Mavic air - loss of control when connecting to GPS - loss of drone in the sea

[Meta4]

As a new pilot with about 10 flights logged I am terrified to watch my $800 pkg leave the ground, especially after reading these horror stories of experienced pilots having random disconnects and flyaways. Youve certainly helped me build a small bit of confidence but I'm still terrified...

Disconnection is a rare occurrence if you are flying properly and should not be a problem as it will initiate RTH.
There always an explanation for lost drone incidents, drones don't just fly away.
Reading incident reports is a good way to learn what can go wrong and how to prevent similar problems in your own flying.
The advice in post #19 above would help you prevent an incident like this one.

 

[ajkm]

@sar104 Great advice (these are things I wouldn't have ever thought of on my own) and thank you for all the great knowledge you pass along throughout this Forum. As a new pilot with about 10 flights logged I am terrified to watch my $800 pkg leave the ground, especially after reading these horror stories of experienced pilots having random disconnects and flyaways. Youve certainly helped me build a small bit of confidence but I'm still terrified...

I second the thanks to @sar104 and was a little amused at seeing him be corrected! (No offence intended, it’s just that’s it’s always nice to know that we are all fallible... I for one have really benefited from reading his detailed and accurate analyses, which usually go: Pilot - “I did nothing wrong.”; sar104 - “Yes you did - here’s the data.”)

Secondly, @Splue, realistically I think we see more disconnects/fly away than the statistical average because this is the place to get information when it happens. They really aren’t horror stories or anywhere near as common as it appears and most are down to pilot error of the “buy and fly” hobbyists.

Remember that the RC is extremely unlikely to disconnect and if it does, cycling it will nearly always reconnect. The GO 4 app can crash, as can your mobile device, and the aircraft is still perfectly controllable from the RC telemetry (do a slow forward and a slow yaw until the distance figure decreases and then you know the aircraft is returning to you). Of course, keeping within the VLOS regulation and below 400ft will always be the safest (and legal) option.

It does take a few flights to gain a trust in the components of the system, especially over water (for which the usual rule is not to fly too low).

 

[sar104]

I second the thanks to @sar104 and was a little amused at seeing him be corrected! (No offence intended, it’s just that’s it’s always nice to know that we are all fallible... I for one have really benefited from reading his detailed and accurate analyses, which usually go: Pilot - “I did nothing wrong.”; sar104 - “Yes you did - here’s the data.”)

Secondly, @Splue, realistically I think we see more disconnects/fly away than the statistical average because this is the place to get information when it happens. They really aren’t horror stories or anywhere near as common as it appears and most are down to pilot error of the “buy and fly” hobbyists.

Remember that the RC is extremely unlikely to disconnect and if it does, cycling it will nearly always reconnect. The GO 4 app can crash, as can your mobile device, and the aircraft is still perfectly controllable from the RC telemetry (do a slow forward and a slow yaw until the distance figure decreases and then you know the aircraft is returning to you). Of course, keeping within the VLOS regulation and below 400ft will always be the safest (and legal) option.

It does take a few flights to gain a trust in the components of the system, especially over water (for which the usual rule is not to fly too low).

That guy @BudWalker regularly shows up and points out my mistakes. I'd be infallible if it weren't for him....

 

[ajkm]

That’s given me my laugh for the day! I propose naming you Pope Sar104 from here on! (Or perhaps just The Pope?!)

 

[irpnetgb]

One of the most basic and most frequently repeated pieces of advice is to wait for sufficient GPS satellites AND ensure that homepoint is recorded BEFORE takeoff.

Without GPS the drone will drift and needs an experienced operator to control it.

And will also consider the point at which it gets a GPS lock as it's home point, which over water could be very very bad!

 

[irpnetgb]

My spark always had the announcement "Homepoint has been updated"at takeoff but the Mavic Air I've had for only a week now was silent from day one and I was worried but posted my concerns here I learned that as loong as you see the altitude and distance showing the Air knows where it is. It returns home so it must be true.. I just want to put this here in case anyone else is getting the silent treatment from Miss DJI.

Try turning up the volume on your phone! I've noticed this too, but the voice comes from your phone, NOT the controller!

 

[JSM]

Firstly - the most important step - check that the aircraft orientation arrow on the map correctly reflects the direction that the aircraft is facing (relative to north). If it is incorrect, as it would have been in this case, uncontrolled flight will generally result. Secondly, don't power up the aircraft and then move it, especially the Mavic 2, which has the capability to notice if the compass yaw diverges from the IMU yaw on takeoff, but not if the divergence happened prior to takeoff. Set the aircraft where you want to take off, then power it up. If you need to move it then restart it after moving.

Sar, agree with the first part of your comment re orientation / map however my experience with where you actually power up the craft differs !!! I quite often power up (Mavic P2) everything inside (and 9 times out of 10 there is no GPS) just to set up camera settings etc; (correct me if I am wrong here) however once outside and a few meters from the initial turning on, I simply wait a few seconds for the "DJI Lady" to give the green light for go and once confirmed, take off!!!; I have also noticed since a firmware update approx 2 weeks ago the precision landing on RTH is amazing; will post up a video of a very tight space with a lot of potential interference however on 2 x recent flights landed back smack on the take off point ! simply stunning!

I guess the moral of the story and mentioned elsewhere is "Patience"; sometimes it can seem to take an eternity to get lock on the appropriate satellites and the DJI Ladys green for go and all to tempting (if you are in a hurry) to take off and trust the connectivity to sort itself out..................

 

[zenfly2]

I've had a cord from controller to ipad mini 4 from day 1 with the Spark and now with the MA where I've had no DJI lady from day one but have learned that 1)As long as I see the aircraft icon pointing in the right direction on the map at takeoff and
2)I see the distance from home at the screen bottom the drone knows where home is. Both of mine come right home every time.

EDIT: new #1) I just went to the beach to get before sunrise shots of the amazing thunderheads that are days ahead of the hurricane out over the ocean.. I usually wait ontil I'm 3-4ft off the ground hovering to ck #1&2 .. this time as soon as the MA was 2ft up it flew straight back 4ft into the weeds and crashed before I could stop it.. looking at the screen again there were only 4 sats. SO! in a hurry and didn't ck everything = my first pilot error SO now #1 is sat ck then takeoff then2)map and 3)distance from home before I go anywhere..

Thanks for looking and correcting me if I'm wrong or any additions to my now 1-2-3 ck list.

 

[sar104]

Sar, agree with the first part of your comment re orientation / map however my experience with where you actually power up the craft differs !!! I quite often power up (Mavic P2) everything inside (and 9 times out of 10 there is no GPS) just to set up camera settings etc; (correct me if I am wrong here) however once outside and a few meters from the initial turning on, I simply wait a few seconds for the "DJI Lady" to give the green light for go and once confirmed, take off!!!; I have also noticed since a firmware update approx 2 weeks ago the precision landing on RTH is amazing; will post up a video of a very tight space with a lot of potential interference however on 2 x recent flights landed back smack on the take off point ! simply stunning!

I guess the moral of the story and mentioned elsewhere is "Patience"; sometimes it can seem to take an eternity to get lock on the appropriate satellites and the DJI Ladys green for go and all to tempting (if you are in a hurry) to take off and trust the connectivity to sort itself out..................

I'm not saying that powering it up and then moving it will always lead to problems - just that it is more likely to do that. And, with the M2, it kills the aircrafts ability to detect and fix an incorrectly initialized IMU yaw due to magnetic distortion, so it's a particularly bad strategy with that model.