first i want to start by saying, my mavic is safe and working and recovered.
this was the first time i felt helpless with my mavic was today's single flight i conducted in the rain (i was sheltered under a tent thing), everything was going super smoothly, wind was slightly annoying in areas i was flighing i was between 50 - 75 feet up just because i didnt need to go higher at the time but the wind was killing my smooth shots a little much.  well all sudden a huge gust came out of no where, 35mph maybe im guessing?  but long enough and big enough my mavic dirfted pretty big distance, but no biggy i delt witht his sort of thing before, this time however, my mavic was not winning this battle at all!!  it was drifting faster away than it could fight in full sport mode.. 80% battery when this started to happen, and by the time it was somewhat controlable again, only like 2 minutes of it fighting and drifting, my battery was down to 53% and it wanted to RTH, i didnt think about this at that second, but my RTH set to 250 feet (75M), welp, RIP, because i forgot i didnt set a lower RTH, it was a thing i made a note to do because of the poor weather.  but didnt do, i realized this when i saw it was max motor speed, 250 feet up and over a mile away and it was dropping battery fast!  even throwing up battery warnigns at me for over discharge which this battery doesnt do at all usually..  having zero control, i turned all protection of, rechecked everything, its hitting edge of my range now, i decide, i have to use CSC mode let it free fall and regain it before it gets over the next neighborhood, if thats even possible, so i swallowed hard and did it then instantly i did CSC again and regained it it took a heart pounding moment longer than normal and it was 90 feet off the ground when it finally stablized!!!! then raced it back at 90 feet to me get it as close to me as i could, knowing i couldnt get it comopletely back,  i was checking maps and everything for a good spot thats safe and landed it half mile away with basically 0% left.. raced over and jumped a fence or two and grabbed it..

i had my mavic blow around in the wind... this time was differant i couldnt even ride the wind out to a friend's place where he could chase it down and help me out, the mavic was in i think some sort of panick mode or something.. did dji change somethign in the latest set of updates or something?  because i know before i coudl ride the wind even with alerts up and warnings, now however it seems if i have bunch of alerts/warnings up i couldnt ride the wind...it felt like it was in such a tight battle itself that it did not want to deviate.


i dont know exactly what to say, but i wanted to share this, and hopefully people can maybe learn from this and not repeat my mistakes, shouldnt even be flying in the rain to begin with, but be very mindful of the wind as well and aware of your surroundings.  one lesson i hope everyone also learns is not to panic, i was on the edge of panic but i kept my head cool and contiued to think and work out the situation..paniking will block thinking and cause more issues in such tight situations.

Wow! definitely a heart-pounding situation to deal with. Been there in that powerlessness moment where there wasn't any control.

"checking maps and everything for a good spot thats safe and landed it half mile away "


Glad you got it back. I think once you turned off some of that panic, it led you to quickly use good piloting skills to look below and land somewhere safe.

Sportbike_Pilot Posted at 2017-10-9 06:07
Wow! definitely a heart-pounding situation to deal with. Been there in that powerlessness moment where there wasn't any control.

"checking maps and everything for a good spot thats safe and landed it half mile away "

dude, i was freaking out, edge of complete panic but thats key, cant panic, have to keep your mind actively thinking.. i was disabling VPS and landing protection because it was so stuck in its battle i was thinking maybe it was a sensor issue.  but no, and given my battery level, it was dropping like a rocking fighting it, i felt had no choice.. CSC let it free fall and prey to drone gods that  it will regain control of itself or let me do a CSC again to save it.. figured if it crashes with CSC and breaks an arm off , its better then it drifting off miles and miles into the unknown  and possibly injuring someone or damaging a vehical, etc etc...drone gods were looking down on me today and helped me out, saved it.

Yeah it sounds you were gifted some luck by the Drone Gods that it didn't completely drift away.

"then it drifting off miles and miles into the unknown  and possibly injuring someone or damaging a vehical, etc".


Honestly if that ^^^ had happened to me or or that matter any pilot I'd bet, FULL PANIC MODE !  

