MP just 'blew' away yesterday.

[m0j0]

From the manual:


Once you have a good calibration, re-calibrating the compass before every flight is a bad idea. Leave well enough alone.

I calibrated once and won't even consider recalibratimg unless I'm 200 plus miles away. I live in New Mexico and went to Florida.. flew 20plus times along the way. My preflight checks include launching and ensuring the hover is stable no TBE. Checking the sensor/compass readings. Flying directly away then back to see if there is an arc in flight path and checking the direction the arrow faces in the application when flying. The red arrow should be dead-on-balls-accurate pointing the direction you are flying. If all those are go.. I'm off, no calibration.

 

[Stunnajd112]

Same thing happened to me a few days ago after not flying for a few months. Went downwind and tried to return. Winds were 22 mph. Once I hit sport mode and handled some crosswinds I limped back at 15mph back home. Sport mode saved the day in the situation.

 

[Zyskman78]

Do you use the UAV Forcast app at all ? If not I would download it and set it up its very helpful for wind and flying conditions.

Looking at you log you Mavic was indeed fighting the wind and when you start to drop your hight you can see the Mavic pick up speed ( switching to sports mode here would have got you back home ) one thing to remember is the higher you fly often the stronger the winds and as you drop below 100 feet your mavic picks up speed so this does support that the wind speed was just a bit higher than you were expecting maybe. But we'll done for landing it as many people would have kept fighting and gotten into more trouble

Practice makes perfect

UAV forecast is great and usually very accurate. Sometimes we have a 5-10 mph wind on the ground and @ 325 ft the wind could be gusting 30-40 mph! This was how it was yesterday so I kept the bird grounded. I also trust the KP index on this app which can change very quickly!! Happy and safe flying all!!

 

[dbyantis]

UAV forecast is great and usually very accurate. Sometimes we have a 5-10 mph wind on the ground and @ 325 ft the wind could be gusting 30-40 mph! This was how it was yesterday so I kept the bird grounded. I also trust the KP index on this app which can change very quickly!! Happy and safe flying all!!

Since the highlighting is controlled by your preferences, if you do not agree with red for the day's temp, just change it in preferences.

 

[Flawless]

@OP

You made the same mistake I did when you turned it on next to metal and then hand-launched away from it.

If you had powered off and on again while away from the bench, it would (almost certainly) have been fine. Hell, I've sat on metal benches with the Mavic in my hand and it's been fine. That 30cm matters a lot when powering up - moreso than when actually taking off.

 

[dennyc39]

Would flying diagonally back help out in this situation, sorta like what sailboats do?
Thx

No, that would put you at even more disadvantage.

 

[mavic6611]

This would be my experience as well. Get a good calibration and leave it alone. I learned that lesson back with my P3. I introduced a bad calibration and it was jacked up. Good thing I was experienced enough to recognize the warning sign during my preflight.. I always launch and allow the bird to hover. I noticed a slight TBE.. Didn't think much of it. Flew about 30 feet away stick straight forward. Was a slight arch in the flight path. Pulled straight back it returned in the same arch. Done deal. Landed recalibrated same problem. Aborted the flights. Returned to field where I know I can calibrate without issue completed the calibration flew without a problem. Returned to the area I flew before left the calibration alone and flew without a problem.

My Mavic in 14 months has been calibrated 1 time and won't be calibrated again unless I fly in a drastically different magnetic atmosphere.

Yep I 100% agree with you, basically don't try and fix it if its not broken!

 

[RattleHunter]

OK - looking back I think I've learnt a few things....

Lesson 1) Be aware of the sun - I think I understand the failure - it was the front sensors not coping with looking directly at the very low (and bright) winter sun. When it dropped low enough to be in the shadow of the trees it started to make some forward progress. I could have tried turning away from the sun and flying sideways or backwards to get it closer.
Lesson 2) Be familiar with ALL the controls - I have now experimented with the sports mode and the RTH (not sure RTH would have helped as my RTH height was higher than the current altitude and the course would have been the same.)
Lesson 3) Don't Panic ! - If I had not panic'd and had looked more at the control unit and less at the drone I would have A) seen it was starting to make forward progress as it got closer to the ground and B) I could have seen what it was seeing and perhaps worked out that it was being 'blinded'

Thanks for your comments and suggestions.
Looking forward to spring and some better flying weather.

 

[Wipster]

I have been flying for over a year 130+ flights (thankfully with no real problems).
It was a bit windy yesterday but I hadn't flown since before Christmas so eager to get out again.
The grass was a bit wet so I thought I would take off from a bench but it had a metal frame and I got a compass error.
So decided to hand launch - compass error went as soon as I picked it up - all went well and I flew down wind about 50m but when I turned I got a high wind warning and the MP just kept blowing away down wind. It would turn and descend but it wouldn't fly forward at all.
It blew over a stream and into a private field. I just put it down into the long grass before it went too far.
Managed to find it and it seemed fine.
Walked back to original start point and took off normally - it flew perfectly for 10mins. It could easily fly against the wind and make 5m/s
I have replayed the flight on the DJI go app and it shows me applying full forward but the unit travelling backward.
I am really concerned to know what happened or what I did wrong as I often fly over water and in many places this would have been a total loss.
How do find out?

Sounds like you were in atti mode. Satellites must be connected before you venture off.