Mavic air crashes into sea (salt water), ‘Motor obstructed’ error. Pls advise.. TIA (CLOSED)

[TheRock]

Good luck with the review. Thunderdrones (Georgia based I believe) posts frequently on this Forum and I replaced my Mavic Pro body that was also lost to island nature (not saltwater but an impenetrable limestone cliffline) with a body Rob had refurbed and it was a very reasonable way to get back into action since I only really lost a battery, card & body. Still had plenty spare batteries, props, controller, etc. I am in Guam, 5 hours from you. The Mail or DHL works. But I hope DJI sees the light for your review!! Good luck.

 

[Air_Joe]

your video looks like a prop came off, you hit a branch or wire, or maybe got hit by a bird.

Those pesky birds drop a lot of drones.

@sar104 posted instructions on how to upload your flight logs earlier, do that!

Strange bro, i finally managed to extract the datas from my phone, under step by step instructions by dji.
however the supposed to be the last file of the data should be the crashed , but it didnt seems like it. more like the data from the battery i used up before the crash.

 

[Air_Joe]

Good luck with the review. Thunderdrones (Georgia based I believe) posts frequently on this Forum and I replaced my Mavic Pro body that was also lost to island nature (not saltwater but an impenetrable limestone cliffline) with a body Rob had refurbed and it was a very reasonable way to get back into action since I only really lost a battery, card & body. Still had plenty spare batteries, props, controller, etc. I am in Guam, 5 hours from you. The Mail or DHL works. But I hope DJI sees the light for your review!! Good luck.

For my ac is unsure of ( according to comments here, looks like 100%) the circuit board etc should be dead rather than the body. so im really if it was to be repairs especially sending it the states , it will be very costly.

By the way bro, sorry for ignorance, this is the first time i ever come across your place.
did a google search on Guam, i totally blown away. such a beautiful amazing island u are living on, a prefect heaven for drones lovers, let alone i love the sea and beaches.. clear water etc.. amazing!

 

[Dingo]

could have been a bird strike ? I suggest soaking it in a bucket of fresh water , then soak in methylated spirts and leave it in the sun to evoporate the water.

 

[Air_Joe]

could have been a bird strike ? I suggest soaking it in a bucket of fresh water , then soak in methylated spirts and leave it in the sun to evoporate the water.

Possible of a bird strike, however i thought it might be unlikely,
1) not many birds around around when i was flying
2) birds there are rather small, smaller than the ac, sparrow etc
3) have been flying close to 20-25min or so before the incident, no issue with the little birds .

 

[alsgzz]

Im a computer dummy, i did a screen recording here is it.. feel free to enlighten me, what might have happen?
Most worrying for me now is how dji will look at this, what they will do for this instance. Sighh..

lost

As far as we can see in this log video, the message "Motor Obstructed" appears after that your Drone started loosing height and not before. 3.5 mt in not exactly the real distance from ground, when you fly on water always take a safety gap. Probably where you take off, your 0 ft ... is over the sea level. I'm afraid something else has happened to your drone dude.

 

[Air_Joe]

lost

As far as we can see in this log video, the message "Motor Obstructed" appears after that your Drone started loosing height and not before. 3.5 mt in not exactly the real distance from ground, when you fly on water always take a safety gap. Probably where you take off, your 0 ft ... is over the sea level. I'm afraid something else has happened to your drone dude.

Thks for your reply pal.

I was bringing it down to that level for a few photo shots. Not really ‘flying’ as u can see.
Was hovering actually for more than a min without any movement on the controllers, except for some iso and exposure settings.

Yeah, i agree with u that somethg happened. Was very puzzled by the suddenly plunge too.
Was hoping experts here and shed me some light through your experience.

However, i dont think error will instantly show on my mobile device. Guess that will be a lag of 1-2sec? By that time my ac is already in water.
Came across a video on youtube, same as mine, aircraft started to spin just before the error msg popped out. Split sec..

Then again datas have been sent to dji for analysis.

 

[Air_Joe]

Found this on youtube.

guy got a similar problem as mine, however he was flying real high, and managed to 'rescue it back' !
too bad i was flying low. not to mention above water

time 1:18

 

[Meta4]

by the way , contacted dji again, mentioned they will get back to me on the result in 24-48hrs time, to give me a clearer picture of why a suddenly 'motor obstructed' failure.

Motor Obstructed means a propeller has hit an obstacle and the flight controller detects the resistance that has slowed a motor.

guy got a similar problem as mine, however he was flying real high, and managed to 'rescue it back' !
too bad i was flying low. not to mention above water

He hit a tree branch because he wasn't looking where he was descending.

The most likely explanation for your incident is that you lowered it right down very close to the water surface and a small wave took it.
The motor obstructed message would have been due to a propeller hitting the water.

