Mini 3 Pro "flyaway" crash help needed

[Bones13RS]

(I know i was stupid, I know its my fault. If you cant assist and are here to make some stupid comment just keep on scrolling. Please only post opinions based on the flight data and possible outcome)

I was flying at night, extremely far away. While the aircraft was in RTH, I was in a golf cart and started to drive closer to the drone as it was auto landing which caused me to lose signal completely. I lost signal almost exactly at 10% battery and forced landing. I was at 1181 feet elevation and last recorder speed was 8.4mph. Find my drome had its signal lost directly over a river that is currently flooding. When the battery hit 10% the forward speed dropped from around 20mph to 8.4mph. Does the drone continue moving towards the RTH location or stop and land where it is. All signal was lost at this point.

I had accidentally inserted the standard flight pack or battery instead of the extended range version by mistake. Also, the drone was 1 day old and I don't think flyaway coverage was set up. I do have care refresh though.

I went to the location where it was last in contact but there was no trace. I could get lucky and snag it fishing in the coming years.

Yes, I am an idiot.

 

[FLDave]

Fly away coverage should be in force if you already paid for Care Refresh and go such confirmation from DJI.
As I understand and accidental loss of drone would fit DJI's idea of fly away where your error caused a loss with non-recoverable drone. Just initiate the Care Refresh replacement with DJI online support.

 

[FLDave]

Did you post the flight light txt file to AirData to view details of your flight?

 

[Deleted member 170519]

I believe RTH will initiate at low battery if there is enough battery left to return to the home point. If not, it will auto land where it is at. Looks like you were too far away for it to try to fly home.
I doubt your sensors were able to see the ground at that elevation at night.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Version 1.4 of the manual

https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/DJI_Mini_3_Pro/UM/20221104/DJI_Mini_3_Pro_User_Manual_v1.4_en.pdf

states
"The aircraft will land automatically if the current battery level can only support the aircraft long enough
to descend from its current altitude. Auto landing cannot be canceled but the remote controller can be
used to alter the horizontal movement and the speed of descent of the aircraft during landing. If there i....."

To me the implication of that is that without controller input the drone will just descend.

Question, by "1181 feet elevation" do you mean the drone was 1181ft above sea level or 1181ft above the ground (AGL), both seem possible. If AGL then it's going to take quite some time to get down from there and I'd begin to wonder if the motors shut off in mid air.

 

[Deleted member 162835]

Fly away coverage should be in force if you already paid for Care Refresh and go such confirmation from DJI.
As I understand and accidental loss of drone would fit DJI's idea of fly away where your error caused a loss with non-recoverable drone. Just initiate the Care Refresh replacement with DJI online support.

True if the drone was bound. If bound, OP is good to go.

 

[MS Coast]

"(I know i was stupid, I know its my fault. If you cant assist and are here to make some stupid comment just keep on scrolling. Please only post opinions based on the flight data and possible outcome)"

At the risk of making a stupid comment, you might want to make the flight data available for people to examine.

See post #1 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

 

[Meta4]

Please only post opinions based on the flight data and possible outcome)

Please post the flight data and we might be able to comment on possible outcomes.
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.

 

[Joeyambor69xxx]

(I know i was stupid, I know its my fault. If you cant assist and are here to make some stupid comment just keep on scrolling. Please only post opinions based on the flight data and possible outcome)

I was flying at night, extremely far away. While the aircraft was in RTH, I was in a golf cart and started to drive closer to the drone as it was auto landing which caused me to lose signal completely. I lost signal almost exactly at 10% battery and forced landing. I was at 1181 feet elevation and last recorder speed was 8.4mph. Find my drome had its signal lost directly over a river that is currently flooding. When the battery hit 10% the forward speed dropped from around 20mph to 8.4mph. Does the drone continue moving towards the RTH location or stop and land where it is. All signal was lost at this point.

I had accidentally inserted the standard flight pack or battery instead of the extended range version by mistake. Also, the drone was 1 day old and I don't think flyaway coverage was set up. I do have care refresh though.

I went to the location where it was last in contact but there was no trace. I could get lucky and snag it fishing in the coming years.

Yes, I am an idiot.

Man dude I am so sorry to hear this, I know the feeling that happened to me one time too...

 

[Greasy]

(I know i was stupid, I know its my fault. If you cant assist and are here to make some stupid comment just keep on scrolling. Please only post opinions based on the flight data and possible outcome)

I was flying at night, extremely far away. While the aircraft was in RTH, I was in a golf cart and started to drive closer to the drone as it was auto landing which caused me to lose signal completely. I lost signal almost exactly at 10% battery and forced landing. I was at 1181 feet elevation and last recorder speed was 8.4mph. Find my drome had its signal lost directly over a river that is currently flooding. When the battery hit 10% the forward speed dropped from around 20mph to 8.4mph. Does the drone continue moving towards the RTH location or stop and land where it is. All signal was lost at this point.

I had accidentally inserted the standard flight pack or battery instead of the extended range version by mistake. Also, the drone was 1 day old and I don't think flyaway coverage was set up. I do have care refresh though.

I went to the location where it was last in contact but there was no trace. I could get lucky and snag it fishing in the coming years.

Yes, I am an idiot.

Strobe light flashing should have helped find it.

 

[Starz]

Strobe light flashing should have helped find it.

May not work real well under water?

 

[Bones13RS]

is the file not attached to the post? Sorry, I thought I had done so. Yes, I went onto airdata and converted the flight on there. I will attach it to this post.

