Lost my Mavic Air in a first day

[FMR]

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.

Didn't realise that ....thanks makes sense

 

[FMR]

The temptation to get what? Almost fell out of my chair!

Yeah guess if it's your 1st Drone I certainly found the urge to take flight a huge temptation wind and all.
Thing is now after the 2nd day flying and almost losing mine as well definitely won't take it up unless the wind isn't gusty

 

[Bearly Flying]

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

Well yes and no. Sports mode will give it more responsiveness and speed, but that won’t negate the strong winds. Also, sports mode pulls more of your battery. So if you are far enough away sports mode will only increase the possibility of your bird doing a forced land.

 

[PaulNH]

Yeah guess if it's your 1st Drone I certainly found the urge to take flight a huge temptation wind and all.
Thing is now after the 2nd day flying and almost losing mine as well definitely won't take it up unless the wind isn't gusty

If your using the app UAV Forecast.. it will give you the wind speeds... tap on the arrow at the bottom of the screen and it will tell you the wind profile. I've been tempted to fly ... but saw that the winds at 250 feet were 25 and gusting to 40 mph.... not worth the risk for me. Just another tool to help you make accurate decisions.

 

[hoggdoc]

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?

OMG and we wonder why drones have such a bad rep. This is a classic example of the type of uninformed users are that cause all the problems for the rest of us that take the time to learn about new things in our lives.

 

[hoggdoc]

You start your flight with 50% battery too.

OMG I am actually glad this guy lost the AIR, because with his total lack of concern for learning anything about it's operation he put it up in the air.

Just imagine the damage he could have done if he continued to fly with the total lack of knowledge. He would have become another talking point for more regulation on our hobby.

These things are not toys like many users think, they can cause serious damage and maybe even death if used improperly.

I have said it before, I think DJI has made these too **** easy to operate and promotes the "anyone" can fly them. I understand they are just trying to sell more product, but in doing so these things fall into the hands of people too stupid to operate them safely and responsible pilots are paying the price for DJI's success. IMHO

 

[Classic flyer]

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

That is true and that being said you can call the FSS ( FLIGHT SERVICE STATION) at your local airport and get a weather briefing that includes "WINDS ALOFT" for your area

 

[erkme73]

OMG I am actually glad this guy lost the AIR...

Welcome to Mavic forums - where your request for help, and your attempt to learn from others, is promptly met with condescension, rebuke, and ridicule. Wow.

There is a reason I don't come here as often. And this is a shining example of why. Get off your f'ing high horse, and if your compulsion to belittle someone must be fed, send your rebuke via PM... Publicly shaming someone does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING productive.

 

[ac0j]

OMG I am actually glad this guy lost the AIR, because with his total lack of concern for learning anything about it's operation he put it up in the air.

Just imagine the damage he could have done if he continued to fly with the total lack of knowledge. He would have become another talking point for more regulation on our hobby.

These things are not toys like many users think, they can cause serious damage and maybe even death if used improperly.

I have said it before, I think DJI has made these too **** easy to operate and promotes the "anyone" can fly them. I understand they are just trying to sell more product, but in doing so these things fall into the hands of people too stupid to operate them safely and responsible pilots are paying the price for DJI's success. IMHO

WOW!
I am so sick of hearing about all the death and destruction these tiny flying toys cause. Even though NO ONE can site even a single example of death and destruction caused by a drone. Its drone users repeating this nonsense that is way more destructive to the hobby than a careless pilot losing his drone in the ocean or a forest somewhere. When the people flying them proclaim them as deadly, we dont have a chance.

 

[ac0j]

Welcome to Mavic forums - where your request for help, and your attempt to learn from others, is promptly met with condescension, rebuke, and ridicule. Wow.

There is a reason I don't come here as often. And this is a shining example of why. Get off your f'ing high horse, and if your compulsion to belittle someone must be fed, send your rebuke via PM... Publicly shaming someone does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING productive.

