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Mavic Air 2 lost to Lake Huron

Captdave12

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New person here, sad to say, I am looking for some assistance with what happened yesterday to my former Mavic Air 2. I was at a lighthouse in Lake Huron, about 6 miles offshore. I launched the Mavic while standing on a pier that the lighthouse stands upon. All appeared normal, I used auto take off, believe I reset the home position, it hovered, went up then within seconds flew away, my perception is that no inputs to the flight controller made any difference. It sank I believe in 35' of water, we could not find it. I am attaching a log that I was able to view on DJI flight log reviewer. I was using it in tripod mode, so the speed at which it flew amazed me and looking at the log it appears that it was going 50 mph+ when it crashed.

Any thoughts from the many experts out there?
 

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  • DJIFlightRecord_2020-07-30_[16-03-18].txt
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New person here, sad to say, I am looking for some assistance with what happened yesterday to my former Mavic Air 2. I was at a lighthouse in Lake Huron, about 6 miles offshore. I launched the Mavic while standing on a pier that the lighthouse stands upon. All appeared normal, I used auto take off, believe I reset the home position, it hovered, went up then within seconds flew away, my perception is that no inputs to the flight controller made any difference. It sank I believe in 35' of water, we could not find it. I am attaching a log that I was able to view on DJI flight log reviewer. I was using it in tripod mode, so the speed at which it flew amazed me and looking at the log it appears that it was going 50 mph+ when it crashed.

Any thoughts from the many experts out there?
I haven't seen the record yet, but it sounds like a yaw error.
 
It looks like a typical fly away due to sever yaw error of the IMU. Usually the craft should still respond to control inputs but in your case the craft did not respond to rudder input at the later part of the flight which suggests that there may be other issues as well.

The .DAT flight log file in your phone will be needed for futher investigation. Follow this thread to get the file.
 
I could not find software to read this, or at least it appears I need an upgraded version of air data to do so. This is the DAT file on my I phone from yesterday for the last flight. Any help appreciated. I know the drone is not recoverable, just wondering what I did or what could be prevented in the future.

Just for background the lighthouse in question is built entirely of steel or cast iron and I am wondering the compass was not calibrated correctly.

I am not sure if DJI will consider anything or is this pretty much a lost cause?
 

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  • 2020-06-27 14_10_35-163CG91R0A16YP.dat
    398 bytes · Views: 13
Welcome to the forums - unfortunately not under the best reasons. You will find a lot of great help here and members with the knowledge to try and determine the whats and whys it happened
 
I don't know if this had any effect on your flight but look at the RTH altitude comapred to the Max flight altitude

1596219427620.png
 
I could not find software to read this, or at least it appears I need an upgraded version of air data to do so. This is the DAT file on my I phone from yesterday for the last flight. Any help appreciated. I know the drone is not recoverable, just wondering what I did or what could be prevented in the future.

Just for background the lighthouse in question is built entirely of steel or cast iron and I am wondering the compass was not calibrated correctly.

I am not sure if DJI will consider anything or is this pretty much a lost cause?
No ... that's not the correct mobile device .DAT log.

The one from this flight have FLY036.DAT in the end ... read up here under section 3. on how to retrieve --> Mavic Flight Log Retrieval and Analysis Guide , attach it then in a new post here.

...and you powered on the MA2 on top of this ... full of steel & reinforced concrete, or was it from a boat on the side ?

1596231816215.png

I don't know if this had any effect on your flight but look at the RTH altitude comapred to the Max flight altitude

View attachment 109357

1596232838977.png
 
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The file folder where the FLY036 data should be is empty, if I interpreted the instructions the file should be in the MCData Flight Records which is a sub folder in the Flight Records tab. It indicates that they may have synced with the DJI servers and that is why the file is empty. I can download a CSV file of that flight but cannot find any other file that has the FLY306 suffix. I also am able to get quite a bit of detail on

Good research on the Gravely Shoals light, yes, I was on the base. In retrospect not a good idea, the whole structure aside from concrete is steel or cast iron. I shouldn't say I never thought of it, had a Mavic Air 1 that constantly gave warnings about compass calibration etc..

No doubt some significant compass interference (lighthouse got things out of sorts. Thanks for any input, regards.
 
The file folder where the FLY036 data should be is empty, if I interpreted the instructions the file should be in the MCData Flight Records which is a sub folder in the Flight Records tab. It indicates that they may have synced with the DJI servers and that is why the file is empty. I can download a CSV file of that flight but cannot find any other file that has the FLY306 suffix. I also am able to get quite a bit of detail on

Good research on the Gravely Shoals light, yes, I was on the base. In retrospect not a good idea, the whole structure aside from concrete is steel or cast iron. I shouldn't say I never thought of it, had a Mavic Air 1 that constantly gave warnings about compass calibration etc..

