Maui Crash 5/6/2019

[apshoeamker]

Hello fellow Mavic Pilots!

I initially reached out to @sar104, who has graciously agreed to inspect my unfortunate incident and suggested that perhaps I should tell the story to the group so that we can get as many eyes on it as possible.

Earlier this week, I flew my drone in a particularly remote part of Maui called Hana - more specifically the so-called Road To Hana which is an often-times single lane curvy road that runs alongside the Pacific on the way to the town of Hana. An absolutely gorgeous experience that I highly recommend should you ever be in Maui. I flew my Mavic 2 Pro drone successfully twice before the incident and am stumped as to what happened. As I was orbiting over the bay approximately 200 ft in altitude and 600 ft in distance an unexpected crash occurred during an otherwise normal flight. I could still see video, but it had clearly tangled with a tree and was unable to take off. I rushed to retrieve the aircraft, but unfortunately it had crashed in a dense part of the rain forest that was 50 feet or so above the road straight up with no access into the dense jungle - I tried climbing the slippery side, but thought better of it pretty quickly. I really don't understand what happened - it was a bit windy that day, but I had no problems handling the aircraft up to that point - it simply drifted laterally and suddenly lost altitude in the blink of an eye.

I have attached the files that @sar104 requested. The .dat file that I have attached is the only one that is available in the MCDatFlightRecords folder, although I'm not 100% certain that it has data pertaining to the date of the crash (5/6/2019) - I'll admit that the file format is foreign to me, so I'm not sure if that file is an aggregate of several flights into one. In addition, I have attached the txt flight files for all three flights from that day including the crash.

Thank you to everyone for taking a look - I have reached out to DJI and they have determined that the crash was due to pilot error and since I am unable to retrieve the drone, my DJI Refresh plan is unable to provide a replacement. I am, of course, willing to accept that it was pilot error, but I would really love a second set of eyes, if only for my own peace of mind.

 

[mov_pilot]

Hi
Looking at your the log and the terrain it seems like you've hit a tree top. It seems from the log that right before your crash you were doing a curve over the bay at what I think is relatively high speed and then just when went straight into the side of the hill and into the trees. The abrupt speed change and pitch\roll data also supports a sort of hit and fumble pattern that sometimes characterises a crash into a tree.
Other than that I noticed you started the flight with a gps signal on the low end but I don't see how that could have caused this.
Have you lost control of the drone at that point?

 

[Mavic Maveric]

So sorry to hear about your loss. Was it insured?

BTW, my avatar you see on the left was taken in Maui last Jan.

 

[sar104]

Hello fellow Mavic Pilots!

I initially reached out to @sar104, who has graciously agreed to inspect my unfortunate incident and suggested that perhaps I should tell the story to the group so that we can get as many eyes on it as possible.

Earlier this week, I flew my drone in a particularly remote part of Maui called Hana - more specifically the so-called Road To Hana which is an often-times single lane curvy road that runs alongside the Pacific on the way to the town of Hana. An absolutely gorgeous experience that I highly recommend should you ever be in Maui. I flew my Mavic 2 Pro drone successfully twice before the incident and am stumped as to what happened. As I was orbiting over the bay approximately 200 ft in altitude and 600 ft in distance an unexpected crash occurred during an otherwise normal flight. I could still see video, but it had clearly tangled with a tree and was unable to take off. I rushed to retrieve the aircraft, but unfortunately it had crashed in a dense part of the rain forest that was 50 feet or so above the road straight up with no access into the dense jungle - I tried climbing the slippery side, but thought better of it pretty quickly. I really don't understand what happened - it was a bit windy that day, but I had no problems handling the aircraft up to that point - it simply drifted laterally and suddenly lost altitude in the blink of an eye.

I have attached the files that @sar104 requested. The .dat file that I have attached is the only one that is available in the MCDatFlightRecords folder, although I'm not 100% certain that it has data pertaining to the date of the crash (5/6/2019) - I'll admit that the file format is foreign to me, so I'm not sure if that file is an aggregate of several flights into one. In addition, I have attached the txt flight files for all three flights from that day including the crash.

