panic! Thanks to the “gurus”

 

[bcfd29]

May I suggest you adopt a rule of thirds: one third battery power to destination, one third for return, one third for a reserve. This is a good safe rule of thumb for in the air (and under the water for divers) and it works...

Into the wind outbound, with the wind returning if at all possible.

A UAV, even a small one, is not like your phone and will not go to zero % power and have a happy ending.

 

[StantonZ]

BTW i just ordered air 2 (not s) with 400gb sd card.

I hope that (micro) SD card capacity is a typo, because certain devices have trouble reading cards > 64 Gb...and I'm not sure you really need that much capacity "in the air" at one time (not to mention the $).

 

[Smooth Rhythm]

Welcome to MavicPilots tascagdas and sorry to hear of your lost. Every time I read of misfortunes similar to yours, it pushes me to learn more. None of us are mistake proof! Hence, I try to understand and heed the advice of our exceptional flyers here, and I never disregard the commands of my drone.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

I hope that (micro) SD card capacity is a typo

a good 'question', if for no other reason than the specs say the limit is 256Gb

待补充

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www.dji.com

"Max Bitrate

• 120 Mbps

• Supported SD Cards​

• Supports a microSD with capacity of up to 256 GB

• Supported File Systems​

• FAT32 and exFAT"

 

[Trackerputnam]

I don’t let my drone go below 22% and that’s with it right above me. 12% and the outcome was clear! It’s not made for almost any wind. Especially over the water.

 

[tlswift58]

Truth is your story is about the worst I've heard, you almost had it in the pocket with a dying battery and you sent it back out over water with a dead one. Look at the feedback you are getting. There are many things that you did wrong that you can learn from if you are able to replace your drone. Just imagining the all messages you had to acknowledge and subsequently ignore to get to the point you did. Ouch.

No one here is happy for your loss, trust me. You are also not the first person to put one in the drink.

Water is not the only death on trying to return on an exceptionally low battery. When the first low battery level squawk comes - everyone should know it's time to come home and land - now, not later to get that last shot.

Even if flying over land at say 300 feet, a dead drop drone will shatter upon impact. Add some trees and you can watch the fall of death typically a pieces of the drone start breaking off.

Sadly we see these kinds of posts way too often by newbie pilots who should be watching drone videos (good ones - not the you can fly 5 miles out with your Air2) to learn the very basics. Way too many, hear like the drone can fly 5 miles out with no issues and battery lasts 30 minutes. Both are under exceptional flying conditions and not real world. They believe the "hype" and not the truth / reality. Seems he also had a bad perception on wind. That's why I and many others have apps like UAVForecast that will tell us wind speeds at altitude - say 250-300 ft which i way different that at ground level. Flying in a 20 knot wind and not watching battery life and how far you are out - 100% recipe for disaster - like we have here.

 

[PinpointUAVS]

May I suggest you adopt a rule of thirds: one third battery power to destination, one third for return, one third for a reserve. This is a good safe rule of thumb for in the air (and under the water for divers) and it works...

Into the wind outbound, with the wind returning if at all possible.

A UAV, even a small one, is not like your phone and will not go to zero % power and have a happy ending.

I like your concept. I take it a step further, personally, and factor 1/4 to destination, 1/4 for shooting, 1/4 to return to home point and 1/4 for reserve.

1/4 reserve is a hard rule for me, the time spent out and back will determine the actual time I can comfortably/safely spend shooting my POI

 

[Mike Mas]

Sry for your loss but this is 100% pilot error you should have landed to re-battery the machine when you reached the shore.

Ask yourself - why would you test the capacity of a battery when your over water?

Mike

 

[RUFFSTUFF]

Water is not the only death on trying to return on an exceptionally low battery. When the first low battery level squawk comes - everyone should know it's time to come home and land - now, not later to get that last shot.

Preach!

 

[Lastrexking]

This thread should be pinned for all new pilots to read. ?

 

[GFields]

So sorry for your loss. Hope you had insurance or DJI refresh.

