MA2 splashed in to the water.

[Hollmuth]

Hello everyone and greetings from Finland.

I am a new Mavic pilot and this is my first drone. I bought it like 2 months ago. I have been reading this forum a bit and was hoping to write something more nice things here first, but unfortunately I have to start with this kind of case.

I was taking hyperlapse about beautiful sunset 50m altitude and about 15m from shore. After hyperlapse there was about13% of battery and in my mind it should have been enough to bring it from that close position to land. (I have normally kept 30% rule to take drone home) But as I tried to bring it home by first lowing altitude it started automatic landing from 20 m above water. I could do nothing? I also froze a little bit and I am not sure if it could have been possible to steer home while it vas doing emergency landing? I checked phone for cancel button and there was none? I dived it from maybe 1m deep in 5 minutes (had to get snorkels from boat).I am sure I could have taken it safely home from that distance if it did not do automatic landing. It is weird that you could not even cancel it? From flight data I can see there was still 10% of battery after it had landed in the lake. Here is link to video about flight data. After 0.40min starts to happen.
MA2SPLASHVIDEODATA

So What do you think about this? Is this 100% my fault and did I understand correctly that if emergency landing takes place you cannot cancel it? Is there any reason to send it to DJI?

I was in my boat so only thing I could do was to turn my boat heater on and I dried it up about 2 to 3 hours but then it got too sweaty in my cabin after all it was unusually warm night in Finland. As I got home i put it on rise and I bought cat sand made of Silica gel. MA2 was in plastic bag with Silica for a couple of days. Then I bought some electric cleaner or contact cleaner and I sprayed it everywhere inside the drone. Now I have done some test flights and it seems like everything works fine. I cannot say for sure is everything perfect for example in the picture but it seems like everything works which is a big wonder.
So after this I might post to forum that "New Pilot post" to introduce myself. Or maby I already did it here

 

[Iainabz]

Did u rinse it in freshwater to get salt out or were u in freshwater

 

[PhantomFandom]

Welcome to the forum and sorry it was under these circumstances.

After hyperlapse there was about13% of battery and in my mind it should have been enough to bring it from that close position to land. (I have normally kept 30% rule to take drone home)

There is the issue. I always plan on being back on the ground with 30% battery. It leaves plenty of wiggle room for unforeseen issues, strong winds, and detours. We would need the flight logs to be able to tell for sure what happened, but from your video it does look like the MA2 entered critical battery auto-land as it hit 10%, just as it should. However, you should have received other warnings prior to this point. The MA2 should have attempted a low battery RTH when it calculated that it needed to come back. Without the flight logs, I can only assume that you decided to cancel that RTH.

I could do nothing? I also froze a little bit and I am not sure if it could have been possible to steer home while it vas doing emergency landing?

During the critical battery auto-land you should be able to still control the direction of the MA2 and even apply full throttle to keep it at the current altitude. I can't say for sure since I have never run into the situation.

So What do you think about this? Is this 100% my fault and did I understand correctly that if emergency landing takes place you cannot cancel it? Is there any reason to send it to DJI?

Unfortunately from what I see in the video, yes this is pilot error in that you flew way too long, perhaps cancelled the low battery RTH when prompted, and did not try to stop the descent with full throttle. This would not be a a problem with the drone and thus not a warranty issue.

I was in my boat so only thing I could do was to turn my boat heater on and I dried it up about 2 to 3 hours but then it got too sweaty in my cabin after all it was unusually warm night in Finland. As I got home i put it on rise and I bought cat sand made of Silica gel. MA2 was in plastic bag with Silica for a couple of days. Then I bought some electric cleaner or contact cleaner and I sprayed it everywhere inside the drone. Now I have done some test flights and it seems like everything works fine. I cannot say for sure is everything perfect for example in the picture but it seems like everything works which is a big wonder.

