Mavic Pro gone...need feedback

[Dabrain]

Lost connection issues may be due to not having the current update (let’s hope it’s not an Apple like scheme) to get us to buy the latest drone—and, if you are going to fly 1,200 feet above the FFA guidelines for UAV’s, don’t do it...

It's been a great run...1 year and i've finally lost the drone. I've always been careful but I guess not careful enough. Was by the beach yesterday (zero wind at ground level) and wanted to take some pics of the sunset. Got a little too confident and took the bird up to 1600 feet. Was not paying attention to the map and within minutes my drone had drifted 6000 feet at 12 mph without any stick input. At 1600 feet the drift is not as apparent unless you're paying attention to the map, which of course I have not. Then I started losing signal to the mavic and had sporadic reconnections and was able to initiate RTH before I finally lost connection entirely. At first I thought that the drone was not moving because of connection issues, but I did have video and the picture didn't seem to be moving forward when I pushed the drone forward. But it did respond to my left and right turns. When I lost connection for good I had about 44% battery left and had managed to descend to 650 feet. The last information that I can see is that the drone seemed to be heading back to home point at 2 mph.

So what I would like to ask anyone who can is to comfirm pilot error based on the flight data below and recommend their best guess on where the drone might have landed/crashed. I did have a getter backer installed on the MP for water landings and I do still have two months on my care refresh. Any help would be appreciated.There are 2 flight records bacause I restarted the remote while trying to reestablish a connection.

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

[/QUOTE]
WTF

 

[laurens23]

One other question I had. Does the Mavic take into account altitude as well as distance when calculating the appropriate minimum return to home percentage? Or does it only use distance? At 730 feet it takes a minute to decend. I worry that upon low battery return to home it does not consider the altitude and then 200 feet in the air it finally runs out of battery because it was too high up and comes crashing down. This is just a thought on the side. Any ideas?

It does take into account the landing time.
in the logs there is a parameter that keeps track of the required time to fly home and a different parameter that keeps track of the required time for landing. I assume they are used together to give the "remaining battery is only enough to return home" warning.

 

[nomad33fw]

That's what you get for going up to altitudes that you shouldn't have been at. I have no remorse for people that suffer the consequences of very stupid actions.

Wow was wondering how many post before the self appointed drone police would attack

 

[jaysrmc]

Dear AAPhoto,

In your post, the eleventh line down; you misspelled the word “PARTY.”

Dear chum, I believe you meant to use the word “PART.” Moreover, you mentioned, “THIS IS TAUGHT IN GRAMMAR SCHOOL.”

Dear chum, I didn’t realize that there are institutions designed explicitly for one subject (GRAMMAR) if so; do they have a football team?

Don’t frown Old cum... I mean chum, I’m merely trying point out your grammatical errors and lack of command, regarding the use of the English language.

Also, if I may be so bold to suggest you use a spell/grammar check the next time you feel the desire to correct a pilot, it will be in your benefit.

I bid you a good day sir.

Hahaha.. happy that people are no longer taking crap from the drone police.

 

[Dizzy1971]

I don't consider myself a reckless pilot. I follow the rules because I know what can happen if you don't, and I'm not talking about just losing the drone. It's like driving your car. Sometimes you feel like putting your foot on the gas pedal and going a bit faster than 55 miles per hour. I've never experienced wind like this before, especially since it was absolutely windstill on the ground. An the drone has always held it's position in very strong winds quite well. So I was caught off guard. After a year I just had too much confidence in my drone. There are some who are REALLY reckless and some who just make honest mistakes. ac0j, this is not necessarily directed towards you. but there are some other people who like to judge people they don't even know. It's easy to beat a man when he's down. I took a calculated risk and lost my drone. That's punishment enough and make me a better pilot the next time around. Below is one of the last pics I took pointing west overlooking "holly pond and the long island sound in Darien CT.View attachment 35324

It’s a really nice scene man.

 

[Dizzy1971]

Arnold, I hope you find your drone. One reason I like this forum is because we can learn form each others' mistakes. Yet another reason not to use RTH unless all else fails. I agree with Divebombers' post above. My first reaction would be to bring the drone down, then return home manually. Your situation reminded me to keep my eye on the map and telemetrics. I've had high wind warnings at 400 ft altitude and always immediately brought the drone lower until the warning went away.

I'm curious if it's even worth to use a getterback device, because isn't your drone totaled if it goes underwater? I didn't know these things could swim and be repaired....I guess it's worthwhile to reuse the body, but all electronics and the camera are fried.

I believe he did mention having 2months left on the care refresh...? So that would be worth the effort to find the MP just to return it I would think....hope it’s not in the water

 

[Arnold]

Arnold, I hope you find your drone. One reason I like this forum is because we can learn form each others' mistakes. Yet another reason not to use RTH unless all else fails. I agree with Divebombers' post above. My first reaction would be to bring the drone down, then return home manually. Your situation reminded me to keep my eye on the map and telemetrics. I've had high wind warnings at 400 ft altitude and always immediately brought the drone lower until the warning went away.

I'm curious if it's even worth to use a getterback device, because isn't your drone totaled if it goes underwater? I didn't know these things could swim and be repaired....I guess it's worthwhile to reuse the body, but all electronics and the camera are fried.

