Mavic mini’s filling up the flyaway topic page.

[Antaire]

Was this going to be inevitable? do we need a new pilot must read sticky?
Apologies if already done .

 

[sar104]

Unfortunately the new pilots are mostly only coming to the forum after the event.

 

[Antaire]

Must admit I did join before buying mine and my first aircraft . A lot of reading and knowledge to take in and so far it’s been a rewarding experience.

 

[sar104]

Must admit I did join before buying mine and my first aircraft . A lot of reading and knowledge to take in and so far it’s been a rewarding experience.

If I were new to the field that's exactly what I would do too, but most users just seem to buy them, charge the batteries, glance at the quick start guide, and take off.

 

[old man mavic]

what we must not forget,as members of this forum,is the fact that it's not just DJI drones that someone had for a christmas present, but the millions of small ,and large mavic and phantom look alikes that are out there, and being flown without any knowledge or understanding of what's involved,and you can bet it will be a pic of a DJI phantom that the press will use when they are vilifying the person who was flying it

 

[Manx]

What percentage of these reports seem to be user error, either by flying in high winds or just piloting error or lack of research?

I spent weeks researching the mini, drone safety etc and have had around 5 hours of successful flights in varying winds, including over the 18mph soft limit (outbound let into the wind for an easy downwind return). But all these fly away posts are making me feel nervous about flying the mini above water (and I live on a small island so there's plenty of it).

 

[deathmajor]

If I were new to the field that's exactly what I would do too, but most users just seem to buy them, charge the batteries, glance at the quick start guide, and take off.

I don't think that's the main issue.

Information online is a bit conflicting with people praising its wind ability, uploading videos where they are using a leaf blower without moving it and complaints about how DJI is overly cautious about wind warnings. I read a ton and got the impression that you have to be careful but it probably isn't that bad. That was until I felt how light it is and saw three experienced pilots publish today how their Minis just blew away.

The warning should be more like:

No, for real. This drone is extremely vulnerable to wind and here are 10 experienced pilots losing their Mini. Don't fly when it warns you. Period.

 

[Manx]

I don't think that's the main issue.

Information online is a bit conflicting with people praising its wind ability, uploading videos where they are using a leaf blower without moving it and complaints about how DJI is overly cautious about wind warnings. I read a ton and got the impression that you have to be careful but it probably isn't that bad. That was until I felt how light it is and saw three experienced pilots publish today how their Minis just blew away.

The warning should be more like:

No, for real. This drone is extremely vulnerable to wind and here are 10 experienced pilots losing their Mini. Don't fly when it warns you. Period.

And to argue against that there are plenty of experienced content creators shrugging off that high wind warning. Conflicting indeed.

 

[sar104]

I don't think that's the main issue.

Information online is a bit conflicting with people praising its wind ability, uploading videos where they are using a leaf blower without moving it and complaints about how DJI is overly cautious about wind warnings. I read a ton and got the impression that you have to be careful but it probably isn't that bad. That was until I felt how light it is and saw three experienced pilots publish today how their Minis just blew away.

The warning should be more like:

No, for real. This drone is extremely vulnerable to wind and here are 10 experienced pilots losing their Mini. Don't fly when it warns you. Period.

Well maybe, but the specifications clearly state that it is only good up to a wind speed of 8 m/s. I'd put the blame on the increasing reliance on non-authoritative YouTube videos for information. There's some good stuff on YouTube, but also lots of complete garbage, including from popular contributors.

 

[sar104]

What percentage of these reports seem to be user error, either by flying in high winds or just piloting error or lack of research?

I spent weeks researching the mini, drone safety etc and have had around 5 hours of successful flights in varying winds, including over the 18mph soft limit (outbound let into the wind for an easy downwind return). But all these fly away posts are making me feel nervous about flying the mini above water (and I live on a small island so there's plenty of it).

So far I've looked at three that were unexplained. And then probably 15 or so that were caused by flying in high winds.

 

[deathmajor]

Well maybe, but the specifications clearly state that it is only good up to a wind speed of 8 m/s.

Specs always tend to be on the safe side and there are warning labels on everything today. With the Mavic Pro, the specs say 10 m/s while you have plenty of people on this forum claiming they fly in 13 m/s without issues. As everyone here knows, calm days can be windy when you get higher up. On previous drones, this wasn't a major issue since they could handle it but the Mini seem to have a lot less leeway.

