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

[Deleted member 109934]

The RTH feature is not a trap.
Flying a drone or a real plane without understand what can things go wrong and how to make sure they don't is the problem.
Because these things are so easy to fly, it's easy to get too confident too early.

Imagine what would happen if the button would not be there? I bet 1 devaluated CAD$ he would not lose the drone. He would be scared to go far and play around close, learning first how to control it to be able to return safely instead of blindly believing in RTH without understanding it.

RTH should be an option hidden in the menu, not a button. RTH is easy lure to skip reading the manual. Or rename it to: "warning" nobody presses warning before reading about it first.
I still think it is a trap. Learn how to operate the drone once you can in any situation use RTH if you fancy.

 

[SpinRush]

There is no substitute for Drone Pilot school. ATTI mode is a real thing and you have to learn how to fly your drone without all the nanny features.

I understand how the OP feels and possibly others when it comes to RTH. Whenever, I’m out flying Mavic Air or Mavic Mini, 90% of the people who gather to watch want to see it RTH to home on it’s own. That auto landing looks super cool.

IMO, the cancel feature on the screen is not enough. Any stick movement should cancel the RTH feature immediately. Just like the cruise control in your car. Once you brake, you are no longer in cruise control.

I am still surprised though. I’m happy that Mavic MINI is so light. However, that doesn’t mean that the DJI FLY app should be so light.

Unfortunately, no matter what I think should be, I agree that 80% of flyaways or crashes have something to do with “user error”.

I was at my drone school just the other day practicing indoors and testing out my drones ( Air and Mini ). I noticed the Mavic Air was kind of twitching after light inputs.

I thought it was the new Mavic AirScrew props I had put on. I checked all the gain settings. It kept on twitching. I was quick to assume that there was something wrong with the drone. Turns out I had obstacle avoidance on. Turned it off and things went back to normal. Pilot error!

Find yourself a good drone school. Get yourself a Spark or an Air. Get certified and learn all the basics. After that, get a Mavic Mini again and you’ll see why it’s so much fun.

 

[Gepa]

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

 

[BigAl07]

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's great for you. I'm genuinely shocked but glad for you.

 

[Zandian]

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

Glad it worked out for you. I’ve had decent support from DJI in the past.

in the future make it a point to assure you get a good GPS lock, no compass errors, home point confirmation and double check RTH height. Don’t confuse meters with feet and keep it just enough to clear obstacles around you. As mentioned here, setting it too high can cause it to be blown away at high altitudes. DJI is notorious for resetting settings with new updates. And keep an eye on your wind speed and direction.

I’ve learned to follow these steps the hard way. I almost lost my original Mavic battling wind speeds. Almost didn’t get her home-was going about 3MPH with 10% battery. Scared the crap out of me.

As a side note, for those with a Mavic or Mavic 2 Pro don’t trust that obstacle avoidance can warn you and avoid quick enough when coming to a stop from high speed. You’ll likely hit a tree like I did ;-/

Hopefully many here can learn vicariously from others who had to learn the hard way...

Z

 

[BerndM]

Happy ending to a sad situation.

 

[bvsolutions]

Did you say you were in ”C” mode? That may have reduced the max speed of the drone to less than the wind speed.
If the ignition in your vehicle was turned on, interaction between the vehicle and your device we have caused excessive interference with the signal

 

[LeSchmoo]

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

Thanks for sharing, I am sure its going to help some other folks and am glad it wasn't just user error...

 

[Inspector Mavic]

I had a similar situation with my mm a few days ago.
I had it hovering at about 4 m height and 10 m distance.
All of a sudden I lost control and it flew away.
no matter what I tried, I couldn’t regain control.
Thank goodness for the gps, I was able to track it on the map.
I found it’s location but it was stuck in a tree and I couldn’t see it until I clicked on the message that says “flash and beep”. Then I was able to locate it approximately 40’ up in a tree.
it was too high to retrieve without a ladder, so I returned the next day with a long extension ladder. Turns out that it must have been windy at night and it blew my mm out of the tree.
Thank goodness the only damage was to one of the plastic propeller guards.

 

[cayrick]

Sorry you lost the drone but what you've done was a classic rookie mistake.
You flew around for a while and after a few minutes with the drone at an altitude of 47 feet and 139 feet from home, you initiated RTH.
Your RTH height was set at an inappropriate 400 feet and the drone ascended to that height.
By the time it was at 195 feet, it was having trouble holding position because of the wind strength at that level.
At 400 feet the drone was trying to return home but being blown backwards at 1-7 mph by gusty winds.
Signal was lost at 12:33 with the drone 2154 feet away and being flown further.

You could have easily recovered the drone but left it battling high winds 400 feet up.
The drone was responding perfectly but you put it up in winds stronger than RTH could manage.

