Mavic Mini vs (little) Birds - How the MM reacts on a hypothetical Bird strike?

[AnGo]

Hypothetical question on MM behavior on bird strikes. Has anyone experienced a situation where the MM was surrounded by (little) birds like swallows or something of that size and knows how the MM reacts if one hurts it (assuming that no technical damage results from that)? I know that for example the Ryze Tello just stops all motors and falls out of the sky if there is some collision. So I'd like to know of the MM tries its best to stay in the air, or has also some programmed rules like that implemented that would result more or less automatically in an engine shutoff and drop?
Usually of course I won't fly where are many birds in the air, but as I had such a situation in the past that they just were suddenly all around it (maybe curiosity or an attempt to make this "strange bird" go away), the question rose in my head what happened if..

 

[Beet]

Hypothetical question on MM behavior on bird strikes. Has anyone experienced a situation where the MM was surrounded by (little) birds like swallows or something of that size and knows how the MM reacts if one hurts it (assuming that no technical damage results from that)? I know that for example the Ryze Tello just stops all motors and falls out of the sky if there is some collision. So I'd like to know of the MM tries its best to stay in the air, or has also some programmed rules like that implemented that would result more or less automatically in an engine shutoff and drop?
Usually of course I won't fly where are many birds in the air, but as I had such a situation in the past that they just were suddenly all around it (maybe curiosity or an attempt to make this "strange bird" go away), the question rose in my head what happened if..

I have not had collision with birds but have risen up into a tree branch fully leaved, the Mini dropped about 2-3 meters and recovered and went into hover, no damage, I continued flying till end of battery.
Is a very tough little drone.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Mini's will continue to fly if they can. Excessive tilt may however shut the motors down, this is, I think, the basis of the snatch and twist emergency stop maneuver.

The above said I would be much more concerned with the risk to the bird especially a small one, if any start to get aggressive I would and do leave. The escape route is, in general, UP as fast as possible and then get away from them. The thinking being they can't climb as quickly or perhaps start climbing as quickly as the drone.
That said Swallows are blooming great flyers.
I had a Swift or Swallow etc. buzz me the other evening, it seemed to keep well away from the mini but it was definitely orbiting the mini

 

[dirkclod]

They are just curious . I like flying in them.
Da Birds

 

[jwp721]

Not a Mini but........

Bald eagle takes down Michigan government drone

The device was mapping shoreline erosion when it was attacked in the air.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[aeropic]

My mini has been attacked by a crow. Both survived.
As long as the mini attitude is not 90 deg or more during few seconds no fail safe is activated. You can test the limits of the mini catcging it in flight and tiltindgit a lor... Motors are halted.

 

[DOC LEMIEUX]

Well I had an incident with swallows. I was near a bridge. Must been a lot of nests. Best thing I did was shoot straight up they fowrrd but stopped at 250 feet flew to my home point fast decent and landed

 

[FlyoverDRN]

I switch to S mode and turn on full turbo to the sky. The birds realized they can't keep up and move on. I go back down and do it again if they come back. After a while, they either get bored and go away, or I have enough of that little game and land, to look forward for better flying days.

 

[lowellton]

I got a little flap to my MM when i review my video from a bird ?️?

 

[dino9832]

I know this doesn't answer your question, but I wouldn't worry too much about barn swallows. I have them all around my house. They buzz my mini, but never too close. At first, I was worried the mini might run them off. They're great little bug eaters and don't eat the dog food.

It's been several weeks and I think they've made their peace with it. They probably view it as a non-threat by now and live and let live. I have wood peckers and doves also. I'd assume the barn swallows learn which birds to fear and which are just other birds doing their thing. Every now and then I see them running off hawks. Hawks are no match to how agile those little guys are.

 

[AnGo]

I'd assume the barn swallows learn which birds to fear and which are just other birds doing their thing

Unfortunately I am mostly not flying at the same place more than one or two times, so not regularly enough to get them used to it. The first encounter at a new spot is always a new lesson for the birds there But from what I understand from all the experiences, they usually won't really get in touch physically with the drone, so I think just ignore them is a proper reaction, or at worst case, escape upwards.

 

[adamcrow64]

Hypothetical question on MM behavior on bird strikes. Has anyone experienced a situation where the MM was surrounded by (little) birds like swallows or something of that size and knows how the MM reacts if one hurts it (assuming that no technical damage results from that)? I know that for example the Ryze Tello just stops all motors and falls out of the sky if there is some collision. So I'd like to know of the MM tries its best to stay in the air, or has also some programmed rules like that implemented that would result more or less automatically in an engine shutoff and drop?
Usually of course I won't fly where are many birds in the air, but as I had such a situation in the past that they just were suddenly all around it (maybe curiosity or an attempt to make this "strange bird" go away), the question rose in my head what happened if..

My mavic mini had a flock of pigeons fly through it.
Here is the video. No damage at all and the mini corrected itself quite quickly!

 

[shaneb50]

A few times I have had some bird [emoji211] flying around my drone,but luckily had no problems with them. lol I think they thought it was another bird flying around [emoji23][emoji16]

 

[Tomas H.]

Unfortunately I am mostly not flying at the same place more than one or two times, so not regularly enough to get them used to it. The first encounter at a new spot is always a new lesson for the birds there But from what I understand from all the experiences, they usually won't really get in touch physically with the drone, so I think just ignore them is a proper reaction, or at worst case, escape upwards.

I see quite often birds flying around the MM, especially when the drone stops in the air. No attack (so far...), they just circle the drone. Sometimes I recognize birds just at home when I process the video from SD card. In this case birds were filmed when drone lost signal and hovered foa while: New video by Tomas Horka

Viel spass und gruss aus Prag

 

[Elevated Perspective]

You'll likely damage (but not fully break) a prop or two, but I wouldn't expect much else. Unless you're less than 10m up, the drone will recover just fine. I guess if the bird was big enough, it might manage to break an arm.

I had a goose attack one of my 5" FPV quads a while back, which is much heavier than the Mini. It's also a lot faster and the props are more substantial. I fly it with no stabilization and was too lower to recover anyhow, and ended up losing two props to a metal light pole that I slammed in to at 20 MPH or so.

... it didn't end nearly as well for the goose.