Mavic Mini Flew Away

[sar104]

So why did it just stay at ~ 260' most of the blow away ?
I guess it was over ridden early on and stayed at the lower altitude ?

The RTH went up to approx 302' from what I can see, the OP did do a little down left stick, and unfortunately stopped just under 300'.
It stayed there for the rest of the flight, so I guess that little down stick stopped RTH rise of altitude ?

I din't notice any high wind warnings in the main viewer, were there any ?

The initial RTH the mini kept a fairly constant SE orientation, almost 90 degrees to home point, I wonder why ?
It then had that RTH Heading alignment message when it turned to face home as it should.

The aircraft started to climb to its RTH height at 115 seconds, but full down throttle at 133 seconds cancelled the climb at 92 meters, as @Meta4 pointed out.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

The aircraft started to climb to its RTH height at 115 seconds, but full down throttle at 133 seconds cancelled the climb at 92 meters, as @Meta4 pointed out.

Cheers.
What about wind warnings, any in other data no showing in the log messages ?
Seems odd no wind warnings.

I guess the brief 5 second or so RTH heading alignment was no a major thing anyway, just never have seen that before.

 

[Gatorwills]

Yeah I attempted to override the RTH as I originally set the altitude too high once I realized wind speed was too high at that altitude. At some point it entered FailSafe mode and my controller lost reception. I did attempt to manually return to home on Sport mode but clearly I clearly wasn't directing it correctly.

It's obviously user error putting it in this situation. I would attempt to look in that area provided but flew out this morning.

Definitely a learning experience and I appreciate the help.

 

[old man mavic]

@sar104 and @Meta4 thanks for another in depth review of the data and for analysing the issues,during the flight,it is a sad fact ,that you will probably be doing it for some time as others have similar problems

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

At some point it entered FailSafe mode and my controller lost reception.

@sar104 when failsafe takes place, would it attempt again to rise to set RTH altitude ?
Or, would it stay at the height it was at (257.5') ?

This obviously would have a big bearing on how far it would go taking into consideration it had about 66% battery remaining.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I would attempt to look in that area provided but flew out this morning.

Ah, I hope you can get a replacement aircraft only then, and at a reasonable cost.

 

[Gatorwills]

Ah, I hope you can get a replacement aircraft only then, and at a reasonable cost.

Thanks. Sucks to lose this so soon but really have had some amazing footage made and it's addicting. May get the flight simulator and work on walking before running in the future.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Thanks. Sucks to lose this so soon but really have had some amazing footage made and it's addicting. May get the flight simulator and work on walking before running in the future.

Like smaller FPV drones, the simulator might be an idea to start, though it sounds like you may have prgressed past what it can do for you.
Does it allow high wind type scenarios ?
If so, it might help.

I have never used the simulator, just started in wide open areas, grassed parks / ovals etc, and venturing out form there over ocean, other landscapes.
Mostly to date I have flown in fairly sedate weather, only recently taking half a dozen flights in wind I wouldn't normally . . . road trip and taking footage of interest.
Had no trouble, but put it down to knowing what to watch for, this forum is a great class room.

 

[sar104]

@sar104 when failsafe takes place, would it attempt again to rise to set RTH altitude ?
Or, would it stay at the height it was at (257.5') ?

This obviously would have a big bearing on how far it would go taking into consideration it had about 66% battery remaining.

The aircraft was already in RTH mode, so there would have been no mode change when the connection was lost. And that is illustrated by the fact that there was a 64 second interruption in the link towards the end of the recorded flight, but the aircraft did not climb.

 

[Meta4]

What about wind warnings, any in other data no showing in the log messages ?
Seems odd no wind warnings.

Up at220 feet where gusty winds were blowing it away at 3-8 mph, that was a screaming warning of a strong wind.
The app provides plenty of information but you need to look at it.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Up at220 feet where gusty winds were blowing it away at 3-8 mph, that was a screaming warning of a strong wind.
The app provides plenty of information but you need to look at it.

We know this from the data for sure, but at the time, the OP didn't get the warnings then ?
I'm still not sure, but nothing in messages column like usual.

