Loss connection then plummeted into river

[Kale1986]

So I was flying my mavic on a pretty routine flight. Just getting a sunset shot over the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette rivers when about 6 minutes into the flight I got a connection error. I tried to reconnect and the Android app crashed, then I restarted the app and it could only connect to the controller. I lost video the same time the controller lost connection. I could still see the drone hovering over the river about 40 feet from the shore. It was probably at 320 feet elevation and then it started falling, looked like it was trying to land but on the water? Battery was fully charged when I started. Total flight time wasn't longer than 8 minutes and lost connection about 6 minutes into flight. Anyway. I'm pissed I just lost my thousand dollars but trying to figure out what happened. Should I buy another mavic or go to a different brand?

 

[geigy]

Very sorry to hear this. Upload your flight log. In some cases DJI will recognize a failure and cover you under warranty. I would buy another one. If you can get help from a boat owner or diver you may be able to recover your Mavic, dry it off, and fly it. It's been done a number of times.

 

[msinger]

Please upload your TXT flight log here and post a link back here. You'll find instructions for locating your TXT flight log at that link.

 

[jamesw]

So I was flying my mavic on a pretty routine flight. Just getting a sunset shot over the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette rivers when about 6 minutes into the flight I got a connection error. I tried to reconnect and the Android app crashed, then I restarted the app and it could only connect to the controller. I lost video the same time the controller lost connection. I could still see the drone hovering over the river about 40 feet from the shore. It was probably at 320 feet elevation and then it started falling, looked like it was trying to land but on the water? Battery was fully charged when I started. Total flight time wasn't longer than 8 minutes and lost connection about 6 minutes into flight. Anyway. I'm pissed I just lost my thousand dollars but trying to figure out what happened. Should I buy another mavic or go to a different brand?

Why didn't it RTH when you lost connection to the controller? Either manual RTH or automatically?

 

[Cyberpower678]

Why didn't it RTH when you lost connection to the controller? Either manual RTH or automatically?

Why would you ask the OP that question when they're asking us for clarification on what happened?

 

[BigBoozer]

Just got a similar problem two hours ago: at the end of a very plain flight in the park I was ready to land the drone, with battery level around 18% and plenty of RC battery. The drone was hovering at 2 meters high, 2 meters in front of me. All of a sudden it goes up and back, hits the branch of a nearby tree and falls in a stream of freshwater, 30 cm high. Propellers keep running until I succeed in getting into the water and take it off, then they stop. Shake off most of the water, take battery away, run home as quick as I can, put the drone under hairdryer, dismount the bottom, dry it inside as much as it is exposed. Try to reconnect a fresh battery, beeps and signals are existing, but the gimbal won't do its routine checks and it releases some white smoke. Disassembled and put it under one kilogram of dry rice, hoping it helps drying the system.
Any hint on the reasons for that sudden high-back movement while I was trying to bring it forward and down to land in front of me?
Any hope to get it fixed for free by DJI? This drone is ONE WEEK OLD, dammit...
Thanks,folks.

 

[BigBoozer]

Just to add facts to my previous report: the DJI Go 4 app was updated last night, it seems. Today it failed to recognize the drone. Then it showed me the video capture but kept saying that the drone was disconnected. Then it started (of course while I was flying) to warn me about some restricted area in which I would be flying under my responsibility etc. etc. Just tapped on "Confirm" to stop it bothering me while I was flying, and a few minutes later the accident happened.
The area in which I was flying is absolutely NOT restricted, I have flown and filmed there in the past days without a trace of warning. What the heck is going on with this App?? Anyway, I was flying the drone from the RC, not from the smartphone, and signal was hyper-strong (2 meters away, I mean...)

 

[Cyberpower678]

Just to add facts to my previous report: the DJI Go 4 app was updated last night, it seems. Today it failed to recognize the drone. Then it showed me the video capture but kept saying that the drone was disconnected. Then it started (of course while I was flying) to warn me about some restricted area in which I would be flying under my responsibility etc. etc. Just tapped on "Confirm" to stop it bothering me while I was flying, and a few minutes later the accident happened.
The area in which I was flying is absolutely NOT restricted, I have flown and filmed there in the past days without a trace of warning. What the heck is going on with this App?? Anyway, I was flying the drone from the RC, not from the smartphone, and signal was hyper-strong (2 meters away, I mean...)

You need to upload your flight log as well.

 

[BigBoozer]

Where can I find it, please?

 

[Cyberpower678]

Where can I find it, please?

