Is skating on ice the feeling of a flyaway?

[New England Droning]

I was in Vermont at a historical home (Chester A. Arthur, 21st pres) and I checked weather and sats and all seemed good or at least decent. I did the usual compass calibration and it seemed happy. I surveyed my route and noted obstacles and started my flight video. As you can see in the attached video I have a lot of surrounding trees for windbreaks and the wind was for the most part calm but the weather app said 3kts gust 12 or 13. I had flown and tested 15 gusting to 20/25 and the mini 2 was rock solid.

Well, I came around the near side of the house and had planned to go around the back but all of a sudden the mini started to head towards the house. I gained altitude, clearing the roofline but it kept sliding sideways into a tree at the side of the house. The mini preceded to tell me it was going to stay where it was and take a nap... 20-30 stick tosses netted me my drone back down to terra firma. I checked it over and other than a dirt smudge it seemed fine.
I did another flight and sent it up to 100, 200, and then 400 ft. It stayed in place rock solid again.

So my question is this, I'm assuming that this would be termed a flyaway that I've read about in the forum. (I'm no longer a virgin and have had my first flyaway) I'm posting my airdata link below and maybe an experienced pilot can confirm what went wrong. If this link to the airdate is the wrong thing to share, please let me know what else might help. The app says that my flight was too short to capture the controls so I can't tell if I was doing it or was it because of the weak GPS signal. I believe I waited long enough at the home point to get 10 sats but maybe that is not enough for solid station keeping?

[I just found the GPS data and it said from home point to the road I was at 10 sats minimum. But from along the road and back to the house I was in the green with a minimum of 15 sats so that doesn't really explain sliding on ice]


I don't know if the video will help at all but here is the first part of the flight with the after flight... Is there anything else I should have been thinking about?

 

[slup]

According to the log you applied left aileron stick input as shown in the picture (the whole red arrow path) below until just slightly before you crashed into the tree. You simply steered it into the tree yourself unfortunately ...

 

[Repaid1]

According to the log you applied left aileron stick input as shown in the picture (the whole red arrow path) below until just slightly before you crashed into the tree. You simply steered it into the tree yourself unfortunately ...

View attachment 127832

Another debunked "Fly Away"...great Job

 

[New England Droning]

According to the log you applied left aileron stick input as shown in the picture (the whole red arrow path) below until just slightly before you crashed into the tree. You simply steered it into the tree yourself unfortunately ...

View attachment 127832

it tells me one thing its easy to confuse the controllers and not realize that you are exerting force on the stick. By the time I could pick the drone out from the background of the trees, it was in the tree... I just put the orange skin back on... and practice, practice, practice... I didn't find the stick part in airdata... just found it under the HD player... thanks... It's not damaged so I live to fly another day...

 

[maggior]

You probably lost orientation and thought you were sending it away from the tree but were actually sending it into the tree. It is an easy mistake to make when starting out. I am a proponent of practicing with a small cheap drone and fly low around in an oval and then a figure 8. You will embed in your brain which stick does what no matter the orientation of the drone. And any mistakes are not costly It is a lot of fun too.

 

[New England Droning]

You probably lost orientation and thought you were sending it away from the tree but were actually sending it into the tree. It is an easy mistake to make when starting out. I am a proponent of practicing with a small cheap drone and fly low around in an oval and then a figure 8. You will embed in your brain which stick does what no matter the orientation of the drone. And any mistakes are not costly It is a lot of fun too.

Although airdata seems to have lost some of my flights (it shows 8 but I'm closer to 15) I tend to jump in with both feet. But I may try that exercise. I like doing a pass by an object but as pass it I rotate to try to keep the camera on the object I'm passing. It's not an easy maneuver but looks good when done right.
There are many things to remember.
The mini may be the cheapest out in the DJI family but I don't want to dump it in the ocean because that 5-600$ is still a chunk of cash. But better to crash it than a Air 2S or mavic 3...
I bought it to capture some really great fall foliage this New England fall and I need to keep practicing in order to get better...

 

[ATW]

There is a steep learning curve those first few flights.

Have you go into the advanced safety settings yet, and adjusted it to come home if you lose signal or battery gets low, and the altitude you want it to come home at?

 

[ATW]

By the way I have gotten carried away flying, lost track of the battery left, and had the controller tell me it was low and coming home. And i have also lost signal.

 

[New England Droning]

There is a steep learning curve those first few flights.

Have you go into the advanced safety settings yet, and adjusted it to come home if you lose signal or battery gets low, and the altitude you want it to come home at?

