Lost my Mavic 3 today while recording alligators - video

zeusfl · Feb 8, 2023

Today while I was kayaking recording wildlife in a private property, trying to do a nice video of my 1000 subscribers celebration, my drone suddenly drifted to the right side and hitting to a tree branch and crashed on the water. I was able to recover the drone thanks to the phantomrain wetsuit bright colors in the shallow water and the Firehouse ARC V blinking light. Sadly I lost the SD card. At least I was I was able to recover the video from the cache of my DJI RC Pro (this video).

I can not explain what happened but here is the video.

Yorkshire_Pud · Feb 9, 2023

Flight log? Is the drone kaput? What do you mean you lost the SD card?

RS Bush Pilot · Feb 9, 2023

zeusfl said:
I can not explain what happened but here is the video.

One second before the video ends;10:52, it appears that the propellers struck some moss strands of the tree.

zeusfl · Feb 9, 2023

RS Bush Pilot said:
One second before the video ends;10:52, it appears that the propellers struck some moss strands of the tree.

That's correct. What I mean is what caused the drift to the right and the fail from APAS + sensors detecting the tree. (really not surprised about this)

Phantomrain.org · Feb 9, 2023

Oh Zeus !! If only you were using the the :Rescue Jacket: for this kind of flight , but I am glad the Wet Suit gave the Punch of Color to get the Drone back.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water and find your drone in Dangerous Waters.

Ralph thompson · Feb 9, 2023

Good news is that it was yr drone and not you ended up in the drink. Id say looking at the end of the video, you obviously hit a tree branch. A few seconds before you could see it coming. This is the hardest thing to get yr head around with drones, trying to capture nice smooth video heads down, heads up to check the drone then heads down and then hitting a tree branch. Sorry about yr misfortune.

jefff · Feb 9, 2023

I have a Mini 3 pro with the DJI RC. Previously there was an App Album on the controller which automatically recorded the video from the drone as you are flying. Now following the firmware update the App album on the controller has gone so unless you record the controller screen while you are flying you will lose all your video footage if you lose the drone. In your case if you had been flying with a Mini 3 pro you would not have had the beautiful footage of the crocodiles to show us here?

Capt KO · Feb 9, 2023

Can be salvaged from fresh water. Not battery of course. Dry with alcohol and likely it flies again.

Suren · Feb 9, 2023

That's good news that you at least managed to recover it, if it does not work send back for Care Refresh claim or warranty if drift to the side is unknown.

zeusfl · Feb 9, 2023

Check your PM buddy.

GFields · Feb 9, 2023

Good video - except for the crash of course. Not sure why the drift or why the sensors didn't pick up the bush.

zeusfl · Feb 9, 2023

The altitude sensor fail reading or the values were not written on time, and look like the drone overreacted to my inputs.

This was analyzed by JJB.

wco81 · Feb 9, 2023

So much for collision avoidance ...

zeusfl · Feb 9, 2023

True. I can not relay on that anymore. No more bypass for me. From now I will use brake on detection.

dave canada · Feb 9, 2023

I have had that forward rush action but it was followed with a roll with M1P but as soon as i restarted the motors It was released It(hawk Or eagle) but the action was much faster when grabbed just happened I didn,t have time to think about my actions they just happened but i do remember the sudden speed increase

ziv2liv · Feb 11, 2023

zeusfl said:
Today while I was kayaking recording wildlife in a private property, trying to do a nice video of my 1000 subscribers celebration, my drone suddenly drifted to the right side and hitting to a tree branch and crashed on the water. I was able to recover the drone thanks to the phantomrain wetsuit bright colors in the shallow water and the Firehouse ARC V blinking light. Sadly I lost the SD card. At least I was I was able to recover the video from the cache of my DJI RC Pro (this video).

I can not explain what happened but here is the video.

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Quite possibly your IMU went out of calibration. Check this link out.

Mavic Tutorials- IMU Calibration

DroneNerds.com is the largest UAV dealer in the United States. DJI's only authorized service center in the United States. We can handle any of your drone needs. Looking for a Mavic 2, Mini 2, Matrice 300, Enterprise, Autel Evo II, Phantom 4, Thermal UAV solution or Osmo gimbals? We are the experts!

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penywisexx · Feb 11, 2023

Did you swim after your drone? I’m pretty sure alligators are really just angry logs….

WanderLost · Feb 11, 2023

zeusfl said:
That's correct. What I mean is what caused the drift to the right and the fail from APAS + sensors detecting the tree. (really not surprised about this)

The alligator splashed water on you at the beginning. Perhaps some drops covered one of the sensors on the drone and caused it to make an error in positional judgement. I could see a drop sliding across one of the sensors creating a momentary issue that could send your Mavic into something.

Don Testme · Feb 11, 2023

zeusfl said:
Today while I was kayaking recording wildlife in a private property, trying to do a nice video of my 1000 subscribers celebration, my drone suddenly drifted to the right side and hitting to a tree branch and crashed on the water. I was able to recover the drone thanks to the phantomrain wetsuit bright colors in the shallow water and the Firehouse ARC V blinking light. Sadly I lost the SD card. At least I was I was able to recover the video from the cache of my DJI RC Pro (this video).

I can not explain what happened but here is the video.

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Since you were in a kayak and probably had vlos, If it were me, I would have put my drone in sport mode to turn off the obstacle avoidance system. Sometimes if it sees something on one side, it may push the drone into something it doesn't see on the other side.

I fly above canals and under the trees often. I make sure obstacle avoidance is off unless the trees are really thick and I believe obstacle avoidance is safer than none. But I prefer none most of the time. Especially if I can see the drone.

Do you have care refresh?

Don Testme · Feb 11, 2023

Oh, if it's not salt water and the drone was under water for less than a minute, If you wait four days, the water will dry up and the drone may work again. I had this happen to my mavic 2 pro. I grabbed it after it was submerged for 2 minutes in a fresh water canal. I made sure I turned it off, take batt and my card out and let it sit for 4 days. It started right up. And never had a problem for the remaining time I owned it.