No doubt some significant compass interference (lighthouse got things out of sorts. Thanks for any input, regards.
Unfortunately pretty common when it comes to the DJI FLY app ... with no access to the .DAT we can't check of the sensor readings from the compass among others. But knowing what you did/was placed during the power on of the AC make a strong hint towards a yaw error due to AC power on in a magnetic disturbed spot ... & it's when you're powering on the AC that makes it ... as it's then the IMUyaw is aligning with the disturbed compass. Later up in the air, the compass correct it self but the IMUyaw stays wrong making the AC think its pointing in another direction than in reality. Then airborne when the AC needs to correct/hold position due to wind it does it with the wrong motors causing an even larger position error ... then the snowball rolls & the AC tries & tries but the error just becomes larger.

Always check the drone icon on the map in the app so it is pointing in equal direction there as the AC does in reality ... with this simple check you can avoid incidents like this. If the drone icon direction isn't equal to reality ... POWER DOWN, move away to another spot & power up & repeat.
 
Did you contact dji? Please keep us updated on the outcome with them. In my opinion it is better to ask for a supervisor especially if you arent getting anywhere with the rep. The reps have a set process and they are restricted on what they have the ability to do and can only do what the system allows a supervisor is able to do nore and is more experienced

I didn’t realize that non fly more combo was supposed to come with a pair of extra props I waited for chat support and I was connected to a rep and after an hour of himdoing the check list and submitting receipts he tried to tell me that he believes thatmy mini was a used drone because the mini doesn’t come with props installed. Proceeds to give me aform to fill out and most of it was everything I spent an hr Answering for him I immediately requested a supervisor and he said he would try then comes back and said he would submit a request and id hear back from a supervisor in a few days i said no thx i want to be transferd andto sum it up got supervisor and in 5 mins he was done and said id get an email in 5 days :. Very next day I got email apologizing and shipping confirmation for two pairs of props..point is don’t just accept what the first rep says
 
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Did you contact dji? Please keep us updated on the outcome with them. In my opinion it is better to ask for a supervisor especially if you arent getting anywhere with the rep. The reps have a set process and they are restricted on what they have the ability to do and can only do what the system allows a supervisor is able to do nore and is more experienced

I didn’t realize that non fly more combo was supposed to come with a pair of extra props I waited for chat support and I was connected to a rep and after an hour of himdoing the check list and submitting receipts he tried to tell me that he believes thatmy mini was a used drone because the mini doesn’t come with props installed. Proceeds to give me aform to fill out and most of it was everything I spent an hr Answering for him I immediately requested a supervisor and he said he would try then comes back and said he would submit a request and id hear back from a supervisor in a few days i said no thx i want to be transferd andto sum it up got supervisor and in 5 mins he was done and said id get an email in 5 days :. Very next day I got email apologizing and shipping confirmation for two pairs of props..point is don’t just accept what the first rep says
 
An update as requested. I did contact DJI, took a few days, sent a few files and they replied they are covering the loss of aircraft. Quite pleased with the outcome, it is shipped from California, expecting to see it by the weekend. Between firmware updates I do not expect to get airborne quickly, need to re-review for my own satisfaction all of the setup and initial flight instructions.

If I get more information I will will reply here.
 
An update as requested. I did contact DJI, took a few days, sent a few files and they replied they are covering the loss of aircraft...
Yay! A good news story about DJI support!
 
I once had a problem with taking off close to a lighthouse, it gave a warning about taking off, this I put down to a public pier. This was closed down to Cv19, so I decided to take all responsibility for my flight, started props, was only when the home point was showing the light house as my return to home point, 150 meters off shore that I decided against the flight.
 
Unfortunately pretty common when it comes to the DJI FLY app ... with no access to the .DAT we can't check of the sensor readings from the compass among others. But knowing what you did/was placed during the power on of the AC make a strong hint towards a yaw error due to AC power on in a magnetic disturbed spot ... & it's when you're powering on the AC that makes it ... as it's then the IMUyaw is aligning with the disturbed compass. Later up in the air, the compass correct it self but the IMUyaw stays wrong making the AC think its pointing in another direction than in reality. Then airborne when the AC needs to correct/hold position due to wind it does it with the wrong motors causing an even larger position error ... then the snowball rolls & the AC tries & tries but the error just becomes larger.

Always check the drone icon on the map in the app so it is pointing in equal direction there as the AC does in reality ... with this simple check you can avoid incidents like this. If the drone icon direction isn't equal to reality ... POWER DOWN, move away to another spot & power up & repeat.

"Always check the drone icon on the map in the app so it is pointing in equal direction there as the AC does in reality "

Thanks. Really great advice. I've added it to my takeoff checklist. This ought to be in the DJI documentation.
 
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