Took my drone out on normal route. It’s urban area so I had to fly at high altitude to get signal. I always turn around when it decides to come to home and I always make it with more than plenty battery life. This time was diff. I get out pretty far and instead dropping signal I still had bars and thought we’ll ima go till it starts dropping or at 50% battery left. I get out to 50% and turn around and wind is bad especially high up. I’m always Getting high wind warnings but my rth always brings it back. My battery went from 50 percent to 13 really really fast like extremely fast so the drone decided it couldn’t make it back and wanted to force land. Well I should of held the sticks up and tried bringing it closer back but I went with the mindset of landing it right there so I could drive and go get it. As it was force landing the lower it went the worse reception became. Lost signal and all functions and remote disconnected from drone. I’m trying to find it. Last known gps shows it in someone yard maybe a tree but there property was gated and I couldn’t get no one to open the gate or answer, it was starting get nightfall so I gave up and left note in mailbox. This was huge property and the last I wanted to do was get caught at night on there land. Bummer. . Last signal was at 13% battery, force landing, and the last 10sec footage is from when the remote disconnected as the force landing caused my signal to drop. Would it of crashed out the sky and fell or would it of just landed on its own. Idk if it fell out the sky or landed in this gated property but when it disconnected I never got connection back. I’m going to upload my flight logs maybe someone can look at them and give any helpful tips on what happened and or maybe where I should look. It’s a sad sad day     Thanks!!!
https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/0ZS1YW6IXFRNXMQ9IBF1

Hi there, we are sorry to know about the accident. We recommend that you contact our support team and start a flyaway case through the link below. If there is a doubt about the accident, data analysis can also be applied as long as the drone is within the warranty period. http://www.dji.com/support

Looks like you found strong winds at a high altitude and you should have dropped down to a more sensible height.  

Hi,

Amazing flighlog, not that smart...

191x warning "Strong wind"
210x warning "Aircraft unable to return to home automatically. Lower altitude immediately and return to home manually ]"
At 6m59.6s TRH countdown, at 6377 feet away from home and at height of 1639 feet.
BUT (countdown) RTH  was cancelled (why?)

Worse, continue to fly away from HP, not flying inbound to HP. (why?)

At 11882 feet away from home a long disconnect, so GoHome.
After turing towards home, at 10m24.2m, your MINI2 fight against the head wind.
Pitch down to 29 degrees, speed 14 feet/second. High batt consumption so battery % rapidly getting less.

With 23% software calculates that time needed (thus batt%) to land safely is now present, so Autolanding!
Height 1628 feet! so need lot of time to land....
Understand max foward on the controls, not the roll input.

At the end 6x disconnects....

Flying outbound with tail wind....full stick forward, speed 33 feet/sec. CHECK craft pitch = 0.3 degrees UP.
This is an easy check in flight to check the wind = not ignore the RTH as you did.

Added chart : landing postion within red circle.

cheers
JJB   [ Charts by FRAP ; the 'best' software for flightlog analysis ]

Sorry about your drone.. This chart does show how Lipo battery do discharge. I t should help understand the quick discharge after the 50% At 3.7Volts you are at 50%...

The reason you lost your drone is simple.
You had no awareness of the wind and no thought about what it would mean for your flight.
You sent your drone up much too high, and flew at full speed almost 12000 feet to the northeast.

High up the wind was too strong for the drone to be able to hold position.
When you hovered at 1370 feet, the drone was having to tilt up to 30° and fighting hard against the wind, but was being blown backwards.
You had numerous warnings about the strong wind (Lower altitude immediately and return to home manually) and ignored them, flying further away and taking the drone higher.

You ended up with the drone 1640 feet up, 11800 feet out and the battery at 44% when the drone initiated Low Battery RTH.
Numerous Aircraft unable to return to home automatically. Lower altitude immediately and return to home manually  warnings appeared and you ignored them.
At 1640 feet, the drone was flying hard, tilted to 30° and able to make 10 mph towards the homepoint.
This exhausted the battery quickly, but you still made no effort to descend to where there was less wind.
At 22% battery, the drone initiated autolanding to prevent it falling to the ground when the battery ran out.
It was still 10000 ft from home.
You finally lost signal at 14:15.5 with the drone at 581 nad battery at 13%.
It will have continued descending and landed at or near 30.03967  -95.09489.

The whole incident is 100% your fault.
You flew with no awareness or care about the winds or drone rules.
You were lucky to have had the drone as long as you did.

1640 ft. high, 11,800 ft. away from home point, 44% battery left! Contact Dji? They are going to laugh at any claim for 'flyaway'.

