Second drone gone in six months. :(

[Yeunglings]

Exactly! It was plenty clear in front of me, but not behind. My mistake was not pointing my gimbal straight down so I could see what was underneath my Mini. And the reason I did not use the RTH button was because 20 minutes earlier, I was in another location in the park and when I hit RTH, the drone landed about 15 feet away from where it took off. In this new location, I was afraid the drone would do the same thing, and hit one of the trees that were nearby.

I know that with my now-deceased Spark, when you take off you were supposed to fly up 25'-30' and pause for a moment so the drone could lock onto its home point. Should I have done this with my Mini?

In any event, I have learned several valuable lessons when flying a drone: 1) Never be in Sport Mode when you don't have VLOS and you are surrounded by tall buildings and/or trees; 2) If you need to land and can't see your drone, point your camera straight down and look for a clearing to land, even if it is a short distance away from you. Maybe by the time it's only 20 feet off the ground, you will be able to see it and bring it toward you.

Meanwhile, I am trying to decide whether to get another Mini or the Mini 2. The main reason I fly is for the photography & videography aspect, so I like the ability to shoot in RAW. But the 4K video is not as important to me at this moment. I also like the fact that I wouldn't have to take my phone out of its case to use the Mini 2's new controller. Now, if I can just justify the price!

If you want to feel better about the price on upgrading the MM batteries work in the Mini 2 according to DJI so if you have the fly more kit already the only thing that wouldn't fit is the new controller. However they will put you above the 250g mark so you have to register with the FAA. But then again if you're doing everything you're supposed to and someone wants to mess with you/ call the police you have your registration card to cover your ***. I got mine even before buying the MA2 for just that reason.

 

[scro]

If its any consolation to you I got my Mini stuck up a tall tree (about 50ft up) and it stayed there for 4 weeks before I eventually got it down. It survived several torrential downpours and only needed a dry out and fresh battery to get it airborne again. Its still flying well, more than 4mths later. The only way I managed to locate it in the tree was due to having previously fitted some reflective yellow tape to it and using a camera with flashgun. I eventually found a yellow glint in one of the photos. A good torch at night would have worked too, but it nearly doesn't get dark at night in the middle of summer where I live. I got the drone down by assembling several lengths of construction timber together and using this to poke/shake the branches. The landing was cushioned by some bracken, but an old sheet or netting could be rigged up as a crash mat too.

Good luck getting it back! ?

 

[DanMan32]

OP: you are correct. If you were to hit RTH it would have just landed since it was only 5 ft behind you so not much more distant from TO in front of you. Within a certain distance from home point it just lands. That's either 60ft or 15ft, depending if this model returns home within 60ft at current altitude or not.

 

[Flying eye]

My Mavic Mini got eaten by a tree today. What makes this especially upsetting is that I had bought the Mini only 6 months ago to replace a Spark which had a fatal crash into a building.

In both cases, bright sunlight played a big part in their demise. I just couldn’t see the light-colored drones.

Today I was flying my Mini at a local heavily-wooded park when I decided to bring her in. The view on my phone screen showed that it was pretty much overhead to near to where I was standing. But the picture on the screen was deceptive because of my gimbal’s camera angle. Actually, my mini was maybe 15-20 feet behind me. I should have had the camera pointing straight down.

The picture on my screen soon became a tangle of tree branches, and I knew I was in trouble. I tried to climb, and the Mini jerked around a bit, and then stopped.

I walked around looking for it, but the trees in the park are very tall, and most still have a lot of leaves on them, so it would be hard to spot the drone. The Find My Drone showed me I was very near the Mini, but, like I said, there were too many leaves in the way. And the beeping and flashing the light feature was useless; there was too much noise from a nearby highway, and way too bright out to see any flashing light.

I was thinking of going back after the sun started to set, but the drone only had 30% of battery power left and would probably be drained by then. Also, even if I did spot it, it would be up way too high to retrieve it.

I suspect it will take a very stiff wind to dislodge the drone. Meanwhile, I do have a waterproof sticker attached to the Mini with my name and phone number on it. But I’m afraid the Mini wouldn’t be able to survive such long drop to the ground. (Not to mention the rain storm predicted for later this week.)

I have DJI’s insurance policy, but without a drone to turn in, they would not give me a replacement. So I am out of luck ... again! ?

STIHL or Husqvarna may be your solution.

 

[Mister Cee]

State Farm insured my Mavic Air 2 for $75 per year under a "personal articles" policy. It covers situations like this, where the drone is lost or otherwise can not be retrieved. Bonus: There is NO DEDUCTIBLE.

 

[cameraz]

I FOUND MY MINI! ?

Last night, I was playing around with my cell phone, and I started up my DJI Fly app. I went into the Flight Data Center where it shows the flight path of all of your flights. I had only used this feature once before, when I owned a Spark, and then I kind of forgot about it. Well, there was a complete diagram of my flight. And when I put it into Satellite View, I could clearly recognize the area I was flying in.

Low and behold, it showed where my Mini took its last breath ... about 20 feet behind me. Now, I had searched thoroughly (on two different days) but was unable to see the Mini since the trees were still pretty densely covered with leaves. Well, since then, we've had two days of rain and some stiff breezes. I figured many of those leaves must be gone now, so I drove to the park today to take another look.

As I approached the area where the map said my Mini got eaten by the tree, I looked up at the surrounding trees (which were now pretty bare), but couldn't see my drone. Well, I took a couple of steps off the path I was on, when I saw angular white object sticking out of a pile of leaves. I'm imagining things, I thought to myself. But the closer I got, the more it looked like ... my Mini!!!

I ran up to it and gently lifted it off the ground. Surprisingly, except for two missing propellers on one motor, the Mini didn't have a scratch on it! And I was surprised that it was lying there on its back, even though it (still) had a landing cradle attached to the bottom of it. But landing on it's back must've protected the gimbal, because it looks like it sustained no damage. Also, I had attached some motor covers over the motors, so hopefully they helped keep the motors dry.

Meanwhile, back home, my Mini is resting on a heater vent in my house, and I'll give it a day before trying to put a fresh battery in it. I was happy to retrieve my microSD card, which had a video and lots of photos on it.

Anyway, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my Mini starts up and flies again. I know it would be a miracle, seeing as how it sat outside in the rain for two days, but anything is possible! ???

 

[scro]

What a happy ending to an otherwise sad story ??

You may be quite pleasantly surprised and find it works still! Mine did, after being stuck out in the wind and rain for 4 weeks. I can highly recommend sticking some reflective tape on it for finding it should the same thig happen again. The bright yellow tape I have doesn't help for VLOS much at all (no colour does, really), but does make it far easier to spot when on the ground.

 

[cameraz]

What a happy ending to an otherwise sad story ??

You may be quite pleasantly surprised and find it works still! Mine did, after being stuck out in the wind and rain for 4 weeks. I can highly recommend sticking some reflective tape on it for finding it should the same thig happen again. The bright yellow tape I have doesn't help for VLOS much at all (no colour does, really), but does make it far easier to spot when on the ground.

Thank you very much! And I will put some tape on it!

 

[cameraz]

We have liftoff!

After allowing my Mini to dry off overnight, I cleaned it up, replaced its damaged props and put a fresh battery in it. I fired it up and took off in my living room. The drone flew perfectly, with no hint of the trauma it went through the week before. Most importantly, the camera and gimbal functioned perfectly. All I can say at this point is that today feels like Christmas. ?

Meanwhile, in the week before I recovered my drone I was seriously considering buying a Mini 2. I still may buy it ... it's got some worthwhile upgrades. Besides, as a freelance photographer, I can use the tax write-off! ?

 

[Yeunglings]

Nice!! Congratulations on having recovered AND salvaged your bird. Im surprised my Mini has taken some of the hits it has but its nothing compared to your ordeal.

 

[cameraz]

Nice!! Congratulations on having recovered AND salvaged your bird. Im surprised my Mini has taken some of the hits it has but its nothing compared to your ordeal.

Thank you! ?

 

[Redtail69]

My Mavic Mini got eaten by a tree today. What makes this especially upsetting is that I had bought the Mini only 6 months ago to replace a Spark which had a fatal crash into a building.

In both cases, bright sunlight played a big part in their demise. I just couldn’t see the light-colored drones.