I haven't seen any flight data so far in this thread.
Flight data is much more useful than guessing.
If you had the VPS operating during the flight, that will show if the scenario described is what happened.

 

[alsgzz]

Motor Obstructed means a propeller has hit an obstacle and the flight controller detects the resistance that has slowed a motor.

He hit a tree branch because he wasn't looking where he was descending.

The most likely explanation for your incident is that you lowered it right down very close to the water surface and a small wave took it.
The motor obstructed message would have been due to a propeller hitting the water.

I haven't seen any flight data so far in this thread.
Flight data is much more useful than guessing.
If you had the VPS operating during the flight, that will show if the scenario described is what happened.

You are probably wright, I also faced a similar experience with a wave and I was flying 8 mt over the sea......thanks God I reacted quick... and the Mavic to

 

[Air_Joe]

Motor Obstructed means a propeller has hit an obstacle and the flight controller detects the resistance that has slowed a motor.

He hit a tree branch because he wasn't looking where he was descending.

The most likely explanation for your incident is that you lowered it right down very close to the water surface and a small wave took it.
The motor obstructed message would have been due to a propeller hitting the water.

I haven't seen any flight data so far in this thread.
Flight data is much more useful than guessing.
If you had the VPS operating during the flight, that will show if the scenario described is what happened.

Sorry, maybe the video isnt a good example of a ‘sudden motor obstruction’.

However this guy mentioned in the video he experienced it a couple of times with his other drones.

This is another post of his, maybe this shows better.
https://youtu.be/YCBU5j-RLiQ

In my country, waves rarely goes up to even 0.3 metres here. Where can i obtain the datas of the vps? Would like to show it if im able to retrieve the datas here for advices by the experts here.

 

[Air_Joe]

You are probably wright, I also faced a similar experience with a wave and I was flying 8 mt over the sea......thanks God I reacted quick... and the Mavic to

No way my country has this kind of wave . Its so rare to even get a knee height wave here. Haha. Unlikely for my case.

Was talking to witness when i trues retrieving my drone, he mentioned my drone was hovering and suddenly went into a spin and plunged into the air water below..

 

[Meta4]

In my country, waves rarely goes up to even 0.3 metres here.

A 0.3 metre wave is enough if the drone is only 0.3 m above the water.
A boat going past might cause a wave higher than 0.3 m.

How far above the water was your drone?
The barometer altitude is not accurate and we don't know how much higher than water level the launch spot was.
VPS gives an accurate height measurement at distances less than 10 metres.

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help[/URL]
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.

 

[Air_Joe]

A 0.3 metre wave is enough if the drone is only 0.3 m above the water.
A boat going past might cause a wave higher than 0.3 m.

How far above the water was your drone?
The barometer altitude is not accurate and we don't know how much higher than water level the launch spot was.
VPS gives an accurate height measurement at distances less than 10 metres.

If u have read earlier post, mentioned i was estimated 10 m above the water.
Agree on the meter might not be accurate.
I was there to launch, 10m is abt a 3 storey height. I can roughly tell.

 

[Air_Joe]

here goes the flights records
DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[Meta4]

here goes the flights records
DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

The data doesn't look good for you.
VPS data shows your Mavic was within 1 metre of the surface from 11:43.
You flew around a bit, took it a little lower and hovered until 12:01.3.
At that time the VPS indicates the Mavic was 0.6 metres above the surface.
Then you pulled the left stick back hard and held it there which landed your drone in the sea.

 

[Numone]

Oh dear. Exactly what happened to a friend of mine, except he hit the ground on the edge of a quarry.... ended up 130 feet wrecked at the bottom. I think your claim has just come to an end. If you buy another AC, please don’t try flying in reverse until you have got far more familiar with piloting in general and you know how the drone will react and even then, plan it thoroughly.

 

[Meta4]

If you buy another AC, please don’t try flying in reverse until you have got far more familiar with piloting in general and you know how the drone will react and even then, plan it thoroughly.

He wasn't flying in reverse, he was hovering.
Pull the left stick back on your Mavic and you'll see what that does,

 

[Numone]

Whoops - yep I misread. This’ll be an even worse scenario! Pure pilot error...

 

[Air_Joe]

The data doesn't look good for you.
VPS data shows your Mavic was within 1 metre of the surface from 11:43.
You flew around a bit, took it a little lower and hovered until 12:01.3.
At that time the VPS indicates the Mavic was 0.6 metres above the surface.
Then you pulled the left stick back hard and held it there which landed your drone in the sea.

not sure abt the vps, but its definately not that low, i wouldnt have the guts to do that..lol
perhaps i try to load the photo i took before it went into a spin. a better gauge i guess.

Here goes last photo taken.
a better gauge of height i was hovering