DJI Mavic, Air and Mini Drones
Friendly, Helpful & Knowledgeable Community
Join Us Now

Lost mavic mini on first flight with it flying away and not responding

Took delivery of my mini last week after waiting a month for the fly more combo. My first ever drone and this was my first flight outdoors.

First day of good weather today when I had free time took it out to an local area with good open spaces. it was 9 Degrees C with winds of 9 mph and gusts of up to 22 mph on weather app predicted.

As this was my first drone & flight took off in C mode for the slower speeds good connection to satellites has around 16 i recall. took off hovered perfectly in front of me at 1.4m 9m away after a couple of minute and setting the rth height of 100m (this was was to high I know now) i should have probably set for 15-20m max but there was some tall trees behind me and off to the side so wanted to avoid them worst case scenario. flew into the wind as all videos advise

started moving forward hand the antennas at right angles to the signal was going to drone it got 25m away and gave a signal interference for a couple of seconds that cleared up ( i should have come back at this point) moved forward again at a height of 10m aprox got to 35m high wind warning and signal lost drone stopped at 42m and initiated the RTH feature as total signal loss and no amount of moving the controller was working (starting to panic )

This is where it all went wrong the drone went up to 100m (which I thought I had set it too but I think it may have been 120m) and started coming back to me directly slowly though this was great it started to hover above me and then after 5 seconds just kept on going away over the embankment behind me and flew over the village that was on the other side of that. after moving around and adjusting the antennas it was not getting signal back and could still hear it so I went after it and never saw it again I got a brief signal when I was wondering the streets of the village looking for it and managed to change it got a weak signal and it was at 119m and moving at 3.4 m/s and 597m away from starting point at this point it had 82% battery & 11 min 40 left looking at the data feed changed it too p mode thinking i can get it back to myself or even a field to land it. oh no this was the wrong moved and this dropped to 25% and a flight time of 4m 51secs and then after a total of less than 40 seconds connect to the drone with it starting to turn signal dropped out again and the drone never to be seen again.

i searched the best i could int he wooded area and no connection to the drone and cant find it.

I am now at the mercy of amazon & DJI customer services. as I do not believe that the drone should have dropped connect that distance from me in an wide open area no power lines or tress between myself and the drone.


not a great first experience into the world of drones
here is how i fly and ive never had a fly away knock on wood... i make sure both rc controller and rc drone are fully charged.. i make sure before i fly all updates are done the day before..