Burt37 Posted at 7-12 00:36
Sorry about your drone.. This chart does show how Lipo battery do discharge. I t should help understand the quick discharge after the 50% At 3.7Volts you are at 50%...

[view_image]

This chart does show how Lipo battery do discharge. I t should help understand the quick discharge after the 50% At 3.7Volts you are at 50%...
That doesn't help understand anything about the incident.
If you'd bothered to look at the data, you'd have seen that when his data ended at 13% battery, the cell voltages were just a whisker below 3.7 volts.
So how does that explain anything ?  You have no idea.

Labroides Posted at 7-12 00:44
The reason you lost your drone is simple.
You had no awareness of the wind and no thought about what it would mean for your flight.
You sent your drone up much too high, and flew at full speed almost 12000 feet to the northeast.

Hi Labroides,

Cannot find your  "When you hovered at 1370 feet, the drone was having to tilt up to 30° and fighting hard against the wind, but was being blown backwards"

See my chart ; distance line is flat (lime colour = same distance)  where there were no RC pitch and roll input given. ( see red and green input data in #3 chart from above)
Do you have a time or record number ?

cheers
JJB

If this had been descending over treeless ground I am just wondering what people think the battery percentage would have been at height = 0?

I guesse my question would be do y’all think it auto landed or did it fall. We was trying to see how far we could take it and out that far every time we would lower altitude signal would drop. We been watching range test videos on YouTube and thought let’s try it!!! We did ignore the first RTH , that was our demise. Me and my kid have taken it out before and always let it come back it usually loses signal before the battery is so depleted. This flight we ignored it bc it still was showing range and thought hmm let’s see how far out we can actually go. As soon as the drone turned around and the battery drained I was trying to land it but couldn’t catch a signal and the lower it went the worse it got.  Expensive mistake. I know y’all gonna wanna laugh at say well duh. I guesse my question would be do y’all think it landed itself or did it fall out the sky?

djiuser_SY4fvGETpEwp Posted at 7-12 06:58
I guesse my question would be do y’all think it auto landed or did it fall. We was trying to see how far we could take it and out that far every time we would lower altitude signal would drop. We been watching range test videos on YouTube and thought let’s try it!!! We did ignore the first RTH , that was our demise. Me and my kid have taken it out before and always let it come back it usually loses signal before the battery is so depleted. This flight we ignored it bc it still was showing range and thought hmm let’s see how far out we can actually go. As soon as the drone turned around and the battery drained I was trying to land it but couldn’t catch a signal and the lower it went the worse it got.  Expensive mistake. I know y’all gonna wanna laugh at say well duh. I guesse my question would be do y’all think it landed itself or did it fall out the sky?

Hi,

Did a calculation, see post#4   it landed with just some batt % left...

cheers
JJB

JJB* Posted at 7-12 07:12
Hi,

Did a calculation, see post#4   it landed with just some batt % left...

Thanks for taking time out your day and analyzing this for me. I couldn’t check the area yesterday as it was a gated home. Large property. Couldn’t get access to gate to ask for permission so I left note mailbox to ask if they would call me. I’m going to try after work today again. Right where it showed it was landing was a few large pine trees I almost bet it’s stuck up there. I immediately drove to the area and couldn’t get it to connect so I thought it might of crashed. Hopefully I find it and I’ll tell you what never again lesson learned here. Some of us listen. Some learn the hard way. Thanks everyone !!!

djiuser_SY4fvGETpEwp Posted at 7-12 06:58
I guesse my question would be do y’all think it auto landed or did it fall. We was trying to see how far we could take it and out that far every time we would lower altitude signal would drop. We been watching range test videos on YouTube and thought let’s try it!!! We did ignore the first RTH , that was our demise. Me and my kid have taken it out before and always let it come back it usually loses signal before the battery is so depleted. This flight we ignored it bc it still was showing range and thought hmm let’s see how far out we can actually go. As soon as the drone turned around and the battery drained I was trying to land it but couldn’t catch a signal and the lower it went the worse it got.  Expensive mistake. I know y’all gonna wanna laugh at say well duh. I guesse my question would be do y’all think it landed itself or did it fall out the sky?

We did ignore the first RTH , that was our demise.
Not really .. You lost your drone because you didn't even consider the wind.
You had no idea that the direction it was blowing, meant fighting a headwind to come home.
You didn't understand that the higher you go, the stronger the wind gets and even with multiple warnings telling you to get the drone down, you still left it up 4x higher than allowed by law in your country.

