Lost my M2P - is it possible to buy just the aircraft?

[Rockowe]

Well done. This is such a great group, where complete strangers volunteer their time to help a fellow enthusiast. I might add an extra note about wind speed and direction in canyon areas. It is possible that it encountered a headwind that was not noticed at launch which drained the battery quicker than planned, forcing a critical battery landing.

Good point …
Although the MAVIC 2 - can deal with up to 72km/h winds - This mission was 14mins expected and at higher altitude- (as I am in) could easily have suffered Excessive winds in the Canyon - Causing a TIght Mission time-
Mossiback may have a Point -
… however Iv flown My MAVIC 2 in Sea shore gusting stormy winds ~45kmh gusts - and the Mavic 2 Held Fast

See 'Cape Town(2x)-Early Summer 2018-Mavic 2 Zoom'

… But Im still of the opinion that the Litchi curves caused it to clip the Mountain …

 

[Stephenmaycol]

Unfortunately after over 500 hundreds flights with probably about 100 on the M2P I managed to loose it on a Litchi WP mission. Since it had lost contact (for expected reasons) on a 5 mile cinematic video mission I can't pinpoint where (and why) it crashed. Given my meticulous planning and path analysis of the mission I don't believe it hit anything but it could be a bird strike or some other malfunction. Since I have no physical drone, DJI refresh is useless so my plan is to purchase a new M2P, but I really want just the aircraft only.

Have any of you found such an offering? I know it exists for the MP and I still one of those.

One advantage of having a 2nd controller is that one can be used as a trainer. You can have 2 controllers for the same Mavic. One being the dominate. The learner can be flying and, should the need arise, the dominate controller would over rule the 2nd controller. I crashed my 1st Mavic and bought a 2nd so I had an "extra" controller. Then I discovered this feature and have found it useful and practical.

 

[Stephenmaycol]

Unfortunately after over 500 hundreds flights with probably about 100 on the M2P I managed to loose it on a Litchi WP mission. Since it had lost contact (for expected reasons) on a 5 mile cinematic video mission I can't pinpoint where (and why) it crashed. Given my meticulous planning and path analysis of the mission I don't believe it hit anything but it could be a bird strike or some other malfunction. Since I have no physical drone, DJI refresh is useless so my plan is to purchase a new M2P, but I really want just the aircraft only.

Have any of you found such an offering? I know it exists for the MP and I still one of those.

I noticed that it appear there was fencing in that area.... What was fenced in? or out?

 

[ff22]

One advantage of having a 2nd controller is that one can be used as a trainer. You can have 2 controllers for the same Mavic. One being the dominate. The learner can be flying and, should the need arise, the dominate controller would over rule the 2nd controller. I crashed my 1st Mavic and bought a 2nd so I had an "extra" controller. Then I discovered this feature and have found it useful and practical.

I THINK that they have removed this as an option for the Mavic 2 models. It was even removed from the manual where it might have said "coming soon"! It is no longer in the 1.6 manual!

 

[ff22]

I noticed that it appear there was fencing in that area.... What was fenced in? or out?

You mean like "keep cattle in" or "keep cattle out?" type fencing? Barbed wire? There is quite a lot of that in some of those areas of the US. Also to protect monument or other federal areas.

 

[Roamer105]

Iv had a Look at your Litchi Mission -

Nice Terrain to shoot in- ( I fly from a Mountain Ridge - so Have a Fair amount of Experience)

However One needs to be aware that Mountains have outcrops all over the Place - … and the Altitude at one Place can Vary by up to 100m - (Just 5 m horizontally away.)
Smooth curves (helped by Litchi) - may have been the cause of your loss.... (especially flying close to the outcrops)

Anyway ….
So I used Litchi Hub, Also Virtual Litchi Mission to Simulate your Views -
and Google Earth to PLOT the PATH of the DRONE.

Sadly - theres a couple of things that could have gone Wrong - ...

Around Waypoint 5 - You selected Litchi to make a REALLY strong Curve - which got REALLY REALLY Close to the OutCrop of the Mountain. See the VIDEO Below -

The 2nd Point of Possible Crash (PPC) could have been when you dropped down into the valley - Possibly too close for accurate measurement by google - and clipped the side of the Mountain - ...

