Mini 3 Pro vanished this morning

[WilliamDaugherty]

My bet is on the replacement , I think you have a good case..

Phantomrain.org
Gear

What, if anything, was in the 'RTH' flight path that the drone could have hit?

Absolutely nothing. Full stop.

 

[WilliamDaugherty]

While there are reasons not to do so, it seems that a good practice is to start recording immediately after launch Without the video cache we have to rely solely on the flight long, which in this case didn't help the owner find the drone, though it should have been easy. We can always trim the excess footage at a later date if needed.

I had the final visible frame from the video feed, which I mentioned previously. It showed only the typical view of the hillside that I see every day. Having a video up to that moment would offer no more information than the flight log. In fact, a video would offer far less data.
Your statement that "...it should have been easy." to find the drone is not accurate. Even though I was standing at the precise spot below the drone's last reported position, it could have fallen into trees beyond the clearing (which was quite small) due to velocity. With no beeping/flashing light I knew it would be virtually impossible to find it. Still, I had to try. Sometimes you get lucky. Not today.

 

[fiberdude]

After almost four weeks of daily flights, my Mini 3 Pro disappeared 3 minutes into a flight this morning. Just after dawn I launched from my driveway, took one photo from, then flew across the road and up a hillside to the east so I could capture the sunrise. I do this virtually every day. I had been flying for 3 minutes. Aircraft was going 25mph at 420' above takeoff point (100' AGL) and was about 1500' away from me. Nothing unusual had happened then the display froze. I thought it was just a transmission glitch so I stopped giving any control inputs and waited. I looked for the aircraft but could no longer see the strobe. After a moment I pushed forward on the left stick, thinking perhaps that would help with the data link. Nothing. I waited several minutes but the bird never reconnected, nor did it RTH, which it was set to do. I restarted the RC. No connection. After about 15 minutes I gave up hope that the bird was still functional and/or would RTH. I reviewed the flight data and screen captured a satellite image with the bird's final reported location indicated. I was able to hike up the hill to that exact spot, then spent an hour scouring the ground. No sign of it. The last known location was easy to find, given some unusual landmarks. Even so, I widened the circle and still found no trace, including looking up into the surrounding trees.

Depending on how tall the trees are in your neighborhood, 100 ft AGL could be barely over the treetops? Since you were filming sunrise, it would be possible the drone hit a tree and lost power.

 

[WilliamDaugherty]

Depending on how tall the trees are in your neighborhood, 100 ft AGL could be barely over the treetops? Since you were filming sunrise, it would be possible the drone hit a tree and lost power.

I don't live in a "neighborhood" per se, but rather on a state rural route. The location of the bird when it went dark was more likely 100' above the tree tops. The view I had from on the screen when the failure occurred was my normal route I fly most mornings and I was nowhere near the trees. If you look at the flight log data it shows no signs of impact. No flight anomalies at all. The fact that the log simply stops abruptly is probably the most significant data point.

At this point I am highly confident DJI will determine this is a warranty replacement issue. I hope others reading this will be mindful of this possibility with their aircraft.

 

[Meta4]

I have a Mini 3 Pro and I don't trust it because of the constant loss of signal especially when it gets behind some trees or object. I installed the latest firmware when it was release but it made very little difference. We all paid a lot of money for the Mini 3 Pro with the R controller and are faced with a drone that is unreliable and does not meet the advertised specs that DJI has used in their advertising.

That's the nature of the radio signal and not a case of performance failing to match specs.
You need to have a clear, unobstructed line of sight between the controller and the drone.
Don't fly behind trees or other objects.

 

[Meta4]

Even though I was standing at the precise spot below the drone's last reported position

Since the drone was flying at 27 mph when signal was lost, it won't have fallen vertically to a point directly below that.
If it was a case of loss of power, it would be some distance from that point.

 

[Mike107]

While there are reasons not to do so, it seems that a good practice is to start recording immediately after launch Without the video cache we have to rely solely on the flight long, which in this case didn't help the owner find the drone, though it should have been easy. We can always trim the excess footage at a later date if needed.

I posted something quite similar after a catastrophic failure of mine. On the first day of flying with screen recording but without video recording (because I had been overrun by GB of recordings needing to be weeded) I had an abrupt loss of connection just like this one, and the drone went down . Off course—as soon as I started to work on why I lost the aircraft I realized I was lacking a lot of data and was very much more at the mercy of the mfr. I run video when not doing photos (also like above) unless I don’t realize the recorder is/went off.

Lesson learned.

 

[Meta4]

Of course—as soon as I started to work on why I lost the aircraft I realized I was lacking a lot of data and was very much more at the mercy of the mfr. I run video when not doing photos (also like above) unless I don’t realize the recorder is/went off.