And something else to think about .... the drone doesn't factor in the influence of wind when it advises that it's time to go home.
If you've flown out with a strong tailwind, it might already be too late when the drone wants to turn around.

djiuser_SY4fvGETpEwp Posted at 7-12 07:32
Thanks for taking time out your day and analyzing this for me. I couldn’t check the area yesterday as it was a gated home. Large property. Couldn’t get access to gate to ask for permission so I left note mailbox to ask if they would call me. I’m going to try after work today again. Right where it showed it was landing was a few large pine trees I almost bet it’s stuck up there. I immediately drove to the area and couldn’t get it to connect so I thought it might of crashed. Hopefully I find it and I’ll tell you what never again lesson learned here. Some of us listen. Some learn the hard way. Thanks everyone !!!

Hi,

My pleasure to help if i can.

If i use your last into the wind records (end of flight), distance flown per 1% batt usage = 85 feet.As you can see in the chart....never reaching HP

BUT, what if you did not cancel RTH....

Countdown to RTH at 59% battery level, distance to HomePoint 6377 feet.
With the same wind conditions as at the end of your flight :
59 - 10% (critical low batt) = 49 * 85 = 4165 feet.  (oops1,  not above HP)
59% * 85 = 5015 feet (oops2, not above HP)

And ofcourse drone need time to descent....but on the way back lowering height was possibility. (but still not reaching HP)

Bottom line = flying with a lot of wind needs own calculation to fly away from HP with tail wind....DJI calculation does work 100% in no wind conditions.
Best not to fly far from HP in high wind conditions.

cheers
JJB

Dirty Bird Posted at 7-12 08:57
The crucial mistakes made were 1) attempting this on a windy day, 2) heading out with the wind at your back, 3) flying at 1640', & 4) failing to make use of the available telemetry that provided ample warnings that this flight was going to end badly.

I have no issue with your desire to fly long distance.  It is one of my favorite things to do.  But you have to follow some basic rules.  In general, first you need to thoroughly understand your aircraft's capabilities & how to use the available telemetry.  The constant wind warnings throughout your flight, high flight speed on the way out, & the radar/bank indicator should have made it evident you had a strong tail wind & would be unable to make it home if you flew out to only 50% remaining.

Thanks for the info. This is deff a learning experience. The min I turned around I knew I was gonna loose it. I tried come home and drop at the same time looking for a place to land it but my signal was in and out and eventually had no control.  I’m hoping to hear back from the home owners to see if I can walk around to look for it. Hard lesson learned. Thanks for taking time and breaking it down for me!!

Labroides Posted at 7-12 03:12
This chart does show how Lipo battery do discharge. I t should help understand the quick discharge after the 50% At 3.7Volts you are at 50%...
That doesn't help understand anything about the incident.
If you'd bothered to look at the data, you'd have seen that when his data ended at 13% battery, the cell voltages were just a whisker below 3.7 volts.

That's Nice!

Labroides Posted at 7-12 03:12
This chart does show how Lipo battery do discharge. I t should help understand the quick discharge after the 50% At 3.7Volts you are at 50%...
That doesn't help understand anything about the incident.
If you'd bothered to look at the data, you'd have seen that when his data ended at 13% battery, the cell voltages were just a whisker below 3.7 volts.

That's correct. It has nothing to do with the incident, but it gives an explanation of why below 3.7 volts the battery goes down much quicker... This is in reference to the OP question:

"My battery went from 50% to 13 really really fast"

Capisci now?

I did bother to look at the chart and I can clearly see that under load one of the cell was already down to 3.55V

Burt37 Posted at 7-12 16:03
That's correct. It has nothing to do with the incident, but it gives an explanation of why below 3.7 volts the battery goes down much quicker... This is in reference to the OP question:

"My battery went from 50% to 13 really really fast"

You should have just stopped at "That's correct".
The rest is just nonsense.

Labroides Posted at 7-12 16:26
You should have just stopped at "That's correct".
The rest is just nonsense.

Once again...  That's Nice!!!

I'm sure eventually you will get it...

The problem I see is breaking the 400 feet agl law. Wow, flying 1640 feet. Nice to flies where aircraft also flies huh. You are putting others lives in danger so you can have a little fun. And then have the nerve to fly beyond vlos. Then don't give a F about wind. Seem like a little kid disobey parents rules and do whatever he wants. You do know there are drones law right? I bet you fly over people and vehicles. Do you even have your pilot license to fly? Yes you do need one to fly legally. I bet you don't or you would know all the laws you just broke.

djiuser_zKR5HFX3a2EC Posted at 7-12 22:18
The problem I see is breaking the 400 feet agl law. Wow, flying 1640 feet. Nice to flies where aircraft also flies huh. You are putting others lives in danger so you can have a little fun. And then have the nerve to fly beyond vlos. Then don't give a F about wind. Seem like a little kid disobey parents rules and do whatever he wants. You do know there are drones law right? I bet you fly over people and vehicles. Do you even have your pilot license to fly? Yes you do need one to fly legally. I bet you don't or you would know all the laws you just broke.

