Just Crashed my Mavic 3 Into the Ocean

[DTM-Ire]

I’m so sorry to hear this. I can imagine how it might have felt when it happened. I wish you all the best of luck in whatever method, from all the suggestions made, that you use.

 

[Zbip57]

I once crashed my Phantom 3 Pro into a river. Fresh water luckily, not salt. My own fault, flying sideways, watching the monitor instead of the drone, and tangled with an overhanging branch. It took me a little while to find it because it had been tumbled downstream by the current. The battery died instantly. But after letting it sit for a couple of days with a fan blowing air through it, it started right up with a new battery! Yippee!

But then I noticed the camera lens start fogging up inside. Oh-oh. So I unscrewed the backing plate off the camera and let the fan blow air into there for a few hours, and the Phantom has flown perfectly fine ever since for the last ten years.

Fogged lens:

 

[Army Vet]

I was in the Telecommunications industry my entire life. When we had a flood. Water, salt water or sewage. Within less than 24 hours. We literally hosed down everything with tap water. Blew it dry with leaf blowers. That's it. Everything always worked.
YMMV. GOOD LUCK.

 

[tonyack]

My tip to myself and to others is "stay high man" especially over water go up to 120 m immediately and zoom in on what you want .
If something goes wrong you have time to hit the pause button applies to my fpv drone too trying flips and rolls the higher the better as we have more time to bail

unless I was say flying the avata round the garden and through the house and trees we I can easily find it...saludos from Spain
Drones can also be waterproofed especially fpv home built ones

Well I am pretty sure the zoomed in shots from 120m look vastly different and many times unusable for the project than those 5m above water. Sometimes you just have to take a risk and never allow friends to fly drones where controls are not standard.

 

[cneedelman]

You need to remove the battery and rinse the salt water out of it immediately with distilled water. Then set it somewhere with a fan blowing through it for several days. Put a new battery in it and cross your fingers.

The battery on my P4p had a sensor, that when it got wet, would render the battery useless. I don't know for sure if they continued that in newer drones. After the P4p dunk in the water, I sent it to a repair guy in CA, Mike Holt,
530-277-5366 who rebuilt it for $750. That was in 2018, I don't know if he's still in business. Good Luck.

 

[luke203371]

New to this site…Need some help.

I fly about 80% over water both lake and ocean.

DO not plan on landing on water.

Just upgraded to mini 4 pro.

Only fly with Plus battery.

Is there a device that will allow recovery for a water crash needed for insurance claim.

Is there a device out there….

 

[Bad Santa]

New to this site…Need some help.

I fly about 80% over water both lake and ocean.

DO not plan on landing on water.

Just upgraded to mini 4 pro.

Only fly with Plus battery.

Is there a device that will allow recovery for a water crash needed for insurance claim.

Is there a device out there….

A piece of styrofoam would keep the drone from sinking. Since the drones don't fly via aerodynamics, the foam won't impact the flying much. Just make sure your sensors are still able to see.

 

[Zbip57]

Is there a device that will allow recovery for a water crash needed for insurance claim.

Check out GetterBack. www.getterback.com

It activates in deeper than 6ft water, i.e. not affected by rain or splashing, and pops a bright yellow float up to the surface, tethered by a 100ft fishing line.

The limitation is, you might still lose your drone if it drops into less than 6ft of muddy water, or if it's more than 100ft deep, longer than the fishing line tether.

 

[TonyPHX]

I was in the Telecommunications industry my entire life. When we had a flood. Water, salt water or sewage. Within less than 24 hours. We literally hosed down everything with tap water. Blew it dry with leaf blowers. That's it. Everything always worked.
YMMV. GOOD LUCK.

That sounds like a Verizon story if I ever heard one. : )

 

[Army Vet]

That sounds like a Verizon story if I ever heard one. : )

Close haha. AT&T. MCI. IT&T. Cable and Wireless. Somehow missed Verizon.

 

[TonyPHX]

Close haha. AT&T. MCI. IT&T. Cable and Wireless. Somehow missed Verizon.

lol true enough. I was MCI. Now Verizon.

 

[99Reagan01]

Hey for insight into drones and water events check out drone-retriever.com

 

[jwilson]

I have been a member of this forum for some time but have yet to post anything or report any incidents. I've owned my Mavic 3 for some time now and had no crashes. I was out over the water at a sandbar filming some people in the water (you can see me with the handheld camera in the water.) My brother was the one flying the drone, (pictured on the boat on the right) we are a team of 3 videographers, our other videographer uses different control method which caused my brother to get disoriented, panic and fly my drone into the outriggers (which were not in use) of a fishing boat a couple feet away (seen on the left). The drone was submerged for less than 10 seconds and we quickly pulled it out of the water and dried it off. Its currently sitting in rice and praying that I dont have to fork over 1000$ / 2000$ for a new drone as I do not have DJI Care on this one.

I was able to recover all the footage apart from the clip that was recording at the time of the crash.

Attached is a screenshot of a video taken 5 minutes prior.

Any thoughts?


View attachment 180545

My mavic pro platinum crashed in the ocean when it's battery came off in flight. It was in shallow water, so some kids found it. I immediately washed it off with fresh bottled water. Then I dried it out in a sealed plastic box with rice in. I did get it to fly again, but the camera/gimbal was broken. I put a replacement camera/gimbal on, but it didn't work. So I gave up on it.