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New pilot woes :(

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.
Actually, DanMan32, you can do just that, which is what I did and was trying to explain. But perhaps I could have more clearly explained that I was solely referring to the psychological or human factors that add up to top-level professionalism or seriousness.

Your point of strict adherence to VLOS not being completely safe is something I would definitely agree with, simply because there are many associated factors involved - most of which are psychological ones.
 
Congratulations on your honesty at being at fault, and even more congratulations for retrieving your drone! A story we can all take something from. ???

When I saw your phone video I thought geez there is no way you could get through there without someone in front cutting a passage! Anyway, I hope we’ll here that your Refresh was honoured. ??

I fly a MA2 over surf and rugged coastline a lot, and breathe a sigh of relief every time I bring her back alive! ?
 
Wow. Great story of loss but finding it again.

I always look to see if there is a way to get my drone back if it landed or something happens to it.

I have read and watched videos of people trying to get the drone back so it make very aware of my surrounding area.

Good job of getting it back and making memories that you will never forget.
 
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.
I am somewhat familiar with the swampy areas, having done a "Swamp Walk" at the Florida Visitor's Center. Most of the time, the swamp is no more than waist height. You need old sneakers and throw away pants. Locate the drone with "Find My Drone". See attachments.

Big Cypress Swamp Welcome Center on Tamiami Trail​

 

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I am somewhat familiar with the swampy areas, having done a "Swamp Walk" at the Florida Visitor's Center. Most of the time, the swamp is no more than waist height. You need old sneakers and throw away pants. Locate the drone with "Find My Drone". See attachments.

Big Cypress Swamp Welcome Center on Tamiami Trail​

Interesting swamp walk photos. I have not done that yet. I've walked over similar landscape via boardwalks but never walked through it. Well, until yesterday, that is. :oops: I'm surprised that does not suck the shoes right off your feet. ?
 
Today I shipped off my Mini 2 in its little coffin to DJI repair.

As I mentioned, I have been debating adding a MA2 to my fleet for weeks now, mainly for HDR, slow motion, spotlight mode, and Cinelike color profile. But now this incident made me realize having more than one drone for backup purposes can be useful so that solidified my decision. Picked up a MA2 fly more yesterday evening. Of course when I was prompted to add DJI Care after activating, I did not hesitate.

Completed my initial flight this morning and loved it but still will be eagerly awaiting the return of my Mini. I have to get adjusted to the slightly "heavier" feel of the MA2. I do really like that they both use the same controller and Fly app. This will make switching back and forth much easier.
 
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.
Ooops, sorry to read about the crash. Fortunately you did persevere and retrieved it so you can at least minimize the cost. Good on you to own the incident, and I'll bet you won't do that again.

It's easy to have a lapse in judgement and I think many of us are guilty of the same. In a lot of cases we get away with it. I know I have.

Hopefully you're back in the air soon.
 
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.
Congratulations, not only for your retrieval, but for taking responsibility. You will learn from this and move on. We all make mistakes but loosing your drone without recovery is a real Bummer. Good luck on your future flights.
 
It was a beautiful cool morning with fog, which is very unusual for my area,

My sympathies for you Skerrabrae and I'm glad you were able to retrieve your drone. I do acknowledge that you have admitted to poor judgement in flying that morning. I don't mean to sound judgemental however in Australia, we have clear rules that say recreational flyers are not to fly in fog, at night or any time where visibility is affected. There are clearly a few reasons for that but I have read numerous times where flyers have damaged or lost their drones when not abiding by these rules, here in Australia and O/S. Many people seem to fly their drones at night and companies sell a profusion of accessories that are for night flying. I'm not saying that flying in fog or at night are the only reason flyers lose or damage their drones but it does, on occasions, appear to be a contributing factor.
 
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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.
Don't feel bad it has happened to many new (& old-er) pilots. Maybe the MA2 should be your next drone. Good luck!
 
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.
Fortunately things like that mainly happen when you are a new pilot still getting used to it it happened to me as well I went through 2 Mavic two pros when I first started all under care refresh but you really need to have both kinds of insurance care refresh and loss theft via state farm or wherever
 
I feel your pain :eek:
One reason to get drone insurance rather than refresh.
I second that thought. State Farm doesn’t require you to recover the drone and is quite reasonable in PA. Very sorry for your incident but am glad you made the recovery.
 
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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.
Dude...stop. I work with Pros on the contstant and EVERYONE has had a "bump" or two along the way. We are not transporting people like "real pliots" and if no one is at risk at being harmed then sometimes you have to "risk it for the biscuit". Crashes are part of the learning process. I bet OP doesn't fly into such a sketchy area again for one.
 
Dude...stop. I work with Pros on the contstant and EVERYONE has had a "bump" or two along the way. We are not transporting people like "real pliots" and if no one is at risk at being harmed then sometimes you have to "risk it for the biscuit". Crashes are part of the learning process. I bet OP doesn't fly into such a sketchy area again for one.
That simply isn't true. Not all pros are good. And crashing has not been part of our learning process. (Try getting away with that dubious statement if you're learning to drive a car. :oops:)

Perhaps three years ago, I started a poll on the PhantomPilots forum and there were a number of experienced members who hadn't (yet) crashed. We're far from being alone. We're more worried, and likely, to lose a drone to an eagle than to crash it.

My point with the comparison to "real pilots" is a valid one, simply based on a general level of seriousness or attitude. And, yes, I'm fully aware at how many commercial airline pilots (American ones in particular) have been arrested here in the UK during the past few years for being drunk before a flight.

You quoting "to risk it for the biscuit" doesn't really say anything. Nor does it reflect the professional reality. Pick 10 random movies, documentaries, or TV series that use drone footage. Study it. You'll mostly see there is no "risk" required in getting the footage. We often work in "risky" countries - Somalia, to give one obvious example - so it's not as if we're unfamiliar with "risk".
 
That simply isn't true. Not all pros are good. And crashing has not been part of our learning process. (Try getting away with that dubious statement if you're learning to drive a car. :oops:)

Perhaps three years ago, I started a poll on the PhantomPilots forum and there were a number of experienced members who hadn't (yet) crashed. We're far from being alone. We're more worried, and likely, to lose a drone to an eagle than to crash it.

My point with the comparison to "real pilots" is a valid one, simply based on a general level of seriousness or attitude. And, yes, I'm fully aware at how many commercial airline pilots (American ones in particular) have been arrested here in the UK during the past few years for being drunk before a flight.

You quoting "to risk it for the biscuit" doesn't really say anything. Nor does it reflect the professional reality. Pick 10 random movies, documentaries, or TV series that use drone footage. Study it. You'll mostly see there is no "risk" required in getting the footage. We often work in "risky" countries - Somalia, to give one obvious example - so it's not as if we're unfamiliar with "risk".
Dude I've worked on way over "10 random movies, docs, tv series"...I don't need to study it, I live it. I've worked in Film Prodcution all over the world for over a decade. For you to say there is "no risk in getting the footage" is quite possibly the most assine statement I've read on the internet today. And I've already been on Twitter.

Stay safe *not that you need that advice ;)
 
Update to my crash report from Jan-23. I just received my replacement Care Refresh Mini 2 today. It took a bit longer than I anticipated but it is retail packaging still in the plastic wrap so I assume it's not a refurbished unit.

I did pick up my Air 2 in the interim though so I am now up to two in my fleet. Now that I looked at my crash footage again, I realize not only was it poor ADM to fly into the woods, the fog casts doubt that I actually had 3 miles visibility either, although that fog was settled by the water and not so much on my drive out. Either way, two lessons learned.
 
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