I have been flying a Mavic Pro for two years and never had an issue. Last month I fly my brand new Mavic Air on the beach and after about 2 minutes it fell out of the sky. I saw a lot of birds around and thought maybe a bird clipped the props, although there was no damage. Yesterday at a party in my friends house I took the Mavic Air up to about 20 feet to film an event and after about 30 seconds of flight, the Mavic Air just dropped out of the sky into the lake right behind me (battery was fully charged).The lake was no more than 20 feet from me and I was able to recover the aircraft, but I am baffled what happened here. I am not an expert in flying drones but I feel very comfortable. There were no obstructions and airspace was completely clear and I had visula contact. As I mentioned, it was no more than 20 feet away from me at an altitude of no more than 30 feet. Anyone have any ideas what could have happened?
Mavic Air falls out of sky
- Thread starter alex_uncut
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It says to attach the reports "here" but there is no link. I should attach them here in the thread. Excuse my ignorance, I am brand new to this.
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You can upload the TXT file to my log viewer and post the link back here. Or just attach both the TXT and DAT files here.
My understanding is that if you pull both sticks to inside center...the motors turn off? Correct me if I am wrong.
Only if you enable that. Otherwise the CSC method only works in an 'emergency'. (Whatever that is??)
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A CSC will only stop the motors mid-flight in the case of an emergency -- like if the Mavic Air crashes into a tree. The setting @Simmo showed above is not available when flying the Mavic Air. Since it's not available, it defaults to "For use in emergencies only".
Per the Mavic Air manual:
Has this been tested (not that I'm about to!). I don't read anything in the manual or on the app that suggests that the CSC shutdown procedure only works when the aircraft has detected some sort of emergency. The wording seems to just be suggesting that you should only use it in an emergency, since you'll probably crash, not that it's not possible to use that command at any time.A CSC will only stop the motors mid-flight in the case of an emergency -- like if the Mavic Air crashes into a tree. The setting @Simmo showed above is not available when flying the Mavic Air. Since it's not available, it defaults to "For use in emergencies only".
Per the Mavic Air manual:
I read the manual as just saying to only do it in emergencies, not that the drone has some special ability to detect emergencies which would enable the command. There are some videos on YouTube of people taking the drone up to altitude and doing the CSC (and then restarting the motors before crashing). I really don't recommend trying that.
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Right -- that's how it's written in the manual. Unfortunately, not everything in DJI manuals is well written.
When DJI GO does not show the Stop Motor Method setting, the default "For use in emergencies only" setting is selected. That's also the default selection when that setting is visible in DJI GO.
I’m still not quite sure I understand. Next time I crank up my MA (probably tomorrow) I’ll check out the settings in DJI GO but the fact that the app just says “For use in emergencies only” is different than saying “This won’t work unless your drone thinks it’s an emergency.” The former is a warning, the latter is an availability notice. Under what circumstances does it not show the setting (I’m not asking for you to do my work - this is rhetorical and I’ll look at this tomorrow)?
I’m just wondering, if your interpretation is correct (and I have no personal knowledge other than what’s in the documentation to dispute you), what the parameters are that would cause the aircraft to think it’s in an emergency? You mention hitting a tree, but the manual already warns that doing the CSC will cause a crash, which would seem to be unnecessary if the aircraft has already crashed.
I’m thinking of the scenarios where I might actually want to shut it down (say, a compass error causing a fly away toward a playground full of orphans). The aircraft doesn’t know there’s an emergency. Does the CSC shutdown method not work? If not, what’s the real use of it?
I write all of this because I’m curious but also because it might be relevant to the OP’s issue (though, probably not).
Where is this in DJI GO 4? When I went flying today I looked but couldn’t find it. I found an old post of yours showing where the option was but apparently due to an update it’s no longer there.
For what it’s worth I did a CSC/hand landing and the motors shut off as expected. But I’m trying to find this “for emergencies only” option to see what it does.
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If it's available to change for the aircraft you're flying, you'll find that setting in the following section of DJI GO:
This is clear as mud. The mavic does not understand "emergency" only the pilot does...so that must mean that it is active all the time I believe. I hope when he experiments he can find out if it can be invoked by accident
It's not very clear, but it is correct. The Mavic has its own rules to determine what constitutes an emergency - obstructed motors, no longer flying etc.
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It's certainly not active all the time when "For use in emergencies only" is selected. While DJI has never documented the situations that are classified as an emergency, I know flying along normally in the air is not one of them. With that setting selected, you should never be able to accidentally initiate a CSC mid-flight.
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