Also good that you were troubleshooting all options on the table which is also something for me to consider in a precarious situation.

This is very interesting can you upload the flight log to link below, it might be great help to others to know just exactly what happened.

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-10-9 06:39
This is very interesting can you upload the flight log to link below, it might be great help to others to know just exactly what happened.

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

anyway can be stripped of personal data like location and such?   speaking of i haven't even checked my logs since rescuing it.   and which log is best to use blackbox or ios app log?

HereForTheBeer Posted at 2017-10-9 06:53
anyway can be stripped of personal data like location and such?   speaking of i haven't even checked my logs since rescuing it.   and which log is best to use blackbox or ios app log?

iOS app will tell you all you need to know.

So you used CSC to let it drop then did it again to reengage the drone? That's impressive. I'm new to drones and wasn't really sure what CSC was used for. What stops the mavic from tumbling through the air and reengaging the wrong way around?

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-10-9 06:55
iOS app will tell you all you need to know.

o.o   oh boy.... over 900 feet agl according to the logs (what?)  ...what what (this area i dont fly high in)   ...i had nooo idea.. ...but ....my RC showed 300-ish feet not 900+  what????

fans9f5c5cd1 Posted at 2017-10-9 06:56
So you used CSC to let it drop then did it again to reengage the drone? That's impressive. I'm new to drones and wasn't really sure what CSC was used for. What stops the mavic from tumbling through the air and reengaging the wrong way around?

luck of the gods... i dont entirely know if dji even properly counter balance anything for such events... but it was my only hope..  and it was best chance i had ..making it fall into a field away from people not dying mid air and harming others.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-10-9 06:55
iOS app will tell you all you need to know.

will the data in blackbox be different from data in app?  i want to compare it when i get back home later on this evening because i swear i was not that high up, no way! and the log on Ios abruptly stops... so sort of broken?

HereForTheBeer Posted at 2017-10-9 07:18
will the data in blackbox be different from data in app?  i want to compare it when i get back home later on this evening because i swear i was not that high up, no way! and the log on Ios abruptly stops... so sort of broken?

It will show much the same thing but you will need to decode.

HereForTheBeer Posted at 2017-10-9 07:18
will the data in blackbox be different from data in app?  i want to compare it when i get back home later on this evening because i swear i was not that high up, no way! and the log on Ios abruptly stops... so sort of broken?

anyway can be stripped of personal data like location and such?

No, you can't remove the location data from either the TXT file or DAT file logs, but that isn't really "personal data", so why would you want to remove it anyway?

which log is best to use blackbox or ios app log?
will the data in blackbox be different from data in app?

By "blackbox" I assume you mean the DAT file. It contains quite a bit more information about the flight than the TXT file and could provide much more insight into what occurred.

i swear i was not that high up, no way!

You mentioned 50-75 feet in your original post, and that's enough for there to be a large difference between the wind speed you experienced on the ground and what your Mavic encountered in the air.

and the log on ios abruptly stops... so sort of broken?

I'm guessing that the log stopped at the point where you initiated a CSC, which is what I'd expect since you essentially ended the flight and its corresponding log.

Frankly, none of what you describes really comes as a surprise and is more or less the behavior I'd expect when you're flying in winds that are too high. The Mavic's only capable of a little more than 40 mph in Sport mode, so anything higher than that and it's going to be drifting away in a manner like what you described. However, if you want to upload the DAT file and provide a link to it here I'll take a look at it.

Good to know that you cover the drone in the end. Mavic can resist the wind speed up to 10m/s, when it exceeds this value, it might be hard to control. And Mavic is not a water-proof drone, do not fly when there is a rain. Since your drone is exposed to the rain, I would recommend sending it back for an overall check. If you have any questions about this flight, you can contact our support to start the data analysis if you want. You can contact us on this page: http://www.dji.com/support.

