Report Your Over Water Failure

[Mossiback]

In this scenario (where a negative height is displayed), what will happen if an RTH is triggered and RTH is set to 30m? Am I correct if I assume that the drone will climb to the ground altitude at the home point and a further 30 meters above that before returning home?...

Hi and Welcome! If displaying a negative height RTH will first rise up to zero and then continue to the RTH height setting in Go 4, providing that RTH was set to return as opposed to hover.

 

[Deleted member 94047]

Hi and Welcome! If displaying a negative height RTH will first rise up to zero and then continue to the RTH height setting in Go 4, providing that RTH was set to return as opposed to hover.

Thanks! Much appreciated.

 

[Meta4]

Hi and Welcome! If displaying a negative height RTH will first rise up to zero and then continue to the RTH height setting in Go 4, providing that RTH was set to return as opposed to hover.

RTH will always RTH
You can't set RTH to return or hover.
You are making the common error of confusing RTH with Loss of Signal actions.

 

[Mossiback]

RTH will always RTH
You can't set RTH to return or hover.
You are making the common error of confusing RTH with Loss of Signal actions.

You are correct. I should have specified the LOS setting instead of RTH.

 

[JakeRobinson]

Two things. Get the DJI Care program so you can get up to two replacement drones in the year -- even for water damage (drowning); and two, put some floats on it in case it does take a dive. You need to recover the drone to be able to send it back to DJI for replacement. I picked up my floats on eBay for under $15 and they don't affect flying at all. Good investment!

or another way... I called my homeowner's insurance (agent) and asked for a separate policy (personal items policy) they told me my drone would be covered under my basic personal items coverage. Instead, I asked what the cost would be to cover it separately. She asked what the drone was worth. I said, "New, with all the accessories about $1900." She checked with underwriting and came back and quoted me $12 for the whole year - I asked if it would be covered if it crashed, in water, not recovered, stolen, away from home, etc... every question I asked was answered with, it doesn't matter - it's covered - just call us and make a claim and we'll issue a claim check for $2,000 (she rounded the coverage level up)

best $12 I've ever spent... sleep much better now.

 

[kaitokid535]

Happened to me yesterday,

I was flying my drone and set it to Sport mode thinking that nothing bad will happen, when suddenly I accelerated my drone towards me and suddenly it flips over and goes in to the water (5 ~ 10m altitude above water).

Luckily it crashed just near my friend and was able to recover it after some few seconds from crash, when the drone was handed over to me I immediately removed the battery and I rinsed it with mineral water to remove the salt water, then I dry it using my bath towel find a container put the drone and fill it with rice.

When I got home, I use a hair blower (with cool setting) to dry off the inside components but the blower isn't enough so luckily there's a powerful vacuum hanging around, and blow off inside the drone for 30 mins to make sure the components inside is being dried.

I tried to turn it on just to check if it survived and miraculously and it turned on but there were battery and sensor errors.

I thought all hope was lost, so I look for silica gel and found some inside the shoe boxes and store my drone inside the hard case with silica gels on it, and leave it overnight.

The next day, another miracle happened and the sensor errors are now gone and I tried to fly it without problems.

But I am not yet satisfied with the recovery as I haven't tested all of its features yet (eg: Active Track, Quick Shots, etc.), I still have to do some testing this weekend.

Will let you know of my further progress.


From my analysis of what happened is that when you set it to sport mode the drone will fly fast and thus the tilt/angle of the drone will change and most probably a strong wind hit the drone causing it to flip.

Hey guys, for those who were wondering on what happened, for some reason I was able to fetch the flight log file from my phone (I'm pretty sure my FlightRecord folder was kind of empty until I re-sync my data).
Anyways, here's the link fo the log:

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload and view flight logs from your DJI drones

www.phantomhelp.com

 

[sar104]

Hey guys, for those who were wondering on what happened, for some reason I was able to fetch the flight log file from my phone (I'm pretty sure my FlightRecord folder was kind of empty until I re-sync my data).
Anyways, here's the link fo the log:

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload and view flight logs from your DJI drones

www.phantomhelp.com

Interesting ending, and it's not completely clear to me what happened. The maximum wind speed during the flight was around 4 m/s (10 mph), and so that was almost certainly not a factor.






The shows that you switched to sport mode at 580 seconds and then applied forward elevator. The aircraft accelerated to 16 m/s at a height of 5 meters above the water and then, at 612 seconds, you abruptly centered the elevator. You can see the aircraft pitch back around 30° to slow down, but within 0.2 seconds, it starts to move downwards. The log follows 3 meters of descent with the aircraft tumbling right. The only reasonably consistent explanation that I can see is that it lost one of the right side props or motors. Were they all on the aircraft when your friend recovered it?

 

[the.ronin]

3 meters of uncontrolled decent wow!!

