Mini 3 Pro Falls from Sky

[Dr.Sparky]

I am a relative novice so I keep thinking I did something wrong. But I can't imagine what.
I took the drone out in my yard, waited for enough satellites to take off. Battery was at 69%. I practiced flying in rectangles with the drone facing me and facing away. Getting used to sticks, etc.
Obstacle avoidance was on, as was sideways flying.
I was aware of the surroundings and kept my eye on the charge remaining.
When the battery was at 21% the drone said "Landing, landing" and it was as if the motors just stopped and the drone fell straight down clipping the house and breaking one of its arms.
I know what is supposed to happen when a battery dies, but this was far from drained and gave me no time to change its path down.
Afterwards, the drone camera would connect to the controller but the motors wouldn't turn on, some message about a module error.
Any idea? A defective drone? Or most likely user error.
If I was over a tree or water it would have been gone, now it's just broken.

 

[rwilliam99]

I would follow the steps here:

Mavic Flight Log Retrieval and Analysis Guide

With the introduction of the Mavic Mini there has been a noticeable uptick in the number of posts requesting help with lost or crashed aircraft. While there is plenty of help and advice available on this forum, and detailed guidance and options on several other websites, I thought that perhaps a...

mavicpilots.com

To retrieve the flight log and post the link to it here. The forum experts should be able to determine what happened.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

DO NOT sync you logs, that is if you have not already done so, and, if it is on, switch syncing off for the moment.
If you struggle to find the logs then tell us which controller you are using and, if relevant, which phone and type of computer you are using.
If you find the .txt flight log, up load it to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help and post the resulting URL here.
A second log, the .DAT, would possibly be useful. It, if it exists, will be in the subfolder, named "MCDatFlightRecords", which will be found where you found the .txt.
Just for reference I would copy all the txt logs to your computer and, ..if you can find them, the DAT's.
If you have already synced your logs with DJI then the DAT's are probably gone, syncing seems to delete them.

 

[waynorth]

When taking off with a partly discharged battery, the %-indicator that shows remaining battery, can be way off. Checking the voltage on each cell gives a more precise estimate.
A good rule is to always charge the battery fully within a day or two before taking off.
Your flight log will reveal if your crash was caused by this battery error.

 

[Cafguy]

I hope you get it sorted a Friendly Tip: NEVER Take off with a battery that is not fully charged. Its really not a good thing and also The little battery indicator is NOT reliable and does not tell you how much is actually draining at a given time. DO NOT think of it as a fuel gage . Try to bring you Drone home with around 20 percent left and never get below into the single digits it just not good for your battery.
Sorry to hear about your crash.

 

[RodPad]

Dr.Sparky

mavicpilots.com

You need to follow and due.
Post #2 and #3

If want to know what happened
If you get stuck, you will get help!

Rod..

 

[umanbean]

Hey doc, sorry for your crash. You said the battery was at 69%, how long since the last time you charged it? If it was long enough that it had gone into auto-discharge, as said above, you cannot depend on percent to be accurate. The log will tell the story, if you can find it please post it.

 

[Dr.Sparky]

I am willing to assume that the battery just ran out. I will dig into those logs when I get a chance.

 

[Meta4]

I am willing to assume that the battery just ran out. I will dig into those logs when I get a chance.

The cause of the incident may have been something completely different.
Don't assume anything without seeing what the data shows.

It only takes two minutes to get the flight data and post it.
Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
That will give you a detailed report of the flight.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.
Or .. just post the txt file here.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

I am willing to assume that the battery just ran out. I will dig into those logs when I get a chance.

There has been a recent spate of Mini 3 type drones that falling from the sky, I recollect at least three, one on Skye, one in Norway and one in N.Ireland, you'd do better to look for those logs ASAP. From memory of those threads each drone was replaced FOC.

 

[Dr.Sparky]

Files are empty. I think I cleared them when I deleted cache and unbound the drone. Luckily it was exchanged.

So. Either the drone had some defect (unlikely) or I misjudged the battery capacity.

I'll definitely be more aware of the state of charge.

 

[FLDave]

Did you connect your phone or device by USB cable connected to compute to look for the files on your device. They would not be part of cached video files. Exactly what did you do to look for the .TXT files?

 

[Dr.Sparky]

I have an iPhone, I used Files, I found the folder with flight records and the folder with dat files. Both folders are empty.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Can you still replay the flight in your app?
What controller and if relevant what phone are you using? Ah effectively answered whilst I was typing
What folder path you looked in i.e. what was the list of folders you went through to get to the flight records folder?
What version of the App are you using?

I am fairly certain I have cleared cache before without removeing logs but if you are using a smart tyoe controller maybe you have done something different from me.

Did you sync prior to deleting the cache? If so sync again and you might recover them.

Attached is a screenshot showing the folder paths for a recent version of the App and and older version of the App as shown when connecting Android phones to a Windows computer

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

I imagine that,for an iphone, the new path is similar to the old path but I am NOT going to update the fly app on my iphone to find out.
From memory the older path on the iphone is similar to, if not identical to, the older path on Android though the connection process differs.

 

[Dr.Sparky]

I'll give it another try later using my computer.

 

[RodPad]

I'm going to be looking into the iPhone thing, I have never used "Files" app its on my devices but I use iTunes at the same time I'm doing backup stuff.

Yes the Android is much easier.

Rod ..

Adding, there is another utility I used for this, I think it was called funbox, but another learning curve.

 

[RodPad]

Well "Files" is on my phone but not my tablet.
I'm updating my tablet to 15.7.7.

If "Files" show up, I will post my results.

Rod ..

 

[Dr.Sparky]

I never expected I would have to learn so much!

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Most likely the Forced Landing that started was because the battery was so low.
Its easy to get caught off guard as you most likely were not very high and the drone does desend quickly.

Given that you were not ready for it and it all happens in a couple seconds and some panic as to what to do, you got caught up in the landing so quickly

Many of us seasoned pilots today have gone thru many similar incidents, as I think this was more , just part of the Learning curve of a Forced landing with the drone.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water.