My point being that it isn't just beginners picking up their new drone and losing it. The margins on the Mini seem to be tighter and people should be aware of that. Personally I believe a list of videos with experienced people losing their drone is a lot more convincing than a manual claiming 8 m/s to be the limit when you have videos showing you can go higher than that.

 

[brettbrandon]

what we must not forget,as members of this forum,is the fact that it's not just DJI drones that someone had for a christmas present, but the millions of small ,and large mavic and phantom look alikes that are out there, and being flown without any knowledge or understanding of what's involved,and you can bet it will be a pic of a DJI phantom that the press will use when they are vilifying the person who was flying it

Soooo true.
The wife and I just had dinner with a couple and he has been doing rc car racing for years. He told me he got a drone and when I asked him about it, he knew nothing about registering, FAA rules, absolutely nothing. When I got home I looked it up and it weighs almost two pounds...
I think the biggest problem with this hobby right now is the same as alot of other things currently, lack of EDUCATION!

 

[sar104]

Specs always tend to be on the safe side and there are warning labels on everything today. With the Mavic Pro, the specs say 10 m/s while you have plenty of people on this forum claiming they fly in 13 m/s without issues. As everyone here knows, calm days can be windy when you get higher up. On previous drones, this wasn't a major issue since they could handle it but the Mini seem to have a lot less leeway.

My point being that it isn't just beginners picking up their new drone and losing it. The margins on the Mini seem to be tighter and people should be aware of that. Personally I believe a list of videos with experienced people losing their drone is a lot more convincing than a manual claiming 8 m/s to be the limit when you have videos showing you can go higher than that.

The maximum speed of the Mini in P-mode is 8 m/s - that's at a 20° tilt angle at sea level. There's no way it's going any faster in P-mode without a parameter change, and so it cannot make headway against an 8 m/s wind. In Sport mode that goes up to 13 m/s (tilt angle 30°).

 

[slup]

Well ... IMHO based on what I've seen so far regarding the Mini (not only crashes...) is that it's a ton of questions regarding basic things on how the drone is handled, thing's that are nearly on the first page in the user manual ... "-Is it anything wrong with my Mini and it's RTH, it only lands?" People are mainly over confident and a bit lazy ... downloading the complete manual & spend the first days to read ... nah ... This is a beginner drone, let's start it up inside one hour after Santa have left the house, and while at it let everyone try. Then the day (& some inside crashes) after, let's go out & try to hit the 500m altitude limit... and why not try to break that YouTube distance record while doing it. Rules, regulations ... letter shortenings VLOS, BLOS, WiFI, calibrations, magnetic fields ??? I bet that knowledge becomes stored only after an incident.

To this add the price level ... this is now the new entry level drone, you do your mistakes on the Mini instead of the Tello.
And more ... the Mini don't seem to have the weather resistance that we are used to from the larger drones ... this in the hands of noobies.

To be honest ... the only beginner with the Mini is the price.

End ranting (felt good )

 

[sar104]

Soooo true.
The wife and I just had dinner with a couple and he has been doing rc car racing for years. He told me he got a drone and when I asked him about it, he knew nothing about registering, FAA rules, absolutely nothing. When I got home I looked it up and it weighs almost two pounds...
I think the biggest problem with this hobby right now is the same as alot of other things currently, lack of EDUCATION!

If you frequent forums like this one then it is easy to get a completely misleading picture of the overall community of drone users. These forums are a most uncommon bubble of knowledge.

 

[brettbrandon]

If you frequent forums like this one then it is easy to get a completely misleading picture of the overall community of drone users. These forums are a most uncommon bubble of knowledge.

Unfortunately most don't seem to make it to the forum until after something happens.

 

[mavicn00b]

Good way to get cheap barely used cheap mavic mini parts, just hit up the classifieds. In my local all I'm seeing so far is just cheap RCs - presumably because nobodies been able to get the FMCs so no spare batteries yet..

 

[chriscuk]

This was predicted when the drone first came out and then predicted again before christmas.

I've had a number of "cool TOY" comments when people have seen the drone sat on the side as its so small. Add to this how cheap it is and people just treat it as a toy and stupid things happen.

 

[dr_dumi]

I started using the UAV forecast app every time I am planning a flight but today even if the wind is ok, I still get the not good to fly message. Does it has to do with the temperature or with the fact that there's a heliport nearby?

 

[atsphenomenon]

I started using the UAV forecast app every time I am planning a flight but today even if the wind is ok, I still get the not good to fly message. Does it has to do with the temperature or with the fact that there's a heliport nearby?

The color coding might help. It's suggesting you not to fly due to the extreme temperature.