Mavic Mini lost...devastated. Please help.

[slup]

Thanks for your reply. The first time I lost connection during the flight I just assumed the drone was too far away. The warning message popped up on my screen - after 1 or 2 seconds of this occurring the connection went back to normal. I started to turn back then got the message again. This was the final message on my device, all contact with the drone was lost.

How can you check to see if that file is on my device? I went into the files of my phone then into the DJI Fly app docs. I didn’t see the file in the flight records folder, is it located somewhere else?

You had a short glitch in your connection at 363sec & a connection warning at 240sec



And from the messages



To retrieve the DAT log look here --> Flight log retrieval and analysis guide read under point 3. The file we are after ends with FLY047.DAT ... Attach then in a post here.

 

[AerialTom]

You had a short glitch in your connection at 363sec & a connection warning at 240sec

View attachment 96438

And from the messages

View attachment 96439

To retrieve the DAT log look here --> Flight log retrieval and analysis guide read under point 3. The file we are after ends with FLY047.DAT ... Attach then in a post here.

Guys thanks for all of your help and posts etc.

I still can’t find the DAT file using my iPhone 7. Can it only be found when your phone is linked to the PC or can you access the files directly from your phone? To find the flight data that I posted in here last night I accessed the files through the file app on the phone.

 

[Rockycat]

You flew at 1400ft AGL and over 3500 ft down range, Wow.
You know there is tempting fate, and then there is giving fate a lap dance.
You my friend fall into the later category.
Hard lesson learned.

 

[slup]

Guys thanks for all of your help and posts etc.

I still can’t find the DAT file using my iPhone 7. Can it only be found when your phone is linked to the PC or can you access the files directly from your phone? To find the flight data that I posted in here last night I accessed the files through the file app on the phone.

Go to the same place were you found the log you posted earlier ... in that folder you also have the MCDatFlightRecords folder ... in that you should have a DAT log ending with FLY047.DAT.

 

[AerialTom]

Go to the same place were you found the log you posted earlier ... in that folder you also have the MCDatFlightRecords folder ... in that you should have a DAT log ending with FLY047.DAT.

Ah, found the folder. There’s nothing in it though.

 

[slup]

Then the story ends here I'm afraid ... without the DAT log we can't access neither the raw sensor data or motor data. (This that the DAT is missing from Mini's isn't uncommon unfortunately)

You could open a case with DJI ... but as I pointed out, the winds were above spec & nothing in the TXT log points to any HW related so I wouldn't be surprised if they just points at the wind and call it a day.

Don't know if @sar104 can give you any precision in a possible land spot depending on both the height & the difficulty to judge if you commanded the Mini something after the log ends or if it went into failsafe RTH mode immediately, then starting to drift into the wind direction. Doesn't need to be much error here to create a very large search zone on ground depending on the high altitude ... but it's up to him.

 

[unionglzr]

Hi, appreciate your reply. Yes, I was flying far too high. Although the drone was 400m in the air, I was still able to control it - as shown in the video it was moving at about 5m/s and moving towards me. I just don’t understand how I lost connection altogether.

I don't think you lost connection it was showing you still had connection when it was blowing away why were you that height in USA 400 feet is legal maximum and even if you were legally at the right height Mavic mini is not made to be flying at that age with those winI don't think you lost connection it was showing you still had connection when it was blowing away why were you that height in USA 400 feet is legal maximum and even if you were legally at the right height Mavic mini is not made to be flying at that age with those winds just my opinion

 

[sar104]

Thanks for your reply. The first time I lost connection during the flight I just assumed the drone was too far away. The warning message popped up on my screen - after 1 or 2 seconds of this occurring the connection went back to normal. I started to turn back then got the message again. This was the final message on my device, all contact with the drone was lost.

How can you check to see if that file is on my device? I went into the files of my phone then into the DJI Fly app docs. I didn’t see the file in the flight records folder, is it located somewhere else?

This doesn't look like a signal problem. Apart from the very brief dropouts noted above, the link was solid. In particular, towards the end, there were no lost data at all, and good LOS to the aircraft. That leaves the possibilities that I mentioned above.

If it was an app issue then it's going to be difficult to find, because it will have switched to RTH, and while it was making progress back towards the home point in sport mode, in RTH it would have made no progress, since the wind speed was at or a bit higher than the RTH speed. Based on the battery depletion rate it was still around 550 seconds from commencing autoland, which means that even if it were only moving at 1 m/s that leaves a large uncertainty. I can estimate bounds for its position at landing time based on wind speed and direction, but it's going to be a significant area.

The other possibility - aircraft failure, would lead to it simply falling of course. That outcome is easier to calculate but it seems less probable since there have been virtually no reported cases of Minis simply shutting down. I'll do that calculation too just for completeness though.