It would be quite rare that screen recordings would provide more useful information that the recorded flight data.

 

[ryandasilva]

Man i hope u get it back. This seems to be a very common problem with DJI drones. I have seen this happen on all of the 3x mini 2 drones i had.. and almost had it happen on the Air 2S i got to replace the mini2.

One time the drone appeared to have disconnected from the phone as in i couldn't see anything on the screen and it said disconnected. The RTH function didn't work but somehow i was able to manually control the drone and since i could see the lights on the Air2S (much more noticeable on the air 2s than on mini2) i was able to manually fly my air 2s back to me and land.

I really think the Find my Drone function that DJI has is complete garbage. It needs to be re-engineered from the ground up (pun intended) . It really needs to be completely independent from the drone's main systems. and at the very least the ability to return a GPS fix and make a beep/blink needs to be made separate from the app and the controller in the sense that u shouldn't need the app to trigger lost mode and it should work even if the done is off and the battery is considered dead. perhaps a secondary battery that is rechargeable, independent and only used for GPS findme mode.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

The RTH function didn't work but somehow i was able to manually control the drone and since i could see the lights on the Air2S (much more noticeable on the air 2s than on mini2) i was

That you have had it happen to 3 drones and nearly another makes me think that there is something you are doing wrong or not understanding how they work.

"Somehow" reinforces the idea that you do not know how these things work.

There are independent add-on GPS trackers that you can attach them to the drone, google them. With regards to dji building in another battery and components to create an independent GPS tracker, what features would you like to sacrifice to make the weight available for your tracker to be built in?

 

[Meta4]

This seems to be a very common problem with DJI drones.

It's not at all common.

I have seen this happen on all of the 3x mini 2 drones i had.. and almost had it happen on the Air 2S i got to replace the mini2.

Did you ever have anyone analyse the flight data find the cause of those incidents?
It's good to to find out what actually happened and how to prevent similar events.

The RTH function didn't work

The RTH function is very reliable (when you know how to activate it).
As a last resort, you can always set it in action by switching off your controller.

I really think the Find my Drone function that DJI has is complete garbage. It needs to be re-engineered from the ground up

FMD can only show where the drone was when it was last in contact with the app and controller.
If the drone was still in flight, FMD can't show you where the drone ended up, but data analysis might.
If you want a magic FMD that tracks the drone after signal is lost, you'll have to invent it.

 

[TheRock]

William, I am wondering if there is something wrong with recent updates. I had one Air 2S, while using my trusty Smart Controller, just go bezerk about 3 minutes into a second flight and nose dive 70 feet into the sea (first flight just a few minutes before when fine). Then a month ago the same thing happened as you describe with a new Air 2S and same Smart Controller. It was flying fine on a route I do often when the screen just froze. The drone was about 200 feet up and maybe 1500 feet away with mild winds. After waiting and gently prodding the sticks, I still had a frozen screen. I touched the RTH and after another minute or so I could see it coming back at RTH height. When it got close I found I could control it with the sticks and did a manual landing. I turned the SC off and on again and had no problems since both at home and while travelling. In that case, the drone had line of sight and I had 21 satellites. In both cases all the updates and been installed and everything was well charged. I have had the screen freeze for a few seconds but nothing like you or I experienced where it just stays frozen. I have been flying for a few years now and this kind of thing just started in the last 6 months or so. Usually all goes smoothly but it seems there are more minor glitches than in the past. Of course a full screen freeze is not that minor, as you can attest. Wondering about recent updates.

 

[Meta4]

William, I am wondering if there is something wrong with recent updates.

Unlikely .. if updates were the issue, we'd see hundreds of similar cases.
Updates get blamed for al manner of things they have nothing to do with.

I had one Air 2S, while using my trusty Smart Controller, just go bezerk about 3 minutes into a second flight and nose dive 70 feet into the sea (first flight just a few minutes before when fine).

Did you post your flight data to find out what caused your incident?

 

[TheRock]

Unlikely .. if updates were the issue, we'd see hundreds of similar cases.
Updates get blamed for al manner of things they have nothing to do with.


Did you post your flight data to find out what caused your incident?

I sent it to DJI this week as I have Fly Away insurance. Will let you know what they say. On the updates, I don't know what to say. But I have been flying all over the Indo-Pacific with either a Mini 2 or and Air 2S and this sort of thing has just cropped up recently. Not sure what to make of it. Is the SC technology getting old? It has been around for a while. Anyway, thanks for the response.

 

[Meta4]

I sent it to DJI this week as I have Fly Away insurance. Will let you know what they say.

DJI aren't very good at giving explanations.
If you want to find out what happened, the best thing to do is post your recorded flight data here.