Check post #3 above.

 

[nomad33fw]

This won't help the OP but I originally bought an LG tab to use with my MP. After the app crashed mid flight I went to an iPad instead and haven't had a crash problem since.

Also, even when my app crashed I was still able to fly the MP home manually without the app working. Is the app now required to fly now?

 

[Cyberpower678]

This won't help the OP but I originally bought an LG tab to use with my MP. After the app crashed mid flight I went to an iPad instead and haven't had a crash problem since.

Also, even when my app crashed I was still able to fly the MP home manually without the app working. Is the app now required to fly now?

Yes it is. At least to release the flight restrictions. You can disconnect after that.

 

[geigy]

Sounds like a GPS glitch is a possibility here. There is a common scenario where the Mavic takes off with an inaccurate GPS location, then locks on to a more accurate (or less accurate) GPS loc. The Mavic will try to go to where it thinks it should be - resulting in a fly-away.

I suppose the same thing could happen in reverse, when you attempt to land in a spot with poor GPS signal and/or reflections from nearby buildings and such. The Mavic could detect an apparent position error, and try to move to where it thought it should be, resulting in unpredictable horizontal motion.

 

[geigy]

Why didn't it RTH when you lost connection to the controller? Either manual RTH or automatically?

Two different connections are in play here, phone to remote and remote to Mavic.

The Mavic has no idea whether the app is connected to the remote. It just cares whether the remote is connected to the Mavic.

 

[Robbyg]

Why didn't it RTH when you lost connection to the controller? Either manual RTH or automatically?

There have been several posts that mention NFZ warnings then suddenly the drone starts to descend. I am wondering if DJI has blocked the RTH if you have an NFZ flag warning.

People have asked the question "Why does the drone Land or randomly fly away when it hits an NFZ instead of just doing an RTH?" The simple truth might be that if the drone initiates an RTH and ascends into the path of a plane it could be seen as DJI fault since their software was in control at the time of the accident. DJI has really dug themselves into a rather deep hole by becoming the Drone Police instead of just a drone manufacturer.

Rob

 

[RavenTBK]

Why didn't it RTH when you lost connection to the controller? Either manual RTH or automatically?

Maybe his situation was similar to mine?

Fresh out of the box, preparing for first flight, I noticed the option was factory defaulted to Hover when RC disconnected. I had to manually select it to RTH on disconnect in Go4.

 

[jamesw]

There have been several posts that mention NFZ warnings then suddenly the drone starts to descend. I am wondering if DJI has blocked the RTH if you have an NFZ flag warning.

People have asked the question "Why does the drone Land or randomly fly away when it hits an NFZ instead of just doing an RTH?" The simple truth might be that if the drone initiates an RTH and ascends into the path of a plane it could be seen as DJI fault since their software was in control at the time of the accident. DJI has really dug themselves into a rather deep hole by becoming the Drone Police instead of just a drone manufacturer.

Rob

I really hope this is not the case. I know it may not be possible but MAVIC really should navigate around the NFZ when in RTH.

If the Mavic has the ability to "wander" into a NFZ then it should be able to navigate out of it in RTH.

 

[jamesw]

Two different connections are in play here, phone to remote and remote to Mavic.

The Mavic has no idea whether the app is connected to the remote. It just cares whether the remote is connected to the Mavic.

Thanks for your input. I realize that there are 2 different connections. Let me clarify my question: If the RC disconnects from the App for an extended period of time, does it automatically initiate RTH?

If it doesn't, perhaps it should?

Or, the RC could prompt you to manually initiate RTH when there is a loss of connection.

 

[Johnmcl7]

Thanks for your input. I realize that there are 2 different connections. Let me clarify my question: If the RC disconnects from the App for an extended period of time, does it automatically initiate RTH?

If it doesn't, perhaps it should?

Or, the RC could prompt you to manually initiate RTH when there is a loss of connection.

No, there's no automatic RTH if the app is disconnected from the controller for any period of time although I can't see why you would want that. As long as the controller is connected you still have full control of the Mavic and if flying outwith visual range and relying on the camera output on the device screen to navigate, then if the device crashed and was unusable you could still just press the RTH button the controller to bring the Mavic home. The Mavic will automatically RTH itself when the battery reaches a certain percentage.

There have been some issues with the app has crashed and when restarted it's incorrectly made the Mavic think it's in an NFZ and forced it to auto land.

John

 

[Qoncussion]

@Kale1986 - did you have your landing protection turned on? This can cause an automatic (confused drone) water landing.