1. turn on rc controller
2.start app
3. start up drone..
4.let drone aquire sats min 10 15 is ideal
5.set compass calibration do the dance etc.
6.place back on ground for about 30 seconds just to make sure..
7look on map to make sure big H is where your at aka home point recorded if not you can set this manually in the settings menu
8. check all settings rth hight max hight etc
9.take off..
10 hover for 30 seconds to make sure camera downward one captures the grounds patterns for a precises landing
11. then take off fly about 500 feet away in all directions paying attention to video drop out if you have drop out or connection issues
12.then you go into the transmission settings and manually swap it do this again fly slowly away to the point you see drop out if you fly your normal patterns around a park etc and you see no drop outs or issues that channel is fine.. you can also buy a antenna booster they are 12 bucks see dji gave us 5 stinking channels why i dont know but i once saw that a camera from china a 5.8 fpv camera they now remove channels and your left with about 5 or 10 sucks fcc did it to us... so also make sure to fly 100 feet min in the air to avoid wifi building transmissions and power line emf zones emf is around 20 feet around a wire for homes .. so i fly 100 feet up to 140 and i have no issues what so ever once ill get a 1 second drop out i pause stop and wait and then continue on if it keeps doing it and ive been though all the channels i come home and fly another day.. also you have to land and to swap channels but leave the drone on.. also dji gave us enhanced wifi lol really its a joke enhanced wifi is just a fancy term dji uses they use 2 channels for video 2 for transmission out of 5 there is no freq hopping no diversity what so ever the spark was the same way... its kinda bad really every transmitter in the world thats rc now uses freq hopping diversity if its more advanced.. diversity just switches the antennas to what ever one is getting the best reception for this the mini would need 4 antennas .. the phantom pro 3 uses lightg bridge.. its the last of the models to use hardware thats expensive to hopp channels and to diverse its antennas thats why it has 4 antennas. thats why its crystal clear i know because i own one.. after the phantom 3 they went to software based freq hopping on the mavic pro and phantom pro4 aka to save money they call it light bridge 2.. so basically ita all a lie freq hopping and diversity can be done with software aka firmwear.. i can go buy a spektrum receiver that does freq hopping and its 10 years old all they did to implement it was firmware to 3.0version so this ohhh we need money and its expensive is a lie futabba with fsss hopping and diversity i can buy a transmitter for 150 bucks and reciever for 50 bucks and get really far out hmmmm also smoe companies use 433 mhz transmitters and receivers and they go 20km out with no issues so dji why are you cheeping out i think they just dont care or are trying to satisfy the fcc and faa on distance limits line of sight etc... but still the freq hop and diversity if a phantom pro 3 can do it and its from 2015 and it be rock solid and have 10 2.4 channels and only transmit on 2.4 video and rc btw they uses 2 channels on 2,4 for video and hop around for transmitter hence why its so solid,, so thats why you have fly aways the cheap wifi they use i mean its not wifi its 2.4 but the transmitter pumps out only 500 mw and the drone about 600 mw.. the spark transmitter is like 800 mw and the drone about the same this is why it gets so stinking hot they figured pump out more power to punch though instead of doing a firmware and giving us this hopping etc... there just lazy or dont care.. still i wont fly any drone a mile i go about 1500 feet too 2000 its an investment for me.. and you have to look at it as if i loose this its 500 dollars and could cause damage.. so just fly close and i heard that it comes back if reception is lost this is a lie again i once lost reception before the 300 fw for 10 minutes it sat 500 feet out i had to walk up to it to get it back... i never loose touch with my dx8 radio and my 10 year old recievers so something aint right with dji
 
the mini would not reconnect when it was overhead in my case or I would have trying to force a landing
this is also why you fly over pathways and open feilds where you know you can walk to and no fence or locked gate or roof or someones backyard can stop you from getting it.. so if you loose signal you just walk over to it and wait it will auto land at 10% see dji says 11 seconds of rc disconnect i found that to be false it dont work... and i never ever trusted drones to come back with a rc connection loss.. as soon as i see video break up i stop and return home
 
just go a bit higher,

But they aren't talking video signal.

If you lose video signal, unless you're above something dangerous/water/people, your best move is stick down, and land. At least you can walk/drive/ride and go and get your drone.
If you lose total signal, hover is probably a better idea than RTH.
That's what's causing most of these issues, people having RTH set too high, when they lose signal, it goes higher and the wind catches it.
The higher you go, the more risk of losing control. And then the panic sets in!

I hit RTH without thinking the other day, in some wind, and forgot I had it set at 30m. The moment I saw the drone rise, I was instant stick-down, and took over.
I've since set it to 15m, because that's all it needs to get over my power lines. If I fly elsewhere, I'll change it.
BUT, I have 44 flights on this drone, and have only used RTH that one time (because I don't trust it). That RTH lasted about 2 seconds :oops:

It'll probably be the last too.
 
Last edited:
I have 44 flights on this drone, and have only used RTH that one time (because I don't trust it). That RTH lasted about 2 seconds :oops:

It'll probably be the last too.
RTH is very reliable .... if you know what it does and how it does it.
The biggest problem with RTH is flyers not understanding what they need to to use RTH safely.
It's very helpful to study the RTH section of the manual, then try it out.
Experiment to see how it works and learn how to initiate RTH and how to cancel and resume control.
 
