Lost my Mavic Air (I am an idiot)

[vulcZ]

So I used to own a Phantom 3 Standard, which I flew in the wind a few times and never had an issue, other than of course it being a little harder to fly. So I didn't think my Mavic Air would have any issues under windy conditions. I'm not talking about a hurricane here, but it was pretty windy.

Anyway, I lost my drone, and I completely concede that it's my own fault and I am a huge idiot. It was about 120 feet in the air, and I was flying back and forth like normal. It would fly fine against the wind, although it was a lot slower than flying with the wind. Any way at some point I started getting connectivity issues between the drone and the remote, so I started to run in its direction to see if connectivity would improve, and it did not. Eventually it reconnected and I could see my live-feed again, but the drone would not fly towards me. Instead it seemed like it was drifting away from me in the wind. RTH commands didn't help, and the battery was running slow, so I started freaking out. With the battery at around 18%, I lost all connection to the drone. On my phone in the DJI Go app I was able to see the last known location, so I got into my car and drove there, preparing for the worst. I didn't find anything, which made me feeling neither happy or more anxious.

So I drive home and immediately found out (thanks to these great forums) that I could pull a TXT log file from my phone and upload it to a website so that I get a better understanding of what happened to my drone. Any who, here are my results...

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

When I saw this information, I was ecstatic! I already assumed the drone was in this general area because this is where the APP showed the last known location, but the log shows a much clearer picture of what happened. I was freaking out, I thought the drone had crashed. My understanding, based on my limited knowledge of reading these logs, is that the drone in fact did NOT crash land, but rather landed, and maybe even safely. The last few entries show the drone was descending vertically, and the last entry showed it was 30.8 feet in the air. So maybe it did crash? Based on the GPS location, it looks like it may have landed between those two houses, but then I switched the map view so 2D, and now it looks like it probably landed on the roof of the north house, which stinks because I drove to those houses tonight, and the owners were kind enough to let me look around their property. I didn't see the drone, but that's because I hadn't checked the map in 2D mode at that point, so I had no reason to suspect it was on the roof of the house (rookie error). I will be driving by tomorrow again when it's daylight to see if I can get a better view of the roof.

So I am wondering, is my understanding correct, that my drone probably landed safely on the roof of this house? Also, why do you think the log entries end so abruptly with the drone still 30 feet in the air, despite the battery still showing 7% charge? Is it possible that it fell out of the air? Also, how is this log able to exist in my phone even though the remote lost connection (at least according to the app) long before the drone began to land?

By the way I am happy to join this community! Please be gentle

 

[Keule]

I'm not talking about a hurricane here, but it was pretty windy.

Yep, no hurricane, but, look yourself at the windspeed at different heights:




For the whereabouts, let's call @sar104 for a rescue.

 

[Splashy]

What software/site is used to get the wind profile please?

 

[Keule]

What software/site is used to get the wind profile please?

It's airdata.com - paid account

 

[sar104]

Yes - that was pretty much descending straight down at the end:



It should have ended up on that roof, or on the ground just behind the building.

 

[landshark23]

Thanks for posting this - I am also a new Air owner (my 1st camea drone). I have flown FVP racers for about 3 years and am used to much more power, but generally never fly above 20-25'. The 1st time I tried RTH (LOS) the Air flew up to 100' (default), and I nearly **** it was so hard to see. I got it down and changed the default RTH height to the min., about 65' (wish I could go lower). So the problems due to wind speeds at different levels is something I need to be aware of.

Question: If you see something like this happening, would switching into Sport mode be a possible solution???

 

[sar104]

Thanks for posting this - I am also a new Air owner (my 1st camea drone). I have flown FVP racers for about 3 years and am used to much more power, but generally never fly above 20-25'. The 1st time I tried RTH (LOS) the Air flew up to 100' (default), and I nearly sh## it was so hard to see. I got it down and changed the default RTH height to the min., about 65' (wish I could go lower). So the problems due to wind speeds at different levels is something I need to be aware of.

Question: If you see something like this happening, would switching into Sport mode be a possible solution???

Sport mode will help - it increases available pitch to 35°.

