New pilot woes :(

[Skerrabrae]

Poor judgement this morning cost me my Mini 2. It was a beautiful cool morning with fog, which is very unusual for my area, Decided to head to this unique area with stands of bare cypress overlying a swamp. I became too overconfident and decided to try to navigate through the trees. I was watching the drone and not the screen. I was taking it very slow and successful for 15 minutes. It was about 40 meters away slowly going past trees when it must have hit a small branch I could not see from my distance.

I heard the crack of plastic striking wood and watched as it turned to the side and dropped with a splash into the swamp. This area is far too muddy and deep to walk through so it is a total loss.

I have DJI Care Refresh but since I have no way to retrieve the drone, I suspect I will need to purchase a new unit.

Not a good way to begin the weekend. I will focus on the small positive that I did not decide to put on any filters this morning so I did not loose that as well.

 

[THE CYBORG]

I feel your pain
One reason to get drone insurance rather than refresh.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Would use of a small boat be possible, I can understand not wanting to wade through what maybe "snake infested swamp" etc. but a small boat and some form of grab might save you a several hundred dollars.

 

[Gagey52]

Mate I feel your pain, loosing a drone is like loosing your dog, (alright close enough). ? any thoughts about how you would have completed the task differently

 

[African wildlife]

Hi Skerrabrae. Good to see that you're honest enough to acknowledge it was down to "poor judgement". If you face reality, then learning/improvements can happen.

 

[iamcostas]

I am sorry for your loss. I guess all of us we have thought this is going to happen soon or later , while trying to capture the nature's beauty. Could a few photos of this place to show us the beauty of this place? I wish you was able to take a video so we could see...

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Sorry for your loss , its happened to many of us , you might consider getting the Rescue Jacket for the Mini 2 as we just posted this new product on our website.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mini 2 in the Rain and Float on the Water.

 

[Howard70]

Hello Skerrabrae:

Ouch - I’m really sorry to hear of this accident. Hang in there & get a replacement so you’ll fly again soon.

I’m not sure there is any way to completely remove the chance of losing a drone when one desires capturing the natural beauty of complex remote environments. I like to fly through tight constricted geologic features and feel it is only a matter of time before I kiss a rock with my Mavic Air 2. Initially I wanted my video footage to be continuous passes without pauses or restarts - that contributed to my exposure. After watch many of the great videos posted by our colleagues on this forum, I realized that the ones I liked best rarely had long clips winding through obstacles. Rather they usually had short but intense passages. That helped me fly safer as I‘ll now practice a passage a couple of times before filming it.

Good luck with your replacement and I hope you’re flying again soon.

Howard

 

[TheDude]

I will focus on the small positive that I did not decide to put on any filters this morning so I did not loose that as well.

I guess on that token, at least it wasn’t a Mavic 2 Pro or more expensive bird...?

Not to diminish the loss, but there is some comfort in knowing if something happens to my Mini 2, I will be way less heart broken than if I had invested 2-3x it’s cost.

Keep your head up. You and everyone else walked away safe to fly another day. You’ll be back up in the air!

 

[Jay241]

Sorry to hear that Skerrabrae. Thanks for sharing the experience so we all learned from it. As TheDude said, glad you and everyone walked away safe. Swamps are amazing but can be deadly for drones, too many thin branches sticking out hard to see sometimes. Hope you'll be up in no time.

BTW, I did get a "Personal Articles Insurance" with state farm. I know it will not help you this time but next time it can be an option. I paid 75.00 here in S. Fla for the 1 year policy and covers pretty much everything.

 

[Skerrabrae]

Thanks all. Yes, I am relieved it was not a more expensive drone. Lesson learned and I do acknowledge it was 100% my fault for using such poor judgement. I have been so careful up to now but I was inspired by other footage I've seen on YT and thought if I look for an opening and slowly make my way through...

The ironic thing is I bought the prop guards for the Mini 2 but they are still in the box. Didn't even think to bring them, although not sure it would have saved me this morning.

Anyway, here is the low res phone version of the incident. I could not see that branch at all from where I was standing. While the ground underneath looks firm, if you step on that from the near bank, you will sink over your ankles in muck. I saw the drone splash right into the water in the foreground.

I am considering going back this afternoon to see a way around but will need to bring some kind of net to fish around under the water. I figure I do have the footage for reference. I'm pretty sure the drone is not salvageable but I do want to try for care refresh.

