Mavic Mini and fog

[chriscuk]

It's also due to the ice in the air slowing the blades down a bit. The mini is already rather underpowered so it's possible

 

[Mavic_Mini_Pilot]

Not sure what you mean..to go fly again in fog? :-D

Hahahaha, you should try though, just to be sure..

Just joking!

Look after the little GEM carefully, it's fragile and tiny and it's motors may not be strong enough for it, or the propellers don't have enough pitch(they don't bite the air enough) and when the drone's sensors get fogged up and think there is an obstacle below then the drone automatically trys to go up but it can't any higher cz motors or props aren't good enough, and it just chills in one height meanwhile you're giving full up!

Then as soon as you let go of the throttle stick the drone starts to slowly lose altitude, now even if you give full power the motors will not make anymore power as they're already at maximum trying to get above the fog!

This is all just me thinking, not facts so please don't like all start to tell me that.

Thank You and everyone here, awesome forum, awesome pilots!!!

 

[sar104]

I cant find .dat from that flight. only .dat are from today.

The DAT filename should end FLY060.DAT.

 

[ajkm]

So doesn’t this thread rather underline why the pilot exams for RPA/UAV contain all that “irrelevant” material. Knowing about when icing occurs is essential for any pilot, as are the causes of fog formation, lapse rates (the temp drop as altitude increases, both atmospherically and in relation to humidity and cloud formation), understanding the temp/dew point spread, and many other factors.
If the manual says don’t fly in fog (or wet, which amounts to the same thing), then don’t fly in fog or wet.
As for deliberately trying to bust through the 400ft AGL limit, that shows, at the least, very poor judgment, and more likely a blatant disregard for the regulations. As we’ve said here many times before, this type of behaviour is what led to the regs in the first place.

 

[steve495]

When I read the OP, the first thing I did was go and look at the temperature. I'm new at this, but I'm thinking freeze ups of the props resulted in the power warnings.

 

[Bojan]

I had max problems motors in Friday. And I was one of the owners that was lucky that has still proper mavic mini ready for flying, although it free fall from 120m.
But I had noticed, not just on this forum, but on dji forum too, and some other, there is exctually more and more posts about max motors problem, resulting in mavic mini free falling. I think that I read around 20 posts last 36 hours. Probably some of the owners that posts on several forums are the same incindents.
I remember, but it was still November, my mavic mini had motor max problem, he was hoovering in my flat(not first time that I used him like that in indoor) with those propeller guards, and it was really weird, because he start acting totaly crazy hitting walls, it was going for good 30 second, I had to take him in hands, so he didnt broke anything. To this day I was ABSOLUTLY SURE, that it was because some indoor air stream problems bouncing from walls and floor of him. But now I think thats just some glitch in software that occurs here and then...There is more and more owners of mini and the incidents are happening more often.

 

[slup]

Chime in here with something not yet looked at ... Temp in relation to the battery & the "notEnoughForce" warnings.

You started your flight destined to go over the fog in or very near freezing ground level conditions ... this with a battery temp of just below 8C degrees. It reached then during the flight to a maximum of just over 15C degrees, only the starting temp is a major concern for the coming flight ... for instance so throws my GO4 app a warning when the battery temp is below 15C degrees when I hook up my Mavic Air.



Below starts with the later part of the ascent with the full throttle input, making the battery lose volts in a rapid speed to levels not matching the shown battery %. Once on 118 meter height the air temp probably had fallen well below freezing point considering the slow raise in battery temp from start. The voltage level continued then to decrease in the same pace as when you had full throttle, the notEnoughForce errors started to pour in & the voltage levels in the 2 cells got even lower & cell deviations starts to show. And the uncommanded descent starts ...

Let's say ... I'm not surprised, something had to give in eventually.

 

[Bojan]

I am ok with that my fault. BUT, if any drone is going in air, how many times is much more colder in the air than on the ground? But as I say. my fault...and then again,,,there is so many examples of drones falling without reason, with max power motors...

 

[slup]

I am ok with that my fault. BUT, if any drone is going in air, how many times is much more colder in the air than on the ground? But as I say. my fault...and then again,,,there is so many examples of drones falling without reason, with max power motors...

Yeah ... I read that you realized that you had to blame yourself. But important anyhow to understand what went wrong, not only for you but also for all other forum members.

Keep your batteries warm ... cold air temp enough & not even the internal battery heating can overcome them, even worse if you start up with a cold battery.

