My Story - Into The Sea

[kenwae]

So, I’m flying the Mavic Pro at about 10ft. above the water, in sport mode, video on, capturing some neat images of the coral reef. No problem. I’ve done it before, without incident. I stop, turn off the video, look around, and decide to go up in altitude and then push the left stick down. Yeah, I know, really stupid. A senior moment, a brain fart, unconsciousness, call it what you will, certainly pilot error. So, I notice the ipad screen goes dark, and I look at the elevation and it says -3.7 feet. I launched from maybe a couple of feet above sea level. But, for sure, it’s in the water, and I’m thinking it’s underwater, and sinking down. I’m with my fly buddy and I’m cussing up and down about how stupid I was; we’re talking options, like can I swim out there and get it, at least get the memory card; but, it’s 1100’ out there, and I don’t my mask or fins; it’s gone. We start talking about options, buying another one etc. And then, my buddy says, you’re bird isn’t in the water. Huh? It’s not in the water. It’s over head. I look up, and there it is, returning to home! I catch land it and it is wet. But, obviously, it can fly. There is no camera feed so that may need to be replaced. Or maybe not. I’m told to rinse it out in a bucket of water and place it in a bag of rice, which is where it is now.

The most impressive thing is that somehow the bird returned. As soon as I noticed what had happened, I pushed the left stick up. But, nothing seemed to happen. I did not push return to home. But, somehow, it got itself up out of the water and did return to home. So, at the very least, I have my memory card! We’ll see what happens when the bird comes out of the rice….

 

[Chun]

Let us know if it actually went in the water or if just the camera ( lower half of the drone ) Pretty amazing if the whole drone took a swim and recovered!

 

[sprtbkrydr]

I think he just dipped the camera.

 

[Former Member]

Cool story.

 

[stratos]

So, I’m flying the Mavic Pro at about 10ft. above the water, in sport mode, video on, capturing some neat images of the coral reef. No problem. I’ve done it before, without incident. I stop, turn off the video, look around, and decide to go up in altitude and then push the left stick down. Yeah, I know, really stupid. A senior moment, a brain fart, unconsciousness, call it what you will, certainly pilot error. So, I notice the ipad screen goes dark, and I look at the elevation and it says -3.7 feet. I launched from maybe a couple of feet above sea level. But, for sure, it’s in the water, and I’m thinking it’s underwater, and sinking down. I’m with my fly buddy and I’m cussing up and down about how stupid I was; we’re talking options, like can I swim out there and get it, at least get the memory card; but, it’s 1100’ out there, and I don’t my mask or fins; it’s gone. We start talking about options, buying another one etc. And then, my buddy says, you’re bird isn’t in the water. Huh? It’s not in the water. It’s over head. I look up, and there it is, returning to home! I catch land it and it is wet. But, obviously, it can fly. There is no camera feed so that may need to be replaced. Or maybe not. I’m told to rinse it out in a bucket of water and place it in a bag of rice, which is where it is now.

The most impressive thing is that somehow the bird returned. As soon as I noticed what had happened, I pushed the left stick up. But, nothing seemed to happen. I did not push return to home. But, somehow, it got itself up out of the water and did return to home. So, at the very least, I have my memory card! We’ll see what happens when the bird comes out of the rice….

Are you naming your Mavic Phoenix?

Good story mate, I have sweaty palms now.

 

[Macdarwin]

When was the last time you clean your mavic? Sometimes Mavics does autocleaning feature.

 

[Former Member]

When was the last time you clean your mavic? Sometimes Mavics does autocleaning feature.

but is there a way to turn off the automatic "salt water cleaning" method?

 

[stratos]

but is there a way to turn off the automatic "salt water cleaning" method?

The option is under the advance menu - underwater functions - salt water self cleanning on, enable by default.

 

[Former Member]

I’m told to rinse it out in a bucket of water and place it in a bag of rice, which is where it is now.

If you dare, you could take it apart and dry out and clean the individual components. If you're not going to send it on for a warranty claim, or a Refresh you have nothing to lose by opening it up. It could save some of your components.

If you need help disassembling it, just update this post.