Thank you to everyone for taking a look - I have reached out to DJI and they have determined that the crash was due to pilot error and since I am unable to retrieve the drone, my DJI Refresh plan is unable to provide a replacement. I am, of course, willing to accept that it was pilot error, but I would really love a second set of eyes, if only for my own peace of mind.

Unfortunately it does looks as if you flew it sideways at the trees. It was stopped by the obstacle avoidance system and then you left it hovering there for 640 seconds, with very little movement, until it eventually made contact with something and crashed.

 

[John MacAulay]

Oh, what a shame. The Mavic did everything it could to save itself. Obstacle avoidance saved it from the trees only to drift into them after. 640 seconds should have been enough time to try to recover it but I guess you didn't have the video feed to figure where you had to go.
Sorry for the loss of your aircraft.

 

[msinger]

As I was orbiting over the bay approximately 200 ft in altitude and 600 ft in distance an unexpected crash occurred during an otherwise normal flight. I could still see video, but it had clearly tangled with a tree and was unable to take off.

When the drone was hovering at its last known location, it avoided obstacles numerous times as you attempted to maneuver it. Since you were recording video during that entire time, I'm assuming the video shows the obstacles (trees) the drone was avoiding. Are you able to see trees around the drone in that section of the video?

 

[apshoeamker]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts!

Unfortunately, I did not have insurance on the drone - that was a severe mistake and teachable moment for myself.

I sincerely appreciate everyone's input and analysis and can see now where my error ultimately occurred. During my return lateral approach, I must have just barely clipped a tree high above my position on the road. From what I understand (according to DJI support), in P-mode, the lateral object detection sensors are inactive - as a result, the drone was not able to alert to the incoming danger nor was it able to react until obstructions were overhead and in front of it. It did attempt to recover and hovered for some time within a thicket of branches and I'm afraid my attempts at retrieval must have caused it to roll into a position that was irrecoverable. I am obviously saddened at the fact that my drone is now a permanent fixture of the Maui landscape, but am thankful of the experiences that I had with it up to that point.

Thanks again, everyone!

 

[Tom Watson]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts!

Unfortunately, I did not have insurance on the drone - that was a severe mistake and teachable moment for myself.

I sincerely appreciate everyone's input and analysis and can see now where my error ultimately occurred. During my return lateral approach, I must have just barely clipped a tree high above my position on the road. From what I understand (according to DJI support), in P-mode, the lateral object detection sensors are inactive - as a result, the drone was not able to alert to the incoming danger nor was it able to react until obstructions were overhead and in front of it. It did attempt to recover and hovered for some time within a thicket of branches and I'm afraid my attempts at retrieval must have caused it to roll into a position that was irrecoverable. I am obviously saddened at the fact that my drone is now a permanent fixture of the Maui landscape, but am thankful of the experiences that I had with it up to that point.

Thanks again, everyone!

Hi Shoe, there must be someone who can reach your M2"s location, a climber maybe, try running an add and see what you come up with. If it's in a tree the chances of it being ok are probably good, and if it costs you a couple of hundred bucks and they find it, you'll be one happy dude....Best of luck to you.

 

[Madmax229]

Oh, what a shame. The Mavic did everything it could to save itself. Obstacle avoidance saved it from the trees only to drift into them after. 640 seconds should have been enough time to try to recover it but I guess you didn't have the video feed to figure where you had to go.
Sorry for the loss of your aircraft.

"640 seconds" equates to 4 hours, that is one hell of a battery.

 

[msinger]

"640 seconds" equates to 4 hours, that is one **** of a battery.

640 seconds is only 10 minutes.

 

[tleedom]

"640 seconds" equates to 4 hours, that is one **** of a battery.

640 seconds is only 10 minutes.

Yea, that new math kicks my but all the time too.

 

[apshoeamker]

Fantastic idea with respect to the ad!

There will be quite a lot of trust involved, but, hey - I believe in humanity

Lost Drone on Road to Hana

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