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

[sarniac]

This has over 100,000 views on YouTube. Clever.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I really don’t think I can cut the tree down. I don’t have the tools or expertise to cut the tree down, and it’s not my tree. I inquired with three different tree service providers in my area, and I will have to talk to the person who’s land the tree is on to retrieve it. I think this is the best route for me given the circumstances.

I appreciate the good humor and great advice from many of you. Thanks again!

In all honesty, why bother trying to retrieve this drone ?
More cost to you getting a tree person in etc.

Just get onto DJI chat or other contact method, get a case opened up, get them to review your logs, they will 99.9% just send you a brand new mini aircraft and BATTERY (insist on this), no questions asked, no 'body' is needed.
(Hey, for sure keep an eye on the site after wind goes through, and / or asking the owner to keep an eye on the area . . . if it ever falls to the ground, you could have some spares etc, or even a still good bird to sell !!)

Then, sell the new mini nad gear, and pay a little more for an upgrade the Air, Air 2, with any of these in a Flymore package, you will still have an awesome small drone package, but a much more reliable, flyable drone.

 

[Peio64270]

I really don't like the screw attachment method. That seems very inferior to the bayonet method, and I'm sure it was done just to save a few grams.

I own 2 Phantom 3A, one Mavic pro 1 (3 years old) and since some months a Parrot Anafi (second hand with a total of more than 100 hours of flight). I never observed a such behaviour (uncommanded descent) with any of them.
As you probably know, the Anafi has a screw attachment very similar to that of the Mini and it is also very easy to store it with the propellers in the wrong position, i.e. with a compression induced by some part of the case.
Since I read the many occurrences of Mini crashes apparently due to propellers deformation, I observe very attentively my Anafi's propellers. Even when not stored in the ideal position, they keep (or retreive instantly) their normal shape and the drone flies as usual, with no issue yet.
Could this deadly behaviour of so many Minies be due to a bad quality of its propellers ? If so, I think that since these numerous accidents happen, DJI would have recalled Mini's propellers for an exchange which would be costless than the exchange of many drones under warranty, as they seem to do.
So, I guess that the problem is likely harder to resolve, coming either from harware or software, or maybe from both.

 

[fernando.valbuenajr]

Hi Sir , read your post , I'm just curious , what is your RTH altitude by?

 

[careless]

Try using a weed blower maybe the wind could shake it loose

 

[Deadspider187]

Hi Sir , read your post , I'm just curious , what is your RTH altitude by?

I typically set the RTH to 100 or 200 feet depending on how far I plan to fly and the wind at each height during the flight. I can’t recall what it was set to for this particular flight.

 

[Deadspider187]

In all honesty, why bother trying to retrieve this drone ?
More cost to you getting a tree person in etc.

Just get onto DJI chat or other contact method, get a case opened up, get them to review your logs, they will 99.9% just send you a brand new mini aircraft and BATTERY (insist on this), no questions asked, no 'body' is needed.
(Hey, for sure keep an eye on the site after wind goes through, and / or asking the owner to keep an eye on the area . . . if it ever falls to the ground, you could have some spares etc, or even a still good bird to sell !!)

Then, sell the new mini nad gear, and pay a little more for an upgrade the Air, Air 2, with any of these in a Flymore package, you will still have an awesome small drone package, but a much more reliable, flyable drone.

I didn’t know DJI would process a return without the drone. I will certainly open a ticket with them to see what can be done without having to pay to retrieve the drone. That being said, if I am able to retrieve the drone I’ll send it to DJI anyways. I don’t want to profit from this, and DJI needs to see these continue to be sent to them until they can fix this issue. Maybe having many drones sent back to them damaged will enforce the idea that this is an issue they need to address for Mavic Mini users.

 

[Bosco Bear]

Deadspider187, I don't know where you're located in New York State, but if your weather is anything like here in southern Ontario your drone may have got blown right out of the tree today, lol!

 

[alopeznj]

Well, this may not be proper but at least funny. I lost an old drone (cheap junk $ 50.00) and my son was heartbroken. Stuck up on a 90 ft tree.
I pulled out my crossbow, attached a fishing line. Arrow ricochet and broke a neighbors window. Cut the the string and we ran like hell. Never recovered the drone. But my son was happy with that thrill.
Its an idea.

 

[alopeznj]

I just got a Mini with the insurance. I will beat the hell out of it. From what I can see, fly low, slow and close to proximity. I do see people taking chances with a mini that I wouldn't do with my Mavic 2.
Minis are exactly that... "Mini" . From posts I read they cannot handle any kid of wind. I viewed youtube video where the props on mini are very finicky. Changing out the props seems to solve a lot of issues. Unconfirmed !

 

[vinay0505]

I had the exact same thing happened to me. The mini was hanging on a small brach - may be 50 feet above the ground. It was a public park. Luckily I had some tennis balls on my car. I threw the balls towards it, and after an hour's attempt finally hit the drone. The drone fell right in front of me, but I literally forgot to catch it. It hit the grassy ground and the gimbal connector broke. (Got it repaired from DJI eventually for under $100). But if you can, ask a couple of folks to hold a bedsheet or something like that under the tree so that it could be caught softly.

 

[Steve L Reid]

Put a nut bolt on a fishing rig and cast the nut where you want it and when you finely hit your target let the line out to where you and get the nut off the line, then tie a rope to the line and real the line back to you then tie a loop in the rope and draw it to the target then shake the tree.

 

[Bob L]

I would tie a rope as high up on the tree with the drone as high as I could I a loop. Then attach a come-along or pulley system to the base of a same size or larger tree and the rope you attached to the tree with the drone.. Winch it down as far as you can, then cut the first loop attached to the tree with the drone. That should supply the best shaking of the tree.
Good luck...
Oh, make sure the drone is on the same side as the pulley... If it is on the other side it might launch the drone into the next county...

 

[Van Shteffy]

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.

Use a paint ball gun to knock it loose. Have a different drone like a mavic 2 zoom with a hook and line try to snag it loose or lift it out.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I wonder if the OP just put in the warranty cal lto DJI and got his drone replaced without trying to recover it ?
As per post 43, he should HAVE to go through the trials of recovering the body.
Sure, it'd be nice to, but it'd likely have damage from the crash, or from a fall in recovering anyway.

 

[Ajkari]

Funny thread, whats the status @Deadspider187 ?

 

[Deadspider187]

Funny thread, whats the status @Deadspider187 ?

Update: The weather in the finger lakes has been mostly a mix of rain, snow, and extreme wind. I’m going to head over there maybe tomorrow (I didn’t get a chance to yesterday) and see if it simply blew off of the tree. I did get a preliminary quote from a tree service located about 35 minutes away, but it was $200-400. They seemed to think someone would come in with a cheaper rate. I’m going to proceed with filing a warranty claim DJI.

 

[Ajkari]

I did get a preliminary quote from a tree service located about 35 minutes away, but it was $200-400.

Yea, thats probably not worth it. Keep us posted!

 

[Deleted member 123036]

Get a few long sticks and tape/tie them together and try poke it out the tree and lots of shaking the tree, get a couple of friends to help you if you can - rough situation!

 

[Deadspider187]

I revisited the site (with the owner’s permission). Even though I know within about 100 feet where the drone landed (and I have photos of the trees), I cannot find the drone on the ground nearby or figure out what tree it was/is in. Unfortunately the color of the drone matches the color of the cloudy sky, making it nearly impossible to locate it. I submitted a claim with DJI.

I will keep you all posted. Thanks again for the help!