MA2 (RC Disconnected) No RTH, Drone gone

[Dincena]

You initiated autolanding at 2:11.3 and 185 feet above the river and watched it descend for almost a minute, until it splashed down at 3:07.5.
You only tried pushing the throttle forwards but didn't cancel the autolanding which would have instantly solved your problem.

If you accidentally initiated autolanding when you thought you were initiating RTH, the result might have been similar because you were impatient to launch and did so before the drone acquired GPS and could record a homepoint.
By the time it had GPS, it was already out over the river and that's where it recorded its homepoint.
You would have had to cancel the RTH autolanding to get the drone back once that started.

Believe it or not i was unable to cancel the auto land. I repeatedly pressed the RTH/Pause button during the decent/auto land as well as pushed up on both control sticks as well as tryed tapping the X on the screen. No response from any action.

 

[Meta4]

Believe it or not i was unable to cancel the auto land. I repeatedly pressed the RTH/Pause button during the decent/auto land as well as pushed up on both control sticks as well ad tryed tapping the X on the screen. No response from any action.

If you get another, it would be a good idea to practise cancelling RTH or autoland and resuming control.
If all else fails, switching to sport mode and back will usually do it.

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

Well, those are two sad stories which should be a lesson to all... some have learned this themselves, others can avoid it by storing this type of tragedy away in the gray cells. In my limited time flying drones (about 2.5 years) I have only ventured out over a significant body of water once, I just don't trust the technology, and even my ability 100%. But over land I can at least recover the wreckage... just sayin'. Better luck next time Scott with whatever you fly, you too Dincena.

 

[boblui]

Believe it or not i was unable to cancel the auto land. I repeatedly pressed the RTH/Pause button during the decent/auto land as well as pushed up on both control sticks as well as tryed tapping the X on the screen. No response from any action.

If my recollection is right, you have posted about this incident before. Your drone took off in a no-fly zone but the drone didn't realize it because of poor GPS signal. By the time the GPS signal got better and the drone found that it's in a no-fly zone, autolanding was initiated. There is NO way you could cancel this kind of autolanding. What you could have done is just to fly straight back to the home point during the descent. There was more than sufficient time for you to do so.

 

[Meta4]

If my recollection is right, you have posted about this incident before. Your drone took off in a no-fly zone but the drone didn't realize it because of poor GPS signal. By the time the GPS signal got better and the drone found that it's in a no-fly zone, autolanding was initiated. There is NO way you could cancel this kind of autolanding. What you could have done is just to fly straight back to the home point during the descent. There was more than sufficient time for you to do so.

Yes ... that one:

Mavic Air 2 "RC signal interference"

Hey all fairly new to the drone game was hoping you guys could give me some info as to what happened in my situation, been trying to get a hold of DJI support but no response yet im hoping it was due to the long holiday weekend. I was flying my mavic air 2 in a park near me (Authorization zone)...

mavicpilots.com

 

[aokusman]

What should OP have done after loosing connection ( assuming he did )?

 

[Meta4]

What should OP have done after loosing connection ( assuming he did )?

Since he only lost connection after his drone sank, not much.
Before that, it would have been a good idea if he didn't pull the left stick down.

 

[stevan]

I did have something pretty similiar.

Air2 was arrived, and literally on first flight i got strange behaviour.

Compass ok, IMU ok, turned on drone, wait until GPS lock sattelites, and get message "Home point updated". I put drone 3m in front of me, and 10m above, just want to see all option what i have with this drone (different video and photo settings, etc). After couple of minuts, a warrning message pop on screen "RC lost connection with aircraft" (or something like that). At that point drone didnt try to return to HP, but he start to fly out of my yard. Now, i really dont know how i stop him to fly away, just pull both stick on controller towards me, and drone start to prone but still going in direction oposite of HP, slowly, but keep flying out of my yard... When he was close enough to the ground, , i catch him with hands from bottom and turn upside down to turn of propellers...

I never have this situation with Mini, and, as this is my first fly with Air2, i simply lost all confidence in this drone ... I will test once more and if this happen again, will sell Air2...

 

[gb160]

I did have something pretty similiar.

Air2 was arrived, and literally on first flight i got strange behaviour.