I had received this drone as a replacement from dji the day before I killed it. Thankfully, as I understand it, when getting a replacement drone from DJI maintenance, they automatically bind the remote to the aircraft. Also, I had the option of paying the damage of my drone I mailed in for repair ($65) or using my care refresh replacement. I chose to pay the $65 and save my replacement.

I actually just retired from the Air Force as a Drone Operator (also C-5 &C-17 Loadmaster, and Geospatial Imagery Analyst (Intelligence). The transition to civilian life isn't going so well haha. I should never have done what I did for this flight. It was extremely stupid. Even though it was basically forest below. I flew to my daughter's other home just to see if I could. This is the result.

Airdata flight information listed below.

 

[Bones13RS]

Also, I appreciate all of your assistance. I spent yesterday looking for the drone. Its last known location was in the largest section of the river. If it had continued flying toward the home point, there was a huge tree covered moutain directly in the flight path that would have stopped it from making it to me.

If you look at the flight data, there was an issue with broadcasting the UUID and while on its flight returning to home (pilot initiated) the drone stopped and reversed its flight path. It then turned around and headed home. It would have landed on a gravel road had that not happened. I am not trying to divert blame... the whole BS flight is operator ignorance, I just don't understand why that happened.

 

[Meta4]

Please only post opinions based on the flight data and possible outcome)

See a better summary of the flight here:

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

It's a little unusual that signal was lost immediately after the autolanding message.
But if it continued autolanding, the drone would have slowed to a stop and descended vertically.
From that height it would have taken two minutes to reach the ground.

The last recorded position was 39.03811 -121.02888.
It should have reached the ground close to there, probably a little further to the southwest.
It looks like that would put in in trees and not far from a road.

 

[Bones13RS]

Thats a lot better of a flight path than I had thought. I had walked in the flight path shown on your link. but it's about triple canopy vegetation right there. I will go look again.

Thank you for your help! I will keep you posted on its recovery. I have a P4P+ Obsidian (for sale by the way) that i used to search out in the brush along the river's edge. I didn't spend much time looking away from the river via drone.

 

[slup]

...I know i was stupid

Yep, couldn't agree more... that distance, that height, cancelled low battery RTH, no turn around until 45% battery left, night flight & with a slight headwind from the right on roughly 9m/s on the return... could only have ended in one way.

Does the drone continue moving towards the RTH location or stop and land where it is

No, it stops pretty immediately. The low battery voltage forced auto landing have only one goal & that is to make the drone reach solid ground before the battery is totally depleted & the drone free falls... flight in all other directions than straight down work against that.

The drone would have ended up pretty near the the last known GPS coordinate in the log ... if that's water or not?

...It's a little unusual that signal was lost immediately after the autolanding message.

The connection was lost 26sec after the auto landing started... & the drone had descended 378ft during that time, doesn't feel like immediately?

But if it continued autolanding, the drone would have slowed to a stop and descended vertically.
It should have reached the ground close to there, probably a little further to the southwest.

With the wind, up on nearly 9m/s, coming in according to below ... I doubt that the drone made any progress towards the HP after the connection was lost.

 

[Meta4]

The drone would have ended up pretty near the the last known GPS coordinate in the log ...

The connection was lost 26sec after the auto landing started... & the drone had descended 378ft during that time, doesn't feel like immediately?

My mistake .. I was away from home and in a hurry.
Now that I'm home it looks like it's in the river.

With the wind, up on nearly 9m/s, coming in according to below ... I doubt that the drone made any progress towards the HP after the connection was lost.

It wouldn't have made any attempt to move towards home while descending, but would have carried on a short distance after signal was lost before coming to a stop.

 

[Bones13RS]

Yep, couldn't agree more... that distance, that height, cancelled low battery RTH, no turn around until 45% battery left, night flight & with a slight headwind from the right on roughly 9m/s on the return... could only have ended in one way.


No, it stops pretty immediately. The low battery voltage forced auto landing have only one goal & that is to make the drone reach solid ground before the battery is totally depleted & the drone free falls... flight in all other directions than straight down work against that.

The drone would have ended up pretty near the the last known GPS coordinate in the log ... if that's water or not?
View attachment 162012


The connection was lost 26sec after the auto landing started... & the drone had descended 378ft during that time, doesn't feel like immediately?


With the wind, up on nearly 9m/s, coming in according to below ... I doubt that the drone made any progress towards the HP after the connection was lost.

View attachment 162011

Please re-read the first sentence in the initial post.
TBH, I was actually pleased there wasn't anyone like you responding for no reason other than just to concur with my own admission of it being a dumb mistake.

If you had provided useful information I would not have responded to you at all.

That is all. Move along

(Comment removed by moderator)

 

[slup]

Please re-read the first sentence in the initial post.
TBH, I was actually pleased there wasn't anyone like you responding for no reason other than just to concur with my own admission of it being a dumb mistake.

If you had provided useful information I would not have responded to you at all.

That is all. Move along

You fail to understand one crucial thing with this forum & especially with this section... it provides a free service to help & educate (educate as in not only the OP but also all others that read this thread)

So your flight is a good one to show all others here what happens when all common sense is set aside & what specific decisions you made in order to end up with a lost drone.

If you can't take it... don't post public, instead "move along".

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

I bet this is all you do with your time...

If you spent some time reading the forum you would find the @slup must spend a fair amount of time ............. helping people via translating the logs.

@slup, I am curious, do you have the wind map for the entire flight including the wind at each height level?

I think the drone was around 1130ft AGL when the signal was lost, do you think the motors would have still been running when it reached the ground?
If so, would it have been able to maintain a vertical descent or would it gradually have become more susceptible to the wind and been blown down wind?