My MA Recent Experiences

[Nakita Mosquita]

So nobody is interested in the number of safe landings, only the mishaps. The most important suggestion I can offer especially to new flyers (assuming you've read the manual AND spend a good amount of time watching the many excellent videos to help you understand your drone), is to understand and practice the RTH function. And I don't mean using the precise take-off and RTH function which I was very familiar with. I mean, flying your drone in safe quarters and TEST the RTH function by:
1. letting your battery setting return the drone
2. disconnecting your controller to see if the RTH works
3. understanding you can still control your flight without the GO4 app

After 3 months of blissful flying in Kaui, (many times over the ocean) I lost my drone a month ago (over water)...never to be recovered. On the upside DJI did replace my Mavic Air with a NEW drone (not refurbished) within 2 weeks of their tech team looking at my logs. I was asked that it not be refurbished but didn't push too hard as I was fortunate to have them fully set me up with a new craft. I was aided immensely by a very experienced operator in this forum who knew how to interpret the Event Stream which pointed to some serious errors (which I still don't understand). A mere 100 M and a "safe" altitude above the water, I first lost the video stream with only 3 minutes into my flight and lost my signal. I simply don't recall if I initiated the RTH function although I am led to understand that the RTH function will initiate after a 3 second signal loss. Mine did not return home! My sense is that we can pretty comfortable when everything is going right, but how will we react in a panic situation (signal loss).

Upon receiving my new MA and new battery from DJI (I was out the SIM card and an ND filter), I had to reset all the parameters of my bird and camera settings. Began flying very cautiously over the past week to determine that the GO4 update and the firmware updates are properly functioning. I have had no issues to date (about 30 flights).

Make your own landing pad and keep the dirt, dust etc out of your gimbal mechanism. The ones you can buy work best if the ground allows you to push in the pegs....doesn't work well on rock. Make your own...you'll need some naugahyde or similar substantial material, two small pieces of heavy tubing, ShoeGoo (or a similar strong flexible adhesive) and a DIY pattern. I just made a second one to keep in my quad when I looking for adventure. The pad will nicely roll up. Happy Flying.

 

[Deleted member 94047]

Happy to see you back in the air I remember your thread, you owe @sar104 a beer or two

PS: BTW, those two black tubes you are using as paper weight for your home made launch pad; they better not be metalic or you are setting yourself up for another inexplicable crash

 

[Nakita Mosquita]

Happy to see you back in the air I remember your thread, you owe @sar104 a beer or two

PS: BTW, those two black tubes you are using as paper weight for your home made launch pad; they better not be metalic or you are setting yourself up for another inexplicable crash

Copper

 

[basophil]

1. letting your battery setting return the drone​

​

2. disconnecting your controller to see if the RTH works​

3. understanding you can still control your flight without the GO4 app

I admit I haven't read the manual, but I've done a lot of YouTube research.

(1) I should know this, but will the drone return to home automatically if it senses the battery level is getting critical? Or will it just land?
(2) You mean disconnect the tablet from the controller? Will this initiate RTH?
(3) Is 3 the same as 2? Do you mean exit DJI Go and go entirely ground-observer visual?

Thanks for that advice. I'm always keen to learn new ways to bullet-proof my flight experience. So far my equipment has worked flawlessly, but I'm aware that it's a complex system and things can go pear-shaped for any number of reasons. (Note to self - read the manual this weekend.) ​

 

[Deleted member 94047]

1) the drone will initiate a return to the home point when it determines that the remaining battery is only enough to return home. The Go4 app will inform you of this and will throw up a count down timer which you can cancel if you want to. This is different from a critical battery landing; this happens when the battery is nearly empty and the drone will try to land itself where it is, and not try to return home.

2) disconnecting the controller means switching it off (in this case to simulate a loss of connection between the remote controller and the aircraft). And no, disconnecting the phone/tablet from the controller will not initiate a return home. Which leads to point 3

3) You may encounter situations where the Go4 app stops functioning (app crash, a cable disconnect, etc). But your remote controller will still be connected with the drone and you can still control the later with remote controller only. This will happen to you at some point, practicing it in controlled safe situations is advisable.

Now, why you decided you did not need to read the manual is beyond me. Learning from mistakes is an expensive way to learn. You are setting yourself up for one.

 

[Bruce Lythe]

I had a mega panic when Go 4 crashed on my tablet. I have since learned that in my particular configuration (Samsung tablet Mavic air bottom big usb Anker cable) the best solution is to simply unplug the cable and plug it back in again. Usb device is recognised and go 4 starts automatically. Note I run tablet in aeroplane mode, freshly rebooted before each flight, no there apps running. If go 4 does not start I start it manually. It always reconnects. Having said that I have practiced firing RTH on controller without reconnecting tablet and pressing cancel and doing a hand held recovery on manual