If you succeeded that then then next 20 Waypoints looked Good - with Faster speeds set at 54km /hr ...

But in the Final Home Stretch - when you went over the tops of the Mountain... - You allowed LITCHI to put in some HUGE SMOOTH CURVES (Horiz) - which May have been responsible for you Clipping the tops See wp 32 in the video and the Litchi curve. You were Very close to whacking the underbelly on a few occasions - especially between waypoints on the home stretch..

See on google earth 32 to 33, waypoints 33 to 34 and wp 35 to 36. They are possible PPC's too-

Hope this Helps - Rob (Rockowe)

See Video - of yr planned Mission (… Suggest you view using highest HD possible in YouTube, to see the Waypoints clearly)

WOW - awesome analysis job! Yes, you are absolutely correct about WP5 area. I was attempting to minimize the camera down pitch for the view thus flying somewhat low around that rock bump. I just got back from doing a bit more "looking around" and noticed that it is much more prominent on the south-east edge than the google image would suggest. It turns out with the rounded flight path it ended up with a 10' deficit right as it met the bump. So, while I could not see and/or retrieve the drone, it has got to be down below (about 400' - 600') most likely shattered into a million pieces.

Another question: How are you doing the virtual flight? All I used for this is the 3D KML with GoogleEarth Pro - and where did that lead me

 

[Roamer105]

You mean like "keep cattle in" or "keep cattle out?" type fencing? Barbed wire? There is quite a lot of that in some of those areas of the US. Also to protect monument or other federal areas.

There is some ranching on the plateau. The land is part of Dixie Natl Forest bordered to the south by BLM.

 

[Mossiback]

… however Iv flown My MAVIC 2 in Sea shore gusting stormy winds ~45kmh gusts - and the Mavic 2 Held Fast...
… But Im still of the opinion that the Litchi curves caused it to clip the Mountain …

My MP has also "held fast" in high winds but it took sport mode to make much progress. I do agree with you that the loss was most likely due to incorrect Litchi mission.

 

[Roamer105]

Good point …
Although the MAVIC 2 - can deal with up to 72km/h winds - This mission was 14mins expected and at higher altitude- (as I am in) could easily have suffered Excessive winds in the Canyon - Causing a TIght Mission time-
Mossiback may have a Point -
… however Iv flown My MAVIC 2 in Sea shore gusting stormy winds ~45kmh gusts - and the Mavic 2 Held Fast

See 'Cape Town(2x)-Early Summer 2018-Mavic 2 Zoom'

… But Im still of the opinion that the Litchi curves caused it to clip the Mountain …

There was next to 0 wind - no problem there. I do agree in this case it was the curve and me not analyzing the altitude points sufficiently well along the curved path. I wish Litchi would implement a "path analysis tool" where you could specify for example, no lower than 50 feet at any point and it would highlight the areas along the curved path where it violates that limit - guess that is wishful thinking.

Another deal would be to allow the WP mission to fully enable collision avoidance and let you determine what action to take while flying the path and if you are not connected, it would use techniques such as tracking mode to avoid the object.

 

[Rockowe]

I noticed that it appear there was fencing in that area.... What was fenced in? or out?

Its not a Fence (just a Visual aid)
That's the Mission Path - Interpolated to the ground -
So you can see heights

 

[Rockowe]

There was next to 0 wind - no problem there. I do agree in this case it was the curve and me not analyzing the altitude points sufficiently well along the curved path. I wish Litchi would implement a "path analysis tool" where you could specify for example, no lower than 50 feet at any point and it would highlight the areas along the curved path where it violates that limit - guess that is wishful thinking.

Another deal would be to allow the WP mission to fully enable collision avoidance and let you determine what action to take while flying the path and if you are not connected, it would use techniques such as tracking mode to avoid the object.

Reply :
The sensors do not operate on the sides while flying at those speeds - … and are pretty ineffective at 40kmhr plus.
Rememeber you were flying sideways whilst on that path …

Litchi FULLY relies on Google (for the above gound options)- and Google is not 1000% accurate - sometimes with variations of up to 30 meters on mountain slopes - (My Own Experience)

So use above gound option on LITCHI with Care (not trust)

Google uses interpolated triangulation (Math:Trig) from Space Photos and various other Viewing Angles of the same grid - (Hence the Ability to project 3D on google earth) - to extract altitude data) - as I understand this. (so the accuracy relies on Resolution of Cameras etc)
- further, the 'need' for accuracy is less in the outlying areas (or unimportant areas) compared with CITIES say, or Like national parks features.