You got the rest right, but there's no drone pilot's licence needed to fly in the US.

Labroides Posted at 7-12 22:40
You got the rest right, but there's no drone pilot's licence needed to fly in the US.

Isn't there some thing about a "TRUST" test or certificate?

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 7-13 01:37
Isn't there some thing about a "TRUST" test or certificate?

That's a simple can't-fail quiz.
It's no licence.

Labroides Posted at 7-13 04:21
That's a simple can't-fail quiz.
It's no licence.

True, but you must keep a copy with you while flying.

Labroides Posted at 7-12 22:40
You got the rest right, but there's no drone pilot's licence needed to fly in the US.

I like for you to go out and just fly in the US. You already breaking the law. You need a pilot trust or part 107 to fly a drone. Those are considered drone license. You must take a test and pass to get them.

Hello does anyone know why my dji mini 3 fell from the sky and then regained control?

Lou43 Posted at 7-13 10:54
Hello does anyone know why my dji mini 3 fell from the sky and then regained control?

Did you notice that in the open post the OP posted the flight log, I'd suggest you do the same thing i.e. post the flight log.

Lou43 Posted at 7-13 10:54
Hello does anyone know why my dji mini 3 fell from the sky and then regained control?

I was able to get my flight logs from my iPhone through the app. I didn’t go in the app itself but on iPhone I went to the file explorer app and navigated to the file for fly app. In there there was a folder for flight logs. Inside that were all my flight logs in a txt format. I couldn’t just open them though I went to phantom website and uploaded them there and it gave me a link to share. I never found my drone. I think it’s in trees. Dji offered a replacement at a discount. I went to property owners and neighbors and left number in case it comes up. I wish I would have put my info and number on drone itself too. Hard lesson learned.

djiuser_zKR5HFX3a2EC Posted at 7-12 22:18
The problem I see is breaking the 400 feet agl law. Wow, flying 1640 feet. Nice to flies where aircraft also flies huh. You are putting others lives in danger so you can have a little fun. And then have the nerve to fly beyond vlos. Then don't give a F about wind. Seem like a little kid disobey parents rules and do whatever he wants. You do know there are drones law right? I bet you fly over people and vehicles. Do you even have your pilot license to fly? Yes you do need one to fly legally. I bet you don't or you would know all the laws you just broke.

If you really think anyone is abiding by these laws you’re kidding yourself. I’m sure there’s plenty times where you didn’t have VLOS and flew through a neighborhood above houses. I’m sure you’ve been up over 400ft as well. Yeah did I break some laws, sure!! Did I knowingly break them. Yupppp. Sure did. It was fun as hell too. And with my replacement I’ll fly the same just a little smarter. I pushed it too far in the wind. Know I know. But am I not gonna go up high bc some dumb rule that no one will ever know I broke. Cmon really. And no I don’t need a license, the drone doesn’t even need be registered as it’s under the weight for it. I’m kind glad I pushed it far and to its limits bc it was a good learning curve. Now I know. I guesse I got bored with hovering around and wanted to have some fun. Ya know what fun is right? This is why I’m going to build fpv drone next. And ppl like you with your “your breaking laws” bs like they ain’t doing the same is just condescending.

djiuser_zKR5HFX3a2EC Posted at 7-13 07:58
I like for you to go out and just fly in the US. You already breaking the law. You need a pilot trust or part 107 to fly a drone. Those are considered drone license. You must take a test and pass to get them.

You already breaking the law.
Me?  Breaking the law?
And you know this how?

You need a pilot trust or part 107 to fly a drone. Those are considered drone license.
They would only be considered a licence by someone who doesn't know what a licence is.

Dirty Bird Posted at 7-13 14:08
In this case it has more to do with he was flying out with a strong tail wind.  The drone was basically using energy to hover while the wind moved it along.  When he turned around & attempted to return directly into the wind, the power consumption went way up as the drone tried to overcome the headwind.  An analogy would be how how much fuel your car burns when coasting downhill vs. fuel consumption while climbing a steep grade.

I wasn't disputing the reason of the accident... I was just replying to one of the OP questions and just stating that fact that when you reach the 50% mark on a Lipo battery, the remaining percentage goes down a lot quicker than the first 50%, regardless of what you are doing or the environment. That's how LIPO do discharge...

