Lost at sea - Mavic Air

[DrRobin]

I had opportunity to get some video and stills from my pals yacht on Sunday. Conditions were perfect, light wind and calm sea, so we got about a mile offshore powered up my Mavic Air and before it had even got to full take off height it flew quickly to the back of the boat, hit the back stay (part of the rigging) and nose dived in the sea.

I thought it might have sat on the surface for a few seconds but it went straight down. I was unlucky to have a crash and land a P3 on water a few years ago, that floated just below the surface and was recovered.

I am not sure what went wrong, I have flown this drone from a boat before, I think the collision sensor might have made it fly forwards so quickly. My fault completely, just very surprised and of course no insurance.

Since I have a Mavic Pro and Phantom 4 and don’t fly all that often I don’t think I will bother replacing it. Now all I need to do is sell the Fly More parts I have, batteries, cases, props, controller, gimble lock, etc.

My MA was the first edition, the two batteries I have are little used, perhaps only 5 flights each, does anyone know if they fit other Mavics?

 

[slup]

The batteries will not fit other models unfortunately ... if you want to know & let others learn from your incident you can post up the flight logs stored in the mobile device you flew with, here you can read up on how to retrieve ... start up with the .TXT log --> Mavic Flight Log Retrieval and Analysis Guide (read under section 3.)

 

[itsneedtokno]

Flight log?

Sounds like a classic YAW error from a magnetically dirty take off location.

 

[boblui]

The drone being powered on under magnetic interference is a common reason but other causes have been seen in reported cases. The flight log will tell the real reason.

This was my mini after being turned on close to the rebars buried under the floor of my balcony. As soon as sufficient GPS signals were acquired, it accelerated to crazy speed by itself without any stick inputs :

 

[hiflyer201]

I've had that same problem taking off from what I thought was a rock that was actually broken concrete with rebar.
Boblui, what was the outcome with yours? that's a really scary video1

 

[slup]

... what was the outcome ...

Believe it was this case from end February --> Finally it's my Mini's turn - flew straight into a wall and crashed

But this thread's incident may been something totally different ... we can tell once logs is provided.

 

[In The Zone]

I had opportunity to get some video and stills from my pals yacht on Sunday. Conditions were perfect, light wind and calm sea, so we got about a mile offshore powered up my Mavic Air and before it had even got to full take off height it flew quickly to the back of the boat, hit the back stay (part of the rigging) and nose dived in the sea.

I thought it might have sat on the surface for a few seconds but it went straight down. I was unlucky to have a crash and land a P3 on water a few years ago, that floated just below the surface and was recovered.

I am not sure what went wrong, I have flown this drone from a boat before, I think the collision sensor might have made it fly forwards so quickly. My fault completely, just very surprised and of course no insurance.

Since I have a Mavic Pro and Phantom 4 and don’t fly all that often I don’t think I will bother replacing it. Now all I need to do is sell the Fly More parts I have, batteries, cases, props, controller, gimble lock, etc.

My MA was the first edition, the two batteries I have are little used, perhaps only 5 flights each, does anyone know if they fit other Mavics?

Not sure if this was the problem but. I have noticed if you're taking your drone off in normal mode and you have objects very close to you the sensors will automatically pick that up when you take off and try to correct not hitting the object. My advice would be to make sure you take off in sport mode so you're drone does not try to correct any flight avoidance.

 

[bobec231]

Sorry to hear about your loss
For your next drone you may want to consider a lifevest for your drone check out drone-retriever. com as an option.

Here is some insight as to what may have happened
Why do birds fly into windows.
They see a mirror image of the background behind them.
Water reflects the sky as a flat very shinny surface. The amount of sun reflecting off that surface is also a key factor.
The processor's gets confused by the information from the vision sensors and overwhelmed by this information and cannot figure out what to do.
If you are flying fast the issue may be reduced as the processor is processing other information but as soon as you slow down or stop then the lower vision system takes over and the processor may become confused.
Flying above 15 feet should resolve any issues but keep in mind that flat water and reflections is a mirror to a drone at low elevations.
Hope this helps

 

[BossBob]

Sorry to hear of your loss. Was the yacht moving forwards at all. If it was the drone was just trying to hold position. It may not have moved, but the yacht did.
Post the logs and we’ll find out.

 

[Prismatic]

Believe it was this case from end February --> Finally it's my Mini's turn - flew straight into a wall and crashed

But this thread's incident may been something totally different ... we can tell once logs is provided.

It seems the logs never showed up. But from the OP's description, it looks like they didn't recognize the danger in launching from a moving boat.
The MA set the Home Point to the global coordinates of the boat at some instant. The boat however moved on, carrying the Mavic Air with it.
As soon as the drone was airborne, its flight control reacted as if a powerful wind had carried it far from the Home Point, and it applied all available power to get back there.
Unfortunately, it struck the rigging before it reached open water. Had that not happened, it might have made it back to wherever the Home Point was set. A somewhat skilled and alert pilot could, at that point, have probably had a happier conclusion to the flight.
And I think any previous successful flights from a boat must have begun with the vessel at a dead calm, or nearly so, or the OP would have noticed this behavior before.