I am assuming since this was a lake that it was fresh water? If it was salt water, i would just consider it a wreck. Best solution would have been to immediately immerse the MA2 in clean fresh water (preferably distilled water). Then when you got it home, take it out of the water, open it up, and wash out the interior components with alcohol. Rice does next to nothing, and in fact can cause issues due to the rice dust which can get in the drone. Hopefully you don't have issues, but corrosion could still occur long term.

 

[Hollmuth]

Thanks for your answers.
Yes you assumed correctly I rejected warning in about 22%. The emergency landing strike and I froze. Is flight logs the text file that you get from your phone?
Water was luckily not salty as it was clean water of lake Saimaa.

 

[PhantomFandom]

Thanks for your answers.

You're welcome.

Yes you assumed correctly I rejected warning in about 22%.

ALWAYS trust these warnings and let the drone RTH when it needs to. better yet, keep an eye on the battery wo you are well on your way home before hitting even 30%. It's just not worth the risk.

The emergency landing strike and I froze.

Read the manual a few times and familiarize yourself with all of the procedures and controls. Practice them so that you know what to do when a situation comes up.

Is flight logs the text file that you get from your phone?

Yes. Full instructions can be found in the Crash Analysis Sticky thread. Although in this case I think it is very clear between your video and your account of events, of exactly what happened. The flight logs will likely not yield any new information. This was pilot error.

 

[boblui]

It is weird that you could not even cancel it?

As stated in the user manual, this kind of autolanding ( due to critically low battery ) cannot be cancelled. What you could have done is applying a LOT of throttle up to stop the descent and bringing the craft back immediately. The craft will respond to all other controls normally.

I have run into the same situation with my M2P but fortunately, the craft was at good height so I had time to notice that the craft was responding to stick inputs and I managed to bring it back safely.

 

[Peshoa]

Hello Holmuth,
even after landing engaged, as Boblui said, you still can control the drone. So, may be it is good to do some practice, keep the drone in front your eyes with 10% battery and just wait fot the warnings. Do not worry to accept the landing when the warning comes and after that try to climb the drone up and you will see that she will respond.10% is enough charge to bring home the drone from short distance.Your mistake is just lag of practice...

 

[Made2Phly]

I have found it helpful to practice with the various fail safe scenarios so as to know what the A/C will and will not do, . E.g., let the battery run down to critical with A/C just a few meters from you; turn the controlled off (with low RTH), then turn it back on; shut down the phone, etc.

 

[Mel 08]

If you move the boat after take off you need the rth cancelled
Otherwise your drone will not fly to your new position it will go to launch site.
Be careful and think about your flight
Welcome to the forum
Cheers Mel

 

[Hollmuth]

Thanks for all replies. I guess my story is a good lesson for all the new pilots out there.I will cancel my case from DJI. I will make a video about how it all went and another video about test flight I did after 6 days from splash.
Only problem I have seen so far is some errors occasionally on vision sensors (blocked) and sometimes it says "the ground not suitable for landing" even if I am landing on a landing pad. Maby it enjoyed too much of landing in to water

 

[Hollmuth]

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[Tentoes]

Looks like you saved your drone!

 

[Flybridge]

Isn't it amazing how much abuse these drones can take.

 

[Hollmuth]

Yes I still can't believe it seems to work fine. Have to do some more testflights before I totally can trust it.

 

[netsonic]

I was in my boat so only thing I could do was to turn my boat heater on and I dried it up about 2 to 3 hours but then it got too sweaty in my cabin after all it was unusually warm night in Finland. As I got home i put it on rise and I bought cat sand made of Silica gel. MA2 was in plastic bag with Silica for a couple of days. Then I bought some electric cleaner or contact cleaner and I sprayed it everywhere inside the drone. Now I have done some test flights and it seems like everything works fine. I cannot say for sure is everything perfect for example in the picture but it seems like everything works which is a big wonder.

You are one lucky lad. Enjoy flying!

 

[pinballwiz86]

Gotta love fresh water. If it dropped in the ocean it would be toast! Lucky.