Burt37 Posted at 7-13 14:58
I wasn't disputing the reason of the accident... I was just replying to one of the OP questions and just stating that fact that when you reach the 50% mark on a Lipo battery, the remaining percentage goes down a lot quicker than the first 50%, regardless of what you are doing or the environment. That's how LIPO do discharge...

DJI batteries are different from the generic battery represented by your graph.
They're "intelligent" batteries with battery management circuitry.
When cell voltages get to 3.2 volts, the app would be indicating close to 0%

When the app indicated 13% battery and the flyer was pushing the right stick full forward, putting additional strain on the battery, cell voltages were between 3.6-3.7 volts.
That's what you are suggesting is 50%.

I use a program called UAV to tell me what the winds are doing at different altitudes. I agree with everyone here and this could have been avoided.

Labroides Posted at 7-13 16:49
DJI batteries are different from the generic battery represented by your graph.
They're "intelligent" batteries with battery management circuitry.
When cell voltages get to 3.2 volts, the app would be indicating close to 0%

Once again... THAT"S NICE!!!

Burt37 Posted at 7-13 18:25
[view_image]Once again... THAT"S NICE!!!

Cell voltages always sag under heavy load ... Your graph isn't looking at cell voltages under heavy load.
But that's something you don't want to understand.

djiuser_SY4fvGETpEwp Posted at 7-13 12:21
If you really think anyone is abiding by these laws you’re kidding yourself. I’m sure there’s plenty times where you didn’t have VLOS and flew through a neighborhood above houses. I’m sure you’ve been up over 400ft as well. Yeah did I break some laws, sure!! Did I knowingly break them. Yupppp. Sure did. It was fun as hell too. And with my replacement I’ll fly the same just a little smarter. I pushed it too far in the wind. Know I know. But am I not gonna go up high bc some dumb rule that no one will ever know I broke. Cmon really. And no I don’t need a license, the drone doesn’t even need be registered as it’s under the weight for it. I’m kind glad I pushed it far and to its limits bc it was a good learning curve. Now I know. I guesse I got bored with hovering around and wanted to have some fun. Ya know what fun is right? This is why I’m going to build fpv drone next. And ppl like you with your “your breaking laws” bs like they ain’t doing the same is just condescending.

Do you realise that by going above 500ft AGL and up to around 1640ft  AGL you are sending the drone up into manned aircraft airspace and thereby potentially endangering lives?
I do not know how to check the lower height limits for manned aircraft in the location of this flight but there seems to be multiple airfields and or airports around the location of the flight.
It's not some dumb rule, it is a safety precaution.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 7-14 13:14
Do you realise that by going above 500ft AGL and up to around 1640ft  AGL you are sending the drone up into manned aircraft airspace and thereby potentially endangering lives?
I do not know how to check the lower height limits for manned aircraft in the location of this flight but there seems to be multiple airfields and or airports around the location of the flight.
It's not some dumb rule, it is a safety precaution.

I get that but in reality that 240gram plastic tiny drone isn’t gonna do any damage anymore than a bird would. That’s like saying a mosquito is gonna hurt when it lands on you.

djiuser_SY4fvGETpEwp Posted at 7-14 13:18
I get that but in reality that 240gram plastic tiny drone isn’t gonna do any damage anymore than a bird would. That’s like saying a mosquito is gonna hurt when it lands on you.

And birds can bring planes down or cause emergency landings.
Besides, the battery of a mini 2 is a lot denser than the body of a bird. Every had a stone hit the windscreen of your car at 100mph or you when you are on a motorcycle? A mini 2 battery would make a fair stone at those speeds.

Any collision or reported near miss will be investigated, would you want the FAA etc. investigating any incident that you were involved in?

You might like to look at this thread, if the link doesn't take you to it then especially page 9
https://mavicpilots.com/threads/illegal-flight-over-stadium.121297/page-9#post-1568599.

As for no one ever knowing,
Going by the mileage you appear to have synced quite a few flights with DJI, I can't help but wonder what DJI would do if the FAA were to make an official request for your synced flight logs. Would you logs stand scrutiny?
If the owner of the land where your drone happened to land reports the drone and hands it to the police and or FAA what then? If the drone works and the authorities care to ask DJI for a decryption of the DATs on the drone and DJI comply the authorities would have the launch address and the heights and distances reached.  If RID becomes necessary on your Mini 2 and is switched on, what then? I believe that the Mods have said the mini 2 is RID capable.


Besides this thread and the data it contains are now a matter of public record.

Labroides Posted at 7-14 03:48
Cell voltages always sag under heavy load ... Your graph isn't looking at cell voltages under heavy load.
But that's something you don't want to understand.

That's Nice!!!