Mini 2 - took off from glass -> first crash

[izometric]

Yesterday I was doing some indoors flying with the Mini 2. It flew flawlessly, it was hovering solidly in place using the downward vision system as the floor was very textured.

All good until I decided to take off from a horizontal glass panel. The drone took off and immediately started to drift forward quite fast, without me touching the controls. I tried to correct the drift and the drone did not responded. I panicked, pulled downwards on the sticks for emergency shut down (there were people around) and the drone accelerated full speed into a wall and crashed.

I picked up the drone from the floor, the gimbal was out, I had about 6 error messages on the screen and an announcement that the aircraft has crashed.

Turned the drone off. Inspected the damage. Two propellers with some very small chips -> replaced.

Other than the replaced propellers, no other damage visible, not even a single scratch or the slightest mark. Amazing after witnessing the speedy impact, noise and tumbling on the floor.

Placed back the gimbal. Started the drone -> no errors.

Gimbal calibration -> OK

Compass calibration-> OK.

Small check-up flight -> OK. It maneuvered perfectly and promptly.

Landed the drone, installed the PGYTECH cage for the safety of the people around me, flew the drone for the rest of the day (4 batteries) without any further incidents. I always took off from the concrete floor and not from the glass panel anymore.

Lesson learned. Never take off indoors from reflective surfaces.

By the way, flying over 10 meters in height, had a visible impact on the hovering stability. The drone would slightly drift as the floor was too far away. But nothing serious. Altitude was however maintained perfectly by the infrared sensors.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Yesterday I was doing some indoors flying with the Mini 2. It flew flawlessly, it was hovering solidly in place using the downward vision system as the floor was very textured.

All good until I decided to take off from a horizontal glass panel. The drone took off and immediately started to drift forward quite fast, without me touching the controls. I tried to correct the drift and the drone did not responded. I panicked, pulled downwards on the sticks for emergency shut down (there were people around) and the drone accelerated full speed into a wall and crashed.

I picked up the drone from the floor, the gimbal was out, I had about 6 error messages on the screen and an announcement that the aircraft has crashed.

Turned the drone off. Inspected the damage. Two propellers with some very small chips -> replaced.

Other than the replaced propellers, no other damage visible, not even a single scratch or the slightest mark. Amazing after witnessing the speedy impact, noise and tumbling on the floor.

Placed back the gimbal. Started the drone -> no errors.

Gimbal calibration -> OK

Compass calibration-> OK.

Small check-up flight -> OK. It maneuvered perfectly and promptly.

Landed the drone, installed the PGYTECH cage for the safety of the people around me, flew the drone for the rest of the day (4 batteries) without any further incidents. I always took off from the concrete floor and not from the glass panel anymore.

Lesson learned. Never take off indoors from reflective surfaces.

By the way, flying over 10 meters in height, had a visible impact on the hovering stability. The drone would slightly drift as the floor was too far away. But nothing serious. Altitude was however maintained perfectly by the infrared sensors.

We had the same issue when taking off from the Water using the Rescue Jackets for the Mini 2 but it was fixed with the last update , are you current ?

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mini 2 in the Rain and Snow and land on Water.

 

[izometric]

Yes. All up to date.
Aircraft firmware 01.02.0100
Dji Fly version 1.2.5

 

[Deleted member 103366]

To the OP You need to change the csc mode to "anytime" or its equivalent for it to work as you hoped. But be warned the delay period is likely to be very short So if the drone survives switch it back afterwards

 

[ScheisseKopf]

Did you calibrate the IMU after the crash?

 

[eaglesurfing]

You might want to consider a Gimbal Guard.

https://www.amazon.com/Helistar-Shade-Gimbal-Guard-Compatible/dp/B083LG9FKM/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1U2JBF97CJM2N&dchild=1&keywords=dji+mini+2+gimbal+guard&qid=1613220903&sprefix=dji+mini+gimbal+guard%2Caps%2C240&sr=8-5

 

[Meta4]

All good until I decided to take off from a horizontal glass panel. The drone took off and immediately started to drift forward quite fast, without me touching the controls

Flying indoors is something you should avoid.
It introduces additional complications that you probably don't understand.
Outdoors you have GPS to give horizontal position holding.
Indoors without GPS, the drone tries to use the downward sensors for this, but the glass is not a suitable surface for the VPS so you have no position holding.

I always took off from the concrete floor and not from the glass panel anymore.

And don't launch from reinforced concrete either.
It's full of steel that can cause worse problems.

Fly outside in the open.
It's a lot easier and safer.

