Uncontrolled dip into salt water

Hobbo · Jul 19, 2020

Took off from the boat (several successful prior trips) and ~ 5 seconds later, lost height, briefly touched the water's surface but then managed to lift off and my MA was safely retrieved but I suspect it may have got a bit damp!
I'd really appreciate it if someone could interpret my flight logs as to what may've gone wrong? Whether I did something wrong in my pre-flight setup or whether its something I could raise with DJI?
Thanks

BadWolf1 · Jul 19, 2020

Well... the chart shows (if you have the controller in the default settings) you pulled down on the left stick (green line) and the drone went downwards at about 1 m/sec. You seemed to spot the mistake at ~1.8 seconds and let go of the stick (the flat bit in the green line in the centre, then applied full up just in time. The red line is height. It stats recording at -2m and the flight ends at 0 so it's not quite clear what happened at take off.

Hobbo · Jul 21, 2020

Appreciate your comments BadWolf1. That's what I thought had happened so I'm not sure why, despite up stick at 1.8 sec, it continued to drift down. Have got a repair guy looking inside to see if any water got inside (he says hopefully!)

BadWolf1 · Jul 22, 2020

The stick goes to neutral at about 2 seconds and doesn't go to up until 2.4 and gets to full up at 2.6
There's a lag from from stick inputs to direction change but not a huge one

I'd do a quick eyeball check and say is it wet on the outside, and wipe with absorbent paper and see if came away damp. When I'm on boats it's usually to go diving and there will be surgical alcohol around, I'd use that to rinse salt water away and speed up drying as best I could. I wonder if there is better advice ? Best of luck with yours !