Lucky you got it back.
Hope to never encounter this.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-10-9 20:26
Good to know that you cover the drone in the end. Mavic can resist the wind speed up to 10m/s, when it exceeds this value, it might be hard to control. And Mavic is not a water-proof drone, do not fly when there is a rain. Since your drone is exposed to the rain, I would recommend sending it back for an overall check. If you have any questions about this flight, you can contact our support to start the data analysis if you want. You can contact us on this page: http://www.dji.com/support.

its all good.  no worries!  i did function tests and seems work as good as always, my battery is only thing maybe scaring me, so ill probably buy a replacement pack. although no water seems to worked its way on bottom side, which gives me some hope that the pack didn't get water inside..

HereForTheBeer Posted at 2017-10-10 01:51
its all good.  no worries!  i did function tests and seems work as good as always, my battery is only thing maybe scaring me, so ill probably buy a replacement pack. although no water seems to worked its way on bottom side, which gives me some hope that the pack didn't get water inside..

I take it from your lack of response that you don't plan to post either the TXT or DAT file log, correct? In any case, if you were flying at 900 feet AGL as you previously indicated, that could certainly explain why the wind was too strong for your Mavic, especially if it was (by your estimation) 35+ MPH at ground level.

"Mavic is not a water-proof drone"


Well I think 'Hereforthebeer' has proven that it is in fact water-resistant at least, it kept flying and returned home. Cheers ! I think I'll have a beer myself ! Well done sir !

DroneFlying Posted at 2017-10-10 02:21
I take it from your lack of response that you don't plan to post either the TXT or DAT file log, correct? In any case, if you were flying at 900 feet AGL as you previously indicated, that could certainly explain why the wind was too strong for your Mavic, especially if it was (by your estimation) 35+ MPH at ground level.

yes and no, i was busy and i didn't want to fuss with it, and thinking about it more,i rather not reveal potential info.    but both logs showing 900+ feet, there is some inconsistencies however but that's to be expected given not hugely inconsistent.  i swear on RC it was showing a lot less, but i didn't check the app info, i was buried in the menus looking for a solution.

one thing i do think happened, since i did not disable VPS or landing protection until i was well out of control that must be good explaination why it was seeming stuck in place and may have found itself climbing 900 feet up..  i disabled it pretty early in, so maybe got stuck in a software loop once it detected something was wrong it couldn't override itself.....

Sportbike_Pilot Posted at 2017-10-10 04:11
"Mavic is not a water-proof drone"

dji over-engineer's them.. i have no doubt that it is water resistant, but not designed to tackle any water so it may shortened its life a little, how much is up for debate and theory.. it still works exactly as it always has, even battery #1 that was in the quad during the huge loss of control... i did a few short power runs and no errors or anything and same as always run time..

HereForTheBeer Posted at 2017-10-10 07:34
yes and no, i was busy and i didn't want to fuss with it, and thinking about it more,i rather not reveal potential info.    but both logs showing 900+ feet, there is some inconsistencies however but that's to be expected given not hugely inconsistent.  i swear on RC it was showing a lot less, but i didn't check the app info, i was buried in the menus looking for a solution.

one thing i do think happened, since i did not disable VPS or landing protection until i was well out of control that must be good explaination why it was seeming stuck in place and may have found itself climbing 900 feet up..  i disabled it pretty early in, so maybe got stuck in a software loop once it detected something was wrong it couldn't override itself.....

one thing i do think happened, since i did not disable VPS or landing protection until i was well out of control that must be good explaination why it was seeming stuck in place and may have found itself climbing 900 feet up..  i disabled it pretty early in, so maybe got stuck in a software loop once it detected something was wrong it couldn't override itself.....

A "software loop"? Statistically, pilot error is a much more likely explanation, not to mention a simpler one, but since you don't want to share the logs I guess we'll all be left to draw our own conclusions. You also have the option of creating a case with DJI and they'll certainly keep whatever "secrets" it is you feel are associated with the flight, though I'm guessing you're not interested in doing that either.

DroneFlying Posted at 2017-10-10 07:45
one thing i do think happened, since i did not disable VPS or landing protection until i was well out of control that must be good explaination why it was seeming stuck in place and may have found itself climbing 900 feet up..  i disabled it pretty early in, so maybe got stuck in a software loop once it detected something was wrong it couldn't override itself.....

