Mavic Mini wouldn't land!

[ryansj]

I've had an 'unexpected behaviour' today I'm hoping someone can help me out with:

I was walking down the beach flying the mavic mini. Battery got low so I came in to land just in front of me, but it wouldn't land! I was full down on the throttle but it just hovered at about 2m altitude. If I released the stick it climbed up but I couldn't get it to land. At this point my trousers were changing to a nasty brown colour so I decided to grab it and flip it upside down to stop the motors - fortunately I could just about reach it but another few inches higher and I don't know what I could have done. I was seriously worried that I wasn't in control and couldn't bring it down!

I've got back and had a look at the logs, I didn't realise it had gone into RTH probably due to the low battery. Does this stop it landing even if you're full down-stick? I'm thinking if I'd noticed it was in RTH and I'd pressed the RTH button would that have cancelled RTH and I'd have had control again enabling me to land where I was?


Many thanks in advance for any light anyone could shed on this

 

[ATP]

Yup, that was the problem, if you canceled RTH, you would have regained control.
Tom

 

[lowellton]

I read somewhere in this forum that you can still control the stick while in rth mode. Anyway happy flying

 

[old man mavic]

it was trying to RTH to the point where you took off from,

 

[m80116]

It deemed the site unsuitable for landing... so during RTH would have hovered there until battery depletion when the landing there was inevitable.

 

[ryansj]

Thanks all!! I might try running the battery low next time I'm out in a more controlled environment closer to my home point and just checking I can cancel the automatic RTH and land normally.

I read somewhere in this forum that you can still control the stick while in rth mode. Anyway happy flying

Yeah I did still have some control, but couldn't get it to land and if I let go of the sticks it climbed up which I now know was returning to home.


Thank you

 

[Dbez1]

Mystery solved! Good to know.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

I think these threads about quirks are great, very illuminating.
Having read this one I tried forcing a landing whilst the drone wanted to climb to RTH, no go, I could get it to descend but it would reach a limit, about 50cm AGL, and then just hover. As soon as the throttle was relaeased up it went again.

 

[SW_Drone_Guy]

I'll try that too, next time out, and I'll try canceling RTH to (hopefully) regain control. Better to experience it when I'm expecting it - and learn to deal with it during controlled circumstances - than to have it happen unexpectedly and maybe have it become a larger problem. Thanks

 

[Zbip57]

Better to experience it when I'm expecting it - and learn to deal with it during controlled circumstances - than to have it happen unexpectedly and maybe have it become a larger problem.

So true. It's important to experiment and practise under controlled conditions to become familiar with how the thing operates. There are so many clever built-in safety features that all make perfect sense when you've figured them out and know how to use them, but they can cause total confusion and panic when they step in unexpectedly.

Here's another little tidbit buried on pg 14 of the manual that I've only just noticed, but haven't tried out yet.

If the aircraft is at an altitude of 65 ft (20 m) or higher and has not yet reached the RTH altitude, the throttle stick can be moved to stop the aircraft from ascending, The aircraft will fly directly to the Home Point at its current altitude.

I haven't experimented with that yet, but it's also something that could have unforeseen consequences. It would be useful in case you're short on battery, or time, and don't want to wait for it to climb to some excessive RTH altitude before heading for Home.

Assuming you still have radio connection, you can always cancel RTH at any time by pressing the RTH button to resume full control. But let's say you've flown your Mini beyond visual line of sight and have pressed RTH to automatically bring it Home.

If it is still below 20m you can't stop it climbing, as the original poster in this thread mentioned (unless cancelling RTH). But, if it has already climbed higher than 20m, and you blindly fumble with the throttle stick, it will stop climbing any higher and RTH at its then current altitude. You might have expected it to keep climbing to its configured RTH height, but it may now be returning at an insufficient height to clear the trees on its way home.

That's definitely something else to be aware of, and it's worth experimenting with...

 

[ryansj]

UPDATE: I checked this in a more controlled environment, it does indeed start return to home automatically at 15% battery. You CAN cancel this on screen or by pressing the RTH button.

