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lost mini 2 first day

thane

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Joined
May 3, 2021
Messages
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Age
21
Location
uk
I know this isn't a Mavic but I thought someone maybe knowledgable to explain what happened
i brought my dji mini 2 on friday and just started playing with it and i loved the footage it took so the next day i went to my friends house to record a video for him so i took off in his back garden and flew it to the park next door while i walked around the front i went in to the park and while the drone was in my line of sight i flew it to the estate when it just went below my line of sight so i pressed return to home and i could see it again and very everything was fine until suddenly the drone disconnected and that was the end of the flight
the drone was not far from me and i could see it so i dont see how it could be the signal and i had 62 % battery so the power isnt it there were no trees or buildings anywhere near the drone. i tried searching for the drone but to no avail as neighbour didnt seem to care how much this drone cost and meant to me so i decided to search for my self until police were called and came to me and asked what i was doing understandabley . i explained my situation and they were sympathathic to my cause and began knocking on doors with me this upset the neighbours so they didnt answer the door to the police when they attempted to search peoples gardens.


My issues is here, i dont understand what could make the drone just fall out the sky like that and if my drone was to fall in someones garden and i know its in there garden what can i do to get it back because if the the police arent able to get it back how can a civillian. Ive uploaded my flight data too so if anyone wants to take a look at it and help me understand what caused this.
 

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  • DJIFlightRecord_2021-05-01_[16-10-31].txt.zip
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Yeah ... can fully understand the neighbors behavior, you was a bit lucky there that the police didn't look to close into that flight. Your RTH height was set to 143m which alone is 23m above the legal limit in GB ... and you flew several times above 142m altitude. Then you did this over a heavily populated area... even if the Mini 2 is light, but dropping it on somebody from that height or onto someones property would have caused serious damage.

Enough preaching ...

Nothing odd is recorded in the log ... after you hit the RTH button, the AC turned around, ascended some as you already was above 139m & started to lean into the crosswind of approx 6,8m/s & accelerated up to around 10m/s ground speed. Everything was steady, no odd AC movements at all & the cell voltages + amp draw was normal ... you had plenty of juice left in the battery.

Then the log ends mid air ...

1620056193012.png

This indicate a sudden system shut down ... either due to a battery disconnect or failure, electrical fault ... or something SW related that shut the system off. Your Mini 2 probably fell from 143m height as a rock.

If you find the AC DJI might take responsibility as they can investigate the onboard DAT log that might reveal more about the reason... without it they usually just say that the log doesn't show the reason for the AC not returning to home.
 
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@slup so essentially I'm screwed cause I can't find the drone ? and I was going to fly it over the golf links east I didn't want to accidentally hit any buildings on my first day of flying
 
I know this isn't a Mavic but I thought someone maybe knowledgable to explain what happened
......
Ive uploaded my flight data too so if anyone wants to take a look at it and help me understand what caused this.
Your drone is a Mavic even if the word is missing from the name.
Unfortunately your flight data isn't much help explaining the cause of the incident.
It appears that it lost power, possible the battery was not properly secured?

The data shows you flying around in Sport Mode and initiating RTH at 298.5 seconds.
The drone commenced returning and had made it 1/3 of the way home when the data ends with the drone 467 feet up, with plenty of power left in the battery.
The pitch and roll data don't indicate any collision.

The last location data was 51.52036 -0.36729 and the drone was flying NW at 22 mph.
It could have travelled up to 100 metres to the NW as it fell.
The far end of the pink line is 100 metres from the last location.
My best guess is that the drone is (approximately) somewhere along the pink line.
i-STjRJnk.jpg
 
@Meta4 ill go back tomorrow to check but the neighbours really didn't care about letting me in the gardens to find it thank you though
 
...ill go back tomorrow to check
You need to consider the wind speed & direction to be able to figure out the search area ... the wind was coming from North & was approx half of the AC heading speed when it disappeared. If the AC just shut off, the probable touch down is likely somewhere to the left, downwind of the original straight flight path ... a lot of house roofs everywhere there.

1620062683716.png
 
@slup do you think its worth buying another mini 2 and flying it above the houses at 50 m to see if I can find it? and do you know what can cause this other than the battery cause I'm pretty sure I would have seen something come out of the drone as it was in my vlos
 
... worth buying another mini 2 and flying it above the houses at 50 m to see if I can find it?

A tiny Mini 2 will be even smaller from 50m height & you will definitely piss the neighbors off even more cruising further back and forth over their properties. You will be lucky if you spot it ...

