Peculiar fly-away

[sar104]

Was the wind Onshore or off?

Post #17

 

[sar104]

That was onshore, according to weather data.

I think @Meta4 was pretty spot-on, though I still think I lost control around shoreline, making the mistake in believing my hovering on the beach before making flight was a good enough indicator for flying over the water in terms of wind.

Anyways, thanks to @Meta4 (& @sar104 ) for the blunt analysis of the logs I posted. It's a hard lesson that will come in handy when I replace the drone when I'm back on the mainland.

The data in post #17 are not weather data - those are the actual wind speeds computed from the aircraft attitude and the resulting ground speed.

 

[AndrewVDP]

Post #17

Thanks! Would you be able to show me the wind speed for the beginning of the fight? It's the first log I posted but can't find access to that data.

 

[sar104]

Thanks! Would you be able to show me the wind speed for the beginning of the fight? It's the first log I posted but can't find access to that data.

Not pretty. Over 50 mph:

 

[jeplane]

Did I read this right??

This guy was trying to fly his Mavic in a 50 MPH winds?

Seriously!??

 

[sar104]

That was onshore, according to weather data.

I think @Meta4 was pretty spot-on, though I still think I lost control around shoreline, making the mistake in believing my hovering on the beach before making flight was a good enough indicator for flying over the water in terms of wind.

Anyways, thanks to @Meta4 (& @sar104 ) for the blunt analysis of the logs I posted. It's a hard lesson that will come in handy when I replace the drone when I'm back on the mainland.

Looking at those wind profiles, had you descended to low altitude (e.g. 20 ft) and engaged sport mode, then you might have been able to fly the aircraft against the wind and back to shore. It would still have been marginal though.

 

[AndrewVDP]

Did I read this right??

This guy was trying to fly his Mavic in a 50 MPH winds?

Seriously!??

The details are here for the whole world to see. But yes, it did eventually approach 50 mph.. but not where I took off (from my perception). The Pacific is a volatile place so take this thread as a warning.

@sar104 I believe I did engage sport mode at some point but far too late in the game.

 

[sar104]

The details are here for the whole world to see. But yes, it did eventually approach 50 mph.. but not where I took off (from my perception). The Pacific is a volatile place so take this thread as a warning.

@sar104 I believe I did engage sport mode at some point but far too late in the game.

Yes - you switched between RTH and sport several times, but at around 100 ft AGL the wind was too strong. You would have needed to descend to as low a practically possible to have any chance of returning.

 

[Meta4]

Did I read this right??
This guy was trying to fly his Mavic in a 50 MPH winds?
Seriously!??

He launched from a location where he was sheltered from the wind but once the drone was away from that shelter, it was a one-way flight.
No-one is going to be launching a drone in 50 mph winds.
It's going to flip before it gets into the air - no-one is likely to even be out in 50 mph winds unless they have to for an urgent reason.

When you get trade winds blowing over steep islands you get a phenomenon sailors call bullets which results in very strong localised gusts rushing through valleys.
Bullets can be much stronger than the local winds away from the hills and valleys.
For a technical explanation: Weather by Malcolm Reilly - Bullets

 

[jeplane]

I find hard to believe that you can go from calm winds in an inlet, to 50 MPH a few hundred feet at sea, off the coast of Hawaii, without knowing it.

 

[macoman]

I find hard to believe that you can go from calm winds in an inlet, to 50 MPH a few hundred feet at sea, off the coast of Hawaii, without knowing it.

He probably knew already before taking off... Some people don't care.

 

[Grantt]

Thanks for sharing AndrewVDP. Its a good lesson we can all learn from.

 

[vlado1]

I had a similar case, but in the mountains. For a moment, my Mavic Pro disappeared from my sight. And he went still far way. I realized there was a strong wind. I directed the camera down and lowered my drone as much as possible. Then I headed it to the home point, and at sport mode I tried to get him back. Sometimes the wind brought it back, but I still managed to get it back. It was terrible.

 

[MinneapolisFlyGuy]

Meta,

People do things like this because they are learning. You could have been less "blunt" in your analysis while still giving all the relevant facts about what happened.

If the guy had been arrogant, I can see being blunt. But Andrew was just asking for help.

These forums can be really harsh, as young men tend to be to each other, especially on the internet. Reminds me of high school.

 

[sar104]

Meta,

People do things like this because they are learning. You could have been less "blunt" in your analysis while still giving all the relevant facts about what happened.

If the guy had been arrogant, I can see being blunt. But Andrew was just asking for help.

These forums can be really harsh, as young men tend to be to each other, especially on the internet. Reminds me of high school.

Young men? Which young men? Not too many of them around these internet outposts.

 

[AndrewVDP]

He probably knew already before taking off... Some people don't care.

That's a really silly thing to say.

Young men? Which young men? Not too many of them around these internet outposts.

I'm considered a "millennial", though I don't recall hearing that word when I was in school.

Thanks to everybody that took a look at the logs and pointed out my failure(s). Hard lesson learned but it will certainly come in handy when I purchase my Mavic 2 Pro in the upcoming months. I'll keep an eye on these forums to continue my education on safe flying.

 

[snoopx]

At that point, you could have recovered the Mavic - if you had disabled obstacle avoidance,

Hi, just out of interest, why would disabling OA have helped?

 

[Meta4]

Hi, just out of interest, why would disabling OA have helped?

This section of the manual explains it:
When the Forward Vision System is enabled and lighting conditions are sufficient, the maximum flight attitude angle is 16° with a maximum flight speed of 22 mph (36 kph).
When forward obstacle sensing are disabled, the maximum flight attitude angle is 25° and the maximum flight speed is 36 mph (58 kph).

The Mavic goes faster by tilting forward more.
Obstacle Avoidance can't work when the drone is tilted past 16° so it limits your tilt angle (and flight speed).
With OA off, you get a 60% speed increase.
If you are flying in a clear area where there's nothing to hit, you don't need to fly around with your brakes on.
He could also have tried Sport Mode but in my experience it doesn't really go much faster then GPS mode when pushing against a strong headwind.

 

[kidroc]

A very peculiar flyaway indeed so many lost mavics do to know fault of there owners ya right 50mph winds people get real..

where has the common sense gone!!!

 

[Steve Murray]

Sorry you lost your quad, and thanks for sharing with us. Never too old to learn! One thing puzzles me. I regularly get a strong wind warning while flying offshore here in Tenerife. Then it's time to descend and land. You don't mention any warnings?