17 hrs. of flight time.  2 minor crashes.
Crash #1:  Took off from mountain top, hit RTH, and panicked thinking the RTH would not detect the mountain top as ground level.  Tried to land manually and reversed into a stone wall.  Damage: needed new propellers and light scratches.

Crash #2:  Tried to fly Mini into window to land.  Hit side of window going in.  Damage:  needed new propellers.

Lesson learned:  Don't try to take off or land in an area your nervous about.


Share your flight time, numbers of crashes and lessons learned.

Well  i had 1 crash only which was with my spark but that was caused by a compass interference, had a fly away when my first zoom lost connection - lesson I learnt, was always check your drone before flying off, have a preflight check list. Hallmark had posted one sometime back, maybe he can post it here, I always use his.

25.1 hours  Two crashes, both with the Mini, and indoors!

#1:  Low light indoors will eat your drone (optical flow)
#2:  Helium party balloons are attracted to drones (the party's over)

Just 1 crash in over a thousand flights/4 years flying/12million feet flown/roughly 350 flight hours.

I wanted to discharge my M2P batteries quickly as been sat around for a couple of days on 100% charge. Took off in my house, let the drone hover... No GPS, flying over a thick carpet, it was late evening and the room began slowly getting darker. Yep, the VPS couldn't sense the ground and the drone lost it's position and began flying slowly around the room without any control from me - it bounced off of three walls and I had to duck to prevent the props slicing my eyes open as it flew overhead - it buzzed down the final wall and disarmed its motors. The room needed a little paint job, the drone needed just four new props and I have never flown indoors again and never will - though I've never crashed a DJI drone outside but that was a scary moment and brought home the fact that you really need to understand how these drones work and that anything can go wrong. All of those sensors eh and it's the only drone to fly at my head! Haha  

learned not to crash

A J Posted at 6-29 12:03
Just 1 crash in over a thousand flights/4 years flying/12million feet flown/roughly 350 flight hours.

I wanted to discharge my M2P batteries quickly as been sat around for a couple of days on 100% charge. Took off in my house, let the drone hover... No GPS, flying over a thick carpet, it was late evening and the room began slowly getting darker. Yep, the VPS couldn't sense the ground and the drone lost it's position and began flying slowly around the room without any control from me - it bounced off of three walls and I had to duck to prevent the props slicing my eyes open as it flew overhead - it buzzed down the final wall and disarmed its motors. The room needed a little paint job, the drone needed just four new props and I have never flown indoors again and never will - though I've never crashed a DJI drone outside but that was a scary moment and brought home the fact that you really need to understand how these drones work and that anything can go wrong. All of those sensors eh and it's the only drone to fly at my head! Haha

That is scary as hell. Those props will mess you up.

I have not crashed yet but there is still plenty of time and opportunity for me to join the club.  Part of my good fortune is due to all of the helpful content in this forum.  Among lessons I have learned or things to be aware of are:

• ESC/Motor Speed Error/Not Enough Power/Max Power Warnings
• GPS Satellite locks
• Home Point Recorded
• Staying away or moving from locations that affect compass
• Flying low over water
• Flying in high winds
• Flying in low light or dark conditions
• RTH Settings
• Quickshot limitations
• Damaged propellers
• Uncommanded Descents
  

Some of these items may be related to each other.  

In any case, thank you to the Mavic Mini community for all of the great information and tips that have been posted.

Gregg F Posted at 6-29 12:44
That is scary as hell. Those props will mess you up.

Oh I know! It was over a year ago - I have no idea why I reacted in that way. I should have just pulled down on the throttle stick or did a CSC or even grab a pillow and whacked the ....... thing out of the air but I couldn't believe after all of that flying time without any real incident that the latest and greatest drone was literally flying itself around my house and at me - guess I was stunned at the time. Total pilot error of course as it was obviously in Atti mode due to the poor lighting disabling Opti mode (why I didn't turn the light on I don't know). Anyway, no harm done and lesson learnt though the wife wasn't best pleased...

