My drone committed suicide

[Bosco Bear]

I hate to read stories like this. It sounds like something that would happen to me. I now own 5 DJI Drones and an OSMO Pocket. They Rock. But, there are times I see that I have simply lost all control to a swirling storm of facts that result in a REFRESH claim. Currently, working on a little film documenting what I know "I could NEVER do again (or if I tried)" event that claimed my MINI (RIP 4:19:2020). Launched from an upper floor in a building. Completed several launch and lands without issue. Well, this time approach was good until a slight drift caused a collision with a glass door. I did not panic as I figured it was three feet up and liekly going to cost me a new propeller or two. However, hit glass...slid down tro the ground where ut met some newly installed ikea tiles (plastic) - slid straight towards ledge, missing every plant in its way - sliding right UNDER the gap of the railing.,..and FINALLY silently plummeted 20+ floors landing on a concrete sidewalk. I would have thought I would come upon pure carnage on the sidewalk. But, considering the fall...I was shocked. Still a claim, but that lil'one is TOUGH.View attachment 99269View attachment 99270

No sweat, a little duct tape will fix that!?

 

[Capt KO]

Murphy’s Law to both. But, the more you own, the less it hurts. Bright side, more spare parts. Like tools, never too many.
Go fly, audreycardle

 

[BerndM]

Very sad for your loss Audrey. ?
It is an unfortunate but irrefutable fact that next to trees, water is the biggest reason for the total loss of a quad. At least with a tree strike, you can almost always recover the quad and exercise your warranty. When you crash into water, the recovery rate is extremely low. I have made it point to never fly over water, ever. If I crash, I want to be able to pick up the pieces even though they are all way out of warranty. Hope you have the warranty and are able to retrieve your quad.

 

[Cobra193]

This is one of those things that was sooo avoidable and gives drones a bad name when it was 100% pilot error. It's also an issue with having things that can fly themselves without someone having ANY prior experience. People think they're easy to fly, so they don't read the manual, because you don't really have to. You turn the drone on and it flies. And they ARE easy to fly... until they're not.

Snapshot from page 22 in the manual that comes with every drone:
Flying over water is ok at higher altitudes, but you take your chances at lower altitudes.

 

[Cobra193]

I may have found her on Instagram: Audrey Cardle Login • Instagram

OMG

 

[simsurf]

You all keep referring to the mini, when the OP has stated it was a zoom?

 

[sar104]

You all keep referring to the mini, when the OP has stated it was a zoom?

As far as I can see, no one has suggested that a Mini was involved.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Only post 18 referred the their loss of their mini.

 

[Meta4]

Unfortunately the OP hasn't been back since posting and hasn't seen any of the replies.

It is an unfortunate but irrefutable fact that next to trees, water is the biggest reason for the total loss of a quad.

Flying over water is much, much safer flying environment than flying over land.

This is one of those things that was sooo avoidable and gives drones a bad name when it was 100% pilot error. It's also an issue with having things that can fly themselves without someone having ANY prior experience. People think they're easy to fly, so they don't read the manual, because you don't really have to. You turn the drone on and it flies. And they ARE easy to fly... until they're not.

Snapshot from page 22 in the manual that comes with every drone:
Flying over water is ok at higher altitudes, but you take your chances at lower altitudes.

You've read a lot more in the OP's post than is there.
How did you determine that:

• the incident was 100% pilot error?
• the drone was low over the water?

Without seeing the recorded flight data, the cause of the incident is 100% unknown.

 

[PhoebeSnow]

My first flying experience as a Newbie 4 years ago occurred flying over water. The droned stopped over the middle of a lake due to Obstacle Avoidance. Say what? - an obstacle in the middle of a lake? Turns out water reflection fooled the Mavic sensors. Reading through the various drone forums I never saw anything about that issue at that time. I was simply too new to even turn them off and was simply stunned being so new. My wife said I should have flown backwards, others said I should have turned off the obstacle avoidance, and others had other suggestions. Again, I was just too new to fully understand and access what was going on. I flew back across the other side of the lake and took the long route of following the shoreline home and landing with just 7% power. WHEW! I then printed a screen finder for every app on the Mavic so I knew where to find things like turning off the obstacle avoidance or clearing cache.

 

[MN_Jack76]

I had my Mavic 2 spiral out of the sky from 400 feet one night and after uploading all the data no one could figure out why: Mavic Pro Spiraled out of the sky!

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

My first flying experience as a Newbie 4 years ago occurred flying over water. The droned stopped over the middle of a lake due to Obstacle Avoidance. Say what? - an obstacle in the middle of a lake? Turns out water reflection fooled the Mavic sensors. Reading through the various drone forums I never saw anything about that issue at that time. I was simply too new to even turn them off and was simply stunned being so new. My wife said I should have flown backwards, others said I should have turned off the obstacle avoidance, and others had other suggestions. Again, I was just too new to fully understand and access what was going on. I flew back across the other side of the lake and took the long route of following the shoreline home and landing with just 7% power. WHEW! I then printed a screen finder for every app on the Mavic so I knew where to find things like turning off the obstacle avoidance or clearing cache.

How high were you off the water ?
I think sometimes if really low, the reflections can also trigger autoland.
Too low and you need to turn off landing protection.
Usually though, the bottom sensors get confused as they can't see the water surface, and pilots tend to fly into the water.

Most likely if you were having trouble flying in a forward direction, you might have been flying towards the sun.
This definitely sets of OA.
This must have been an M1P then, same as mine, I get that when heading directly towards a low bright sun.
Flying up for a sunset reveal from behind a tree, dead stop, it spooks me even now still until a couple of secs later I realise it's just OA.

Just fly home backwards, sideways, use course lock or home lock.

 

[droneloverair]

Very sad for your loss Audrey. ?
It is an unfortunate but irrefutable fact that next to trees, water is the biggest reason for the total loss of a quad. At least with a tree strike, you can almost always recover the quad and exercise your warranty. When you crash into water, the recovery rate is extremely low. I have made it point to never fly over water, ever. If I crash, I want to be able to pick up the pieces even though they are all way out of warranty. Hope you have the warranty and are able to retrieve your quad.

How low over water can you fly before its unsafe?

 

[Ducatinus]

OMG

I buy her a mini

 

[Oneball 1971]

I assume the OP hasn't seen all of the weeks worth of replies?

 

[Meta4]

I assume the OP hasn't seen all of the weeks worth of replies?

The OP hasn't been back since making the initial post.

 

[droneloverair]

Hi.

how low is unsafe for the sensors over waters with dji drones like mavic air?

is disablinh obsatcle avoidance better over water to keep it from crashinh by itself?

 

[bzmot]

Yep. A girl stumbles onto our humble community, drops one post and forgets about it. However, a year later, a heated discussion is still going, strong as ever with 1,283 posts and counting. Memes abound. People are wondering about her hobbies, dreams and aspirations, someone has posted her address, someone has found her on Tinder, and a good few someones have declared their undying love. Yeah, this is no ordinary thread.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Sounds like a bunch of stalkers on here ? ?

 

[Aether]