 

[AerialTom]

This doesn't look like a signal problem. Apart from the very brief dropouts noted above, the link was solid. In particular, towards the end, there were no lost data at all, and good LOS to the aircraft. That leaves the possibilities that I mentioned above.

If it was an app issue then it's going to be difficult to find, because it will have switched to RTH, and while it was making progress back towards the home point in sport mode, in RTH it would have made no progress, since the wind speed was at or a bit higher than the RTH speed. Based on the battery depletion rate it was still around 550 seconds from commencing autoland, which means that even if it were only moving at 1 m/s that leaves a large uncertainty. I can estimate bounds for its position at landing time based on wind speed and direction, but it's going to be a significant area.

The other possibility - aircraft failure, would lead to it simply falling of course. That outcome is easier to calculate but it seems less probable since there have been virtually no reported cases of Minis simply shutting down. I'll do that calculation too just for completeness though.

I’m very grateful for your help. I’m just back from a 2hr search - we searched exactly where the last known location was of the drone. As mentioned, it’s quite likely the drone drifted with the wind and ended up a lot further away from where the last point of contact was. I’m pretty sure the wind was coming from NE/E direction.

I have attached a picture of where the drone could be. This assumption can only be made if the drone hovered and drifted with the wind. We have searched here too but it will take a lot of time to cover these areas.

 

[sar104]

I’m very grateful for your help. I’m just back from a 2hr search - we searched exactly where the last known location was of the drone. As mentioned, it’s quite likely the drone drifted with the wind and ended up a lot further away from where the last point of contact was. I’m pretty sure the wind was coming from NE/E direction.

I have attached a picture of where the drone could be. This assumption can only be made if the drone hovered and drifted with the wind.


View attachment 96445

It's unlikely to have ended up in that area. I can give you a much more probable area to search, but looking at that terrain it's going to be a needle in a haystack.

 

[AerialTom]

It's unlikely to have ended up in that area. I can give you a much more probable area to search, but looking at that terrain it's going to be a needle in a haystack.

Most of the trees have been cut down which has left a huge scar on the hillside. Even with the trees having been cut down it’s still very unlikely that the drone can be found.

 

[m80116]

@slup
Would you be able to read RC to MD dat files ? (stored in the RC_LOG folder).

I have the same problem of MD to RC connection which is wrongly announced in the DJI Fly app.

 

[slup]

@slup
Would you be able to read RC to MD dat files ? (stored in the RC_LOG folder).

I have the same problem of MD to RC connection which is wrongly announced in the DJI Fly app.

Never heard of those logs ...

 

[sar104]

Never heard of those logs ...

There are various different DAT logs. The RC logs don't contain anything useful.

 

[xspwhite]

Little Mavic Mini lost in the devil's thumb.

Frankly, I would say flying the little mini anywhere over 120 feet in altitude would be a suicide mission.

 

[japharl]

Yeah, now I know the Mini’s limits. I will know better for next time.

Right attitude. Welcome to the forum. Crashed mine into trees. Got a new one to play with, but a lot more cautious...

 

[Milo187]

It’s a tiny drone ... probably not wise to fly far, too high or in adverse conditions not to mention 1200’!
Most of us have lost a drone for one reason or another ... sorry for your loss!

 

[Sithu Soe]

Today I lost my mavic mini, only a week since buying it. What did I do wrong?

I was in the process of manually flying the drone back towards the home point then suddenly all connection was cut off. I waited to see if I could re-establish contact with the drone but nothing happened.


What likely happened to the drone?

Was I flying too high?

Why wasn’t I able to re-establish connection? I lost connection once but was able to reconnect. At this point I decided to turn back.

On my way back I had strong GPS coverage and wifi signal, as shown in the video.

Below is a youtube video of the flight data.


Mavic Mini Flight Data

Many thanks.

I see a couple warning to lower down your drone immediately (flight altitude was too high) due to strong wind and it was coming against your heading. It's beyond the capacity of its power and lead to crash your drone.

 

[sar104]

Most of the trees have been cut down which has left a huge scar on the hillside. Even with the trees having been cut down it’s still very unlikely that the drone can be found.

It turns out to be an unreasonably large search area, and that is with some assumptions. Most notably I've assumed that the aircraft was able to achieve the specified pitch forwards, which was not clear from the flight data up to disconnect because most of the flight was backwards. But if it switched to failsafe RTH then it will have rotated to face the home point. Anyway, based on the nominal RTH speed of 8 m/s and the range of wind speeds estimated from the flight, that leaves the following 0.4 km² area for the aircraft location at autoland:

 

[freeebee1]

So sorry for your loss