Mavic Pro hovering in a tree crash

[Llehmann]

Today I was doing in track me mode and having my drone follow my car down the street.

From the video it looks like a wind gust blew it into a tree. It actually stopped in time and was hovering.

I jumped out to see what's happening and hear the leaves being whipped by the propellers.

I thought it was hung up and and trying to get out. So I did a shut down. If course it stopped and fell to it's doom.

After closer inspection... It was just fine sitting just inside the branches and getting into a little leaf trimming.

If I would have ran over to check first I would have been able to save it.

So my question is... What are the emergency procedures to do when something like this happens?

Vídeo Crash Link

 

[FoxhallGH]

The 'Pause' key is always your friend when something like this happens, as it will stop the Mavic and it will hover in the current position.
That then allows you to cancel the settings you have for the tracking mode, and then after you have a think about it - take off 'Pause' and back yourself out of trouble.

On the Mavic Pro RC Controller, the pause key is at the bottom left of the display, with the red 'II' icon ...

 

[Llehmann]

The 'Pause' key is always your friend when something like this happens, as it will stop the Mavic and it will hover in the current position.
That then allows you to cancel the settings you have for the tracking mode, and then after you have a think about it - take off 'Pause' and back yourself out of trouble.

On the Mavic Pro RC Controller, the pause key is at the bottom left of the display, with the red 'II' icon ...

But my thoughts were it was stuck and blending up the tree.

All I saw were leaves falling.

Trying to save damage. I thought it beat to shut down immediately.

Of course I was wrong.

But what should you do at that point?

Vídeo Crash Link

 

[FoxhallGH]

But my thoughts were it was stuck and blending up the tree.

All I saw were leaves falling.

Trying to save damage. I thought it beat to shut down immediately.

Of course I was wrong.

But what should you do at that point?

Vídeo Crash Link

Just the way my brain works, but I'd be thinking - OK - if I stop then the Mavic won't be chewing any more twigs than it is already. However, if I don't press pause, then the Mavic could still move and hit something larger that will bring it down. If it went into the foliage, then there must be a way to back out (reverse the course), to get it out of trouble.
However, looking at your video - my action would have been to hit up-stick all the way as soon as I saw it going into the tree.
It's strange that it changed course like it did, because I'd have expected it to maintain course in the wind that is indicated in the tree-tops (i.e. not too much compared to what the Mavic Pro is capable of). Were you alone in the car? If so, that would have made this a difficult situation whatever the options are ...

 

[Llehmann]

Just the way my brain works, but I'd be thinking - OK - if I stop then the Mavic won't be chewing any more twigs than it is already. However, if I don't press pause, then the Mavic could still move and hit something larger that will bring it down. If it went into the foliage, then there must be a way to back out (reverse the course), to get it out of trouble.
However, looking at your video - my action would have been to hit up-stick all the way as soon as I saw it going into the tree.
It's strange that it changed course like it did, because I'd have expected it to maintain course in the wind that is indicated in the tree-tops (i.e. not too much compared to what the Mavic Pro is capable of). Were you alone in the car? If so, that would have made this a difficult situation whatever the options are ...

Q

Yes I made 2 mistakes that I've seen in a lot of beginner flying tips on how to fly a drone.
Rookie mistake #1. Don't do anything else when flying. Pay attention. I was driving the car while it followed me. I didn't actually see it attempt to avoid the tree when it adjusted course. When I looked down at my app... All I saw were leaves.

Mistake#2. Panic. When I realized it was in the tree (front of the tree mind you) I saw the leaves on the screen. Jumped out of the car and saw some leaves falling and the drone was in there somewhere. So I panicked. First though was it was actually hung up. Not having enough experience to assess the situation correctly ... I thought it would cause damage leaving it run.

Not really thinking it thru properly. I pushed both sticks down and in to shut it down. That's basically when it started to turn... Chew on the tree a little and shut off... Making its way down via gravity. Bad move.

Well... This why I didn't go for the latest greatest for my fist drone. You learn a lot from mistakes. I won't make this one again!

Update: using the DJI Assistant 2 app I was able to recalibrate the sensors and get them back up and running. The camera and gimble are still in error state so I need to check out the flex cable. I also see the vibration plate is broken in one corner.




I also think the post that the front arm rotates around broke. I can't seem to get it inserted property to make the plate lay flat to insert both screws.


Last... I cant get the imu to calibrate and finish. It's stuck in the second dot and never completes? The compass calibration was good.

 

[Llehmann]

Put together a side by side video of the drone video and flight logs showing what happened
side by side and my mistake. DOUGH!

Drone video and flight log link