Mavic Pro Flyaway

Marko9219 · Dec 17, 2017

Here we go again... Another time "Flyaway" was used in the title when in fact, it has NOTHING to do with being a flyaway. It has EVERYTHING to do with pilot error.

droneguy91 · Dec 17, 2017

Franzinator said:
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

I understand, but I have to disagree here. A Spark wouldn't do anything remotely close to what I want to capture. Also, like I said earlier, I flew last month nearly 3.7 mi

msinger said:
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):

View attachment 26866

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:

View attachment 26867

Thanks, that is where I spend all day looking for it yesterday and nothing came up

Dariof · Dec 17, 2017

You folks are good at figuring out his flight log, translating it to a spreadsheet and then pinpointing his landing location.

I've only been doing this a couple of weeks so I have yet to figure out this "Detective" aspect of flying the Mavic.

So much to learn......

droneguy91 · Dec 17, 2017

MarkNix said:
Here we go again... Another time "Flyaway" was used in the title when in fact, it has NOTHING to do with being a flyaway. It has EVERYTHING to do with pilot error.

It is a flyaway, if you watch the logs/videos, the aircraft banked right really hard and then just landed. It should have continued straight home.

msinger · Dec 17, 2017

droneguy91 said:
that is where I spend all day looking for it yesterday and nothing came up

I see it was pitch dark when you were flying. Did you try searching during the day?

Marko9219 · Dec 17, 2017

Franzinator said:
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]

This reply is EXACTLY the same as saying "What do you mean" Stay within the speed limits?!? " I bought a Ferrari that will do 240 mph. Why buy a Ferrari if you don't intend to go beyond the speed limits?" I've got news for you: The laws as they stand about flying drones apply to you too. Don't like the laws? Get them changed. Until they are changed, they apply to everyone.

Xtreme Drone Pilot · Dec 17, 2017

droneguy91 said:
The app should always be calculating distance/wind to determine a more accurate return time right?

The app does not have power to predict the future or your actions. If the headwind increases, or you fly into a layer or area where it is stronger, the app calculations will be thrown off. You can't "sue" the app for not "delivering" because of your actions.

droneguy91 · Dec 17, 2017

msinger said:
I see it was pitch dark when you were flying. Did you try searching during the day?

I'm going back to search today but yes it was dark out and the street was pretty well lit. I also wanted to point out that when the RTH initiated on its own, the aircraft did not return home straight back to me. It appears at that the Mavic banked to the right (really hard) and then just dropped. I have attached a screen recording showing this. ( ). Also, when the RTH happened, I never once put my hands back on the controls.. Thoughts?

msinger · Dec 17, 2017

droneguy91 said:
the aircraft did not return home straight back to me

It attempted to, but it looks like the wind was pushing it off course.

droneguy91 · Dec 17, 2017

But the wind wasn't even that strong, I'd say no more than 10-12mph. Can you see what the true winds were?

msinger · Dec 17, 2017

droneguy91 said:
Can you see what the true winds were?

No, but you can look at the calculated wind data with AirData.

droneguy91 · Dec 17, 2017

msinger said:
No, but you can look at the calculated wind data with AirData.

According to AirData, the wind was moderately heavy on the way out but on the return flight virtually no wind

droneguy91 · Dec 17, 2017

Wind Map from AirData

msinger · Dec 17, 2017

droneguy91 said:
According to AirData, the wind was moderately heavy on the way out

That's the direction your Mavic was blowing on its way back to the home point, so that data makes sense. The roll and pitch data in your flight log also show your Mavic was fighting the wind.

droneguy91 · Dec 17, 2017

So are we blaming this solely on wind?

Xtreme Drone Pilot · Dec 17, 2017

droneguy91 said:
But the wind wasn't even that strong, I'd say no more than 10-12mph. Can you see what the true winds were?

The winds at your location and at 0ft AGL have no relevance to winds where/altitude Mavic is flying at. There's a reason there are windmill farms not far from where you flew.

msinger · Dec 17, 2017

droneguy91 said:
So are we blaming this solely on wind?

Do you mean the fact that it did not return back to the home point? If so, yes, wind was a factor for sure. Had you known it was that windy, you should have manually started flying back to the home point much earlier (or considered flying at a much lower altitude).

Xtreme Drone Pilot · Dec 17, 2017

droneguy91 said:
So are we blaming this solely on wind?

No, wind can't be blamed, it's not an intelligent being. 100% user error, irresponsible flying.

Qoncussion · Dec 17, 2017

droneguy91 said:
So are we blaming this solely on wind?

You were 2 miles out with 30% battery and a headwind to contend with for the flight back. Sorry to say ~but you were never going to get it home.

Anthony · Dec 17, 2017

Sad that you lost the Mavic but once you realised it was not going to make it home you should have rotated your camera 90 degrees down and look for a safe place to land and then gone and picked it up ......