Motopokep,

In my oopinion it's worth using the getterback. I do a lot of flying around the coast, that's where you get really nice shots. I also have DJI care refresh. If it drops in the water, you can retrieve it and just send it back and they'll give you a new one. They even have an expedite feature with care refresh. If you write care refresh express on the box when you ship back the broken drone. They'll immediately send a new drone back to you upon recieval and without post analysis. I used it last fall and I got a new drone within a little more than a week.

 

[Arnold]

I believe he did mention having 2months left on the care refresh...? So that would be worth the effort to find the MP just to return it I would think....hope it’s not in the water

Dizzy1971,

I wish it was in the water. A little neon yellow bubble at the surface of the water is easier to find than a greyish black drone among leaves and trees. That said, I had no luck combing the water with canoes, and also had no luck doing my final search on THE most expensive property in the United States (found out later that this property was on the market for 175million.....).

 

[Arnold]

I have decided to call off the search for my little baby. At this point time spent looking for her is outweighing the cost of a new one. I have searched the places where there is little chance of people finding it. And I was hoping that if it did land in someone's backyard, they'll find the number on the mavic and call it. I was so sure that I would find it in the water or on the giant expensive estate based on predictions from @sar104 and @MavicCF but it wasn't meant to be. Maybe, god willing, someone may stumble upon it in the next 2 months before my care refresh expires, but i'm dead set on getting another one in the next few weeks, I hope.
Even though I've lost something, I gained something in return. The search for my baby turned into a little adventure (canoeing on the bay, walking on the most expensive property in the US) and sharing this story with ALL OF YOU and you guys sharing it back with me. This seems sometimes as close as I'll get to drone buddies. I haven't met any other droners in person and I always fly alone. Sometime I see another mavic zooming above me and I think, "I wish I knew where the pilot of this drone is so I could share with him". So any droners of the Fairfield County and Stamford area, show yourselves. I'd like to meet you.
I started a claim with DJI today and sent them all the info. It doesn't hurt to ask. At the very least they may give me a discount on a new mavic. I'm trying to get them to sell me just the bird since that will cut cost down a bit. No need to have everything twice. I'll keep you guys posted.

 

[macoman]

You could probably find a Mavic in eBay and only the aircraft itself. I remember saw something before and cost very cheap, around $400.

 

[HoozierDroneDaddy]

A lot of discussion about where it possibly landed, however, there is another factor the op needs to look at. What time of day was it, was the tide going in/out, what are the currents in the area. The MP may have been going one way when it landed but with the Getterback it will be floating and the currents may have taken it a different direction. I doubt it would be anywhere near where it landed. He needs to look at tides and currents to get an estimate as to where it might have been taken by the waters and look that way. JMHO.

 

[HoozierDroneDaddy]

Arnold, I hope you find your drone. One reason I like this forum is because we can learn form each others' mistakes. Yet another reason not to use RTH unless all else fails. I agree with Divebombers' post above. My first reaction would be to bring the drone down, then return home manually. Your situation reminded me to keep my eye on the map and telemetrics. I've had high wind warnings at 400 ft altitude and always immediately brought the drone lower until the warning went away.

I'm curious if it's even worth to use a getterback device, because isn't your drone totaled if it goes underwater? I didn't know these things could swim and be repaired....I guess it's worthwhile to reuse the body, but all electronics and the camera are fried.

And worse if its salt water. There is a possibility of recovery in fresh water.

 

[Arnold]

A lot of discussion about where it possibly landed, however, there is another factor the op needs to look at. What time of day was it, was the tide going in/out, what are the currents in the area. The MP may have been going one way when it landed but with the Getterback it will be floating and the currents may have taken it a different direction. I doubt it would be anywhere near where it landed. He needs to look at tides and currents to get an estimate as to where it might have been taken by the waters and look that way. JMHO.

You are not the only one who thought that the drone floats. The drone is like a brick. If it lands in the water it will sink to the ground. Then the getter back realeases a 4 Inch neon yellow bubble that floats to the top. No drifting of the drone involved.

 

[Arnold]

This is my final transmission on this thread. After sending DJI the flight logs they have come up with the same conclusion as we had already predicted. Drifting caused by high winds and eventual signal loss. I received an answer within 12 hours and they offered to sell me a new drone without charger and remote at 15% discount which comes to $645. That includes a battery. No cheap, but not too expensive either. I will be taking that offer cause I need to get airborne again. As in the past with DJI support I do have to say that I am impressed with DJI's turnaround on any Mavic related issues I've had in the past. One thing that though.....they will not allow the puchase of a new care refresh. Instead they will allow the transfer of the 2 months that I have left on the old one. That sucks just a bit.

 

[macoman]

This is my final transmission on this thread. After sending DJI the flight logs they have come up with the same conclusion as we had already predicted. Drifting caused by high winds and eventual signal loss. I received an answer within 12 hours and they offered to sell me a new drone without charger and remote at 15% discount which comes to $645. That includes a battery. No cheap, but not too expensive either. I will be taking that offer cause I need to get airborne again. As in the past with DJI support I do have to say that I am impressed with DJI's turnaround on any Mavic related issues I've had in the past. One thing that though.....they will not allow the puchase of a new care refresh. Instead they will allow the transfer of the 2 months that I have left on the old one. That sucks just a bit.

That's weird because you are purchasing another aircraft which means is new with different serial number.

 

[Regulator66]

Did he ever find the drone?

 

[rfc]

Did he ever find the drone?

No. Had he, he could have used Refresh.