...and do you know what can cause this other than the battery cause I'm pretty sure I would have seen something come out of the drone as it was in my vlos

Well VLOS up on 143m height :rolleyes: but in general a lot in a drone can fail causing it to shut down, it's not common, but it happens. Without any clues from the logs its impossible to pinpoint anything else than Power loss, electrical component failure or system shut down due to SW. After all they are man made & can fail, that's why you opt out from flying where people or property can be harmed if thing's like this happens.
 
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I had a lume light on the back cause I was planning to record at nighttime too but really its just a lost cause if I can't find it ?
 
If you followed the regulations you should have marked you Mini 2 with a Operators ID ... if you did that I think that's your best bet, that someone finds it & contact CAA to find out through them who's behind that ID.
 
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I know this isn't a Mavic but I thought someone maybe knowledgable to explain what happened
i brought my dji mini 2 on friday and just started playing with it and i loved the footage it took so the next day i went to my friends house to record a video for him so i took off in his back garden and flew it to the park next door while i walked around the front i went in to the park and while the drone was in my line of sight i flew it to the estate when it just went below my line of sight so i pressed return to home and i could see it again and very everything was fine until suddenly the drone disconnected and that was the end of the flight
the drone was not far from me and i could see it so i dont see how it could be the signal and i had 62 % battery so the power isnt it there were no trees or buildings anywhere near the drone. i tried searching for the drone but to no avail as neighbour didnt seem to care how much this drone cost and meant to me so i decided to search for my self until police were called and came to me and asked what i was doing understandabley . i explained my situation and they were sympathathic to my cause and began knocking on doors with me this upset the neighbours so they didnt answer the door to the police when they attempted to search peoples gardens.


My issues is here, i dont understand what could make the drone just fall out the sky like that and if my drone was to fall in someones garden and i know its in there garden what can i do to get it back because if the the police arent able to get it back how can a civillian. Ive uploaded my flight data too so if anyone wants to take a look at it and help me understand what caused this.
@thane sorry you lost your drone - But firstly you were flying it illegally on multiple counts and as other members have eluded to you either do have Operator ID or you don’t and have flaunted the rules regardless. You seriously need to Reed the Drone code get the relevant documentation and then fly out in the open - You could get a conviction on the strength of the data that you have provided alone - which suggests you didn’t know you were breaking the law - Not sure what’s worse - Please please stop trashing the hobby for everyone else. Fly safe and follow the rules.
 
@thane sorry you lost your drone - But firstly you were flying it illegally on multiple counts and as other members have eluded to you either do have Operator ID or you don’t and have flaunted the rules regardless. You seriously need to Reed the Drone code get the relevant documentation and then fly out in the open - You could get a conviction on the strength of the data that you have provided alone - which suggests you didn’t know you were breaking the law - Not sure what’s worse - Please please stop trashing the hobby for everyone else. Fly safe and follow the rules.
The OP has already been bashed enough and most likely will not respond. Also, I think you meant "read" instead of "reed".
 
Yes he has and have warned one and cleaned up post after it.
Sure he gets it now but we are not rude here and especially to
new members. If you can assist this member do if not move on
as anymore such post and I Will delete them with warnings.
Now no more on it.
dc
 
Unfortunate you lost your drone - people aren’t always helpful when you tell them what you are looking for. Public perception has a long way to go towards acceptance!

Always good to get the Fly Away coverage from DJI as a newer pilot. But hindsight is always 20/20. I made the same mistake of “not needing it” but buy it now on new drones.

From forum advice and then experience, immediately after take off I let the AC hover for a minute in place at eye level, let the battery and AC warm up, get RTH and satellite locks, test the controls and just see how the AC behaves.

I’ve caught a couple odd behaviours, (including once a total disconnect) landed the AC and restarted everything including the phone. And then I do it again.

I’m sure not always the case but found you will see odd behaviours in the AC then (drifting, odd messages, unresponsive controls, etc) and haven’t had any flight issues since starting this routine.

Best of luck with locating the drone!
Safe flying!
 
One other suggestion. If you DO buy another DJI drone, you might consider getting Care Refresh which probably would have replaced your drone due to the fly away coverage and that the flight data logs seem to confirm everything you said. I believe Care Refresh is available in most countries. I know it is here is in the USA.

Best wishes!
 
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Mark your drone. with FAA and phone numbers
Good luck and enjoy the hobby. Worst behind you
 
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