Kind of the pot calling the kettle black wouldn't you say? Welcome back!

 

[jedburgh01]

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

Damm that's a good question

 

[jedburgh01]

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.

Setting RTH height to max may not be a good idea as you're using power both to ascend and descend

 

[Ian in London]

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

Flipping it into Sports Mode will NOT cancel any RTH already underway.
Both the PRO and the AIR handle wind better in Sports Mode, even when already in RTH mode. (This is especially true of the Pro, as Sports Mode will disable the Obstacle Avoidance sensors and allow it to fly faster at a steeper pitch)

Remember that if you've never enabled intelligent flight modes or Sports Mode, (or recently updated firmware and not re-enabled them) it won't just switch into Sports Mode as it starts instructing you to enable these in the App, which is a distraction you can do without.)


There are 3 easy rules to help avoid all this:

1. Set out with a full battery, or at least never less than 70%
2. Always fly out INTO the wind, so you're flying home WITH the wind.
3. If you're really struggling and RTH isn't working, try and LAND remotely and use the 'Find My Drone' function in the DJI App, which will lead you straight to where it last had contact
(4. If you do any of the above over water, you may be in real trouble )

Cheers

Ian in London

 

[Kevjones777]

So the answer is actually YES sports mode will help you fly into the wind better in an emergency and also ensure that your crash into the ground at high speed if you are disorientated.

 

[Kevjones777]

Landing on a boat : No dont try a RTH landing you are going to probably need a wetsuit. Get the aircraft back to the boat, slow it down and hover over the deck then slowly lower it onto either the deck or your hand or someone else's hand who knows how to hold it and has practised BEFORE you do this. These things fly extremely well very very slowly with very stable controlled characteristics.

 

[robmacom]

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.

I agree I experienced starting a flight with little or no wind and when the Air got up the wind picked up. The warning kicked in and I immediately tried to bring the drone home but it drifted. I was lucky I cancelled return to home and brought it down to low level I managed to land it. High winds are never good. It is now on the tick list which includes low level clouds. I went from clear sky on the Scottish mountains last week to clouds rolling in very quickly sensors failed and LAND Immediately came up. I reckon this group is a very helpful learning curb for enthusiasts everywhere. It's a shame they lost the drone but at £1000 plus I just can't afford not to follow you guys and fly with caution

 

[Rogat19]

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

Does it not have find my drone in the software?

 

[GLJones]

Totally agree but if the AC makes an emergency landing on it's own (outside of pilot command) it should have some idea that the landing area is fatal.

I don't believe the goal of DJI is to land in a safe spot. The goal is to prevent a drone from free falling from altitude and possible injuring someone or damaging property. The auto landing system is designed to bring the drone down at a very small vertical rate so wherever it lands it isn't a large impact.
As the systems get more sophisticated, they will eventually be able to determine the surface and possible carry the map in them so they can refer to it and see that they are over water and attempt to go to the closest land. We are not there yet. Right now, it's all about safety.

 

[Jameslavis]

Lots of folks make new mistakes. This should not be a place to ostracize like the member above wishing the OP would have lost it.

Lesson is likely learned. In my practice, of the trees are blowing the drone stats down. What you feel on the ground is 5x in the air. This little drone is tiny and can do well in wind. Not worth the thousand buck chance If it’s gustu

 

[Pablo]

It was autolanding and at only 90ft (maybe 150 AGL) when the log ends. The area looks steep but accessible from the P1 road to the north, or from the takeoff point. @Dimitrius you can probably find it without much issue, and find it with minimal damage because it was landing itself. You were already walking behind it during most of the flight anyway.

red, drone flightpath
green, where you already walked
blue circle, where the drone probably is
blue arrow, best way to park?

@Dimitrius Did you ever follow up on this? This doesn't look like a wooded area, it looks like it would be relatively easy to find. Surely you at least gave it a shot?