Mini Stuck in tree. Can someone tell me what happened?

[Deadspider187]

Flight log: DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

What I believe to have happened (hopefully someone can help confirm or correct this):

I was flying ~200ft altitude, roughly 3-4mph straight from my house to get a aerial view of my area. After about 2800ft distance, I received interference issues. I pressed on for a moment and it seemed to clear up. After receiving more interference messages, the drone entered an automatic RTH. Noticing the altitude dropping, I canceled the RTH to try to bring the drone back manually. It received strong wind warnings, then dropped to 35ft after that.

It’s lodged pretty good in the middle of the woods surrounded by a very swampy area.



The red dot at the top of the tree in the middle of this photo.

In addition to finding out what happened, how can I safely retrieve this? I looked up some methods such as a telescoping pole and a fishing rod, but none of these look like they would work in this particular scenario. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[djndrone]

Flight log: DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

What I believe to have happened (hopefully someone can help confirm or correct this):

I was flying ~200ft altitude, roughly 3-4mph straight from my house to get a aerial view of my area. After about 2800ft distance, I received interference issues. I pressed on for a moment and it seemed to clear up. After receiving more interference messages, the drone entered an automatic RTH. Noticing the altitude dropping, I canceled the RTH to try to bring the drone back manually. It received strong wind warnings, then dropped to 35ft after that.

It’s lodged pretty good in the middle of the woods surrounded by a very swampy area.

View attachment 99110

The red dot at the top of the tree in the middle of this photo.

In addition to finding out what happened, how can I safely retrieve this? I looked up some methods such as a telescoping pole and a fishing rod, but none of these look like they would work in this particular scenario. Any advice is appreciated.

Chainsaw required me thinks!

 

[Deadspider187]

Chainsaw required me thinks!

Unfortunately it’s not my tree and is on private land.

 

[Camino Ken]

Not to sound corny, but the tree looks pretty thin, can you shake it? Hard to tell from the picture but how high is it?

 

[Deadspider187]

Not to sound corny, but the tree looks pretty thin, can you shake it? Hard to tell from the picture but how high is it?

I didn’t try to shake it, but the tree looked pretty solid. I can certainly try it. I’m not great at judging height, but I feel like it’s about 40-45 feet up. Too tall for me to climb it or use an object to get at it easily.

 

[Gkinghrn]

Ask a local climbing club if anyone can help , or a tree surgeon ..pay them £50 ... it’s what I did when my lads phantom got stuck on a cliff .,found a local climbing club and offered cash ... lots of takers

 

[Camino Ken]

You could try a ladder AND a telescoping pole with a net below.

 

[Deadspider187]

Ask a local climbing club if anyone can help , or a tree surgeon ..pay them £50 ... it’s what I did when my lads phantom got stuck on a cliff .,found a local climbing club and offered cash ... lots of takers

I inquired with a local tree service company that said they specialize in “hard to reach areas”. Thanks for the info.

 

[Deadspider187]

You could try a ladder AND a telescoping pole with a net below.

I had that thought, but say even with my 10 foot ladder, my reach (~6 feet), plus a 24-foot telescoping pole from Amazon, I would only be able to reach 40 feet. It would be questionable if that would be high enough. Additionally, I don’t like heights, and dragging a ladder through the swampy area to get to the tree would be a lot of work for the out-of-shape me. I appreciate the advice and will consider it if I can’t find another way.

 

[Bosco Bear]

I think you need someone to climb -- either that tree or the bigger one to the right. I showed the picture to my son (who works for a tree company) and he thinks it should be a fairly easy climb for someone that knows what they're doing. That's based on looking at the photo. The real life view could change things. Good luck!

 

[sar104]

This was another Mavic Mini uncommanded descent. The wind speed wasn't excessive, but when it attempted to RTH the rear motors were unable to generate the required pitch and it started the characteristic wobbly descent,



That should be a clear warranty issue if you want to pursue it with DJI.

 

[old man mavic]

what about some light weight nylon rope tie it around the trunk as high as you can get it,then give it a good jerk on the trunk the opposite side to where the drone is and when you let go it may fling the drone away from the free and allow it to fall

 

[Camino Ken]

what about some light weight nylon rope tie it around the trunk as high as you can get it,then give it a good jerk on the trunk the opposite side to where the drone is and when you let go it may fling the drone away from the free and allow it to fall

Don’t forget the net.?