Haven't crashed the Air 2 yet. Crashed Phoebe the Spark three times.

1. On her first flight, I decided to do a quickshot orbit around a bell tower. She flew sideways into the tower.
2. Practicing MANUAL orbits, I flew sideways into a tree 'cause I wasn't paying enough attention to where the drone was.
3. Doing a long dolly shot sideways, I seem to have watching something other than the drone, I flew sideways into a tree.

I did not count the power line 'cause she recovered and flew back to my hand. Oh, on number 1, she recovered and flew back to my hand.

Gregg F Posted at 6-29 12:44
That is scary as hell. Those props will mess you up.

Here you go - I did a thread on it back in April 2019...

https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=186032

Not sure on total flight hours but likely under a hundred.   

Like others here, my biggest issue of all time was trying to hover inside in a relatively small room at night.   Disaster - lost control, crashed into wall.   Required $200 repair.   Will never try that again.

Trees are mean, they tend to jump right into your flight path, especially when flying sideways.

A J Posted at 6-29 13:02
Here you go - I did a thread on it back in April 2019...

https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=186032

Crazy stuff. Glad it worked out not too bad, you and the drone are ok.

Gregg F Posted at 6-29 15:22
Crazy stuff. Glad it worked out not too bad, you and the drone are ok.

Yeah, didn't touch me and I sold the drone 3 months later for £1300

I liken my few times of flight to my time as a motorcycle safety instructor.

There are two types of Drone Pilots:
Those that have crashed.
Those that are going to crash.

You might dislike my comment but I just put it out here. Read and follow the manual. If you crash still then it is beyond your control and you might be eligible for a warranty repair or replacement. Most people crash because they do not know the craft well enough.

Crashed my first Mini one night after maybe 5 hours accumulated flight time. I was trying to take a video of a satellite train at night. I was in a hurry to get above the trees for a good angle and did not wait for good GPS. Crashed into a bush across the street. No damage except to my ego ;-)

EHEA Posted at 6-29 14:53
Trees are mean, they tend to jump right into your flight path, especially when flying sideways.

Good point!

Hi. I am sorry to know that you have two crashes on your DJI Mavic Mini and thank you for giving out these information. This is not the experience that we wanted you to have with DJI, since there was a crash that happened to the said drone. It would be best to contact our DJI support team for further assistance. Again, I am sorry for the trouble and thank you for your understanding.

A.J I think you will like this one, that's one lucky chap

One crash, two close calls due to getting distracted.
I can't remember the reason for one distraction but the drone (a P3) was  a few feet overhead, whilst I was distracted it sank and a prop grazed  my ear. ( I am deaf so didn't hear it get nearer).

The other two were someone coming to talk as I was coming in to land, I left the drone hovering and it auto landed. The third was checking something in the app  with the drone (Mavic Mini) about 6ft above my head and 4ft from a fir  tree, it drifted into the tree, I caught the screen feed going crazy,  no damage.  No option but to fly close to the tree so comments  concerning that are unnecessary.
Don't get distracted is a  hard lesson to keep hold of.

typo double post

Wow,  that could have easily been both eyes gone.

Glad he came away with minor injuries.    Also happy he has a sense of humor about it.....and showing the danger as well.

Randy

Purchased June 8th
Flight time 1  min-
First take off mini was hovering and had my eyes on the controller, drifted into a wooden fence..no damage..
2 weeks later chopped a few leaves off the neighbors front bush small crash, started getting the propeller rotating to fast error after,
checked the blades a few days later and one was bent slightly, replaced no issues or crashes since.
7hrs flight time now 36 flights.
Learned to not be in a hurry, keep eyes on the ball at all times.

Crashed during an orbital quick shot, the drone collided with a building out of my sight on the right side of the drone, since I was doing an orbital focusing on a central point I could not see the building, in my perspective the orbital was closer than it was exactly, my notion of space is very limited with the drone camera, I should have been more careful, never the less

A lateral sensor would be nice for this kind of situation
or as a software alternative, it could show the drone on a 3d space map during the quick shot, that way I can anticipate the collision course.