Actually, now that I watch the footage again and see what I was flying into, I want to kick myself for being this foolish There were far too many obstacles in there and with the reduced visibility, I'm still shocked at my decision.

As for what I would have done differently, I would have ensured to fly well above this scenario and certainly not into it. It would be just as interesting from above.

Ending of a short era

• Skerrabrae
• Jan 23, 2021

 

[African wildlife]

Hello Skerrabrae:

Ouch - I’m really sorry to hear of this accident. Hang in there & get a replacement so you’ll fly again soon.

I’m not sure there is any way to completely remove the chance of losing a drone when one desires capturing the natural beauty of complex remote environments. I like to fly through tight constricted geologic features and feel it is only a matter of time before I kiss a rock with my Mavic Air 2. Initially I wanted my video footage to be continuous passes without pauses or restarts - that contributed to my exposure. After watch many of the great videos posted by our colleagues on this forum, I realized that the ones I liked best rarely had long clips winding through obstacles. Rather they usually had short but intense passages. That helped me fly safer as I‘ll now practice a passage a couple of times before filming it.

Good luck with your replacement and I hope you’re flying again soon.

Howard

I would just like to stress that all of our pro filming is in wild landscapes, which are often rugged and rocky, and we've never crashed.

It boils down to two simple factors. Be prepared by knowing what you want to film or photograph, preferably in advance (or, if not, first do a trial flight). Then use your mental abilities to fly carefully so as to execute your plans. It really isn't difficult if you're serious.

I know we're all "pilots", but thankfully the real pilots who fly commercial aircraft don't often get it wrong. And I fly overseas a lot. A few years ago, in a whole calendar year, there wasn't a single commercial crash anywhere in the world. We drone pilots should follow the example of those real pilots - as I know some of us do.

I'm also a huge fan of New Mexico - as well as Utah, Arizona, and California. Best wishes from the UK.

 

[DanMan32]

You can't compare flying inside a commercial aircraft with remote piloting. They are totally different reasons for flying, capabilities, risks, and most importantly visual viewpoint.

For the viewpoint comparison, a MAV pilot wouldn't be allowed to fly if his vision was like that of what's equivalent of a UAV pilot.

This is why i feel strict adherence to VLOS isn't much safer than FPV.

 

[Skerrabrae]

I did end up going back out there and retrieved my drone. I took the SUP out, paddled to the other bank and saw in resting at the bottom through the caramel colored waters. Could not reach it so had to jump in to waist deep water and was able to snatch it. Now to start the Care Refresh process.

 

[iamcostas]

I did end up going back out there and retrieved my drone. I took the SUP out, paddled to the other bank and saw in resting at the bottom through the caramel colored waters. Could not reach it so had to jump in to waist deep water and was able to snatch it. Now to start the Care Refresh process.

I thought you will not able to get it back but you did it! ??
Scary!

 

[Skerrabrae]

I thought you will not able to get it back but you did it! ??
Scary!

It actually was a bit scary.

This is a natural water area in South Fl and I've seen alligators here on many occasions, some not so small. I must admit that was on my mind when I leapt off the SUP into the water and scrambled down to retrieve the drone. Ended up having some difficultly getting back on the SUP since I was rushing it. Took me a good 4 attempts.

 

[iamcostas]

I guess you could read a lot in this forum about what you could possibly do about this drone. It will be a massive surprise if you will manage to bring this drone back to life. It will be like resurrection ?.
Anyway, at least you have your drone back. That was a big adventure which you are going to remember for while or tell stories about it ?. If you fly this drone again I will like to know ?

 

[Skerrabrae]

I guess you could read a lot in this forum about what you could possibly do about this drone. It will be a massive surprise if you will manage to bring this drone back to life. It will be like resurrection ?.
Anyway, at least you have your drone back. That was a big adventure which you are going to remember for while or tell stories about it ?. If you fly this drone again I will like to know ?

The drone was fully submerged in waist deep water for 6 hours. When I got it home, I found it now weighs noticeably more than it used to so I'm sure its still full of water, although nothing is leaking out. I don't intend to ever try to turn it on and just opened my Care Refresh case. Even in the very remote chance it still powered on, I would never trust it in the air again.

Not sure when I'll be flying again, but I have been considering adding a MA2 to my small fleet of 1 over the past couple weeks. Perhaps this potentially long wait could sway me.

 

[iamcostas]

I think I read somewhere that wet drone batteries could be dangerous . I will do some research...

 

[Tomk_]

perhaps you can sell the footage: Drone & Ground Footage Requested By Clients #239