 

[old man mavic]

Don’t forget the net.?

or a mate with one to catch it

 

[Deadspider187]

what about some light weight nylon rope tie it around the trunk as high as you can get it,then give it a good jerk on the trunk the opposite side to where the drone is and when you let go it may fling the drone away from the free and allow it to fall

The branches are so thick I’m not sure I could get a rope around the right branch. It’s supposed to snow in a couple of hours...

 

[Deadspider187]

This was another Mavic Mini uncommanded descent. The wind speed wasn't excessive, but when it attempted to RTH the rear motors were unable to generate the required pitch and it started the characteristic wobbly descent,

View attachment 99114

That should be a clear warranty issue if you want to pursue it with DJI.

Thank you for the analysis. I thought I was being careful enough. I made sure to check UAV Forecast before each flight, and if I recall the wind gusts were below 20mph at 300-400 feet, an altitude I never even went close to. Assuming I find a way to get the drone down in the coming days, it’s likely going to be a complete wreck by then. How do I proceed with a warranty claim? Also important, how do I prevent this from happening again?

 

[Deadspider187]

View attachment 99127

The branches are so thick I’m not sure I could get a rope around the right branch. It’s supposed to snow in a couple of hours...

I re-read what you suggested and that might not be a bad way to shake the tree a little. I will have to wait until tomorrow or the day after to try it though. Thanks!

 

[sar104]

Thank you for the analysis. I thought I was being careful enough. I made sure to check UAV Forecast before each flight, and if I recall the wind gusts were below 20mph at 300-400 feet, an altitude I never even went close to. Assuming I find a way to get the drone down in the coming days, it’s likely going to be a complete wreck by then. How do I proceed with a warranty claim? Also important, how do I prevent this from happening again?

Contact DJI and tell them what happened, and that it went down because of the uncommanded descent problem.

As for it happening again - so far there is no clear solution to that. It's possible that ensuring that the rear props are not deformed during storage prevents it, but not confirmed.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Good analysis sar104, thanks for doing these for people here.

Should be a straight warranty claim, based on past uncontrolled descent issues.
Even without the drone, DJI have been generally replacing straight out where the logs show this.

If you approach them with "my Mini did the uncontrolled descent problem and landed in a tree" they will know that you know the cause, and should be less hassle waiting for them to confirm positively.

Get onto their chat or whatever is easiest / fastest, they will probably get you to sync logs if not already done automatically.
Good luck, and let us know the outcome here.

As for it happening again - so far there is no clear solution to that. It's possible that ensuring that the rear props are not deformed during storage prevents it, but not confirmed.

There seems to be so many inconsistencies with that though.
A mini owner can be 15 mins into a flight, and the problem occurs.
Next 3 flights no problems, might happen anytime.

If the rear props are the issue, it's hard to imagine only the rear props will show that storage problem.
Surely not all pilots use the same bag etc so rear props are constantly getting this happen.

A big negative is the mini props are screwed on, special loctite, and should be left on, and the props could deform ?
Terrible design.

 

[Deadspider187]

Good analysis sar104, thanks for doing these for people here.

Should be a straight warranty claim, based on past uncontrolled descent issues.
Even without the drone, DJI have been generally replacing straight out where the logs show this.

If you approach them with "my Mini did the uncontrolled descent problem and landed in a tree" they will know that you know the cause, and should be less hassle waiting for them to confirm positively.

Get onto their chat or whatever is easiest / fastest, they will probably get you to sync logs if not already done automatically.
Good luck, and let us know the outcome here.



There seems to be so many inconsistencies with that though.
A mini owner can be 15 mins into a flight, and the problem occurs.
Next 3 flights no problems, might happen anytime.

If the rear props are the issue, it's hard to imagine only the rear props will show that storage problem.
Surely not all pilots use the same bag etc so rear props are constantly getting this happen.

A big negative is the mini props are screwed on, special loctite, and should be left on, and the props could deform ?
Terrible design.

It seems like people here are still trying to figure out if storage is an issue. If my input helps, I had a total of 8 flights, and the drone was kept at room temperature in the case from the “Fly More” package since I bought it a couple of weeks ago. I can’t imagine in my specific case that storage was an issue.