A "software loop"? Statistically, pilot error is a much more likely explanation, not to mention a simpler one, but since you don't want to share the logs I guess we'll all be left to draw our own conclusions. You also have the option of creating a case with DJI and they'll certainly keep whatever "secrets" it is you feel are associated with the flight, though I'm guessing you're not interested in doing that either.

no i have insurance outside of DJi and have no interest in working with Dji, customer service is way too hit or miss.. if i need a replacement, ill use state farm and make a claim since i have a policy with them on my mavic pro.

as for pilot error, definitely possible, it could very well be, it was a heck of a rush, and i was on the edge of panicking.. i know i may have missed some stuff, but when it was climbing there was no stick input from me apart from me pulling down a few times to try to lower it and failing..    my thinking is maybe it was climbing up when i tried to disable protections and it blocking out the change i made while fighting to move away the water underneath of it.. like a software loop.  

im not saying that's what it was or wasn't, my lesson is for people here to not repeat what i did essentially, i put my drones into stupid situations a lot this was the scariest for me..  and if you do get yourself into situations lesson ..i think is to remain calm and cool and dont panic, but im not sure still.  LOL..because im still worked up about it..

Sportbike_Pilot Posted at 2017-10-10 04:11
"Mavic is not a water-proof drone"

He hasn't proven anything.  He has told you a story, and you have chosen to believe it.

HereForTheBeer Posted at 2017-10-10 08:14
no i have insurance outside of DJi and have no interest in working with Dji, customer service is way too hit or miss.. if i need a replacement, ill use state farm and make a claim since i have a policy with them on my mavic pro.

as for pilot error, definitely possible, it could very well be, it was a heck of a rush, and i was on the edge of panicking.. i know i may have missed some stuff, but when it was climbing there was no stick input from me apart from me pulling down a few times to try to lower it and failing..    my thinking is maybe it was climbing up when i tried to disable protections and it blocking out the change i made while fighting to move away the water underneath of it.. like a software loop.  

Well I’m sure you’ve looked at your logs , understand you don’t want to put them up here for whatever reason, but I’m sure logs have told you some of the reasons your AC reacted the way it did it will show all stick movements so will give you the answer to whether it was your fault or aircraft, you can also sync you log or retrieve your dat log and get dji to look at them for you. If you have a problem with Aircraft certainly for the sake of joe public you shouldn’t be flying it around because if there is a problem it certainly won’t fix itself. The responsible thing to do would be to get it checked out.

Oracle Miata Posted at 2017-10-10 08:27
He hasn't proven anything.  He has told you a story, and you have chosen to believe it.

the mavic is fairly resilient against water and rain.    that's a known, anyone has seen videos on it or torn their own down know this for a fact that Dji has over engineered it quite heavily.  in no way will it resist ingress of water, however it will resista damage from water.  

the fact that mavic doesn't resist ingress of water into main board areas means that no, DJi cannot label it water resistant or give it an IP rating (obviously), however that doesn't mean it wont resist water shorting it out, it obviously can. plenty of videos online people have shared of flying in rain storms or hosing mavic down or even recovering it from fresh water after being submerged and still works once left to dry and swap batteries out.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-10-10 08:34
Well I’m sure you’ve looked at your logs , understand you don’t want to put them up here for whatever reason, but I’m sure logs have told you some of the reasons your AC reacted the way it did it will show all stick movements so will give you the answer to whether it was your fault or aircraft, you can also sync you log or retrieve your dat log and get dji to look at them for you. If you have a problem with Aircraft certainly for the sake of joe public you shouldn’t be flying it around because if there is a problem it certainly won’t fix itself. The responsible thing to do would be to get it checked out.

the stick movements show during the climb and the huge drift away, my input was limited to a few strokes trying to push it down (then not much from the left stick after that)  and full forward to try to fly into the wind and get it back closer to me before i start trying to yaw side to side to break out of whatever is sticking me in place ..

i agree, i should maybe have it checked out, im considering my options and i plan on flying it near me for next few days before deciding what to do, i dont plan on zipping out too far and im keeping it close, juust incase!

