Pilot in training, had a scare

techandfitness · Dec 6, 2017

So I am a proud new owner of a MP and must say I am highly impressed with what this thing can do. I am read around here and YouTubed nearly every video on this thing to learn as much as I could but had a scare the 3rd time running it. First few times I kept it low and slow with the controller. I decided to give the WiFi phone controls a try so followed proper protocol by turning everything off, switching AC to WiFi mode and connecting my phone. After taking off and hovering within a few meters my iPhone seemed to connect to my home WiFi and I lost control of the AC. At this point I figured since the drone was with in reach I would grab it very carefully and hold it while I connect the phone again. Wellllll I learned quickly that the vision sensors came into play and it fought me HARD to get away. I now realized it was probably just trying to maintain its position but did not want to trust the technology and let it orbit into space. I reached over top to try the power button with no success and did not pull the battery due to the manual clearly stating not to do so. I was lucky to have 15 percent battery left and just let it die down in my hand but boy was I sweating.. from this I have learned to let the sensors do their thing but I am just trying to find a manual over ride in the event of an emergency to kill this thing. Was I wrong for fighting it? What should have been done with no remote connection and wanting to hover over a balcony? My gut tells me this highly engineered piece of kit would not just FLY away since it had no direction from an RC but I’ve been scared years ago with run away cars that would stick at full throttle if controller disconnected. I appreciate your patience and input. Glad to be a member with such educated airmen.

Hollow Dog · Dec 6, 2017

Learning to fly your mavic from a balcony probably wasn't the greatest idea to begin with.

Mossiback · Dec 6, 2017

After 20 seconds RTH would kick in and it would have landed where it was (if it were less than 20 meters from its home point). You can read about RTH here: How to use DJI’s Return to Home (RTH) Safely

I guess practice is good but next time do it in an open area. WiFi is not as responsive and has less range than your RC.

locoman · Dec 7, 2017

if I were you, I would go back to beginner mode for a while longer and forget about anything fancy. After 5 months of flying, I have yet to try to fly in WiFi mode. The problem with the Mavic is that it is too easy to fly and we can get over confident to quickly. I have flown RC aircraft for years and never was able to fly a bird so easy as the Mavic.

Anthony · Dec 7, 2017

I would NEVER fly a mavic in WIFI mode as it's just not as stable connection as the RC and the response time for the Mavic to react to movements has some lag on it in the testing I did.

techandfitness · Dec 7, 2017

All good advice and I appreciate but I’m still searching for an answer regarding an emergency turn off with NO connection. I suppose we are required to put faith into the failsafe programming and call it a day. Anything else would just be classified as a freak accident.

diego · Dec 7, 2017

Just grab it and flip to 90 degrees and it will shut off (apparently)

Anthony · Dec 7, 2017

techandfitness said:
All good advice and I appreciate but I’m still searching for an answer regarding an emergency turn off with NO connection. I suppose we are required to put faith into the failsafe programming and call it a day. Anything else would just be classified as a freak accident.

I have tested complete loss of connection about 6 months ago and the mavic went into RTH and landed.

However you can set your action when connection is lost ie Hover .... now as long as you are hovering over land you can get to and the mavic can land on, it will hover until 10% battery and will then land.

But I think I will test this as soon as the weather allows me to ....

I always test the RTH after every FW update.

techandfitness · Dec 7, 2017

Good point in regards to testing after updates. I think the 90 degree trick is what I was looking for. I am fully aware of the app and all its functionality, I looked through every settings pane a few times. I think hover should be used situationally as it’s not ideal for every flight. RTH scares me if it were to ascend and hit something over head. But the more I’m thinking, these are birds and want to be up high.. I should not have a need or want to fly low and then worry about climbing 50 ft to hit a tree.

Anthony · Dec 7, 2017

Also depending on why you loose connection you can always try to reconnect once your Mavic is close by ... I always carry a power block just incase I loose RC power so I can just plug it in and power the RC back up.