DJI Mavic, Air and Mini Drones
Friendly, Helpful & Knowledgeable Community
Join Us Now

Mavic took off and had no control

SkyAvenue

New Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2017
Messages
4
Reactions
0
Age
58
Flying my Mavic pro in very remote location and had one successful flight without any problems.
A short time later, took off about 500m away and rose to 30m.
Mavic started drifting out to sea. Controller would not respond, except for up/down.
Tried switching to sports mode on controller and would not work.
Went out approx 300m and I initiated a RTH, which fortunately worked.
Flight record shows a couple of high wind velocity warnings.
I'd be interested to see how to look at the detailed logs to see what happened, but don't know how?
Any help appreciated.
 
There's no mystery here; look at the wind field for that flight: Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones

You didn't really make much effort at all to fly it back - just a few sporadic stick inputs, some in entirely the wrong direction. It never entered Sports mode - probably you don't have that enabled. RTH saved you - a sustained 25° forwards pitch was just enough to make slow headway back to the home point into a 30 mph wind.

DJIFlightRecord_2018-03-15_[11-23-47]_conv_01.png

DJIFlightRecord_2018-03-15_[11-23-47]_conv_02.png

DJIFlightRecord_2018-03-15_[11-23-47]_conv_03.png

You were lucky to get that back at all.
 
There's no mystery here; look at the wind field for that flight: Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones

You didn't really make much effort at all to fly it back - just a few sporadic stick inputs, some in entirely the wrong direction. It never entered Sports mode - probably you don't have that enabled. RTH saved you - a sustained 25° forwards pitch was just enough to make slow headway back to the home point into a 30 mph wind.

View attachment 34851

View attachment 34852

View attachment 34853

You were lucky to get that back at all.

Thanks for looking into that!
Wind did not seem to be anywhere near that speed at takeoff point, and as I said the flight a few minutes earlier had no issues not that far away and the Mavic stayed stable in the wind.
I felt sure that I attempted to retrieve the Mavic manually alot more than what the flight log shows, but evidently not.
I'll be more cautious next time as I appreciate the limits a bit better now.
 
The wind is generally faster the higher you go. I use UAV forecast and am shocked sometimes by the wind profile. At 300 feet it is often three times the speed it is at ground level.
 
The wind is generally faster the higher you go. I use UAV forecast and am shocked sometimes by the wind profile. At 300 feet it is often three times the speed it is at ground level.

This is the calculated wind profile with altitude for that flight:

screenshot122.jpg
 
This is the calculated wind profile with altitude for that flight:

View attachment 34871
That's what I'm talking about. My wife was pushing me to fly yesterday so I caved and we went to the park. It was breezy on the ground and UAV forecast was saying it was marginal (I set my limits at 20mph). I took it up to 200' gradually and got a warning, so I kept it below 75', and below 20' most of the time. No issues, but I think she has a better understanding of why I use an app instead of asking her. ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: SkyAvenue
Lesson learnt! Thanks to sar104, Afremont and Qoncussion for going to the effort of compiling and sharing the data and your experience with me, much appreciated!
 
That's what I'm talking about. My wife was pushing me to fly yesterday so I caved and we went to the park. It was breezy on the ground and UAV forecast was saying it was marginal (I set my limits at 20mph). I took it up to 200' gradually and got a warning, so I kept it below 75', and below 20' most of the time. No issues, but I think she has a better understanding of why I use an app instead of asking her. ;)


Don’t let your wife tell you to fly at the park. Next time you tell her you have jobs to do around the house!
 
Wind did not seem to be anywhere near that speed at takeoff point

What was your Kp at time of flight
UAV Forecast will give you wind speed and direction at ground, 33', 100', 250' up to 5,000'
Ventusky will give you a visual display of wind currents, wind speed, gust and a LOT more data
 
Lycus Tech Mavic Air 3 Case

DJI Drone Deals

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
131,086
Messages
1,559,705
Members
160,069
Latest member
J S