Over the weekend, I discovered that my Mavic 2 Zoom can't swim. Hates it, in fact.
I was out on a camping trip and thought some early morning photography at the lake would be perfect - catch the water before the sun got too high and generally have fun flying.
I put my drone together at camp and triple-checked the battery seating and prop connections to ensure everything was tight. I got out in time to find the water looking just like reflective glass, completely still. Perfect! I launched from up on the shore and after some pre-flight testing I took off over the water. I quickly lost sight of the drone against the background - dark drone, dark trees, dark water. It's not that it was dark, but more that it was pretty much camouflaged. I didn't worry too much about that as I could still see the lake, still see the camera, had good controls, and there were no obstructions in view.
It didn't take me long to decide to try a gentle swoop in to get a nice skimming shot of the water. As I was coming in for that, I lost connection with the drone briefly and when it re-established I figured I better come in just in case. I brought it back up and flew by GPS. It was handling fine, but I had no camera feed. Confusing.
As the drone approached the shore, my oldest son asked "Dad, why is the drone dripping?"
The camera kicked back in as I landed and recorded my very concerned, confused face as I brought it in and shut it off. The entire chassis was dripping wet - except for the propellers and motors. Even the top of the drone was dripping.
When I reviewed the footage, I saw my mistake. The dark mirrored surface of the lake gave me no sense of depth perception on the camera feed, and I was so focused on that that I didn't notice the drone had gone into negative height from home - home being my hand at 6' over the 4' shore. The drone, of course, wasn't able to detect anything was wrong either - the manual told me the sensors can't function properly over monochrome and/or reflective surfaces, but I was too focused on fun to remember that.
The feed cut off just before the camera touched the water (no epic splashdown footage). Even watching it after the fact, I could barely tell I was able to hit the water until I was actually hitting the water. The only indication that anything happened was a quick jerk the camera gimbal reported and compensated for.
I have absolutely no idea how the drone was able to regain flight after I dunked it in the lake, but am glad it did. That's not skill as much as complete BS luck. I should be begging after a diving buddy of mine to go prodding around in the lake muck to find my Mavic right now.
The drone is currently sitting tight in a dry box stuffed with desiccant packs, but I didn't take it apart (I don't have the tools for that). I have contacted Thunder to see what it might cost if I need to replace my camera.
Lesson learned.
I was out on a camping trip and thought some early morning photography at the lake would be perfect - catch the water before the sun got too high and generally have fun flying.
I put my drone together at camp and triple-checked the battery seating and prop connections to ensure everything was tight. I got out in time to find the water looking just like reflective glass, completely still. Perfect! I launched from up on the shore and after some pre-flight testing I took off over the water. I quickly lost sight of the drone against the background - dark drone, dark trees, dark water. It's not that it was dark, but more that it was pretty much camouflaged. I didn't worry too much about that as I could still see the lake, still see the camera, had good controls, and there were no obstructions in view.
It didn't take me long to decide to try a gentle swoop in to get a nice skimming shot of the water. As I was coming in for that, I lost connection with the drone briefly and when it re-established I figured I better come in just in case. I brought it back up and flew by GPS. It was handling fine, but I had no camera feed. Confusing.
As the drone approached the shore, my oldest son asked "Dad, why is the drone dripping?"
The camera kicked back in as I landed and recorded my very concerned, confused face as I brought it in and shut it off. The entire chassis was dripping wet - except for the propellers and motors. Even the top of the drone was dripping.
When I reviewed the footage, I saw my mistake. The dark mirrored surface of the lake gave me no sense of depth perception on the camera feed, and I was so focused on that that I didn't notice the drone had gone into negative height from home - home being my hand at 6' over the 4' shore. The drone, of course, wasn't able to detect anything was wrong either - the manual told me the sensors can't function properly over monochrome and/or reflective surfaces, but I was too focused on fun to remember that.
The feed cut off just before the camera touched the water (no epic splashdown footage). Even watching it after the fact, I could barely tell I was able to hit the water until I was actually hitting the water. The only indication that anything happened was a quick jerk the camera gimbal reported and compensated for.
I have absolutely no idea how the drone was able to regain flight after I dunked it in the lake, but am glad it did. That's not skill as much as complete BS luck. I should be begging after a diving buddy of mine to go prodding around in the lake muck to find my Mavic right now.
The drone is currently sitting tight in a dry box stuffed with desiccant packs, but I didn't take it apart (I don't have the tools for that). I have contacted Thunder to see what it might cost if I need to replace my camera.
Lesson learned.
