Mavic Air fell into the Philippine Sea

[Fjmerctc]

Hi guys,

I just wanted to share my story of this small incident I had while on vacation in the beautiful island of Boracay in the Philippines. I purchased my drone before leaving on my holidays a few days prior. After a scrutinizing 25 hour journey, I had finally made it to Boracay. The next morning, I decided to take my Mavic Air on a small test flight. It worked wonderfully. I recorded almost an hour of flight time. I was so happy. The fun didn’t last long though. I was stopped by 3 different “Auxiliary Police” and I was told that drones weren’t allowed on the island. I respected the rules and I stopped flying. The next morning, I still wanted to fly my drone. I went on an adventure, island hoping, and took my drone with me. I asked the tour guide if I can fly it once we are settled in a place. He said yes. Long story short, 2 hours into the excursion, the tour guide came and said to me “you can fly it now”. I was very happy and enthusiastic. Internally, I felt worried flying it because I had 3 people tell me NO plus it was a little windy for me to fly it. Ooh what the heck, I still went ahead and flew it. Not even 1 minute of me setting it up, it took off and the next thing that happens was documented. My drone got caught with a strong wind and down it went into the ocean... Hahahaha. I honestly just laughed very hard. One of the divers rushed into the ocean and grabbed it from the bottom of the sea. The next steps are/were very crucial. As soon as I got it back, I washed it with a regular bottled water I had and I took the battery off and the propellers. I shook it enough to take all the water out. 2 hours after it drowned and I was back in land, I rushed to the nearest supermarket and bought a bag of rice.. (this really works). I placed my drone and the battery inside a paper bag with the rice all over it. I gave it 48 hours and..... it turned back on and flew! I was, once again, the happiest person ever.

I hope you guys find this useful as I’m sure I can give some people some hope.

 

[Menkromsen]

I know I wouldn’t be laughing when it splashed into the water, but everyone is different

Strange thing though, the Air should hold is altitude/position even with strong winds! Did you take off from a boat? And did you have enough satelittes? If not, it can drift in Atti mode...

Good thing you got it working again though, the Air is a sturdy little drone!
My Air dropped out of the sky from 12m. after a normal flight yesterday. It crashed on the grass and didn’t take a scracth, everything work as it should.

In my case, the battery where at 10% when it suddenly dropped to 0%! It was landing, but at around 12m it could not decend slow anymore and dropped. Airdata shows that cell 3 did show abnormal voltage, and reached 2.0v when it dropped. The battery is now dead, won’t charge. Had only 6 charges in total.

My lesson; check the voltage/battery screen more often during the flight (for voltage derivation) and try to land at 20% battery left.

 

[joshuab88]

Hi guys,

I just wanted to share my story of this small incident I had while on vacation in the beautiful island of Boracay in the Philippines. I purchased my drone before leaving on my holidays a few days prior. After a scrutinizing 25 hour journey, I had finally made it to Boracay. The next morning, I decided to take my Mavic Air on a small test flight. It worked wonderfully. I recorded almost an hour of flight time. I was so happy. The fun didn’t last long though. I was stopped by 3 different “Auxiliary Police” and I was told that drones weren’t allowed on the island. I respected the rules and I stopped flying. The next morning, I still wanted to fly my drone. I went on an adventure, island hoping, and took my drone with me. I asked the tour guide if I can fly it once we are settled in a place. He said yes. Long story short, 2 hours into the excursion, the tour guide came and said to me “you can fly it now”. I was very happy and enthusiastic. Internally, I felt worried flying it because I had 3 people tell me NO plus it was a little windy for me to fly it. Ooh what the heck, I still went ahead and flew it. Not even 1 minute of me setting it up, it took off and the next thing that happens was documented. My drone got caught with a strong wind and down it went into the ocean... Hahahaha. I honestly just laughed very hard. One of the divers rushed into the ocean and grabbed it from the bottom of the sea. The next steps are/were very crucial. As soon as I got it back, I washed it with a regular bottled water I had and I took the battery off and the propellers. I shook it enough to take all the water out. 2 hours after it drowned and I was back in land, I rushed to the nearest supermarket and bought a bag of rice.. (this really works). I placed my drone and the battery inside a paper bag with the rice all over it. I gave it 48 hours and..... it turned back on and flew! I was, once again, the happiest person ever.

I hope you guys find this useful as I’m sure I can give some people some hope.

Lucky for you!

 

[Fjmerctc]

Hey,

Thanks for comment! I’m glad you didn’t suffer any other significant damage other than the battery.

I got very lucky as well. I did take off from the boat and the boat was reasonable stabler. No issues there. I was trying to post the video that it recorded before it fell into the ocean. I couldn’t post it though.

Thanks for the feedback too. I’ll keep you guys posted.

 

[Jackcutrone]

I would be concerned about corrosion from salt water developing. Even though you rinsed it with fresh water and then dried it I would bet there are places where not all the salt was rinsed out. Even if fully dried with the rice as it is exposed to humid conditions the salt is going to absorb moisture. I wonder what Thunderdrone would say about this. I thinking send it to a repair shop to take apart and reallly clean it.

 

[CanadaDrone]

Just so you know, the rice didn't do anything, it's a very common myth But I'm glad you got it back up and running. Also, keep an eye on it over the next little while, often times salt water makes things worse over time. If you are going to wash it, you want to be using 99.9% isopopyl alcholol or distilled water in a pinch. The sooner the better to dilute and wash away the salt water. Even the freshest water is full of minerals and deposits that you do NOT want on/in your drone.

My #1 concern would be what all the salt that is still inside your drone is going to do over the next while, since all the mineral deposits and salt are left behind.

 

[elfatih]

if fully dried with the rice as it is exposed to humid conditions the salt is going to absorb moisture. I wonder what Thunderdrone would say about this. I thinking send it to a repair shop to take apart and reallly clean it.

 

[Fjmerctc]

Thanks to all! I would be doing taking it in for repair. I have the refresh program. As soon as I get back to the states, that’s my priority

 

[pimvanschendel]

I know I wouldn’t be laughing when it splashed into the water, but everyone is different

Strange thing though, the Air should hold is altitude/position even with strong winds! Did you take off from a boat? And did you have enough satelittes? If not, it can drift in Atti mode...

Good thing you got it working again though, the Air is a sturdy little drone!
My Air dropped out of the sky from 12m. after a normal flight yesterday. It crashed on the grass and didn’t take a scracth, everything work as it should.

In my case, the battery where at 10% when it suddenly dropped to 0%! It was landing, but at around 12m it could not decend slow anymore and dropped. Airdata shows that cell 3 did show abnormal voltage, and reached 2.0v when it dropped. The battery is now dead, won’t charge. Had only 6 charges in total.

My lesson; check the voltage/battery screen more often during the flight (for voltage derivation) and try to land at 20% battery left.

I don’t want to hijack this topic but I’m curious about your comment about boats. I’m living in Indonesia and run a dive center. Recently I bought a Mavic Pro and want to capture some aerial reef and boat shots. Which means taking off from the boat. Does that make flying different? Are there other risks when taking off from a boat? I assume the flat roof from our boat is just as good as any surface to take off from. Landing maybe trickier but shouldn’t be that difficult. Thanks for your input!

 

[ChoccyBoy]

Return to home won’t work too well if the boat swings on the anchor.

 

[Ex nihil]

Happy for you, lucky fellow. For the record: Rice is good, and worked fine for you, but I am reliably told that kitty litter is preferable if available.