 

[netfolks2000]

I can take off from my concrete driveway with my Mavic Pro Platinum, but not the Mini 2. So I launch by hand and land normally or in my hand from there.

 

[boblui]

Never take off indoors from reflective surfaces.

Base on my knowledge in how DJI drones work, I cannot see how flying over reflective surface can cause the craft to fly forward by itself and ignore stick inputs. If you can post the flight log files in the phone. May be more insight can be obtained.

.... Altitude was however maintained perfectly by the infrared sensors.

Altitude is maintained base on the IMU and barometer outputs. The infrared sensor is for obstacle avoidance and height detection during the final phase of autolanding, ie, the last 50 cm of descent. This is easy to prove. Try hovering the craft over a large board and move the board up and down by hands. The craft will not move a bit unless the board gets too close to the craft, ie, within around 30 cm.

 

[Rgrimard]

To the OP You need to change the csc mode to "anytime" or its equivalent for it to work as you hoped. But be warned the delay period is likely to be very short So if the drone survives switch it back afterwards

Hi Philius......my I ask if your going to use "Acronyms" like "OP" and "CSC" that you spell out what these mean. For the rest of us "Newbies" or other DJI flyers your replies would have much more meaning.
I was in the US Military for 20+ years, if anyone knows how to use Acronyms its the Military. I always like to read your comments and replies but I'm lost on your Acronyms and probably half your Audience. ...Ron

 

[Meta4]

Base on my knowledge in how DJI drones work, I cannot see how flying over reflective surface can cause the craft to fly forward by itself and ignore stick inputs.

But inexperienced flyers often say that their drone ignored stick inputs, when they decscribe their first unexpected encounter with atti mode.

 

[Meta4]

I can take off from my concrete driveway with my Mavic Pro Platinum.

That you can or have done it previously doesn't guarantee it would always be safe to do.

 

[Repaid1]

"Acronyms" like "OP" and "CSC" I always like to read your comments and replies but I'm lost on your Acronyms and probably half your Audience. ...Ron

OP is a very common term used when addressing the person who started the thread, thus "Original Post(er)"
CSC is in your user manual, stands for Combined Stick Command...which is what you did when you tried a emergency kill.

There is a thread around here somewhere that will get up you up to speed ("Thread Speak" if you will), but you should at least know the basics and those that are described in your user manual.

 

[Rgrimard]

OP is a very common term used when addressing the person who started the thread, thus "Original Post(er)"
CSC is in your user manual, stands for Combined Stick Command...which is what you did when you tried a emergency kill.

There is a thread around here that will get up up to speed, but you should at least know the basics and those that are described in your user manual.

Ok....now I know...Thank you Ron

 

[Repaid1]

Ok....now I know...Thank you Ron

Took me years in the Military to learn all of ours as well Seems no shortage of them adding about 5 a day from my experience.

 

[Dobmatt]

Th

Took me years in the Military to learn all of ours as well Seems no shortage of them adding about 5 a day from my experience.

Such linguistic annoyances arrived with smartphone era of short, barked out messages. You either learn this language or fade away into oblivion ...

 

[Repaid1]

Th

Such linguistic annoyances arrived with smartphone era of short, barked out messages. You either learn this language or fade away into oblivion ...

Actually they came with txt messaging first and the "Flip Phone" gang. Much easier to "Shortcut" messages than the triple press keys to find alphabet to spell out whole words/sentences...but the military has been doing it since the teletype which is a good 50+ years.

Note: My three periods above (...) that is a learned "habit" from my military days...means "pause/brake", more to follow.

 

[Dobmatt]

Actually they came with txt messaging first and the "Flip Phone" gang. Much easier to "Shortcut" messages than the triple press keys to find alphabet to spell out whole words/sentences...but the military has been doing it since the teletype which is a good 50+ years.

Note: My three periods above (...) that is a learned "habit" from my military days...means "pause/brake", more to follow.

TBH, it's a PITA to me...BTW not that I have a choice, but I'm fading away !

 

[SpitFire]

I agree flying indoors is a risk. Do a search, about flying indoors. Use the magnifying glass icon, do a query and see what many others say about flying indoors.

 

[izometric]

But inexperienced flyers often say that their drone ignored stick inputs, when they decscribe their first unexpected encounter with atti mode.

Very likely that this is also my situation. I had so little space and reaction time that it probably looked like it did not reacted.

I watched again the flight history and the joystick input.

Records show a brief backwards+left yaw+down joistick input , followed by pulling in both joysticks for shutdown.



So yes, this looks like me completely messing it up due to lack of experience (60 flights in 3 weeks).