My dumb mistake...and risking my life and limb

[SpyderSkeets]

So, the other day I was flying my Air in a woody area next to a river. I was coming in for a landing when I saw that I was at 38%, so I decided to make one last climb over the river. Went up and as I was coming down, I got the low battery warning. I had to manually land as there were allot of rocks and I had to find a safe place to land. Just as I was about to touch down, the low battery RTH kicked in and the Air started to climb back up. Calmly, I hit the cancel RTH, but the thing just kept climbing...into a bunch of branches about 30 feet up! (Yep, I forgot to acknowledge the cancel RTH).
It was stuck. I tried to climb the tree, but this 49 year old non-monkey wasn't doing that. To make a long story short, I had to drive all the way home, get an extension ladder and a long PVC pipe, lug the extension ladder through the woods, down an embankment, walk back to my car, get the PVC pipe, go back to the tree, extend the ladder to it's max, climb the ladder to it's top rung and reach for the Air with the PVC pipe while holding onto the tree for dear life... And I still couldn't reach there Air!! To make matters worse, it started to snow!! Had to climb back down and find a stick that I could jam into the end of the PVC pipe, and climb back up to the top rung, stretching to the stuck Air with the PVC pipe with one hand while holding onto the tree for dear life... And just barely, I was able to reach the Air and bring it down!! Whew!! Now, back to lugging everything back to the car. Not a very pleasant day if you ask me.
And now for your viewing pleasure, the video:

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Dear DJI, if I want to cancel RTH, please let me do so without having to acknowledge it by having to press another button!

I could just see the headlines now: "49 year old man dies trying to retrieve a dumb toy" . . Surely a candidate for the Darwin Awards.

 

[Simmo]

OMG!

 

[alexgwilliam]

Nightmare!

 

[Skewif]

I'm totally with you on that request. I was following my MA filming my dog along a wooded path. Battery was low but as it was 5 feet in front of me I ignored the warning beeps and did not hear the voice prompt because so close to the Air. Suddenly it just turns around and starts to fly up into the branches to head back to home point way back down the path. Pressed cancel, looked up but it was still rising into the tree! **** that pesky confirm you want to cancel RTH! The time it takes to confirm can be life or death for a DJI drone. Maybe there is another way to do a one button cancel?

 

[ChipDjipro]

This is what happens when you decide to ignore Low battery warning.

 

[princeofthehouse]

of top of my head, would the "pause" button not be a solution to use? granted you got to remember to use it at the right moment and in time lol

 

[Rnl]

And going to sport mode should cancel it too

 

[Anthony]

When flying in areas like this I always set RTH to hover.

Just a suggestion.

 

[kakao]

Pause button is the key in situations like this ..

 

[MavicMo]

Yeah, I made a similar mistake years ago. I wound up having to park my pick up under the tree, use a ladder and two 6' poles to get mine. Really stupid at my age even then. Glad it ended well.

 

[dfrancos]

could have been much worst. You and your dji made it.

 

[Devster]

Good lesson here! I appreciate post like this,, now I Iknow of another creative reason to use the pause button

 

[ChipDjipro]

Pause button will cancel everything.

 

[SpyderSkeets]

This is what happens when you decide to ignore Low battery warning.

I did not "ignore' the Low Battery warning. The Low Battery warning came on when I was coming in for a landing. My mistake was extending my landing looking for a safe place to land.

 

[Mike4884]

Pause button....in any sticky situation

 

[dbyantis]

So, the other day I was flying my Air in a woody area next to a river. I was coming in for a landing when I saw that I was at 38%, so I decided to make one last climb over the river. Went up and as I was coming down, I got the low battery warning. I had to manually land as there were allot of rocks and I had to find a safe place to land. Just as I was about to touch down, the low battery RTH kicked in and the Air started to climb back up. Calmly, I hit the cancel RTH, but the thing just kept climbing...into a bunch of branches about 30 feet up! (Yep, I forgot to acknowledge the cancel RTH).
It was stuck. I tried to climb the tree, but this 49 year old non-monkey wasn't doing that. To make a long story short, I had to drive all the way home, get an extension ladder and a long PVC pipe, lug the extension ladder through the woods, down an embankment, walk back to my car, get the PVC pipe, go back to the tree, extend the ladder to it's max, climb the ladder to it's top rung and reach for the Air with the PVC pipe while holding onto the tree for dear life... And I still couldn't reach there Air!! To make matters worse, it started to snow!! Had to climb back down and find a stick that I could jam into the end of the PVC pipe, and climb back up to the top rung, stretching to the stuck Air with the PVC pipe with one hand while holding onto the tree for dear life... And just barely, I was able to reach the Air and bring it down!! Whew!! Now, back to lugging everything back to the car. Not a very pleasant day if you ask me.
And now for your viewing pleasure, the video:

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Dear DJI, if I want to cancel RTH, please let me do so without having to acknowledge it by having to press another button!

I could just see the headlines now: "49 year old man dies trying to retrieve a dumb toy" . . Surely a candidate for the Darwin Awards.

I had a drone up in a nearby tree. Got some boys to retrieve it for a few bucks, they had a blast.

 

[K5423]

I am paranoid and come home when the battery hit's 50% no matter how close I am to it's home point.

 

[Bensjamming]

Just curious, if stuck in a tree can you manually start the motors and quickly try and knock it loose by throttling up or anything?

Obviously it'd be bad for a motor that is jammed but.... Will the motors start and rev maually?

 

[Skewif]

Just curious, if stuck in a tree can you manually start the motors and quickly try and knock it loose by throttling up or anything?

Obviously it'd be bad for a motor that is jammed but.... Will the motors start and rev maually?

I hope to not ever be able to answer that question. Maybe if the right way up and start the propellers. I’d hope they made it to not start while upside down. If does start only for a very short time motors should be fine... maybe not so good for the props though. One Air in the hand with only broken props better that two in the bush.

 

[Anndybo]

Happened to me with my first drone, Walkera X350 Pro, I climbed this tree to get it!

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