 

[hoctroMavic]

DJI aren't very good at giving explanations.
If you want to find out what happened, the best thing to do is post your recorded flightd ata here.

I've been flying with my original Mavic Pro with dual controllers (with my daughter, the co-pilot). There are several times that one of the controllers lost connection while the other controller was doing fine. I did not pay attention to which controller was the master. Sometimes it reconnected itself after a while, other times I had to restart it. Dual controllers have given me peace and more confidence since their introduction.

 

[Idahoroadbuilder]

After almost four weeks of daily flights, my Mini 3 Pro disappeared 3 minutes into a flight this morning. Just after dawn I launched from my driveway, took one photo from, then flew across the road and up a hillside to the east so I could capture the sunrise. I do this virtually every day. I had been flying for 3 minutes. Aircraft was going 25mph at 420' above takeoff point (100' AGL) and was about 1500' away from me. Nothing unusual had happened then the display froze. I thought it was just a transmission glitch so I stopped giving any control inputs and waited. I looked for the aircraft but could no longer see the strobe. After a moment I pushed forward on the left stick, thinking perhaps that would help with the data link. Nothing. I waited several minutes but the bird never reconnected, nor did it RTH, which it was set to do. I restarted the RC. No connection. After about 15 minutes I gave up hope that the bird was still functional and/or would RTH. I reviewed the flight data and screen captured a satellite image with the bird's final reported location indicated. I was able to hike up the hill to that exact spot, then spent an hour scouring the ground. No sign of it. The last known location was easy to find, given some unusual landmarks. Even so, I widened the circle and still found no trace, including looking up into the surrounding trees.

I considered that a hawk might have taken the bird but I saw no indication on the display. In past bird strikes, there was violent disruption of the video feed. Not today. The fact that the drone was completely incommunicado makes me think this was a core power failure. There was no way to invoke "find my drone" obviously since it never reconnected.

I have started a flyaway case but I can't help but wonder if there's something wrong with this design that would allow this. I've had a lot of DJI drones. I've crashed a lot of them. I had one uncontrolled fly-away, but in every case, I still had some data flowing back to the controller during the final fatal moments. Not this time.

I had a Air2 disappear over a flat slow wide river At about 10 feet. Well, cease function and drop into the water. Retrieved the low rez images and it shows, slowing blades, loose stability, but go blank well before it hit the water. There is a short 2 seconds video in the water before it sinks that seems like a reboot. Flyaway insurance said I flew it into the river, but I pointed out the image stability and premature blackout. They agreed and honored it. Could have been a bird but you sure don’t see a bird strike.

 

[power64]

If transmission and controls suddenly stopped, and never recovered, the odds are high that the drone was no longer there or power was cut or RF blocked.

Drone Not There:
-Wormhole opened and swallowed it (no temporal space disruptions noted, not likely)
-Act of God, lightning (not likely)
-Animal Aerial Attack (as stated too sudden, but cannot be ruled out completely)
-Blasted away by man (possible, but no gunshots reported in post)

Drone Power/RF Cut
Electrical internal failure - not likely for all systems to fail. RTH should have worked.
Battery Failure- Logs should show a rapid voltage drop, would explain why it never reconnected, however a RTH warning should have triggered.
Battery Removed- Don’t laugh, I had a battery half inserted into a Mavic once and it still flew without being clipped in completely (could have slid out)
RF Sub system failure- Not likely, but a radio failure would explain a cut out and no more connection, however would expect RTH to still occur unless GPS also affected on the CanBus.
RF Blocking/Interference - Some sites like Apple Spaceship during construction, Statue of Liberty, etc have employed blocking or take-over of controls by 3rd parties. There is at least one company that advertised the ability to control DJI devices, however given than Ocusynch3 is so new and no known government facility on the hill, this has a low chance.

Best guess, sudden battery failure. Was it a new battery? If you push a brand new LiPo too hard to 0% capacity the first time, it can lose massive capacity and drop out suddenly on the next flight.
Runner-up: was Mini3 left powered on for 10min before the flight? Internal heat may have disrupted the RF system or contributed to battery failure. Finally, Animal attack from behind that killed the battery or pulled it out suddenly would be the final guess.

Sorry this happened to you.

 

[dstuart]

All these guesses and speculation mean nothing, we need to see the flight data......

 

[Eagle Eye 62]

These anomolus behaviors are becoming a little concerning. I have experienced several wierd issues with this drone so far even after all the updates. I wonder if it was rushed to market too soon. Even though the Mavic 3 had some issues early on it has always been rock solid for me. I wonder if DJI pushed the limits a little too hard.with the Mini 3. Just my thoughts....