HereForTheBeer Posted at 2017-10-10 08:41
the stick movements show during the climb and the huge drift away, my input was limited to a few strokes trying to push it down (then not much from the left stick after that)  and full forward to try to fly into the wind and get it back closer to me before i start trying to yaw side to side to break out of whatever is sticking me in place ..

i agree, i should maybe have it checked out, im considering my options and i plan on flying it near me for next few days before deciding what to do, i dont plan on zipping out too far and im keeping it close, juust incase!

Well if your Aircraft climbed 900 ft on its own then there is something wrong it’s not down to the atmosphere, sounds like there is a real problem.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-10-10 08:45
Well if your Aircraft climbed 900 ft on its own then there is something wrong it’s not down to the atmosphere, sounds like there is a real problem.

it doesn't do it now.. my theory is maybe like how sparks act when they get stuck in the clouds..  

i plan on doing a couple tests later not sure what or how yet but i wanna test out while VPS and landing protection are both causing my drone to try to get away if turning them off while they are avoiding full speed will instantly stop it from trying to avoid or if its remains stuck in a loop until it breaks away briefly.. not sure how ill test this.. maybe with some string to tether it on a leash and tape or something i dont know yet LOL..

HereForTheBeer Posted at 2017-10-10 07:36
dji over-engineer's them.. i have no doubt that it is water resistant, but not designed to tackle any water so it may shortened its life a little, how much is up for debate and theory.. it still works exactly as it always has, even battery #1 that was in the quad during the huge loss of control... i did a few short power runs and no errors or anything and same as always run time..

"i have no doubt that it is water resistant,"

Yeah I would agree with that although I don't plan to fly in the rain at least I know that if for some reason there's a quick passing shower, the Mavic will probably survive.

Sportbike_Pilot Posted at 2017-10-10 14:56
"i have no doubt that it is water resistant,"

Yeah I would agree with that although I don't plan to fly in the rain at least I know that if for some reason there's a quick passing shower, the Mavic will probably survive.

DJI doesn't seem to have as much confidence in their product as you guys; the manual specifically says not to fly in the rain, and while rainwater is much likely to be less a problem than (even fresh) ground water, it can be slightly acidic and contain other contaminants.

It's true as "Beer" said that some people manage to recover their Mavics from fresh or even salt water and fly again, but I've yet to hear of anyone who's had long-term success with one that has been submerged. Instead it's just a (usually fairly short) matter of time before they begin to encounter problems, which is probably why DJI won't attempt to repair a drone that has gone swimming.

DroneFlying Posted at 2017-10-10 15:09
DJI doesn't seem to have as much confidence in their product as you guys; the manual specifically says not to fly in the rain, and while rainwater is much likely to be less a problem than (even fresh) ground water, it can be slightly acidic and contain other contaminants.

It's true as "Beer" said that some people manage to recover their Mavics from fresh or even salt water and fly again, but I've yet to hear of anyone who's had long-term success with one that has been submerged. Instead it's just a (usually fairly short) matter of time before they begin to encounter problems, which is probably why DJI won't attempt to repair a drone that has gone swimming.

"matter of time before they begin to encounter problems,"


Definitely see that coming down the pike, no doubt.  High probability H2O will somehow seep into the mboard.

Sportbike_Pilot Posted at 2017-10-10 15:18
"matter of time before they begin to encounter problems,"

start witht he weakest part of the aircraft in the wet.  the battery.  the battery has pretty much no proection against water of any pressure, it will very likely hold its own in a "no pressure" event like light rain or a mist where nothing trying to force itself in, but the battery has no gaskets, no sealants on boards or connections inside, and the protection all comes from the tight fittings, so around the button and light tubes and the fitting into the aircraft.  those fittings are tight but not perfect, tight enough i would say if its a light rain, or a mist, probably going to last entire flight but rain storm and 40 mph winds, RIP, probably going to have to replace that pack, which i did today as a precaution.  