 

[DanMan32]

One possible issue is that the MM system and battery doesn't generate much heat to overcome what's dissipated in cold weather. With the other Mavics, you only need to be concerned with the battery temp at the start. Shortly into the flight they would generate enough heat to keep warm enough during flight.

The MM on the other hand might not be able to do so in that they could actually get colder during flight than when they took off. This could then reduce the available current/power.

 

[Bojan]

One possible issue is that the MM system and battery doesn't generate much heat to overcome what's dissipated in cold weather. With the other Mavics, you only need to be concerned with the battery temp at the start. Shortly into the flight they would generate enough heat to keep warm enough during flight.

The MM on the other hand might not be able to do so in that they could actually get colder during flight than when they took off. This could then reduce the available current/power.

If you can compare mobile phone, which, however it is expensive(samsung,apple..) the battery cannt stand low temperatures. And in low temperatures, you can see how battery is draining by doing nothing, or even phone just drops dead.
BUT, thats for battery. In case of mm, you cant see battery droping. But I think that motors are actually freezing, and are incapable of rotating fast enough. All this is some of us thinking. I just think that operating zone of mavic minies, are much more smaller than they appear, or even writing in dji user manuals. Because even in the middle of summer, in the morning temperatures can be around zero,,,NOT EVEN talking about the temperatures in the air, who are always much much lower. And all of this is when we are talking in the middle of winter, in my case. But is there case in some other season?

 

[slup]

If you can compare mobile phone, which, however it is expensive(samsung,apple..) the battery cannt stand low temperatures. And in low temperatures, you can see how battery is draining by doing nothing, or even phone just drops dead.
BUT, thats for battery. In case of mm, you cant see battery droping. But I think that motors are actually freezing, and are incapable of rotating fast enough. All this is some of us thinking. I just think that operating zone of mavic minies, are much more smaller than they appear, or even writing in dji user manuals. Because even in the middle of summer, in the morning temperatures can be around zero,,,NOT EVEN talking about the temperatures in the air, who are always much much lower. And all of this is when we are talking in the middle of winter, in my case. But is there case in some other season?

Go ahead & download the Mavic Mini Safety guidelines here ---> Mavic Mini Disclaimer and Safety Guidelines

On page 6 ...



If you chose to disregard this ...

 

[Thomas B]

Go ahead & download the Mavic Mini Safety guidelines here ---> Mavic Mini Disclaimer and Safety Guidelines

On page 6 ...

View attachment 92458

If you chose to disregard this ...

Great link! Thanks for posting @slup
This should be read by all MM pilots.

 

[DanMan32]

Although using a phone as comparison demonstrates that when the battery gets cold, it fails. But where the comparison starts to differ is the load placed on the battery and the resulting temperature effect. The load to capacity on a phone is low compared to a drone. This ratio affects heat generated.

However the Mini, unlike the other Mavics doesn't generate as much heat in the battery as the others, so the Mini battery might be losing temp in flight in cold weather than maintaining or gaining temp like its brothers do.

 

[Deleted member 114292]

So doesn’t this thread rather underline why the pilot exams for RPA/UAV contain all that “irrelevant” material. Knowing about when icing occurs is essential for any pilot, as are the causes of fog formation, lapse rates (the temp drop as altitude increases, both atmospherically and in relation to humidity and cloud formation), understanding the temp/dew point spread, and many other factors.
If the manual says don’t fly in fog (or wet, which amounts to the same thing), then don’t fly in fog or wet.
As for deliberately trying to bust through the 400ft AGL limit, that shows, at the least, very poor judgment, and more likely a blatant disregard for the regulations. As we’ve said here many times before, this type of behaviour is what led to the regs in the first place.

Thanks couldn’t have said it better myself. Getting my part 107 taught me a lot of things along this line.

Also the part about risk management , obviously that is not well understood. The more often you fly with elevated Risk factors the more likely you are to crash. That sounds so obvious but yet so many here refuse to think about risk factors.
It doesn’t take too much reading here to understand the risk factors for a MM.
And yet the pilots fly with elevated risk factors and then seem surprised they crashed or lost their aircraft.
Just because somebody comes here and posts how they got away with it doesn’t mean it’s not a risk factor.
My mp2 Can’t handle a lot of wind but when I get the warning unless I’m on a job near the end and it doesn’t seem that bad I land. I’ve canceled jobs meaning I have to come back another day just because of Highwinds.