Mini 4 Pro Flyaway - Singapore

[Tarik_abdellah]

Mini 4 Pro - suspected fly away

Purchased a less expensive drone to take with me on my trip to avoid any expensive mishaps.

Wanted an aerial shot of my hotel in Singapore, less than 200 meters above the drone loses connection despite being right below.

Never saw drone again

Any guidance based on uploaded log files and what recommendations for a replacement.

No DJI refresh
Drone 15 days new and activated
Completed fly away report.

Such a shame but thankful it was not my Mavic 3 Pro Cine! This would have been expensive!

Thanks
Tarik

Cloud Drone Files.zip

Shared with Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

 

[msinger]

Any guidance based on uploaded log files

Please post your log files.

 

[Tarik_abdellah]

Please post your log files.

Done. Sorry thought it had saved this on the post.

 

[msinger]

Done. Sorry thought it had saved this on the post.

I still don't see them above. Can you try again?

 

[Tarik_abdellah]

Drone log

 

[BigAl07]

Drone log

Nothing is attached.

 

[Tarik_abdellah]

I have tried to attach it here multiple times but it gives the impression it has been uploaded but does not seem to appear in the thread.

I have uploaded this onto dropbox and hopefully, the files you need for the log are there. This was downloaded from airdata.com which is synced to my DJI account.

Thanks again

Cloud Drone Files.zip

Shared with Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

 

[Tarik_abdellah]

Please post your log files.

Cloud Drone Files.zip

Shared with Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

 

[msinger]

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[msinger]

It looks like you were flying in the middle of several tall buildings. The drone took off with no GPS and eventually switched and stayed in ATTI mode where GPS positioning is not used.

It was flying at 495 feet at the end of the flight log. When the remote controller disconnected from the drone, it would have started to auto land at its current location. And since it was in ATTI mode at that point, it would have been drifting with the wind while it was landing.

While the drone should be fairly close to the takeoff point, it's going to be tough to find it. It could even be somewhere that's nearly impossible to access -- like on top of one of those nearby buildings. If it did safely land on the ground, someone could have picked it up since that's likely a busy location.

Completed fly away report.

Your drone definitely didn't fly away. It was simply following what it was programmed to do when flying in a non-ideal location.

 

[Tarik_abdellah]

It looks like you were flying in the middle of several tall buildings. The drone took off with no GPS and eventually switched and stayed in ATTI mode where GPS positioning is not used.

It was flying at 495 feet at the end of the flight log. When the remote controller disconnected from the drone, it would have started to auto land at its current location. And since it was in ATTI mode at that point, it would have been drifting with the wind while it was landing.

While the drone should be fairly close to the takeoff point, it's going to be tough to find it. It could even be somewhere that's nearly impossible to access -- like on top of one of those nearby buildings. If it did safely land on the ground, someone could have picked it up since that's likely a busy location.

Really helpful. Thank you. Would this be considered a fly away case in your experience?

 

[msinger]

Would this be considered a fly away case in your experience?

No. See the end of my updated post above.

DJI might give you a discount to purchase a replacement. They sometimes do this even when pilots are at fault.

 

[Tarik_abdellah]

Update:

DJI has concluded this as a non-fault fly away. They have issued me with a replacement Mini 4 and even took it a step further and issued a voucher for the wide angle lens to purchase on the site, with free shipping.

Brilliant result.

Thanks again everyone for your help.

 

[slup]

Update:

DJI has concluded this as a non-fault fly away. They have issued me with a replacement Mini 4...

Great

And by a "non-fault fly away" they mean what?

Did you have the DJI Care with the additional fly away coverage... & you paid the fee for that & they issued a replacement or?

 

[Tarik_abdellah]

Great

And by a "non-fault fly away" they mean what?

Did you have the DJI Care with the additional fly away coverage... & you paid the fee for that & they issued a replacement or?

I did not really challenge them further.

I simply provided them with all the logs and explained to them that the aircraft was in the air and all of a sudden It lost signal from the remote and was never seen again.

I do not have any DJI coverage at all, instead, I have insurance by another 3rd party but did not utilize them on this occasion. It is worth noting the drone is only 15 days old (in warranty). This is their response to providing the free replacement:

'Remark: Warranty status: Within warranty. Assessment result: After the data analysis, we found the fly away case is not caused by a pilot error and we will be providing you with a free replacement. If you agree to this plan, your original aircraft ownership will be changed to DJI. If you get the aircraft again, please send it back to DJI.'