You were too adventurous much too early.
There are many things that can go wrong when you are drone flying and you need to be aware of them and how to make sure they don't cause problems for you.

Wind is an obvious potential problem.
Wind speed is always significantly higher at altitude than ground level. There are ways to get a feel for this to avoid losing your drone.
RTH is a slow driver. It cruises at 22 mph but you can drive at 36 mph (still air speeds) for other DJI drones and will be similar for the Mini.
If the drone is trying to push against a wind stronger than 22 mph, it's going to be blown backwards until battery level triggers autolanding

It's very important to be aware of wind strength and direction.
Note how much the wind slows your drone if you try to fly directly into it.
Never fly away downwind in a strong wind situation - you will have a tough headwind to fight to get back home.
Never leave your drone up high fighting a headwind. Bring it down where the wind is less.

Unfortunate incident. Experience and muscle memory are important skills to have. Happened to me as well but with a M2. I was coming home at altitude and the distance began counting upwards as my sphincter muscles began to tighten. I still had lots of battery so I began lowering altitude until I got to about 250 from the original 700ft. Distance began counting downwards and I was able to recover it. Not a fun experience.

 

[RavenManiac]

I've been reading this thread with great interest. I'm glad that the OP is getting a replacement MM from DJI, but the more I read about this little drone, the more concerns I have—especially as a new drone pilot. My biggest concerns are optical avoidance since the MM effectively doesn't have any, followed by high winds.

Out of curiosity, and assuming there wasn't a technical problem, would the M2P faired any better in this situation?

 

[Dizzy1971]

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’s really great! I’ve never heard of DJI replacing a lost drone before,you’re super lucky dude!

 

[tfrank48]

1st ... Sorry for your loss!
I check the wind data forecast on UAV Forecast.
It is a free app and there are others on the web.
Check it out. Wind profile example attached.
(When you get your MM replacement.)

 

[maverickRKJ]

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

i never read the rest of the posts but im guessing you just fired the drone up and flew it without setting it up, rule 1 read instructions rule 2 reread instructions

 

[Meta4]

Thanks for sharing, I am sure its going to help some other folks and am glad it wasn't just user error...

DJI occasionally make mistakes.
In this case it was in the OP's favour.

 

[netfolks2000]

I've been reading this thread with great interest. I'm glad that the OP is getting a replacement MM from DJI, but the more I read about this little drone, the more concerns I have—especially as a new drone pilot. My biggest concerns are optical avoidance since the MM effectively doesn't have any, followed by high winds.

Out of curiosity, and assuming there wasn't a technical problem, would the M2P faired any better in this situation?

I would think not, being so high the winds are much stronger. What would make it fair better is lowering it to where winds are not as strong and coming home at that level where the drone can fight the wind. The RTH set at that very high altitude is what kept it from regaining control of itself. RTH works perfectly BUT...... it depends on what settings were done by the pilot.

 

[netfolks2000]

I agree not understanding the button is a trap, but having that button there advertised as Return to Home is a trap by DJI.

It's not a trap at all. It would serve no purpose to DJI for it to be a trap. A trap for what? Bad publicity, lost drones? It works perfectly when settings are correct. If the RTH altitude is set for a height where the winds are extremely high then the poor drone can't fight them. If at a lower altitude so the drone can come straight home, as they do so often faithfully, then it works great. It depends on the terrain, too. You'd need to be at least 90 ft or so high in RTH to avoid hitting a tree or building. But 90 ft. is much safer in wind than 400 ft. Big contrast there.

 

[netfolks2000]

i thought them things if they get out of radio range they return , did you turn remote off and restart ? . i just bought a mavic pro and sure dont want that to happen

They do return, quite faithfully, but if they are programmed BY THE PILOT to go up to a very high altitude before coming home, in winds the drone can't fight, then they will be blown away in winds they can't overcome. Who knows, maybe he had obstacles, buildings perhaps, that required that height. But if just out in the open about 90ft. would've been plenty to get over trees and come straight back home.

 

[netfolks2000]

If people would first learn how to fly and reverse stick position make their second nature, and have a good feel for the wind/altitude and conditions, the RTH button would not be needed with VLOS requirements. But everyone wants to full send it on the first flight...
It feels so good to fly the drone and have control over it, why would I let it fly by itself?

The idea of "fly itself" is when it loses signal so that it can get back home where signal can be regained by the controller and pilot.

 

[Deleted member 109934]

The idea of "fly itself" is when it loses signal so that it can get back home where signal can be regained by the controller and pilot.

When you lose video signal you don't need to go back home, open your map and back the drone looking at the drone orientation on the map or just go a bit higher, normally it takes a few seconds and the video signal is regained back. If you know the terrain you can fly those things without a video link, just look at the map and drone position. and above all fly VLOS