I had gotten those tips from one of the first 30-40 videos I watched. I then proceeded to lose signal over a pool of water and I was afraid I had gotten too low and a water monster ate it... but it was returning and it climbed far higher than it need to, to come back.

 

[Thomas B]

it tells me one thing its easy to confuse the controllers and not realize that you are exerting force on the stick. By the time I could pick the drone out from the background of the trees, it was in the tree... I just put the orange skin back on... and practice, practice, practice... I didn't find the stick part in airdata... just found it under the HD player... thanks... It's not damaged so I live to fly another day...

When things seem to go wrong, hovering until you have the drone and it’s orientation to surroundings clearly identified.

 

[AnzacJack]

I always tell my students that the first thing to do when stressed out or the drone not obeying what you think your telling it, fingers off the sticks and take a breath

 

[offtheback]

Hi-I may have asked before but have you ever photographed the mansions in Manchester,Beverly,and Gloucester?As always with a drone you can see things that are invisible from the road.Also the sandbars from Conomo Point Essex at low tide are beautiful.

 

[tlswift58]

Although airdata seems to have lost some of my flights (it shows 8 but I'm closer to 15) I tend to jump in with both feet. But I may try that exercise. I like doing a pass by an object but as pass it I rotate to try to keep the camera on the object I'm passing. It's not an easy maneuver but looks good when done right.
There are many things to remember.
The mini may be the cheapest out in the DJI family but I don't want to dump it in the ocean because that 5-600$ is still a chunk of cash. But better to crash it than a Air 2S or mavic 3...
I bought it to capture some really great fall foliage this New England fall and I need to keep practicing in order to get better...

Get the DJI Simulator and practice with it - no risk of losing a drone while practicing your skills.

 

[tlswift58]

I was in Vermont at a historical home (Chester A. Arthur, 21st pres) and I checked weather and sats and all seemed good or at least decent. I did the usual compass calibration and it seemed happy. I surveyed my route and noted obstacles and started my flight video. As you can see in the attached video I have a lot of surrounding trees for windbreaks and the wind was for the most part calm but the weather app said 3kts gust 12 or 13. I had flown and tested 15 gusting to 20/25 and the mini 2 was rock solid.

Well, I came around the near side of the house and had planned to go around the back but all of a sudden the mini started to head towards the house. I gained altitude, clearing the roofline but it kept sliding sideways into a tree at the side of the house. The mini preceded to tell me it was going to stay where it was and take a nap... 20-30 stick tosses netted me my drone back down to terra firma. I checked it over and other than a dirt smudge it seemed fine.
I did another flight and sent it up to 100, 200, and then 400 ft. It stayed in place rock solid again.

So my question is this, I'm assuming that this would be termed a flyaway that I've read about in the forum. (I'm no longer a virgin and have had my first flyaway) I'm posting my airdata link below and maybe an experienced pilot can confirm what went wrong. If this link to the airdate is the wrong thing to share, please let me know what else might help. The app says that my flight was too short to capture the controls so I can't tell if I was doing it or was it because of the weak GPS signal. I believe I waited long enough at the home point to get 10 sats but maybe that is not enough for solid station keeping?

[I just found the GPS data and it said from home point to the road I was at 10 sats minimum. But from along the road and back to the house I was in the green with a minimum of 15 sats so that doesn't really explain sliding on ice]


I don't know if the video will help at all but here is the first part of the flight with the after flight... Is there anything else I should have been thinking about?

What mode was the controller in? If in Normal / Sport - you have mere seconds to react, while with tripod / cinema - you add a couple of seconds (maybe) to it.

I "ALWAYS" fly in tripod / cinema with a lot of close obstacles around. No questions asked. Many reasons outside of obstacle issues - with that as getting nice video is harder in a confined environment in normal / sport. I also turned down the yaw gimbal settings in FlyApp to reduce those "inadvertent" stick movements to a somewhat minimum or ability to correct it before the "crash." The "short" sticks provided by DJI are sensitive and as many suggest here - buy some longer ones that make it a little less sensitive.

 

[New England Droning]

Get the DJI Simulator and practice with it - no risk of losing a drone while practicing your skills.

Well to be honest I probably have 20-30 hours of air time which will hopefully get longer... But I'm always going to be learning. Maybe I'll have this drone long enough to make it till my next one... Mavic 3 or maybe a 4... This is my trainer and to see what images I can get out of the little beast... If it gets me more views and more sales then onto a bigger drone... (but first I have to finish my 107... So I can do something with it...