 

[vulcZ]

Wow you guys are amazing, thank you so much for the help, and for not making me feel too terrible about myself

I will be driving to that house shortly to talk to the owner (again) and hopefully I locate the drone. I will post back with my findings. I'm still a bit confused as to how the TXT log file exists in the app despite the drone being seemingly disconnect way before those log entries were recorded. Unless of course there's some back-end emergency link between the remote and the drone that doesn't appear in the app.

 

[vulcZ]

View album 587
I found the drone! It was more or less exactly what you said it would be. I am floored! Christmas is saved!

2 of the props took a lickin', which makes sense given the drone descended onto a slanted surface (a roof). It was still very windy, but thankfully the drone sits so low to the surface that the wind wasn't strong enough to push it off the edge of the roof. As you can see from the pictures, and this story in general, I got EXTREMELY lucky!

 

[vulcZ]

Thanks for posting this - I am also a new Air owner (my 1st camea drone). I have flown FVP racers for about 3 years and am used to much more power, but generally never fly above 20-25'. The 1st time I tried RTH (LOS) the Air flew up to 100' (default), and I nearly sh## it was so hard to see. I got it down and changed the default RTH height to the min., about 65' (wish I could go lower). So the problems due to wind speeds at different levels is something I need to be aware of.

Question: If you see something like this happening, would switching into Sport mode be a possible solution???

In my case, I was already flying in Sport mode. I'm still new to this drone, so I've pretty much been flying in Sport exclusively because the drone was way too slow in the other mode. Admittedly, I should have checked the manuals and seen if there was a way to increase the drone's speed outside of Sport mode.

Either way, despite being in Sport mode, the wind was very strong at the altitude I was flying, and coupled with connectivity issues, it spelled disaster for me. Thankfully Jesus took the wheel and the drone landed itself safely on the roof of a nearby house. Still, that could have ended terribly if it had landed in a pool, or in the path of a car, or near an angry pet

 

[vulcZ]

While I am here, can anyone with a Mavic Pro speak on its ability to fly in high winds? I'm just curious. I don't buy drones with the INTENTION of flying in the wind.

For a while I was considering the Mavic Pro, but I got the Air from Target on a great deal on Christmas Eve so it was hard to pass up. However I do kind of regret not just paying the extra $100 for the Pro. My biggest quarrel with the Air is the battery life, and lack of OcuSync. Admittedly, I have never flown a Pro before so I have no idea how well OcuSync works in real-world scenarios. Any feedback on the Air vs Pro debate? I do love the Air's camera, though, which I hear is better than the Pro's, especially in the video department.

 

[Canuk]

The pro battery life is better and the connection is way stronger and more stable

 

[JDawg]

The Air does very well in the wind. I have flown in speeds up to 30 mph, but I always keep the bird close in these conditions. It looks to me that if you would have reduced elevation the bird could have made some headway. I wonder at what wind speed does a stalemate happen between the Air and the wind, 34 mph?

 

[vulcZ]

The Air does very well in the wind. I have flown in speeds up to 30 mph, but I always keep the bird close in these conditions. It looks to me that if you would have reduced elevation the bird could have made some headway. I wonder at what wind speed does a stalemate happen between the Air and the wind?

Honestly, I think that was my fatal mistake. As you could see from my flight logs, I had been using the drone for a few minutes without issue at a lower altitude, and it was handling the wind just fine. The issue was when I decided to ascend. Admittedly, I am not meteorologist so I had no idea winds are stronger the higher you go. Had I known, I would have stayed in the safe(r) zone. Glad I know now; I definitely wont be making this mistake again! Hopefully others learn from my mistake

 

[vulcZ]

The pro battery life is better and the connection is way stronger and more stable

Good to know. Does that also include urban areas? As you can see, I like to fly my drone around my neighborhood. Not a good practice for several reasons, but it's good to know a Pro would handle a dense area pretty well. The Air has held up OKAY, but my Phantom 3 Standard was pretty bad.

 

[JDawg]

Honestly, I think that was my fatal mistake. As you could see from my flight logs, I had been using the drone for a few minutes without issue at a lower altitude, and it was handling the wind just fine. The issue was when I decided to ascend. Admittedly, I am not meteorologist so I had no idea winds are stronger the higher you go. Had I known, I would have stayed in the safe(r) zone. Glad I know now; I definitely wont be making this mistake again! Hopefully others learn from my mistake

You received 3 or 4 wind warnings so at that point descending some would have been a good idea.