RTH is very reliable .... if you know what it does and how it does it.
The biggest problem with RTH is flyers not understanding what they need to to use RTH safely.
It's very helpful to study the RTH section of the manual, then try it out.
Experiment to see how it works and learn how to initiate RTH and how to cancel and resume control.
I agree, I’ve used RTH at every opportunity not because I don’t have the skill to return the Mini, but to test its behaviour. With over 30 flights and significantly more RTH it has never not performed to specification. I’ve tested in low temperatures and hammered it in strong winds, the only time it struggled was when I was at 30m fighting winds that exceeded specification, it still managed to battle its way back (I was ready to cancel RTH and hit S mode). The real danger with RTH is excessive wind and loss of WiFi connection with the controller, then the Mini really is at the mercy of its environment that the OP has placed it in. Personally the only worry I have with the Mini at this moment is some of the videos and reports of it simply dropping and/or bouncing off the ground, I haven’t experienced this but until DJI patch this issue (and they will) I will fly with caution in locations that will not result in a unretrievable drone should I experience this issue.
 
A number of times you say “without knowing where it was” and you open with this being your “first ever drone” and your “first flight outdoors.”
This is one of the reasons for the VLOS requirement - your eyes should always be on the RPA, with only occasional looks at the device screen. It seems fairly clear from your photograph that you had these two elements reversed.
 
A number of times you say “without knowing where it was” and you open with this being your “first ever drone” and your “first flight outdoors.”
This is one of the reasons for the VLOS requirement - your eyes should always be on the RPA, with only occasional looks at the device screen. It seems fairly clear from your photograph that you had these two elements reversed.

Thanks for your comment however i also explained it was in vlos until it lost connection 32m away from me and then flew away on its own accord even dji after reviewing the flight records agreed it malfunctioned and sent me a replacement. that photo graph was a snap shot not a video of me looking at the screen for minutes on end.
 
guess what I manged to find through the power of facebook someone found my lost mini and it went way further than i through it would have went and i got it back.
Fantastic news! Is it flyable?
 
Fantastic news! Is it flyable?
yes it is and it was out in all kinds of weather high winds heavy rain some snow & frost. was frozen solid when he found it was -6 Celsius when he located it walking his dog

the person the found it dried it out well before charging it had to wipe some rust markings off the motors from the screws but took all props off cleaned all the screws with wd40 and put them back on with the software updates since it went missing never had a connection issue since then and managed 14 flights since recovering it each time i been extending the range slightly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Capt KO
If you lose visual connection, and don’t know where it is, just tap the map screen, lower left, and fly the plane back to H home. There’s enough info onscreen to fly home blind. No view at all. Enjoy you lucky guy.
 
Well update from DJI it was a mini problem based on the flight logs

they are sending me a new drone and requested the controller be sent to device Center for analysis/repair
That is great news for you. As you can see from the various inputs on this thread there's plenty to go wrong all too easily.
Can I offer this video to at least make sure wind isn't one of those things that catch you out with the Mini, as it will sooner or later....
Cheers
Ian
 
Great discussion, lots to learn. Occasionally when i read posts on start up routine/checklists I get a feeling that people have formed strong attachments to their own rituals to avoid the flyaway voodoo...calibrations yes/no, preferred activation sequence of RCs/MMs, and so on...some science-based, some séance-based.

Thank you to all the folks who post their losses, to all the folks who diligently analyze the TXT/.DAT and provide insight to the community and pilots, and even to the folks who just wade in with their bright and shining guesses...pulling out answers from the ether, so to speak. Generally, all educational & entertaining...

I am considering one small addition to my MM accessories, perhaps attaching one to MM and one to RC..?
1582065491502.png
Safe hex-free flying.
 
RTH is very reliable .... if you know what it does and how it does it.
The biggest problem with RTH is flyers not understanding what they need to to use RTH safely.
It's very helpful to study the RTH section of the manual, then try it out.
Experiment to see how it works and learn how to initiate RTH and how to cancel and resume control.
How high up and what distance do you have to fly so the RTH works?
I need to find the manual for the Mavic Mini.
Thank you
 
Lycus Tech Mavic Air 3 Case

DJI Drone Deals

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
130,600
Messages
1,554,281
Members
159,607
Latest member
Schmidteh121