Lost my Mavic Air in a first day

[Dimitrius]

Hello! I would like to share my sad story how i've lost my dron in a first day. I've recieved my mavic air as the birthday gift and lost it in third flight.
I'de been flying in mountains of Montenegro, when dron have switched to the low battery RTH mode and start moving home (as i think) I've to cancel this mode and manually land it, but it was first day of my expirience and I panic. Mavic started to move opposit direction from recorded home point, when i've mention this i've tried to reset the home point again and got the OK message but drone was continiuesly flying away from me and totally lost in the mountaints.
I've created the case with DJI support, and they have replied to me, that i got message about high wind while take off (i've got this message only one time) and dron was blown away from home point by the strong wind. But i've been flying move that 6 minutes and everyhting was ok,i've cached videos that dron was flying in autrotrack mode with no issues.

Here are the logs:
Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones

 

[Keule]

Sorry for your loss, Dimitrius.
According to Airdata, your MavicAIR was unable to RTH, because the aircraft was unable to fight the headwind which was 35 km/h gusting up to 45 km/h from SouthEast.

 

[Squamer]

Always remember just because it’s windy st ground level doesn’t mean it’s not windy at 100ft, 200ft etc.

 

[Mikero]

You start your flight with 50% battery too.

 

[Mr. C4]

A question to the pros. Will switching the MA to sport mode during automated RTH enable it to cope better with high wind speed?

 

[Dimitrius]

Sorry for your loss, Dimitrius.
According to Airdata, your MavicAIR was unable to RTH, because the aircraft was unable to fight the headwind which was 35 km/h gusting up to 45 km/h from SouthEast.

View attachment 35605

Oh, i didn't see such a wind in the logs, how can i view wind log?

 

[SpyderSkeets]

I get it. We all want to fly and dont want to a "little" wind to stop us, but even though the Air is rated to a relatively high wind speed, I just don't get why you would want to fly in such winds. For me, its just not a pleasant experience having the Air fight the winds.

 

[msinger]

Here's your uploaded flight log:
DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

how can i view wind log?

You need to have one of the paid AirData accounts.

Just from looking at the data in your flight log, here are a few indications the wind was very strong:

• The Mavic had a high negative pitch at times when the sticks were in the center position and it was not being commanded forward. For example, that occurred during the time it was ascending to the RTH altitude and after you cancelled RTH near the end of the flight log.
  
  
• The Mavic was drifting away from the home point at times when the sticks were in the center position and it was not being commanded forward.

 

[FMR]

Can understand even on a windy day the temptation to get airporn is overpowering when you first your new Mavic Air.
Yep been there done that and yep got freaked out similar scenario low battery and drifting blown by the wind.
Seriously I was flippin lucky RTH just wasn't cutting it especially as mine was set to return at a maximum of 120m 400ft the ceiling set by CAA part 101 here in New Zealand .
Had to cancel RTH and fly it back manulaaly via Map visually could not see it .
Since that crazy day 2nd day out it was with my new Mavic Air have reset RTH to 60m 200ft figured would scoot over the top of most natural obstacles ...there's always obstacle avoidance kicking in if need be.
Anyway sorry your experience became a nightmare I was very very lucky.

 

[john2k]

Can understand even on a windy day the temptation to get airporn is overpowering when you first your new Mavic Air.
Yep been there done that and yep got freaked out similar scenario low battery and drifting blown by the wind.
Seriously I was flippin lucky RTH just wasn't cutting it especially as mine was set to return at a maximum of 120m 400ft the ceiling set by CAA part 101 here in New Zealand .
Had to cancel RTH and fly it back manulaaly via Map visually could not see it .
Since that crazy day 2nd day out it was with my new Mavic Air have reset RTH to 60m 200ft figured would scoot over the top of most natural obstacles ...there's always obstacle avoidance kicking in if need be.
Anyway sorry your experience became a nightmare I was very very lucky.

I'm a newbie, can you explain what setting the return to home to a set altitude means? like you mention you set it from 120m to 60m what does that mean when a RTH is initiated?

 

[KelloggKid]

I'm a newbie, can you explain what setting the return to home to a set altitude means? like you mention you set it from 120m to 60m what does that mean when a RTH is initiated?

When RTH is initiated (either automatically or by you) the MA will first ascend to a preset altitude and then head toward the home point. You will want to make certain that you set that altitude high enough that the MA will clear any obstacles it might encounter. BTW that number is the altitude above ground relative to the home point.

 

[john2k]

When RTH is initiated (either automatically or by you) the MA will first ascend to a preset altitude and then head toward the home point. You will want to make certain that you set that altitude high enough that the MA will clear any obstacles it might encounter. BTW that number is the altitude above ground relative to the home point.

So if signal is lost to controller, it will ascend to the set altitude and then come to the home point and then land or just hover?

 

[sar104]

Here's the full AirData wind map from your flight:

Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones

 

[msinger]

So if signal is lost to controller, it will ascend to the set altitude and then come to the home point and then land or just hover?

That's the best case scenario.

You can find some more information about RTH in the "Return to Home (RTH)" section of the Mavic Air manual.

 

[BaNZ]

A question to the pros. Will switching the MA to sport mode during automated RTH enable it to cope better with high wind speed?

I also asked the same question yesterday. The answer is no. If you switch to sport mode. It will cancel RTH. However I did read that if you disable obstacle avoidance, it will return faster as it will gain more speed. But you run the risk of it crashing.

 

[wytnyt]

So if signal is lost to controller, it will ascend to the set altitude and then come to the home point and then land or just hover?

are you flying your drone yet?

 

[FMR]

I'm a newbie, can you explain what setting the return to home to a set altitude means? like you mention you set it from 120m to 60m what does that mean when a RTH is initiated?

When activating RTH the drone will immediately stop and rise or lower to 60m then will return to home at that Altitude.

 

[Mossiback]

When activating RTH the drone will immediately stop and rise or lower to 60m then will return to home at that Altitude.

If you are already above your set RTH height it will not lower. It will just head back to your home point and then drop down to land.

 

[InvisibleName]

are you flying your drone yet?

If not, don’t! Spend some time reading and learning how all the various functions work, or you’ll join the ever increasing list of lost drones on here!

 

[swooshdave]

If you are already above your set RTH height it will not lower. It will just head back to your home point and then drop down to land.

I believe that if you are too close to the drone it will also not go to the RTH height first. Keep that in mind if you are surrounded by obstacles.