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My first Mavic pro crash

Groundrush

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Joined
Oct 23, 2016
Messages
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Age
54
Yesterday I got a bit too cocky and crashed my Mavic flying too low to the ground in sports mode.
I was too reliant on the on screen altitude data as I thought 4m above the ground was sufficient.

I flew on a massive open grass football playing field which as it turns out is not completely level but with this in mind I still thought 4m would be enough as the drop in height is not that great. Not by 4m anyway

All pre flight checks appeared OK before I took off. I did however get the message of strong wireless interference 10 minutes before the incident took place but nothing else. I had between 19 & 20 satellites and all looked OK

10 minutes after take off I then decided to fly low level at 4m. Looking on the camera view I felt that the camera was deceptive and looked closer to the ground that what you think.

The outward journey was OK although I did notice the drop in height as I got about 200m away.
Stopped turned around and got my bearings. gave the drone some time to readjust itself still not touching the up down controls as the controller still showed the height of 4m

Once ready I then proceeded to fly the back towards me on the same path.
I looked at video link on the screen and height above ground looked OK. I then looked up to get a visual as I could hear it approaching. As I did this I did not notice that it was gradually getting lower to the ground but as soon as got visual I then realized that the height was not accurate but it was too late.
The Mavic's feet touched the ground at high speed causing it to cartwheel over & over snapping of the gimble and two sets of blades.
No other visible signs of damage.


Looking at the flight data the on screen altitude did not change at all. there is no up/down stick movements expect for at the end when I shut down the motors.

I could not understand how come the outward journey was Ok but it crashed on the way back on the same route without any movement from the up down stick.

I also noticed that once it had crashed the height on the screen drastically moved from 4.0m to -36.0m then continued to fall to -191.0m

Good thing I have DJI refresh :)
 
The altitude displayed in DJI GO is just an estimate, so you should never assume it's 100% accurate. If you have the downward sensors enabled, they will usually give you the most accurate altitude reading when flying close to the ground.

For example, in the screenshot below, the estimated altitude is 2.5 meters and the downward sensors are showing the altitude is really 1.8 meters.

204343ogwvfk4voeqkbevw.jpg
 
Yes. When flying close to the ground, I'm suggesting you fly in a mode where you can enable them.
 
Xxxiiii, the manual the manual lol [emoji58]. Lucky you have DJI Care Refresh. [emoji3]
And no I'm not lucky that i have DJI care refresh. I purchased it on purpose for mistakes like this.

Never trust everything you see on the controller as fact because the measurements can be way off!
 
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