My first crash

[Heijst]

As a newbe in drone-land I started with caution using my Mavic Air.
The first days in beginners mode, trying to get some feeling about the working of the joysticks.
After that I left mostly the beginners mode, but still flying not too far and not too high. But flight after flight I became more confident, although sometimes struggeling with the calibration.
This morning (I love the light at sunrise and sunset) I went to an open place in town. This time I took off with the Auto Take Off. But it seemed that the Mavic Air went its own way, so I rapidly tried to turn it around, which it more or less did, but apparently I forgot to fly higher and all of the sudden I heard lots of noise in a tree not too far away. When I came nearer, I saw the lights of my drone in the middle of leaves and small branches, more or less 20 ft high. My heart beated as quick as the flashing lights. As I couldn’t reach it, I went back to my car, got a bottle of water and tried to throw the bottle in the tree to make the drone free to fall. No success at all. But luck was not too far away, for an early worker was so friendly to climb in the tree (at my age would that cause another disaster) and he finally could reach the drone and bring it back to me. Great help!
I inspected the drone and saw no visual damage (at home I noticed that the front sensors were full of dirt with small pieces of leaves) and tried to start again. No strange behavior. So in the end this morning I flew several batteries empty without any trouble.
Two things learned:
1. I have to learn to react better in unexpected situations.
2. The Mavic Air really is a very good and sturdy drone.

 

[johnnybflyguy]

I'm glad you recovered your MA, the moral of the story is as a beginner always fly in an open space no trees, houses, power lines, also check wind direction and speed.

 

[ShermanFlyer]

Glad you got it back and it’s still working. Your eyes are your best radar, fly safe.

 

[LazyBird]

The Mavic Air is a risky option for any new drone pilot given it’s a sophisticated and costly machine. I am still new to the hobby of drones myself, but I started with the comparatively much cheaper Eachine E58. I lost my first one, bought another and crashed it multiple times with no major damage except broken or damaged props. Although its performance Does not compare with any DJI drone, it’s cheap, very sturdy for its size and price, really nippy and fun to learn-on on how to fly a drone.
So for any new “about to become drone enthusiasts”, I will always advise learn how to fly and handle one on a relative cheaper option before graduating to more advanced options. Heijst, happy to know your Mavic Air survived to fly for many more days to come.

 

[FormerMember07122019_2]

I am a newbie and bought my Mavic 2 Pro as my first drone and after 20+ flights have had no problems of any kind. I think that learning on a more sophisticated drone is actually much easier. I had a toy, a QX Nano, that I tried to fly 20 times with very limited success and eventually threw it in the trash out of frustration. I likened it to flying a feather while blind. It was unpredictable and unstable even indoors.

Fast forward two years and my very first flight with my Mavic 2 was successful and uneventful. I was nervous as heck but very cautious, slowly moving each control stick a small amount in each direction and getting positive reinforcement because the drone did EXACTLY what it was supposed to do. If I was uncertain or unsure at an point I just let go of the sticks and it just stoped, frozen in the sky, until I got my wits about me and continued. I became more and more comfortable with each successive flight to where now I can somewhat confidently fly around and take pictures and video.

I think one of the secrets is to not get too overconfident and try to fly beyond your abilities or sensibilities. That’s when most of the problems happen.

 

[SandiSCE]

I am a newbie and bought my Mavic 2 Pro as my first drone and after 20+ flights have had no problems of any kind. I think that learning on a more sophisticated drone is actually much easier. I had a toy, a QX Nano, that I tried to fly 20 times with very limited success and eventually threw it in the trash out of frustration. I likened it to flying a feather while blind. It was unpredictable and unstable even indoors.

Fast forward two years and my very first flight with my Mavic 2 was successful and uneventful. I was nervous as heck but very cautious, slowly moving each control stick a small amount in each direction and getting positive reinforcement because the drone did EXACTLY what it was supposed to do. If I was uncertain or unsure at an point I just let go of the sticks and it just stoped, frozen in the sky, until I got my wits about me and continued. I became more and more comfortable with each successive flight to where now I can somewhat confidently fly around and take pictures and video.

I think one of the secrets is to not get too overconfident and try to fly beyond your abilities or sensibilities. That’s when most of the problems happen.

This mirrors my experience. My first, “entry level” drone was enough to get me hooked but was so hard to fly even indoors that I just got frustrated. In addition it had no RTH feature and VERY limited range, so it was highly likely to fly away under my newbie control. I met another newbie in my club who was flying a MP, was same timeline newbie as myself, and said he learned to fly with it. So I bought a M2P as birthday present to myself and it has been a GREAT investment for me. Also, before I got my M2P I gave my 6 year old granddaughter a Tello. It was GREAT learning drone, and she was able to fly it within a few mins indoors. We had lots of fun, and I definitely gained great practice myself in safe, indoors environment as well as outdoors. I ended up buying one for myself when I got home to get my flying-addicted self thru the awful weather.

