Mavic Pro Flyaway

[droneguy91]

Lost my Mavic Pro this evening in the Berkeley, California Hills.

I successfully started up the Mavic, locked on to 20+ Satelites and had a fully charged battery and ensured home point was properly set.

It was a little windy, but I got about 11 minutes of flying before it wanted to return home. After 12 minutes, it auto returned home but never made it close to me. I flew about 12,500 feet out and when it auto returned it only made it about 1500 feet before switching to critical low battery and then it landed in a residential neighborhood Quite far from my home point.

I attempted to use “find my drone” but could not see it. I imagine it got stuck in some trees or landed on someone’s roof.

 

[Cut.Aussie]

And the lesson you learned is?

 

[Lake_Flyer]

I would change the subject title to "I flew out way too far and lost my mavic'.

This has nothing to do with a fly away for sure. Something happened that you were not able to observe because it was very far away. Maybe a strong headwind, a low hanging sun that screwed up the forward sensors during RTH, birdstrike, anything for that matter.
Sorry to see a Mavic wasted.

 

[Simmo]

All of the above plus expensive..

 

[locoman]

Agree 100%

But I do feel bad for him, don't know how much experience he has had flying, but he has been on the forum since last February, so should know better. So, I would guess, distance, wind and sun was his demise.

 

[Rnl]

If you guys never fly out of sight your missing out and boring. Way more people do it then not so I would just not comment. He is looking for help not to be spanked.

 

[Simmo]

If you guys never fly out of sight your missing out and boring. Way more people do it then not so I would just not comment. He is looking for help not to be spanked.

Who's 'spankin' Rnl, and what more help can be given??? Seriously, the OP has been around a while.....

 

[Franzinator]

Sounds like a headwind issue. Whenever I plan a relatively long flight I try to set it up so I’m flying into the wind on the way out, so I’ve got the tailwind helping on the way back. Doing the reverse is a recipe for disaster.

 

[GerdS]

If you guys never fly out of sight your missing out and boring. Way more people do it then not so I would just not comment. He is looking for help not to be spanked.

The GO app offers so much support when flying out of sight, the video stream, display of distance, speed, altitude and battery levels, map, radar. So it's no real problem for a pilot with some experience flying this way, I do it all time.
But I would NEVER fly long distance until automatic RTH will kick in because of low battery. And I would NEVER rely on RTH for flying back as long as I am capable doing it by myself. And I would NEVER do a long distance flight with strong wind conditons.
And if he would have kept the golden rule in mind, landing at about 30% battery capacity, this wouldn't have happened.

 

[sir_ian]

****** **** ***** ***** ****, crazy.

 

[msinger]

I attempted to use “find my drone” but could not see it. I imagine it got stuck in some trees or landed on someone’s roof.

Still trying to track it down? Check out your TXT flight log to see if it explains what happened. You can upload and view it online here. If you'd like other people to review and comment on your flight log, then please post a link back here after you upload it.

 

[droneguy91]

I've been flying the Mavic for the past two years and never once had this issue. I have been flying the DJI brand and have been very aware of its limitations.

I have posted my flight log if someone can take a look at it. I know the distance was rather far, but the app indicated when it was a good idea to head back home and I let it do its thing. It's important to note that the drone barely made it 1000 feet closer to me before hitting critically low power which I find weird. The app should always be calculating distance/wind to determine a more accurate return time right? Attaching the flight log now.

 

[Scottotheforest]

In Canada it may be 'boring' to fly line of sight, but it is legal and illegal is really expensive if caught and only adds to the negative public image of drones.

After spending many months and $ for ground school, proper insurance and a 65 page company operations manual that passed Transport Canada's approving officer's scrutiny, I finally have a standing Special Flight Operations Certificate for a year.

Don't plan on risking that to fly out of sight. The older I get, the better 'boring' looks. Our lobbying bodies continue to press for better laws in Canada. It's glacial, but sloooowly getting better.

 

[droneguy91]

Flight log attached

 

[msinger]

Here's your uploaded flight log:
DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[Qoncussion]

Can you post a link to your log, so we can help...?

 

[msinger]

Can you post a link to your log, so we can help...?

See my link above.

 

[droneguy91]

Here's your uploaded flight log:
DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

thank you

 

[Franzinator]

Guys- serious about ‘line of sight
’? The mavic is unseeable at about 500’ distant. It’s advertised range is approx 4 miles. Why buy a mavic if you don’t intend to fly out of sight? Just buy a spark then. I don’t condone recklessly flying out too far, and if video is your goal, I always try to get as close as possible to my target to maximize loiter time. But don’t fly out of sight? Just buy a $20 toy drone and fly around your living room [emoji849]

 

[msinger]

At the end of your flight log, the battery was at 0% and your Mavic was located here (about 1,168 feet in the air):




The auto landing procedure did not kick in soon enough since the flight controller did not know there was such a large difference between the altitude at the takeoff point and last known location. That means the battery definitely shut off before the Mavic was able to safely land on the ground.

According to the last location in your flight log, your Mavic should have made impact with the ground (or a house/car/tree/person) around this spot: