Strong Wind Warning -- scary situation

[old man mavic]

it seems from reading the original post that its a bit like shutting the gate after the horse has bolted
there was a distinct lack of preflight risk assessment by the pilot
(1) flew out with the wind
(2) did not check his device battery remaining level
(3) did not consider if the flight could be made safely
and now all of a sudden he is concerned because he got a message from the drone

 

[itsneedtokno]

OK. I tried my best.

1. Does anyone know if the warning is correct, i.e. RTH won't work under a Strong Wind warning condition?

RTH will always work. Wind has nothing to do with it.
You got the warning saying basically, "Insufficient battery to fight this headwind; I'm still gonna try, but based on my calculations I will not make it home"
It will never not enter "failsafe" or RTH after a signal loss. (At least I've never seen it happen)

2. If so, and the signal was lost, what would happen? Hover until the battery failed perhaps?

It depends on your settings inside the FLY app. If you have it set to hover, then it will hover until it reaches critical battery, where it will then begin to descend from the sky. If you have it set to RTH then it will attempt to fly back home until again, it hits critical battery, and begins to lower altitude.

3. If the pilot requested RTH what would happen? Command ignored?

If the pilot requested RTH while RTH was occurring I'm thinking nothing would happen. @Meta4 would be the one to ask.

 

[Meta4]

3. If the pilot requested RTH what would happen? Command ignored?
If the pilot requested RTH while RTH was occurring I'm thinking nothing would happen. @Meta4 would be the one to ask.

I don't think he was asking about initiating RTH when the drone was already in RTH.
I took the question to be would the drone enter RTH if he pushed the RTH button after seeing that warning message.
He seemed to mistakenly think it was saying that the drone wouldn't even enter RTH.

 

[itsneedtokno]

I don't think he was asking about initiating RTH when the drone was already in RTH.
I took the question to be would the drone enter RTH if he pushed the RTH button after seeing that warning message.
He seemed to mistakenly think it was saying that the drone wouldn't even enter RTH.

Ahhh, that makes more sense.

Out of curiosity, have you ever seen a DJI drone "forget" what RTH means?

 

[aokusman]

RTH should be set based on your flying environment. Over water it should be lower than usual. How cans you fly with a tablet with low battery. That’s just too dangerous and inexcusable.

 

[aokusman]

it seems from reading the original post that its a bit like shutting the gate after the horse has bolted
there was a distinct lack of preflight risk assessment by the pilot
(1) flew out with the wind
(2) did not check his device battery remaining level
(3) did not consider if the flight could be made safely
and now all of a sudden he is concerned because he got a message from the drone

All good points.

 

[InvisibleName]

I’m with Ian on this one. He‘s not suggesting that the MA2 will fly any faster than its programmed top speed in the various modes, what he is saying is that it has more spare power to maintain the relevant top speed when fighting a head wind.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Not sure battery has anything to do with the warning.
The warning seems to be a default warning of strong winds and RTH not recommended , or not available .

If I get that warning , im jumping into sport mode and bringing the drone back. since I have not gotten that warning yet which is odd considering the winds we have flown in I do not know if it kicks you out of RTH or simply does not let you Initiate it.



Found this on the web to confirm battery levels was not part of the warning.




Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic in and out of the storm
Coal.

 

[z28lt1]

In regards to speed of RTH:

 

[boredom.is.me]

This means that you probably flew out with the wind and wasn't expecting to have to go the other way.

 

[Nospampls]

@Nospampls for me ,the warning simply meant that in the event of a signal loss, there would not be enough battery charge left for it to make a safe return to the home point

Thank you for actually understanding my concern and not answering questions I didn't ask.

I would hope you're correct. But to your point, according to the flight log just after the warning (which I had received shortly after turning back toward home) I was 3,357' out with 60% battery remaining. And I still had 50% battery when I was 679' from home, again according to the flight log. So I doubt the warning had anything to do with battery level. I suspect it had everything to do with Strong Wind and it's scary to think that might prevent automatic RTH if needed due to signal loss, my command or whatever.

Again, I wish you were correct and that it's just a poorly worded warning message. But taken literally it's not good.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Thank you for actually understanding my concern and not answering questions I didn't ask.

So your concern was that RTH would not be initiated if there was a signal loss because of the Default RTH wind warning.

Its a good question , based on other DJI drones, the RTH will still engage with signal loss but the chances of the drone not making the full flight back a possibility.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in and out of the Storm
Coal

 

[Ol' Sparky]

Couple of issues....if out at max VLOS, and a gust of wind blows thru, can it trigger the warning or does it have to be a sustained wind? We all know that wind speed / direction is rarely constant. I've gotten that message once, but hit RTH and home she came. As post 29 shows, you can goose the speed manually on a RTH.
Also.....
I don't think a 12m/s headwind will prevent it from coming home. She has a toolbox of capabilities she is always using to maintain speed/course. The real question is what speed wind will overcome the birds ability to counteract the wind and RTH at any speed?

With so much paranoia and so many restrictions around...it is not always possible to fly out into the wind and return home with the wind. My flying areas are few and far between. If the wind is too high...just don't fly.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Couple of issues....if out at max VLOS, and a gust of wind blows thru, can it trigger the warning or does it have to be a sustained wind? I've gotten that message once, but hit RTH and home she came.
Also.....
I don't think a 12m/s headwind will prevent it from coming home. The real question is what speed wind will overcome the birds ability to counteract the wind and RTH at any speed?

Any constant wind in the 30 to 35 is going to make it difficult to get the drone back so its best to get out of RTH as soon as you can and rely on Sport Mode once you get your bearings from the RTH if engaged. When you think of high wind you think Sport Mode , We use RTH only for Orienation of the drone when lost for just a full minute and than switch out.

 

[Nospampls]

it seems from reading the original post that its a bit like shutting the gate after the horse has bolted
there was a distinct lack of preflight risk assessment by the pilot
(1) flew out with the wind
(2) did not check his device battery remaining level
(3) did not consider if the flight could be made safely
and now all of a sudden he is concerned because he got a message from the drone

1) Not so. Flew across the wind.
2) Guilty as charged. No excuses. I've learned my lesson.
3) Disagree. Hopefully you saw my earlier post that said I had 50% drone battery when almost home (according to flight log).

Actually I'm not at all concerned that I got a message from the drone. I think warning messages are essential. My concern is that the message might be correct -- "Strong wind warning. Aircraft unable to return to home automatically." I would hope strong wind does not disable automatic RTH. Sure, it's a backup. But I don't like losing my backups.

I guess the reason for my concern is that I think DJI does an excellent job with translations into English. This is evident in all their documentation, voice messages in the app, etc. So I worry that this message is actually correct. I appreciate others' optimism, but I'm skeptical because of the wording of the message and DJI's record (in my book) for accuracy.

 

[Meta4]

Thank you for actually understanding my concern and not answering questions I didn't ask.

Despite you not getting the message, I answered your question directly

it's scary to think that might prevent automatic RTH if needed due to signal loss, my command or whatever.

My concern is that the message might be correct -- "Strong wind warning. Aircraft unable to return to home automatically." I would hope strong wind does not disable automatic RTH. Sure, it's a backup. But I don't like losing my backups.
So I worry that this message is actually correct. I appreciate others' optimism, but I'm skeptical because of the wording of the message and DJI's record (in my book) for accuracy.

One more time but more bluntly.
Your anxiety is misplaced.
Your drone will always enter RTH on loss of signal* or initiating RTH regardless of strong wind warnings.
Why would you even imagine DJI would program the drone to fail to enter RTH?

Your supreme confidence in DJI's accurate wording is not justified.
There are quite a few instances of very poor wording in their manuals and screen warnings that are confusing or incorrect.

* Assuming you have not changed the Loss of Signal action from the default setting of RTH

 

[lannes]

I think it's pretty simple, the warning message tells you that the wind is too strong for the automatic RTH speed to overcome (which is at the N mode speed of 12m/s), you just have to fly it back manually.
Manually is lower altitude to avoid the wind and use S mode if more power is required to overcome the headwind and hope your battery lasts

 

[Nospampls]

One more time but more bluntly.
Your anxiety is misplaced.
Your drone will always enter RTH on loss of signal* or initiating RTH regardless of strong wind warnings.
Why would you even imagine DJI would program the drone to fail to enter RTH?