If the wind was so bad, surely if the mini has this feature (and I assume it does ?) then it should have certainly have triggered a warning ?
The attitude when facing 90 degrees to the wind was fairly severe at times.

Yes, an experienced pilot will have realised it was a losing battle pretty quick, but new fliers depend on some of the info fed via the apps.

I often get wind warnings on my M1P in Go4, even at moderate wind speeds . . . usually fly fairly sensible conditions, but yes do notice variations in wind by how the drone is moving etc.

 

[Meta4]

We know this from the data for sure, but at the time, the OP didn't get the warnings then ?
I'm still not sure, but nothing in messages column like usual.

You shouldn't need the app to tell you: Danger Will Robinson .. the wind is too strong.
If your drone can't hold position when hovering hands-off, that's telling you the wind is too strong.
It's just basic awareness and unfortunately a number of new flyers launch without having.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

You shouldn't need the app to tell you: Danger Will Robinson .. the wind is too strong.
If your drone can't hold position when hovering hands-off, that's telling you the wind is too strong.
It's just basic awareness and unfortunately a number of new flyers launch without having.

I know, and I don't

But I get wind warnings even when mine CAN hold position.
The question is even though DJI have wind warnings in their drones (to help new fliers recognise the danger early), why didn't the app give a wind warning to the OP at any time ?

You probably can't tell the reason, like I can't see it using the standard viewer.

 

[kevinhooke]

Sad to hear of OPs loss, but plenty for the rest of us to learn from the stories in these similar threads. Hope the OP either manages to find it, or gets a new one and continues to enjoy the hobby (in less strong winds!)

 

[sar104]

Cheers.
What about wind warnings, any in other data no showing in the log messages ?
Seems odd no wind warnings.

I guess the brief 5 second or so RTH heading alignment was no a major thing anyway, just never have seen that before.

I'm not sure why there were no wind warnings. That said, I'm not sure if I've seen any Mavic Mini flight logs that included wind warnings, even in those cases where the aircraft was clearly blown away. Perhaps the Mini simply doesn't give wind warnings.

 

[Antshill]

I'm not sure why there were no wind warnings. That said, I'm not sure if I've seen any Mavic Mini flight logs that included wind warnings, even in those cases where the aircraft was clearly blown away. Perhaps the Mini simply doesn't give wind warnings.

The videos on YT show high wind warnings quite a bit. I imagine this was a panicked situation and watching the alerts was tough to do at the same time. Not sure about warnings within logs.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

The videos on YT show high wind warnings quite a bit. I imagine this was a panicked situation and watching the alerts was tough to do at the same time. Not sure about warnings within logs.

Interesting re wind warnings.
The warning in that image is obviously different to that in Go4, but wind warnings do come up in the flight log (phantom help) in the far right 'Message' column for other aircraft . . . but nothing in the mini log from the OP Gatorwills in post #1.

 

[Meta4]

Interesting re wind warnings.
The warning in that image is obviously different to that in Go4, but wind warnings do come up in the flight log (phantom help) in the far right 'Message' column for other aircraft . . . but nothing in the mini log from the OP Gatorwills in post #1.

Quite a few of the messages that we are used to seeing from previous DJI drones don't show in The Phantomhelp display of flight records for the Mini.
For instance it never shows the RTH height when the home point is recorded.

 

[sar104]

Quite a few of the messages that we are used to seeing from previous DJI drones don't show in The Phantomhelp display of flight records for the Mini.
For instance it never shows the RTH height when the home point is recorded.

It's there though - for this flight:

0.0 s: Setting new Return-To-Home altitude to 139m (456 ft). Data Recorder File Index is 28. Setting new Maximum Flight Altitude to 221m (725 ft)

It looks like the current version of TXTlogToCSVtool isn't decoding those text fields properly.

 

[sar104]

The videos on YT show high wind warnings quite a bit. I imagine this was a panicked situation and watching the alerts was tough to do at the same time. Not sure about warnings within logs.

The app messages are what is recorded in the logs.