 

[DOC LEMIEUX]

I bought my drone 3 weeks ago. i was really enjoying it. Today i lost it. I really didnt understant what happened... is there any one can explain me? There was wind but not too much it was like 25-30 kph

Here i share flight log:

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload and view flight logs from your DJI drones

www.phantomhelp.com

I tried so hard to go back it was 140 meter away from land but it didnt come back.

I jumped to sea and tried to find it. it was 700 meter away and 60 meters deep. and strong current with low visibilty (There is no way i can rescue it)

 

[DOC LEMIEUX]

At 12% battery Drain is very quick. Fighting a head drains quicker. Over water is tricky I keep min 30 ft. Waves and reflectin can cause a false landing.

 

[umanbean]

BTW i just ordered air 2 (not s) with 400gb sd card. that hurt too much. [im in hurry because next week my friend has wedding (and she expect droneshots) and after wedding (next weekend) me and gf have a plan to camp]

Next week? My friend, before you fly a wedding and potentially over people, you have a lot to learn and a short time to learn it!

Cool, use the time you have to learn everything you can. All the functions, warnings, auto-features, everything, and make sure you check and follow your local laws and regulations, whatever they may be in Turkey.

Think that's remotely possible by 'next week'? ?

I've spent the last 2 months studying to learn EVERYTHING I can about my new drone, still don't know it all...

 

[tascagdas]

Next week? My friend, before you fly a wedding and potentially over people, you have a lot to learn and a short time to learn it!

...

I have been flying drones for 4 years now (in fact i did several commercial flying for tv advertising) This was my 3rd dji drone. There is a problem about power went low.
Yes, I know i made a several mistakes. Wind was powerfull i was over water and i forced limits of battery.

BUT,​

at 30kph wind speed. with 12% battery. drone started to go BACKWARD when i push FORWARD. This is not a normal behaviour of drone for my experience. It turns out lipo batteries has very limited power output when voltage is low.

Please, don't treat me like i'm unconscious idiot.​

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

BUT,​

at 30kph wind speed. with 12% battery. drone started to go BACKWARD when i push FORWARD. This is not a normal behaviour of drone for my experience. It turns out lipo batteries has very limited power output when voltage is low.

While the Air 2 battery performs less than optimal when power is getting that low, the wind at your 175m RTH altitude as more like 46km/hr, and gusting to 55km/hr (post #8).

The MA2 recommended maximum wind speed is 8.5 to 10.5 m/s, which is 30 to 38km/hr, so if coming home nearer sea level you might have made it.

Hopefully lessons learned and the new drone will have a longer time with you.

 

[tascagdas]

...

And here the winds your craft faced up there ...

View attachment 133807
...

Here I add drone cache video.

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You can clearly see drone is drifting and cant resist to wind. And you can see waves to understand wind speed and direction. Wind was not 12.9 m/s it was like 8-10 m/s

 

[tascagdas]

While the Air 2 battery performs less than optimal when power is getting that low, the wind at your 175m RTH altitude as more like 46km/hr, and gusting to 55km/hr (post #8).

The MA2 recommended maximum wind speed is 8.5 to 10.5 m/s, which is 30 to 38km/hr, so if coming home nearer sea level you might have made it.

Hopefully lessons learned and the new drone will have a longer time with you.

As i mention on comment #38, wind was not that much high. if you are familiar with sea you can understand wind speed from waves.

 

[Meta4]

I have been flying drones for 4 years now ... There is a problem about power went low.

You didn't learn anything about flying with windy conditions in your 4 years.
The only problems were things that you caused.

at 30kph wind speed. with 12% battery. drone started to go BACKWARD when i push FORWARD. This is not a normal behaviour of drone for my experience. It turns out lipo batteries has very limited power output when voltage is low.

That's completely normal when the battery is down to critical low voltage and you ask it for full forward and full climb against a significant headwind.

Please, don't treat me like i'm unconscious idiot.​

You flew like a new flyer with very little understanding of what you were doing.