I respect your blunt opinion and admire your persistence in trying to convince me of it.

To answer your question about why I would even imagine it would not enter RTH in high wind conditions, it's because I'm kind of a literal person and "imagined" the message might mean what it says.



I hope you won't be offended, but I decided to chat with DJI Support and ask them. I share the verbatim transcript knowing it won't convince you, but I want to provide others an opportunity to be warned, which was my intent in opening this thread. I got the answer to my question, though I don't like it.

I made some things bold for emphasis. We were specifically discussing the Mavic Air 2.

Vergel (DJI Support):

It is warning about strong wind. Normally, the drone can't do RTH if there is a strong wind. The drone could possibly fly away.

Nospampls:

Sure, it could be blown away. But the message says "unable to return to home automatically". This implies that it won't try, which is my concern.

Vergel:

Yes, if ever you got disconnected from the drone. The auto RTH is disable, if there is strong wind.

Nospampls:

That makes no sense to me. Why would it not try?
If you're correct and there is a high wind warning and it gets disconnected it is lost. Correct?

Vergel:

That's why there is a warning. You need to initiate RTH before you got disconnect in the middle of strong wind to avoid lost drone.

Nospampls:

I strongly suggest that you request the engineers to reconsider this. I can't think of any reason not to try.

Vergel:

No problem. I will forward this as well. I will update you through email
___________________________

My intent is to share information, not try to convince anyone of anything. Therefore I'll let the reader interpret what Vergel said here, and leave it to others to debate their interpretations.

 

[Meta4]

I hope you won't be offended, but I decided to chat with DJI Support and ask them. I share the verbatim transcript knowing it won't convince you, but I want to provide others an opportunity to be warned, which was my intent in opening this thread. I got the answer to my question,

Your mistake was to believe that DJI help people have any idea what they are talking about.
Most have never flown a drone.
Most are way out of their depth if you ask them anything they don't have a prepared script for.
Many are not proficient with English language
They will often say anything just to get you off the line
The forum is full of cases of incorrect information coming from DJI help people.

I've given you correct information already.
I don't seem to be able to convince you of it's accuracy.
But that doesn't mean I was wrong.

Regardless of your attempt to interpret the poorly worded warning message and the incompetent DJI help people you chatted with ...
Your drone will always enter RTH on loss of signal* or initiating RTH regardless of strong wind warnings.
* Assuming you have not changed the Loss of Signal action from the default setting of RTH

 

[itsneedtokno]

I respect your blunt opinion and admire your persistence in trying to convince me of it.

To answer your question about why I would even imagine it would not enter RTH in high wind conditions, it's because I'm kind of a literal person and "imagined" the message might mean what it says.

View attachment 105695

I hope you won't be offended, but I decided to chat with DJI Support and ask them. I share the verbatim transcript knowing it won't convince you, but I want to provide others an opportunity to be warned, which was my intent in opening this thread. I got the answer to my question, though I don't like it.

I made some things bold for emphasis. We were specifically discussing the Mavic Air 2.

Vergel (DJI Support):

It is warning about strong wind. Normally, the drone can't do RTH if there is a strong wind. The drone could possibly fly away.

Nospampls:

Sure, it could be blown away. But the message says "unable to return to home automatically". This implies that it won't try, which is my concern.

Vergel:

Yes, if ever you got disconnected from the drone. The auto RTH is disable, if there is strong wind.

Nospampls:

That makes no sense to me. Why would it not try?
If you're correct and there is a high wind warning and it gets disconnected it is lost. Correct?

Vergel:

That's why there is a warning. You need to initiate RTH before you got disconnect in the middle of strong wind to avoid lost drone.

Nospampls:

I strongly suggest that you request the engineers to reconsider this. I can't think of any reason not to try.

Vergel:

No problem. I will forward this as well. I will update you through email
___________________________

My intent is to share information, not try to convince anyone of anything. Therefore I'll let the reader interpret what Vergel said here, and leave it to others to debate their interpretations.

Hmmmm...

Believe someone who works for the company that you bought the drone from...

...or...

Believe someone from a public forum who has nothing to gain from sharing his knowledge. Someone who legitimately cares about others.

...tough call. ??