 

[Meta4]

Hey guys, for those who were wondering on what happened, for some reason I was able to fetch the flight log file from my phone (I'm pretty sure my FlightRecord folder was kind of empty until I re-sync my data).
Anyways, here's the link for the log:

The data shows that the drone departed stable flight around 10:13 with sudden big changes in pitch, roll and yaw (shown in yellow).
Which means it was tilting forward and back while it rolled and spiraled while losing altitude.
This kind of motion in three axes suggests that one of the props stopped turning or came adrift.
The motor obstructed message might indicate a prop hitting the water (?)

 

[kaitokid535]

Interesting ending, and it's not completely clear to me what happened. The maximum wind speed during the flight was around 4 m/s (10 mph), and so that was almost certainly not a factor.

View attachment 67619

View attachment 67618


The shows that you switched to sport mode at 580 seconds and then applied forward elevator. The aircraft accelerated to 16 m/s at a height of 5 meters above the water and then, at 612 seconds, you abruptly centered the elevator. You can see the aircraft pitch back around 30° to slow down, but within 0.2 seconds, it starts to move downwards. The log follows 3 meters of descent with the aircraft tumbling right. The only reasonably consistent explanation that I can see is that it lost one of the right side props or motors. Were they all on the aircraft when your friend recovered it?

yes, the props were intact when it was recovered.

 

[kaitokid535]

The data shows that the drone departed stable flight around 10:13 with sudden big changes in pitch, roll and yaw (shown in yellow).
Which means it was tilting forward and back while it rolled and spiraled while losing altitude.
This kind of motion in three axes suggests that one of the props stopped turning or came adrift.
The motor obstructed message might indicate a prop hitting the water (?)

From what I've seen it was tilting forward when it suddenly rolled, in my point of view it might have been caused by strong wind but I cannot say if one of the props did stopped turning for some reason.

Yes, the motor obstructed was caused by the crash in the water.

 

[sar104]

yes, the props were intact when it was recovered.

Then I'd need to see the DAT file motor data to try to figure out what happened.

Mobile device DAT file: How to retrieve a V3.DAT from the tablet

From what I've seen it was tilting forward when it suddenly rolled, in my point of view it might have been caused by strong wind but I cannot say if one of the props did stopped turning for some reason.

Yes, the motor obstructed was caused by the crash in the water.

No - it was tilting backwards (braking) when it rolled. See graph 2, post #47. It was not caused by wind - wind will not flip and tumble a quad.

 

[kaitokid535]

Then I'd need to see the DAT file motor data to try to figure out what happened.

Mobile device DAT file: How to retrieve a V3.DAT from the tablet



No - it was tilting backwards (braking) when it rolled. See graph 2, post #47. It was not caused by wind - wind will not flip and tumble a quad.

sure, here are the .dat files, not sure which one but it should be one of them.

 

[Katsumoto]

I'm reading a lot of posts about people losing control of their drone when flying over water in some cases even losing their drone after crashing in the water. This is of particular importance to me since I plan to fly over ocean water often and would like to close somewhat low level passes on my friends surfing.

If this has happened to you, would you mind describing the flight situation and how you were able to recover if at all? In particular:

1) Flight mode and drone attitude during the failure.
2) Altitude above the water and characteristics of the water (choppy ocean, smooth lake, running river etc.).
3) Immediate weather environment (clear, foggy, drizzly, snowing, windy, calm, etc.)
4) Description of the equipment failure itself.

Thanks and hopefully others can find this helpful as well.

Report Your Over Water Failure

 

[Katsumoto]

I will NEVER fly over water without floats, just for a better feeling...
with my selfmade floats i made really a lot of waterlandings without problems....and you can really make cool videos...
No need to turn of the downward facing sensors .....
.......saw and read to much horror storys.......
if you wanna fly save - use floats, they are very inexpensive , easy to make, easy to attach (~10sec)......

 

[sar104]

sure, here are the .dat files, not sure which one but it should be one of them.

It was the right front motor that failed. Looking at motor speed, motor demand and motor current, you can see that at 611.45 (DAT offset time) the right front motor demand and current increase, but the motor speed drops to zero. That causes the right roll and crash. And it occurs well before the accelerometers record any impact with the water.

 

[iamdorian]

Forum members might be interested in my over-the-water crash. It was unusual. It was also a case of POOR Risk Management on my part; for which there is no excuse, as I've been flying multi rotors for years ... just not enough air time I guess?

Story goes like this. Planned a Litchi flight UNDER A BRIDGE (risk #1). Decided where to stand for sun to be behind my back with the best view of the 'copter, but changed this decision at the last moment (risk #2).

Crossed the slough (this is off Sauvie Island, in Portland Oregon), and launched from the opposite bank, deciding that the clouds would make evening sunset sun not an issue. In so going I placed myself only 75 yards from a raptor (unusual in December, this was December 24th) and this began to take my attention off flying. These birds will attack them as will Osprey, because a ANY drone — hovering — is perceived by this action) aerial hovering) as another bird of prey. This goes double for seagulls (whose young Bald Eagles and Osprey will eat), and so on. So I was distracted by this bird (risk #3).