Luckily I made the right decision not to bring my Mavic 3 Pro Cine Drone and purchased this as a precaution.

 

[slup]

...I do not have any DJI coverage at all

This is their response to providing the free replacement:

...Assessment result: After the data analysis, we found the fly away case is not caused by a pilot error

Well... I can agree with them, the fact that you didn't got a good quality GPS lock lower down initially in the flight is obvious with all high rise buildings, but higher up well above all possibly shielding buildings that shouldn't have been a problem anymore... but there on the highest height you actually lose all sats entirely.

So this is fishy & indicate hardware problems.

But... it was irresponsible of you to continue a flight where you mostly were in ATTI mode, you got a lot of on screen messages about that... you should have understood what that could mean regarding the possibility for a RTH if you lost the connection... so take this as a lesson learned.


If you want to analyze, you have all facts about #sats locked & the GPS level (quality from worst 0-5 at best) (HP recorded at 4).

(click on the chart to make it larger, graph explanations in the legend below with values from the very end of the log)

Luckily I made the right decision not to bring my Mavic 3 Pro Cine Drone and purchased this as a precaution.

If you had taken the M3P Cine, none of this had happened there... instead you had most probably discovered the troubles with the Mini 4 Pro later in another flight.

 

[Tarik_abdellah]

I learned a valuable lesson, but I don't believe I was irresponsible. I kept the drone in sight while ascending and intended to manually control it, despite GPS errors, for a simple rise and descent mission. The unexpected loss of connection with the remote, just above me, should not have been due to GPS issues. I believe I could have managed any unforeseen movements. When the drone cleared the building and briefly reconnected, I tried to descend it, but it disconnected again. Ultimately, I accept responsibility for this incident as a learning experience. Thank you for your detailed insights and assistance, really helpful for me to understand further what has happened.

 

[wco81]

Singapore requires registration, a registration label on the drone and flying no higher than 200 feet.

And most of the areas near the skyscrapers are NFZ.

OneMap

OneMap is the most detailed Singapore with over 100 useful day-to-day information and services.

www.onemap.gov.sg

Did you see a lot of drone flight activity around all those hotel skyscrapers?

 

[Tarik_abdellah]

Singapore requires registration, a registration label on the drone and flying no higher than 200 feet.

And most of the areas near the skyscrapers are NFZ.

OneMap

OneMap is the most detailed Singapore with over 100 useful day-to-day information and services.

www.onemap.gov.sg

Did you see a lot of drone flight activity around all those hotel skyscrapers?

From my research, all i found was 'A permit is not required to fly a drone that weighs 7 kilograms (15 pounds) or less that is being flown 200 feet or below. If flying a drone heavier than 7 kilograms (15 pounds) or above 60 meters (200 feet), a permit is required'

So based on this and using a Mini 4 pro, I just flew. This is why I purchased this drone in the first place. The DJI app did not show any restrictions in the city, just close by there are a few plane paths, which are restricted.

Saw no drone activity to be fair, but I was only there for 48 hours.

 

[rwarrior]

From my research, all i found was 'A permit is not required to fly a drone that weighs 7 kilograms (15 pounds) or less that is being flown 200 feet or below. If flying a drone heavier than 7 kilograms (15 pounds) or above 60 meters (200 feet), a permit is required'

So based on this and using a Mini 4 pro, I just flew. This is why I purchased this drone in the first place. The DJI app did not show any restrictions in the city, just close by there are a few plane paths, which are restricted.

Saw no drone activity to be fair, but I was only there for 48 hours.

Hi there,
Sorry to hear about your negative experience but which eventually ended positively.
However, do note that referring to DJI's app is not sufficient (as it can be outdated or inaccurate). You should have referred to the authorised CAAS reference map (OneMap, as mentioned by wco81 above), and you would have been informed that the location where you flew is a NFZ and unauthorised flights of UAVs are not allowed from 0 feet to 4,000 feet above sea level. In fact the hotel where you stayed is on the busiest shopping street in Singapore.
Hope this helps