 

[FormerMember07122019_2]

This mirrors my experience. My first, “entry level” drone was enough to get me hooked but was so hard to fly even indoors that I just got frustrated. In addition it had no RTH feature and VERY limited range, so it was highly likely to fly away under my newbie control. I met another newbie in my club who was flying a MP, was same timeline newbie as myself, and said he learned to fly with it. So I bought a M2P as birthday present to myself and it has been a GREAT investment for me. Also, before I got my M2P I gave my 6 year old granddaughter a Tello. It was GREAT learning drone, and she was able to fly it within a few mins indoors. We had lots of fun, and I definitely gained great practice myself in safe, indoors environment as well as outdoors. I ended up buying one for myself when I got home to get my flying-addicted self thru the awful weather.

Ha Ha, mine was a Christmas present to myself.

 

[basophil]

Lucky escape. Don’t forget to recalibrate your IMU.

The Air is a frisky beast, especially in sports mode. I bought a P3 standard to learn on and had 3 major crashes. (2 of which were my fault.). The P3 is pretty bullet-proof and I only had to replace props.
The Mavic Air is not so crash-worthy.

 

[DKM]

First crash, I’ll join in.

Novice for sure. My first drone was a Mavic Pro 2. Due to MS, I spend all my out of bed hours in a wheelchair. As such, it is a challenge just to retrieve my drone off the ground. So, I thought I was smart and turned a 5 gallon bucket upside down. This was going to be home base. As the drone began to lift I immediately push the toggle forward to take off right into my leg. I will never forget my maiden flight and I have the scar to prove it and also I know the front from the back.

 

[zzxrox]

I'm going to disagree with some of what was said and say you SHOULD learn on a cheap drone. A mavic with all the bells and whistles my make you think you can fly but you will be in for problems down the road. I'm talking about flight control. Use the cheap drone to fly and crash...learn how to hover. YES LEARN HOW TO HOVER. Its a basic skill you wont truly master with a drone and GPS. Flying a MA is easy because it does it for you. If you get frustrated flying a cheap drone and cant hover it, just think about what would happen if something were to go wrong with your MA (and yes it does happen). Its just my opinion but in the end you will be a better pilot and you will KNOW it instead of trusting all those bells and whistles. They just give you false confidence and bad flying habits.
Also practice flying in figure 8's. You will learn how to yaw both ways faster and I promise you it will come in handy. Last but not least HAVE FUN!

 

[SandiSCE]

I'm going to disagree with some of what was said and say you SHOULD learn on a cheap drone. A mavic with all the bells and whistles my make you think you can fly but you will be in for problems down the road. I'm talking about flight control. Use the cheap drone to fly and crash...learn how to hover. YES LEARN HOW TO HOVER. Its a basic skill you wont truly master with a drone and GPS. Flying a MA is easy because it does it for you. If you get frustrated flying a cheap drone and cant hover it, just think about what would happen if something were to go wrong with your MA (and yes it does happen). Its just my opinion but in the end you will be a better pilot and you will KNOW it instead of trusting all those bells and whistles. They just give you false confidence and bad flying habits.
Also practice flying in figure 8's. You will learn how to yaw both ways faster and I promise you it will come in handy. Last but not least HAVE FUN!

Agree with you, and, really, that is what I did with my beginner drone. It’s pretty beat up now! The most frustrating thing for me was that it wouldn’t hover or RTH. I reallly don’t think those 2 features rob me of the opportunity to learn real flying with the M2P. Anyway, I’m still learning! My mentor has given me a lesson sheet of drills to do without using the bells and whistles, and with the M2P I can relax enough to concentrate on the drills without worrying that it would fly out of range (never to return).

 

[LazyBird]

YES LEARN HOW TO HOVER. Its a basic skill you wont truly master with a drone and GPS. Flying a MA is easy because it does it for you.

Agreed 100%. Most drone pilots who’ve never flown a drone that doesn’t have GPS, advanced compass and gyroscope do not know how difficult it is to control a quadcopter without those wonderful toolsets. Particularly the ability one develops on how to manage, hover, pitch, yaw, land a light, nervous, twitching bird susceptible to change of direction with every rush and gust of wind, gives you a real feel of flying.
The skill sets one develops on these craft may seem menial and a waste of time when sophisticated aircraft like the DJI’s help perform most of these functions for the pilot. But the experience really helps. Certainly helped me understand how the elements affect quadcopters in the open.