Just to visually understand that - imagine building a 10 storey Block of Flats on the Rising slope of a Mountain...

From Googles perspective (similar in the case of where I live) - the slope of the mountain increases uniformly almost linearly from the Bottom of the mountain to the Top -...
Therefore My Roof (to google) is reported MUCH lower (10m) on Google ...

Im not sure about the algorythms used to calculate actual height But be warned - FLYING on SLOPES is Treachourous (and inacurate) unless you'r High...

 

[Rockowe]

How are you doing the virtual flight? All I used for this is the 3D KML with GoogleEarth Pro - and where did that lead me

Get ready for a LIFE changing Experience.
This should replace Litchi HUB - its done by a third Party Guy - ...
The latest version is awesome - See the THREAD
See: Virtual Litchi Mission (VLM) - Thread
(download the latest version - the thread is long so look at the latter part)
……………… Once downloaded check out other references to VLM here

Load any Mission as usual in here … then in the MISSIONS Button - Select Export as CSV
… it will Load Google earth Pro - and present to you Options to Literally Fly the Mission as you would fly physically but 'Virtually'. You do this by clicking the PLAY Icon on the Google earth folder created by Litchi.
Figure it out its worth it.

 

[Stephenmaycol]

Its not a Fence (just a Visual aid)
That's the Mission Path - Interpolated to the ground -
So you can see heights

OHHHHH THANK YOU. NOW I SEE IT..

 

[Roamer105]

Eulogizing my Mavic 2 PRO... I have not found it yet, but I am quite sure I know where to look but it is very difficult (maybe not possible) to access after at least a 2-3 hour hike in. I am waiting for my friend (high angle climber) to come with me and I'll have my old Mavic to fly in an look for it.

Speaking of my old Mavic. Since I am now deprived of my M2P, I dusted off my old Mavic, upgraded it as needed, calibrated all of it and flew around a bit yesterday. It sure flies just fine, but it is not as stable (especially the gimbal) as the M2P and slower of course. But still fun to fly especially for goggle (FPV) missions. After having worked with the M2P creating many videos over the past 3.5 months I really forgot how MUCH better (both FFOV and definitively HQ) are in comparison with the old Mavic 4K video. It is like day and night. The moral of the story here is it took for me to LOOSE my M2P to REALLY appreciate it fully! I can't wait to get it replaced. I did talk to DJI support starting a ticket with a request for an AC only sale. I got some preliminary response back and am now waiting for more specifics. Who knows how long that will take and what they will actually charge me.

I have DJI Refresh (which will not work since I don't have the original M2P) so I'll have to fully pay for the new one. However, if I do end up finding the debris of the lost one, I will claim Refresh and end up with a spare!

 

[tomc5179]

New guy here - I just wanted to say that this just BLOWS MY MIND that this type of tech is available to hobbyists. Incredible. Looks like I've got some studying to do.

 

[sancap]

Unfortunately after over 500 hundreds flights with probably about 100 on the M2P I managed to loose it on a Litchi WP mission. Since it had lost contact (for expected reasons) on a 5 mile cinematic video mission I can't pinpoint where (and why) it crashed. Given my meticulous planning and path analysis of the mission I don't believe it hit anything but it could be a bird strike or some other malfunction. Since I have no physical drone, DJI refresh is useless so my plan is to purchase a new M2P, but I really want just the aircraft only.

Have any of you found such an offering? I know it exists for the MP and I still one of those.

PM Sent

 

[JerseyBiker]

I noticed at the end of the video that it appears to be the corner of a fence at the top of the mountain. Maybe if you find that fence you'll have a chance of finding your drone.

 

[nedcampbell]

The Litchi mission video review is just fascinating!

 

[blackbeemer]

So what’s the consensus here? Can we buy JUST the drone from DJI or anywhere for that matter?

 

[ajaxflysquare]

So what’s the consensus here? Can we buy JUST the drone from DJI or anywhere for that matter?

Yes you can I have done it in the past for a drone I have lost.