Several months back my bird took a bath after an automatic landing caused it to try landing on water. This happened, so I'm told, because the sensors were confused over calm very reflective water. Guess it wasn't my day as I had only turned the sensors on for that flight after reading that would keep the bird from dipping so much that the blades showed on the video. Becasue I launch and retrieve from a vessel, I had always flown with sensors off to make hand retrieval easier.
Lesson One is a good one because if properly washed, these Mavics can fly again after sinking in 7 m of seawater! How much longer is yet to be seen, but so far about a dozen flights and she still goes. Sssh, shouldn't blab too much about that and chance spoiling my good fortune.
Lesson Two is more important.
My bird was on a Litchi mission, when something went awry shortly after takeoff, and I heard "Mission Aborted" I think I've now figured what caused that, but at the time, flying over an expanse of saltwater, put a shiver up me spine and I pushed the controls to bring her home, only to find they didn't work as expected, so I initiated RTH. Battery levels were about 80%. That brought on the disastrous result and lesson One.
The important lesson came later when I approached Litchi for help and after several emails was told that their program doesn't actually fly the bird, but DJI software does the actually controlling. OK, I approached DJI and good a sympathetic reply pointing out that the manual notes that sensors over calm reflective water can cause it to auto land. They were right, and something all pilot flying over water should keep in mind. But I was troubled still by the "Mission aborted" and other matters so pushed my case and found out the second really important fact. DJI will not warrant a craft flown by Litchi! That's really important. Litchi does not record the flight records that DJI require when assessing a warranty claim. Maybe many of you already know this, but for those that do not, if choosing to fly with Litchi, you do it on your own. Mind, I really like the waypoint control by Litchi, so I still use it.
Hope that helps.
Rise of the Phoenix
Lesson One is a good one because if properly washed, these Mavics can fly again after sinking in 7 m of seawater! How much longer is yet to be seen, but so far about a dozen flights and she still goes. Sssh, shouldn't blab too much about that and chance spoiling my good fortune.
Lesson Two is more important.
My bird was on a Litchi mission, when something went awry shortly after takeoff, and I heard "Mission Aborted" I think I've now figured what caused that, but at the time, flying over an expanse of saltwater, put a shiver up me spine and I pushed the controls to bring her home, only to find they didn't work as expected, so I initiated RTH. Battery levels were about 80%. That brought on the disastrous result and lesson One.
The important lesson came later when I approached Litchi for help and after several emails was told that their program doesn't actually fly the bird, but DJI software does the actually controlling. OK, I approached DJI and good a sympathetic reply pointing out that the manual notes that sensors over calm reflective water can cause it to auto land. They were right, and something all pilot flying over water should keep in mind. But I was troubled still by the "Mission aborted" and other matters so pushed my case and found out the second really important fact. DJI will not warrant a craft flown by Litchi! That's really important. Litchi does not record the flight records that DJI require when assessing a warranty claim. Maybe many of you already know this, but for those that do not, if choosing to fly with Litchi, you do it on your own. Mind, I really like the waypoint control by Litchi, so I still use it.
Hope that helps.
Rise of the Phoenix