Compass ok, IMU ok, turned on drone, wait until GPS lock sattelites, and get message "Home point updated". I put drone 3m in front of me, and 10m above, just want to see all option what i have with this drone (different video and photo settings, etc). After couple of minuts, a warrning message pop on screen "RC lost connection with aircraft" (or something like that). At that point drone didnt try to return to HP, but he start to fly out of my yard. Now, i really dont know how i stop him to fly away, just pull both stick on controller towards me, and drone start to prone but still going in direction oposite of HP, slowly, but keep flying out of my yard... When he was close enough to the ground, , i catch him with hands from bottom and turn upside down to turn of propellers...

I never have this situation with Mini, and, as this is my first fly with Air2, i simply lost all confidence in this drone ... I will test once more and if this happen again, will sell Air2...

Without a log this is just anecdotal.
Provide a log and someone will tell what went on, you could have a faulty drone...without a log no-one can do anything for you.

 

[stevan]

Ok, where is exactly log stored on android phone?

 

[InvisibleName]

Ok, where is exactly log stored on android phone?

See the details in this thread

Mavic Flight Log Retrieval and Analysis Guide

 

[stevan]

Ok, here is two logs from that fly. Dont know why there is two of them, only one flight i did have... View attachment DJIFlightRecord_2020-06-13_[01-47-55].txtView attachment DJIFlightRecord_2020-06-13_[01-48-56].txt

 

[boblui]

Ok, here is two logs from that fly. Dont know why there is two of them, only one flight i did have... View attachment 104669View attachment 104670

This seems to be not the log of the problemetic flight you have mentioned. The drone took off in ATTI mode and did not get the home point fixed until 28 seconds after taking off. The drone was landed normally without any big change in roll angle so it is inconsistent with your description ".... i catch him with hands from bottom and turn upside down to turn of propellers ...."

 

[stevan]

Yes, that is what logs says... I know what it really happen and what i did...

 

[PhantomFandom]

I've definitely read the data, but all I can say is I was watching live on the screen, and while obviously depth perception is limited with a phone, height perception definitely isn't. I'm pretty sure I know the difference of even 20ft vs 100ft. Plus the speed of the supposed decent in 7 seconds, when my entire return is a gradual descent. My only fault which will never happen again is I had changed phones and wasn't caching the video on the new phone (Changed phones for more NITS). That will definitely never happen again, and probably will screen record everything from now on as well.

You still aren't providing us full details.
In post # 38 above I requested " I am still not clear what EXACTLY happened when you say that you had a RC disconnect. You were looking at the screen and then what? Very precisely, what did you see? What was on the screen? What messages popped up? "

Now we find out you changed mobile devices on this tragic flight. So it seems there are details which you are not providing and which may have contributed to the crash.

Both you and @Dincena are now disputing the veracity of the log files. You can say many things about technology and there certainly is something to be said about buying into the latest release of anything (car, boat, TV, phone, drone) that is unproven. However, I think we can all be certain that the system is not manufacturing fake data that fully explains a crash.

Sure there are issues with the MM that are certainly design related and some have been reported with the MA2 as well. Maybe DJI is indeed slipping a bit with the engineering with its latest products. There are some (very few) crashes that are totally hardware problems. This however does not seem to be one of them. The left stick was held down for 10 seconds, which fully explains why the MA2 flew right into the water.

 

[AtortPhotography]

The throttle stick was held all the way down near the end of the flight, altitude decreased gradually until the drone hit the water after 9 seconds.

View attachment 104599

It can’t return home once in the water? ?

 

[HoosierFlyer]

I'd like to see some tests of the MA2 fitted with pontoons and force landing in a body of water to see if it survives any splash damage. Perhaps one of the phantomrain jackets could help protect it even more.
If the water is completely still obviously the chances of survival would be better.

 

[Meta4]

I'd like to see some tests of the MA2 fitted with pontoons and force landing in a body of water to see if it survives any splash damage. Perhaps one of the phantomrain jackets could help protect it even more.
If the water is completely still obviously the chances of survival would be better.

Fitting pontoons is only going to handicap the drone's ability to deal with wind.
Pontoons aren't going to keep a falling drone dry either.

 

[DavidT_ NZ]

This is an excellent discussion thread. Thanks for all of the analyses and suggestions. Very interesting, from a technical perspective.

 

[hiflyer201]

Hey, Sorry for your loss..it's tough. lots of great analysis. If it's any consolation..I really liked your video..nicely done