Mavic Air 2 not returning back!

[atkusa]

Hi i had an incident where I was flying my Mavic Air 2 above a lake. There is No- no fly zone, after a few minutes, I tried to bring it back, but it would not return. I tried different angles- forward, backward, sideways but it would not return back to the controller/ base to me as if there is an invisible shield. It stayed above water,about 20 feet away from me, flew away when trying to Return to Base.
I had to eventually get in the water and grab it which was a big ordeal. Any idea why this happened?

 

[Meta4]

Any idea why this happened?

Not without seeing the recorded flight data.
Hitting an invisible wall in the air is a good description of what it's like when you hit an NFZ boundary.
Could you fly back or along the wall or up it, but not through it?
Or did the drone just stop where it was?

 

[akdrone]

Failed to let the return to home be set correctly and the GPS did not have a lock before taking off?

 

[atkusa]

Not without seeing the recorded flight data.
Hitting an invisible wall in the air is a good description of what it's like when you hit an NFZ boundary.
Could you fly back or along the wall or up it, but not through it?
Or did the drone just stop where it was?

Thanks for the reply.
There was no cell reception in the area and I could not log in, so unsure how to get the flight data. The drone would not move back to me or to the shore as if there was an invisible wall. The fly height was limited to 30 m as I could not log in.
No clear barriers I could see, I tried turning the sensors off to see if that would help, but did not.
Thanks

 

[GadgetGuy]

Hi i had an incident where I was flying my Mavic Air 2 above a lake. There is No- no fly zone, after a few minutes, I tried to bring it back, but it would not return. I tried different angles- forward, backward, sideways but it would not return back to the controller/ base to me as if there is an invisible shield. It stayed above water,about 20 feet away from me, flew away when trying to Return to Base.
I had to eventually get in the water and grab it which was a big ordeal. Any idea why this happened?

If you manage to launch in an NFZ and fly out it before a Home Point is acquired, you will not be able return to your launch point inside the NFZ. You will have to land outside the NFZ. You are very lucky you were able to get to it before it landed in the lake!

 

[slup]

...Any idea why this happened?

Haven't seen your flight log yet but would say ...
Yep ... this is a classic one & we have seen it before.

You took off without a HP recorded, flew more than 50m off shore & there the GPS quality was enough to record the HP. After that below restriction described in the user manual prevented your MA2 to reach dry land ... this as it was more than 50m away from the HP.

 

[Yaros]

After that below restriction described in the user manual prevented your MA2 to reach dry land

Yes, probably what happened, would be interested in seeing the logs though!

Anyway, about this: I don't understand why DJI put this stupid restriction in place, it's a safety concern too, and from a point, I get it, like if someone steals your drone without authorizing they can't fly it far, but for myself, I like the drone to be flyable like normal without connected to app, like my Arducopter based drone does.

 

[Meta4]

Failed to let the return to home be set correctly

There's nothing to set.
You push the button and RTH engages.

and the GPS did not have a lock before taking off?

If you are impatient and launch before recording a home point, the drone will record a home point wherever it is when it gets good GPS location data sometime shortly after you launch.

 

[Meta4]

Thanks for the reply.
There was no cell reception in the area and I could not log in, so unsure how to get the flight data. The drone would not move back to me or to the shore as if there was an invisible wall. The fly height was limited to 30 m as I could not log in.
No clear barriers I could see, I tried turning the sensors off to see if that would help, but did not.
Thanks

It could be that post #6 is what happened.
Post your flight data and that will confirm if it was.

Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
That will give you a detailed report of the flight.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.
Or .. just post the txt file here.