 

[zebrock]

You should buy a lottery ticket and split your winnings with me for the idea [emoji4]

 

[TTFullTimer]

So, I’m flying the Mavic Pro at about 10ft. above the water, in sport mode, video on, capturing some neat images of the coral reef. No problem. I’ve done it before, without incident. I stop, turn off the video, look around, and decide to go up in altitude and then push the left stick down. Yeah, I know, really stupid. A senior moment, a brain fart, unconsciousness, call it what you will, certainly pilot error. So, I notice the ipad screen goes dark, and I look at the elevation and it says -3.7 feet. I launched from maybe a couple of feet above sea level. But, for sure, it’s in the water, and I’m thinking it’s underwater, and sinking down. I’m with my fly buddy and I’m cussing up and down about how stupid I was; we’re talking options, like can I swim out there and get it, at least get the memory card; but, it’s 1100’ out there, and I don’t my mask or fins; it’s gone. We start talking about options, buying another one etc. And then, my buddy says, you’re bird isn’t in the water. Huh? It’s not in the water. It’s over head. I look up, and there it is, returning to home! I catch land it and it is wet. But, obviously, it can fly. There is no camera feed so that may need to be replaced. Or maybe not. I’m told to rinse it out in a bucket of water and place it in a bag of rice, which is where it is now.

The most impressive thing is that somehow the bird returned. As soon as I noticed what had happened, I pushed the left stick up. But, nothing seemed to happen. I did not push return to home. But, somehow, it got itself up out of the water and did return to home. So, at the very least, I have my memory card! We’ll see what happens when the bird comes out of the rice….

Rubbing alcohol in as high a percentage as you can buy is a great dewatering agent. Especially if you did as Thunderdrones suggests and open it up to allow access to the boards.

 

[dwallersv]

When was the last time you clean your mavic? Sometimes Mavics does autocleaning feature.

He might have bought the Swim More Bundle, which would explain the self-recovery.

 

[kenwae]

I really doubt the bird was fully submerged; more like landed on the water and got wet underneath; the gimbal was likely covered in water, for maybe 5 seconds (which can be a long time for electronics in salt water!), enough to get water inside around the gimbal, where there's some electronics. So, after pulling it out of the rice....The battery in question seems dead, which is weird, because it flew back home from the dunking. I rinsed it and put it in rice. Put it on the charger, but nothing happened. But, using another battery, the bird starts, but the gimbal does not go through its motions, nor will it auto calibrate when choosing that option; adjusting gimbal roll does nothing, and the ipad says Aircraft Disconnected, and under that drop down menu, Gimbal Disconnected....Looking at it from the outside, with a magnifying glass, nothing seems torn or disconnected. I'm thinking it's something internal, a short circuit maybe, some circuit board messed up. I don't know. So, possible a new gimbal would solve the problem, but, then, maybe there's more problems as well.....

So, my plan is to buy a new one (with care refresh, which I did not have), just the bird and a battery, not a remote, and then open this one up, see if I can fix it and then use it as a back up....I saw a good youtube video showing what tools are needed, what screws to remove, etc. Lesson learned. Don't put left stick down when you want to go up...Duh. At least I know what the problem was here, me. It's not like something happened, like a fly away or auto land in the ocean for some unknown reason.

Any pointers about what to look for inside are appreciated....Anything interesting comes up, I'll post here....

Thanks for the humor!

 

[Robbyg]

Fantastic story! I just wish you had the video recording at the time. If you can please upload the DAT file from the Mavic, the instructions are in the link in my signature.

Just my 2 cents on what I think happened.

You lowered the Mavic just low enough that the front legs touched down in the water and this blocked the RF signal coming from the RC. The prop wash was probably what kicked up water into the camera area.
An RTH was initiated when the signal was lost, so the Mavic returned home.

A look at the DAT file could confirm this was the case.


Rob

 

[kenwae]

I'm trying to get them, but Assistant 2 is not connecting to the Mavic. I know the cable is good. I agree with your perspective though I think the legs may have gone down a bit further and the belly of the bird was resting on the water for a few seconds. But that the water blocked the signal which initiated return to home I had not considered.

 

[Blucenturion]

Man! Two more feet of altitude and we wouldn't have a story at all! This is one I'll remember a long time!

 

[kenwae]

Yeah, really, just a couple of feet, maybe even just one foot more altitude, or 6 inches....But, it may not have made any difference because what alerted me to the stupidity of my left thumb was the camera feed going out; I would have kept going down because my stupid left thumb thought it was going up....until the camera went out.......then it clicked. Pushing up on the left stick was probably the best move at the time, but as posted, return to home was probably initiated the moment the legs touched the water....it then went down a little further from momentum, and the gimbal got wet and messed up, so I couldn't see anything, and then it lifted up and came home. Within that small window of the legs touching the water, losing connection, and the gimbal getting wet, it was just a matter of inches and seconds, maybe millimeters and milliseconds.