So had I known this then there would have been no need to change my pants afterwards. Anyway hope this helps someone if they ever get into the same situation

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Here's another little tidbit buried on pg 14 of the manual that I've only just noticed, but haven't tried out yet.
I haven't experimented with that yet, but it's also something that could have unforeseen consequences. It would be useful in case you're short on battery, or time, and don't want to wait for it to climb to some excessive RTH altitude before heading for Home.

I have, it works, the experiment was a result of my having an unintentional failsafe RTH to 875ft, Meta4 was kind enough to point out that passage, the subsequent experiment confirmed he was correct lol.
875ft is a LLLOOONNNGGG way up from a pre connection-loss height of 60ft or so and an even longer way down

 

[Zbip57]

I have, it works

Good to know.

My worry was more that when something unexpected happens, people tend to panic and start fumbling with buttons, potentially making the situation worse. If it is climbing in RTH mode (already above 20m) and you touch the throttle stick, it will stop climbing and simply return at its current altitude, then you can raise/lower its altitude while it's coming home. That's useful if that's what you intended. But if you didn't know that's how it behaves and were expecting it to have continued climbing to clear tall trees on the route home, you might be surprised if it never shows up.

Similarly, pressing the RTH button to initiate an automatic return to home works great. But it's important to realize that pressing it a second time instantly cancels RTH, leaving the drone to hover while waiting for more input.

Blindly fumbling is dangerous. Knowing beforehand what you intend to do, and pressing the proper buttons to accomplish that, is much safer.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Agreed, that's why I experiment and frequently suggest new pilots do too. Better to experience the behaviours in controlled circumstances and in a safe place rather than encounter them for the first time during a real flight.

 

[DrizzyDrones]

Good to know.

My worry was more that when something unexpected happens, people tend to panic and start fumbling with buttons, potentially making the situation worse. If it is climbing in RTH mode (already above 20m) and you touch the throttle stick, it will stop climbing and simply return at its current altitude, then you can raise/lower its altitude while it's coming home. That's useful if that's what you intended. But if you didn't know that's how it behaves and were expecting it to have continued climbing to clear tall trees on the route home, you might be surprised if it never shows up.

Similarly, pressing the RTH button to initiate an automatic return to home works great. But it's important to realize that pressing it a second time instantly cancels RTH, leaving the drone to hover while waiting for more input.

Blindly fumbling is dangerous. Knowing beforehand what you intend to do, and pressing the proper buttons to accomplish that, is much safer.

That’s why it has that annoying beep if it isn’t beeping and you aren’t touching sticks it’s likely hovering waiting for input

Did op **** his pants? Or git full of sand ?

 

[ryansj]

That’s why it has that annoying beep if it isn’t beeping and you aren’t touching sticks it’s likely hovering waiting for input

Did op **** his pants? Or git full of sand ?

I sure did!!! ?

 

[BokiFly]

I've had an 'unexpected behaviour' today I'm hoping someone can help me out with:

I was walking down the beach flying the mavic mini. Battery got low so I came in to land just in front of me, but it wouldn't land! I was full down on the throttle but it just hovered at about 2m altitude. If I released the stick it climbed up but I couldn't get it to land.

Exactly what has happened to me today. It was a bit scary. I didn't know what was happening. Mini hovered just above my head and with full stick down it remain in that position, and when I released the stick it climbed up.

I didn't know what was happening before I read this topic. It was in RTH and I didn't know that. I was flying very close to me, that annoying warning sound started at 20% so if was there another sound for automated RTH I didn't noticed that. Mini was very close to me all the time so I tried to hand land as always looking at a drone, not looking at a screen. Now I looked at a AirData log and at 18% there was "Mode changed to Go Home" (distance was just 25 m, but with a bit stronger wind in that moment).

Finally I remembered that I could catch Mini from bellow and flip it to shut down engines. It didn't shut down engines right away but it did eventually (first time doing this, I must practice a bit because it can get handy).

Everything would be fine if I know that it was in RTH and that I could cancel it (could I?), but I started to panic, wind was stronger, so I didn't think clear.

Can we cancel this low-battery-initiated-RTH?

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Can we cancel this low-battery-initiated-RTH?

Yes.

If there are no privacy concerns make the shareable or whatever and post a link here or better yet download the txt/original from aridata and upload it to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help then post the resulting link here.
I have had something similar happen to me but I was either able to force it down with the sticks or grabbed it etc. I can't remember which.