In the event of X, do Y AND/OR Z

Montypaks · Nov 24, 2017

Hi,

So we keep hearing horror stories of some of us loosing or crashing our Mavics.. This is usually caused by not being prepared enough for all eventualities.

I'll like this thread to cover as many scenarios as possible so if any of it happens, we will know the best line of actions to take to minimize or prevent a crash or actual loss.

Now I'll start but please contribute and correct me if I'm wrong.

For the benefit of ease of Navigation, I'll keep updating the next post with the suggested new ideas given for a particular scenario... Thanks

Safe flying

Montypaks · Nov 24, 2017

***** Reserved for Scenarios and Solutions - updated 19/12/17 *****

X: Magnetic interference message on remote if within 500ft

Y:
_____

X: Magnetic interference message on remote when flying beyond 500ft

Y:
_____

X: Compass redundancy error message

Y:
_____

X: GPS signal loss (atti mode)

Y: climb if safe to do so... Use the remote telemetry to guide your drone back home
_____

X: Head wind on return flight

Y: reduce altitude, switch to sports mode to help fight the wind, Be mindful of obstacles (trees, cables, towers...) flying at low altitude in sports mode.
_____

X: low battery and still a long way out

Y: point camera down and start looking for a safe place to land; take pictures (NOT Video) of the ground and surrounding areas for reference
_____

X: Bird(s) attacking

Y: switch to sports mode and climb... Attempt to "attack" or "chase" the bird away... If that doesn't work, land
_____

X: Mavic in high winds, App has crashed so no display, beyond LOS, You've lost orientation

Y: Activate RTH on controller and watch telemetry till Mavic is at rth altitude! Then Wait a few seconds for the Mavic to orientate itself facing home, then cancel rth, switch to sports mode, reduce altitude and fly forwards! Horizontal distance should start reducing. (unless you're in 40+mph winds)

Remember optical avoidance is disabled in sports mode when reducing height
_____

X: Controller disconnect

Y: Mavic should respond according to your settings; Power cycle the controller
_____

X: App disconnect/Crash

Y: remove and reinsert USB cable; Power cycle your phone/tablet; Activate RTH on controller; use telemetry on controller to guide the drone back
_____

X: Way point mission or a flight mode going wrong

Y: Hit the pause button; switch to sports mode and back to p mode to cancel the mission
_____

X: Need to bring the drone back in a hurry for any reason e.g Sudden Rain

Y: Switch to sports mode and fly the drone back; use the homelock function; RTH may be too slow depending on the scenario
_____

Kilrah · Nov 24, 2017

Nice, but you would need to write an entire book to list all the combinations, and then nobody would be able to remember it for when required.

The right way is to understand the workings of the systems so that you can derive the correct thing to do in a situation based on that.

Montypaks · Nov 24, 2017

Which is why I'll try and keep the scenarios a bit general /catchall. I don't think it'll be that much. Plus reading the suggestions will improve everyone's understanding of the system. When drone veterans with over 500 flight hours are loosing their drones, one can never be too careful

+ Less chance of a panic if find any of this happen to you

Aerial-Pixel · Nov 24, 2017

Excellent start! Thanks for sharing!

Nickvr628 · Nov 24, 2017

I learned this yesterday:

I was bringing my drone back from taking some footage, it was about 20 feet away from me, and some raindrops start to come down (It was overcast and had rained earlier, but I really wanted some quick shots of a cruise ship going by).

DO NOT hit the return to home button. It will slowly ascend to the RTH altitude, fly over to you, and slowly descend. Also, do not try to hand catch it, as the altitude sensor will make it pop up higher.

INSTEAD just stay calm, and hold the descend controls and have it land in a safe spot, then scoop it up.

Also, be conscious of the weather when you fly. You do not want to lose your drone to water damage!

Montypaks · Dec 19, 2017

Updated ***

Mossiback · Dec 19, 2017

Montypaks said:
***** Reserved for Scenarios and Solutions - updated 19/12/17 *****

X: Mavic in high winds, App has crashed so no display, beyond LOS, You've lost orientation

Y: Hit RTH on controller and watch telemetry till Mavic is at rth altitude! Then Wait a few seconds for the Mavic to orientate itself facing home, then cancel rth, switch to sports mode, reduce altitude and fly forwards! Horizontal distance should start reducing. (unless you're in 40+mph winds)
_____

Be careful about reducing altitude without video in sports mode. You will have no forward collision sensors.

Montypaks said:
X: Controller disconnect

Y: Mavic should respond according to your settings; Power cycle the controller
_____

Please correct me if I am wrong, but the only reason I have heard for a controller disconnect is going out of range. If the Mavic is set to RTH you should get a reconnect when/if it comes back within range. Power cycling the controller suggests that the disconnect was caused by a controller problem that is corrected by recycling the power. I hope that is not true.

Montypaks said:
X: App disconnect/Crash

Y: remove and reinsert USB cable; hit return to home on controller; use telemetry on controller to bring the bird back
_____

You might include power cycling the phone/tablet. Go 4 used to crash on my Samsung Tab A and a power cycle was the only way to get it going again. Has not been necessary on 4.1.15.

Qoncussion · Dec 19, 2017

This thread is a nice idea... I would change any references that currently reads, "Hit RTH" to, "Hold down RTH until it initiates." I've seen many noob posts stating that, "I *hit* RTH but nothing happened!"

MavicCF · Dec 19, 2017

Mossiback said:
Be careful about reducing altitude without video in sports mode. You will have no forward collision sensors.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but the only reason I have heard for a controller disconnect is going out of range. If the Mavic is set to RTH you should get a reconnect when/if it comes back within range. Power cycling the controller suggests that the disconnect was caused by a controller problem that is corrected by recycling the power. I hope that is not true.

You might include power cycling the phone/tablet. Go 4 used to crash on my Samsung Tab A and a power cycle was the only way to get it going again. Has not been necessary on 4.1.15.

I have has (and heard of) the Mavic losing connection when only feet away. I think it was some weird glitch as it only happened to me once. Power cycle like you stated fixed it and reconnected. -CF

Xtreme Drone Pilot · Dec 19, 2017

Montypaks said:
switch to sports mode to help fight the wind, use the home lock feature

I thought all other flight modes are unavailable in Sport mode? (the "robot" icon even disappears from screen)

Qoncussion · Dec 19, 2017

Xtreme Drone Pilot said:
I thought all other flight modes are unavailable in Sport mode? (the "robot" icon even disappears from screen)

I thought that switching to sports mode would kill any intelligent flight modes. The other day when Go4 crashed in the middle of Active Track on my Huawei Ascend XT2, I flipped to Sport Mode, but the Mavic kept tracking me. I had to reboot the app to kill Active Track. I was able to confirm that Active Track was still active, when the app reloaded, and came up in Active Track mode. We learn something new every day...

Xtreme Drone Pilot · Dec 19, 2017

Qoncussion said:
I thought that switching to sports mode would kill any intelligent flight modes. The other day when Go4 crashed in the middle of Active Track on my Huawei Ascend XT2, I flipped to Sport Mode, but the Mavic kept tracking me. I had to reboot the app to kill Active Track. I was able to confirm that Active Track was still active, when the app reloaded, and came up in Active Track mode. We learn something new every day...

Wow, good to know!