Mavic Air lost connection over the sea and i lost it

[Hankster42]

Had my Mavic air for lil over a month, wanted to take a sunset picture/video. any way the mavic lost connection, before i could do anything to save it, it landed in the OCEAN never to be seen again. this sucks. to spend all that money with DJI for drone to make it so difficult to get a replacement with dji care purchased. right now i'm in the hard process of getting a replacement from DJI. being i dont have the old mavic. after reading warrantee i think i have a chance ,being the mavic disconnected and went for a dive. i can only assume that its a malfunction and being the accident took less than a minute. if this was any other time it would had went up to suggested altitude then go home but it didn't even do that. PLEASE HELP!!! see link of last video's

Sand Bar & the dock

You are correct, i was flying from a boat, as it went up. seconds after i lost control and that was all she wrote, splash.

 

[Hankster42]

I guess if you're at anchor and initiate RTH there is a chance it will return to you but if the boat drifts from launch, it will obviously return to a GPS wet spot instead of the boats current GPS position.

 

[sar104]

I guess if you're at anchor and initiate RTH there is a chance it will return to you but if the boat drifts from launch, it will obviously return to a GPS wet spot instead of the boats current GPS position.

This didn't miss the boat because it had drifted - it missed because RTH was selected too close to the home point, so it went straight to autoland.

 

[Photo Booth]

Novice pilot flying from a boat = higher likelihood of lost drone. What is "unique" here is the pilot is mad at DJI for the poor decisions HE made. Or, maybe that's not so unique? There seems to be an increase in the number of pilots blaming DJI for their own pilot error.

Mark

 

[hangazoo]

First of all, I would like to say thank you for the Seniors who helped understand what happened and spent time to check buddies' log. We all can learn a lot from this thread. I've been planning, designing and building (not DJI) drones for 5 years now, but I can still learn things on how to read DJI log accurately.

For those who live in an area where fly over water is usual, I definitely propose to have the floaties which could save your drone.

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[Meta4]

For those who live in an area where fly over water is usual, I definitely propose to have the floaties which could save your drone.

That sort of thing might be OK for puddling around in a duckpond or swimming pool but it's not suitable for serious flying.
The additional windage would eat battery time and could make it difficult for the drone to fight a headwind.
Even if it did somehow keep your drone afloat (most likely upside down) , what good is that out here?

 

[hangazoo]

That sort of thing might be OK for puddling around in a duckpond or swimming pool but it's not suitable for serious flying.
The additional windage would eat battery time and could make it difficult for the drone to fight a headwind.
Even if it did somehow keep your drone afloat (most likely upside down) , what good is that out here?

No one said it is an all time solution... Flight time decrement and wind is to be considered. You actually overestimate the wind affect by the shape. Flighttime is more sensitive for add weights especially in case of low auw and small prop size. Besides considering those, in many cases it is a very good lifebelt, I can say. We have a lake nearby, surrounded by trees. Fly over there with any floating things equipped just gives me extra confidence if anything goes wrong... Definitely it is useless on a windy day over the great ocean with waves.

 

[Meta4]

No one said it is an all time solution... Flight time decrement and wind is to be considered. You actually overestimate the wind affect by the shape. Flighttime is more sensitive for add weights especially in case of low auw and small prop size. Besides considering those, in many cases it is a very good lifebelt, I can say. We have a lake nearby, surrounded by trees. Fly over there with any floating things equipped just gives me extra confidence if anything goes wrong... Definitely it is useless on a windy day over the great ocean with waves.

I fly over the ocean all the time and there's no way I'd handicap my drone with any of that stuff.
After well over 1500 miles of flying over the sea with my current drone and a similar distance with the previous one, I have plenty of confidence in its ability without dressing it up.
It would be more likely to contribute to the loss of the drone than to be of any help at all.

I'd be very interested to hear how much it affects your drone's speed.
It's very difficult to get that info from most of the people that suggest flying with floats.

 

[hangazoo]

I think the main difference between you and me that you are interesting in range and fly with speed. I was never interested in speed and also not in range. This is the reason I choosed MA with its "limited" range and not the best in flight time. I am mainly flying in tripod mode and my gimbal and control dynamics are lowered significantly to slow down the movement to have smooth footage. It is all up the purpose of the usage.

 

[Meta4]

I think the main difference between you and me that you are interesting in range and fly with speed. I was never interested in speed and also not in range.

I'm 100% interested in my photography and it's important that my drone is able to deal with the wind and notbe blown backwards or burn up a battery without making headway.

 

[Slim.slamma]

That sort of thing might be OK for puddling around in a duckpond or swimming pool but it's not suitable for serious flying.
The additional windage would eat battery time and could make it difficult for the drone to fight a headwind.
Even if it did somehow keep your drone afloat (most likely upside down) , what good is that out here?

Flying in windy environments has kept me leaning towards the inspire series

@Meta4 how does the Mp2 handle in heavy winds?
Any good with 3 second long exposure stills?

 

[Meta4]

Flying in windy environments has kept me leaning towards the inspire series

@Meta4 how does the Mp2 handle in heavy winds?
Any good with 3 second long exposure stills?

I can't say with certainty - I fly a white drone but I'd expect the Mp2 to have similar abilities.
Three second exposures are for still conditions only.

 

[Slim.slamma]

@85 mph in hurricane conditions floats are for kids

 

[Meta4]

@85 mph in hurricane conditions floats are for kids

Hurricane conditions ???
No whitecaps visible - it looks a lot less than hurricane force out there.
At a guess, I'd say it's under 15 knots.

 

[sar104]

The argument is no less valid

Since you provided absolutely no supporting information at all it wasn't an argument to begin with - it was an assertion, and an incorrect one.

 

[ac0j]

View attachment 52288
@85 mph in hurricane conditions floats are for kids

You are over exposed.

 

[Slim.slamma]

You are over exposed.

I see you in good mood today

 

[Bigbird48]

I think the main difference between you and me that you are interesting in range and fly with speed. I was never interested in speed and also not in range. This is the reason I choosed MA with its "limited" range and not the best in flight time. I am mainly flying in tripod mode and my gimbal and control dynamics are lowered significantly to slow down the movement to have smooth footage. It is all up the purpose of the usage.

This is were I'm at,speed distance and flight time are not my main concern , I'm interested in getting good smooth videos, most of my flights are under 10 mins.I like photographing coverd bridges and I think the floaties would be an added b it of security while flying over the rivers.

 

[hangazoo]

This is were I'm at,speed distance and flight time are not my main concern , I'm interested in getting good smooth videos, most of my flights are under 10 mins.I like photographing coverd bridges and I think the floaties would be an added b it of security while flying over the rivers.

Hi BigBird,
Agree. This is a little bit OFF, but for example, this video I created, shows how slow I fly and I am always within in a 100m range, I believe.

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[Bigbird48]

yes thats nice speed