seeping into the board i dont think is the issue.  even with submerged aircraft i think the issue is none of protection is actually intended to block water even though it does, probably shortening the life off things like the silastics that coating connectors and things like that.. while yes, the conformal coating is very tough and will probably survive a lot of things the aircraft may never encounter, not everything on all boards is coated in it, typically only main board and the ESC board has thick layer of conformal coatings. as it should those are most important to keeping aircraft alive and not just falling to its death if water instantly was to rot it out. but any daughter boards tend to have very little protection, mostly tin/aluminium shieldings.  and again those shieldings will protect against "no pressure" water  like some droplets rolling over them, and maybe corrosion resistant, but they are still a weakness..


so the TL;DR version is yes, it is water resistant in way that yes it will resist water damage, and DJi is right in not calling it such because no ingress protection can't call it water resistant. water will easily find its way inside and to the boards, but in a no pressure situation like a light mist, fog, maybe light rain, probably not going to have any issues at all, but as you said and as i have mentioned before, think about the protection as a safety net that is limited, it there to give you a few spare minutes to get it to safety then pull power and dry it off..  

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-10-10 08:45
Well if your Aircraft climbed 900 ft on its own then there is something wrong it’s not down to the atmosphere, sounds like there is a real problem.

so in my limited, drunk testing i have done with my reluctant GF and i, i tested out disabling VPS and landing protection while it is fighting my hand that is covering all the sensors on the bottom, while my GF toggled it in the app for me..  

so test one:  what we did is; i had her do the auto take off with VPS and all normal protections enabled, but in sport mode, i they gently grabbed onto the aircraft as it was hovering trying to hold over the sensors and grip onto it tightly, not move it around or down or up.. once it goes full speed, i had my GF toggle VPS and landing protection off in the menus, and.,..... nothing changed it continued to fight my hands even when i lifted it up while still gripping it, once it was stationary again it started maxing out its motors.   this is what i was talking about, a software looping issue, the vps and landing protection are disabled but because in a full fight while disabled it keeps trying to escape regardless..

so test 2 as a sanity check disabled VPS and landing protection before taking off, then did take off and i grabbed onto the aircraft, it actually slowed down if i was holding it slightly higher then its take off point holding it right at its take off spot where it was hovering itself ensuring all the sensors on button are cover, it was stablized at normal prop speed no maxing itself out to escape.. interesting.. so i then had my GF turn on landing protection, the aircraft didnt complain about anything then i had her turn on VPS and it whent full speed trying to escape my hand.  so thats interesting it gets stuck on but not stuck off.. maybe intentional programing built in for this or maybe software is actually stuck in only 1 direction..

test number three:  i decided to have my GF turn VPS and protection on (or well keep it on) and do the take off, i then grab it as normal, and try to not move it just cover the down firing sensors... then have it fight for its life, with protection then being turned off.. so we do that, its fighting still, i let go and it lifts up and drifts a bit but stabilized, then had her turn VPS and protection off i then grabbed onto the aircraft again (using my a step ladder because it was like 12 feet up) i held it exactly in place again and it was chill.. i then jumped off the ladder, and it started to wine up hard then slowed down again, it was wining hard during the free fall.. so now im curious about the IMUs, but i can't disable IMU compensation or limit them (for obvious reasons)

test 4, had VPS and protection off, did lift off let it stabilize then i grabbed it and spun around in circles, it was fighting hard... both directions, including my drunk dizzy stabling back to take off spot..

test 5 i had vps on holding aircraft as it was fighting hard but did a full forward len (to simulate it fighting head wind as hard as it can) and had my GF hold left stick full down to try to have it initiate landing, with sensors fully covered and steep angle with it fighting hard as it can to not die.. it would not land it would slow down very briefly then speed up hard again..


lessons i learned is....yes there is either a software loop or dji has blocked turning off VPS if its in a battle fighting that fight.. and no there isn't a loop or software block the other way with vps off being switched on, it just starts fighting.. the other lesson is... i'm not very sure, but, some interesting infos.. that is how my mavic acts, and reacts, can't say if that's how everyone's mavic acts and reacts or if mine is doing it right or wrong.. just what it does...