Just got my Mavic Air two weeks ago; perfect until it flew away today and landed in ocean. I searched or hours by borrowing a kayak, no luck

[srodbour]

I was flying over land and it had GPS and was working fine with plenty of battery left and no interference or wind? It just literally lost connection, flew several hundred yards away right into the bay in Sanibel Island FL? I had tons of nice shots and it's gone. I just bought it and bought DJI Care. I wanted to find it so I could get it replaced but no luck. Any way to tell what happened and why it malfunctioned or it I did something wrong? I didn't panic, I just lost control and was gone? Can any one help? -Shane

 

[sar104]

You need to post the txt flight log:

TXT log: DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

 

[Possums]

You need to post the txt flight log:

TXT log: DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Popcorn & Cokes

 

[Bigbird48]

waiting for logs hmmmmm

 

[Serr8ededge]

Yes unfortunately, they don't float.... only chance of recovery would probably be to hire a diver. Or, you could buy one of those submersible drones! They are a little spendy though!

 

[dannybgoode]

Yes unfortunately, they don't float.... only chance of recovery would probably be to hire a diver. Or, you could buy one of those submersible drones! They are a little spendy though!View attachment 81322

Do you get swim aways with those

 

[srodbour]

Here are my flight logs from yesterday. I can see on my phone the last flight, it takes off, over the road and into the water. It shows flight time 1:44, 346.4 m, 07/09/2019 19:32:06 is the last one

 

[sar104]

Here are my flight logs from yesterday. I can see on my phone the last flight, it takes off, over the road and into the water. It shows flight time 1:44, 346.4 m, 07/09/2019 19:32:06 is the last one

It looks like there was a compass/IMU disagreement during the flight, starting at around 50 seconds, probably caused by an IMU problem. The following errors were reported, and note how the inertial and GPS-based tracks diverge:

IMU attitude error. Please check that the IMU is mounted properly.​

IMU heading error. Please try flying forward and backward or land as soon as possible to calibrate the compass.​

That led to some flight control stability problems. It didn't lose connection at all - uplink and downlink were solid. You only made very cursory and rapid stick inputs to try to control the aircraft, which it did respond to. And then at 82.3 seconds you selected "Auto land" in the app, which it dutifully did.

It might be worth pointing out the IMU errors to DJI - they might be willing to cover it as a warranty issue even though it was still flyable. User auto land in the water is going to take some explaining to them though.

 

[Rogat19]

Yes unfortunately, they don't float.... only chance of recovery would probably be to hire a diver. Or, you could buy one of those submersible drones! They are a little spendy though!View attachment 81322

Ohhh I like that!

 

[DanMan32]

Key takeaway: do not panic when flight control errors occur, especially if you have significant height where collision is less likely. Take your time, use your map and camera to try and navigate your way back.

Also be sure it says it has GPS and home point set. Yesterday my M2 took quite some time, like a minute or two on power up to get GPS lock. I didn't dare take off until it positively showed GPS mode and not just vision mode.

My P3 developed weird navigation issues well into a flight. Camera view had me think my gimbal flipped out, but seconds later went into Atti mode and I think just before that compass error. Sure it's harder to fly in atti but with tools at my disposal, I was confident I could bring it home.
Problem cleared up within a minute so I didn't have too much of a test.

 

[Drone-Retriever]

I was flying over land and it had GPS and was working fine with plenty of battery left and no interference or wind? It just literally lost connection, flew several hundred yards away right into the bay in Sanibel Island FL? I had tons of nice shots and it's gone. I just bought it and bought DJI Care. I wanted to find it so I could get it replaced but no luck. Any way to tell what happened and why it malfunctioned or it I did something wrong? I didn't panic, I just lost control and was gone? Can any one help? -Shane

Srodbour,
If you get a replacement take a look at www.drone-retriever.com it would have saved your drone.

 

[Bigbird48]

Srodbour,
If you get a replacement take a look at www.drone-retriever.com it would have saved your drone.

I notice the demos in water the props were not spinning. Looks like a possibility of the props slicing the bag and your drone sinks anyway.

 

[dirkclod]

I notice the demos in water the props were not spinning. Looks like a possibility of the props slicing the bag and your drone sinks anyway.

You think the props would be spinning if it was in the water ?

 

[Bigbird48]

absolutely watch my crash into the water posted here a couple times.

 

[Drone-Retriever]

I notice the demos in water the props were not spinning. Looks like a possibility of the props slicing the bag and your drone sinks anyway.
[/QUOT
Bigbird48,
Most drones will terminate propeller power in the event they pitch. The cutoff angle is typically 35 to 45 degrees.
During testing we crashed a Mavic and a Phantom twice into a pond and twice into ocean surf. No issues with deployment. Drone was flying and upon contact every time the drone appeared to flip over. Our unit deploys within 5 seconds of immersion into the water.
As for your comment we never tested a flat vertical landing with no horizontal movement into water. That said if the props continued to spin the drone would begin to sink and the props along with the whole drone would have to be below water in order for the Drone-Retriever.com product to activate. We expect that the props would be loaded down due to water resistance and not be spinning very fast or be extended. Additionally since the drone and its props were below water the airbag would be deployed above the drone and not make any contact with the props. Finally our air bag is not a balloon it is an internally coated nylon rip-stop material that is similar to that found in backpacks. We believe it will not tear if it makes contact with a prop but have not seen the need to test it due to the way it deploys.
Hope this helps.