Today I was flying my Mini at a local heavily-wooded park when I decided to bring her in. The view on my phone screen showed that it was pretty much overhead to near to where I was standing. But the picture on the screen was deceptive because of my gimbal’s camera angle. Actually, my mini was maybe 15-20 feet behind me. I should have had the camera pointing straight down.

The picture on my screen soon became a tangle of tree branches, and I knew I was in trouble. I tried to climb, and the Mini jerked around a bit, and then stopped.

I walked around looking for it, but the trees in the park are very tall, and most still have a lot of leaves on them, so it would be hard to spot the drone. The Find My Drone showed me I was very near the Mini, but, like I said, there were too many leaves in the way. And the beeping and flashing the light feature was useless; there was too much noise from a nearby highway, and way too bright out to see any flashing light.

I was thinking of going back after the sun started to set, but the drone only had 30% of battery power left and would probably be drained by then. Also, even if I did spot it, it would be up way too high to retrieve it.

I suspect it will take a very stiff wind to dislodge the drone. Meanwhile, I do have a waterproof sticker attached to the Mini with my name and phone number on it. But I’m afraid the Mini wouldn’t be able to survive such long drop to the ground. (Not to mention the rain storm predicted for later this week.)

I have DJI’s insurance policy, but without a drone to turn in, they would not give me a replacement. So I am out of luck ... again! ?

I have need for a mini controller, I destroyed my port by having wrong plug and breaking contacts on controller, would you consider selling your controller?

 

[Thomas B]

PS: Yesterday afternoon, I returned to the site of my drone's disappearance, and, as expected, I could not pick up a signal from it. And the trees in the area are still heavily covered with leaves, so it was very difficult to see through their thick canopies.

In another couple of weeks when the leaves should be gone, I will go back and look again. But I think my Mini is going to be up in the tree for a long time, since I had a landing cradle attached to it and it's probably hooked onto a branch. If my Mini ever falls out of the tree, I have my name and phone number on it. But unless the drone falls into a pile of leaves, I doubt it would survive the fall.

Try one or more ARC XL lights from Firehouse. After 2 ministers of being still they emit a 98dB tone... lasts a long time... and the strobes also keep flashing.

 

[cameraz]

I have need for a mini controller, I destroyed my port by having wrong plug and breaking contacts on controller, would you consider selling your controller?

Please read my post above where I reported that I found my drone and it still works! Sorry about your controller.

 

[dwallersv]

So if it was behind you then no VLOS??

@SkyeHigh did you report him?

 

[dwallersv]

@cameraz the only thing I can think of to suggest is pretty simple... Choose a more open area to take-off and land from so that you can allow the aircraft to land automatically via RTH without risking hitting something. A radius of 30m clearance is pretty good.

Lacking the Precision Landing feature, we've only got GPS accuracy for landing on the Home Point. GPS often varies quite a bit, with as much as 5m error when returning in my experience so far with the Mini 2.

 

[SkyeHigh]

@SkyeHigh did you report him?

Absolutely not. Simply pointing out the obvious - if he had kept it in VLOS he wouldn’t have got into this situation.

 

[cameraz]

Absolutely not. Simply pointing out the obvious - if he had kept it in VLOS he wouldn’t have got into this situation.

If I had not gotten blinded by the bright sun I wouldn't have gotten into that situation. Gonna try some polarized sunglasses next time.

 

[SkyeHigh]

If I had not gotten blinded by the bright sun I wouldn't have gotten into that situation. Gonna try some polarized sunglasses next time.

Now if you had been in the UK the sun would have been hiding behind clouds! [emoji4]

 

[SpitFire]

I am glad that you found it, but something you should be concerned about is that hard wiring can be damaged during a hard landing or crash, not only props but in side the body. If you get ESC error, (Electronic Speed Controller) which control
the speed of the motors which directly alters the in flight aircraft directional changes. If the ESC board is damaged, if you get errors, would not be a good idea to fly, aircraft will crash. Unless you have experience with soldering and repairing electronics, best to send it in for repairs if you get error messages. Replacing the ESC microchip, worked for some pilots, could be other issues as well. Sometimes, a simple restart of the aircraft will clear the errors, and other times firmware update refresh will do the trick. Like I said if ESC board is damaged, going to be more expensive to fix. Fly Safe.