AS the bird was on automatic, and a MAvic 2 Pro, it was a middle/dark gray, JUST LIKE THE LEAFLESS TREES as seen from THIS NEW perspective! I was used to larger multi rotors like my Inspire 1 and Inspire 2, and several WHITE Phantoms, so this DRONE-IS-INVISIBLE-IN-FRONT-OF-LEAFLESS-TREES thing was totally new to me! (risk #4, and a BIG one!)

The Mavic 2 Pro was programmed to do a 360º loop around the bridge, and as it began flying up the slough and under the bridge, it was at about 30 feet, JUST AT TREELINE, so as it began its under-the-bridge run it was now lost to my sight, invisible and on its own ... with a raptor eying it! More side-tracking of my attention, and this is where I could no longer see it. I began to panic!

By the time I screwed the pooch I was relying on trying to fix position and judge danger looking at my little iPhone screen, and I usually do NOT fly with something that small. HARD TO READ with my aging (far sighted) eyes, but this is what I used for convenience. (risk#5)

Before the flight I had messed with my settings (new Mavic and trying to fine tune) and had apparently and accidentally turned one off my bottom button controls to FPV. This was NOT deliberate, but an accident, and I'd never seen FPV on my drones before because (as far as I know) this specific choice was not on the bigger birds but on consumer/prosumer DJI products only. So this was now turned on where my MAPS OVERVIEW usually was. (risk #6)

Wanted to see where in the hell the Mavic 2 was so (as I had trained myself to do — before changing my usual settings — and hit the button for FPV instead. I am now almost directly in front of the Sauvie Island Bridge by perhaps 40 feet and beginning under. I see it on my screen and then do the dumbest thing imaginable ... because I did not realize I was in FVP and because I HAD TO KNOW where I was, because I was concerned that LITCHI has screwed up and my path was about to crash into the bridge deck. So ...

... I placed my finger on the camera view screen and tipped the camera to look up ... so what happened?? (risk #7)

Naturally, as it flew forward authentically, before I could switch to ATTI to cancel and then try backing up ... I flew RIGHT INTO the underside of the bridge deck!!!

CLASSIC CASE OF NOT TAKING A RISK ASSESSMENT and making last minutes changes to a flight plan and just about every aspect of a carefully planned flight, also thanks to being shaken by my new temporary best friend/foe the Bald Eagle.

The last thing I was was a sudden approach to the bridge and the scammer go wonky! Looked up and saw the hazy light of the evening's sun glinting off the occasional fuselage angle and prop, scintillating and gyrating as it fell, I watched in horror as my Christmas present to myself and 10 day-old Mavic 2 Pro plummeted into the slowly moving, 30' plus deep, murky winter waters of the rain-swollen Sauvie Island slough, and saw the terrible (slow motion in my mind) smash as it hit. Went over there immediately but it had crashed about 40 feet out from the floating homes, and went straight to the bottom I am sure.

The ducks and cormorants were non-plussed, the evening quiet and dim as evening approached ... felt like a funeral and the gurgling river sounds seemed like a dirge.

LESSON: Practice and be strict about RISK ASSESSMENT, trust this training and NOT your impulses, and do not get side-tracked. MOST IMPORTANT, no automatic flights in areas where one can easily loose sight of a drone ... and this goes TRIPLE for over water shots.

EPILOGUE

I bought a set of 5-mile strobes and some clever 3D printed holders for my (NEW) Mavic 2's rear arms and one that attached on the top of the case. GREEN on Starboard side and RED on the Port rear legs (as it should be for navigation lights) and the bright white strobe facing forward on top. In MOST cases I can now clearly sea the drone even in the brighter afternoon light approaching dusk and after sunset like a lightouse!

I consider this investment (over $100.00) to be an ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENT for flying a Mavic 2 series multi rotor. I NEVER FLY WITHOUT THIS safety precaution, and I think this wise for ALL Mavic pilots.

Hope this helps? (Dorian)

 

[Meta4]

if you wanna fly save - use floats, they are very inexpensive , easy to make, easy to attach (~10sec)......

Those floats look like they would cut your drone's speed in half, reduce your flight time and make a big increase in sail area to kill the drone's ability to fight any wind.
Do you have any numbers to show their effect on flight?
They look fine for landing in a small pond but horrible for flying.
I'd think they would be more likely to contribute to losing the drone than enhancing flight safety.

 

[Thomas B]

Those floats look like they would cut your drone's speed in half, reduce your flight time and make a big increase in sail area to kill the drone's ability to fight any wind.
Do you have any numbers to show their effect on flight?
They look fine for landing in a small pond but horrible for flying.
I'd think they would be more likely to contribute to losing the drone than enhancing flight safety.

Don’t know about how much but I agree. I’ll stick with my Arris Raptor since the drone flies fine and I can remove the floats and still use the remaining landing gear for increased ground clearance in tall grass, sand, loose dirt, etc.

 

[Meta4]

Don’t know about how much but I agree. I’ll stick with my Arris Raptor since the drone flies fine and I can remove the floats and still use the remaining landing gear for increased ground clearance in tall grass, sand, loose dirt, etc.

Have you calculated what effect those floats have on flight characteristics?
It's very hard to find anyone that can/will give numbers.