Hello,

I am another new owner of a Mavic Mini who has had the unfortunate misfortune of a flyaway. I have uploaded the flight logs to phantomhelp for viewing.

As I am very new, I am wondering if this fly-away was the result of pilot error. From my point of view, the drone ascended without input from me and flew away, never to be recovered.

Any input or help at all would be very appreciated as today was a total bummer as I have lost my drone .


Part 1:
https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/PF5TM8EFKQZJLXY66NMY/

Part 2:
https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/VHC1SAKMQS6RQ05DCPT5/

Thank you for the help.

I am no expert at reading the logs, but it looks like you have a blow away, not a flyaway. From the moment the aircraft started to return to home, it was allegedly 3,000 feet in the air, up among strong winds. How did you get that high?

Geebax Posted at 12-29 17:58
I am no expert at reading the logs, but it looks like you have a blow away, not a flyaway. From the moment the aircraft started to return to home, it was allegedly 3,000 feet in the air, up among strong winds. How did you get that high?

Thanks for the reply. You can see the drone starts ascending without any input from me earlier on in the flight. I have the max height as 613 ft I believe. I have NO idea how it got to 8000ft. It makes no sense to me.

There was not a lot of wind (at least low to the ground). You can see the drone ascends without input from me in a relatively stationary location which makes me think the wind was not a factor low to the ground. I imagine when it got to higher than 3000ft it definitely made a difference, but I was having issues before that.

Hello there Chad1. I am sorry to read and to know what happened to your DJI Mavic Mini. Since this unfortunate incident happened to the said DJI drone. I would recommend for you to contact our DJI Support Team at https://www.dji.com/support?site=brandsite&from=nav for further assistance. We have a team that will do there best to help you and give out the best resolution for the said issue. Again, I am sorry for your loss and thank you for your understanding.

Holy cow! That was not a fly away or a blow away. That went into orbit if the log file can be believed. Space junk now.

But seriously, looks like instrumentation failure to my uneducated eyes.

Have you selected non-standard stick modes? i don't see many attempts to drop altitude otherwise.

I know I keep harping on this, but the ground temperature was about 28F at the time and that is 4F below the minimum operating temperature of the Mini at 32F. Maybe not important, but how cold at 1000+ ?

The winds were 12-20 mph at the ground level, much, much higher at 1000+ft I suspect. From the NW, which aligns with the backwards travel of the Mini.

GaryDoug Posted at 12-29 21:14
Holy cow! That was not a fly away or a blow away. That went into orbit if the log file can be believed. Space junk now.

But seriously, looks like instrumentation failure to my uneducated eyes.

I believe I used mode 3. I did not modify stick controls. I had flown with no issues a few days earlier as well.

I was able to connect for a split second when it was flying away and I was significantly above the clouds on the gimbal camera, so I would say the logs were correct. i should have grabbed a screenshot, it was ludicrously high. The drone ascended to 8000ft on its own. So disappointed. I tried to find it at its last known location but it was long gone. If I’m reading the logs correct, it dropped 8000ft out of the sky...

Chad1 Posted at 12-29 21:34
I believe I used mode 3. I did not modify stick controls. I had flown with no issues a few days earlier as well.

I was able to connect for a split second when it was flying away and I was significantly above the clouds on the gimbal camera, so I would say the logs were correct. i should have grabbed a screenshot, it was ludicrously high. The drone ascended to 8000ft on its own. So disappointed. I tried to find it at its last known location but it was long gone. If I’m reading the logs correct, it dropped 8000ft out of the sky...

Sorry....I added a bunch of stuff to my post above.

Chad1 Posted at 12-29 21:34
I believe I used mode 3. I did not modify stick controls. I had flown with no issues a few days earlier as well.

I was able to connect for a split second when it was flying away and I was significantly above the clouds on the gimbal camera, so I would say the logs were correct. i should have grabbed a screenshot, it was ludicrously high. The drone ascended to 8000ft on its own. So disappointed. I tried to find it at its last known location but it was long gone. If I’m reading the logs correct, it dropped 8000ft out of the sky...

OK, Mode 3 is not default. Mode 2 is. And that explains my confusion. not a problem as long as you are ok with that mode.

More experienced members will be along to help. I am just the early triage "incompetent" helper ;-) Good luck.

GaryDoug Posted at 12-29 21:37
Sorry....I added a bunch of stuff to my post above.

Yes it was a little cold, but nothing that I had not done before.

I had no issues with wind operating at about 200-300ft. The issues arose when the aircraft unexpectedly ascended without input from myself. I have no idea how it got to 1000+ feet, let alone 8000+ feet, but yes the wind and cold would likely have been some sort of factor at that height.

I’m absolutely perplexed how this happened.

Chad1 Posted at 12-29 21:45
Yes it was a little cold, but nothing that I had not done before.

I had no issues with wind operating at about 200-300ft. The issues arose when the aircraft unexpectedly ascended without input from myself. I have no idea how it got to 1000+ feet, let alone 8000+ feet, but yes the wind and cold would likely have been some sort of factor at that height.

Hi,

Its a waranty case. IMU error; climbing with a vertical speed indcation going down.
Baro Height increases from 1639 to 5379 feet in 0.1 second....IMU error.
Look for DAT file on your mob device, its FLY015.DAT, imu errors in there for sure.

Due to IMU errors your MM in ATTI for some time, drifing away. Plus in Normal mode and RTH craft heading more or less towards home but did not come closer to home, more distance away...guess not able to win form the wind.

Last position in the log : 43.89310300, -78.93704200  at a height of 2447.5 meters, height is incorrect so mayby lost connection bc mini low to the ground.

Summary of errors too big for 1 screen....so if you like download Summary.xlsx from > https://mega.nz/file/JWJQkTrR#lw ... ezHnbA1PwY_NAJyDhUs

cheers
JJB

The DAT file should contain the GPS altitude (above MSL) in addition to the barometric altitude so that would clarify whether it finally fell to irts death from a great altitude or rather gently crashed down, perhaps, right?

HB

EHEA Posted at 12-30 07:04
The DAT file should contain the GPS altitude (above MSL) in addition to the barometric altitude so that would clarify whether it finally fell to irts death from a great altitude or rather gently crashed down, perhaps, right?

HB

This is something I would be very interested in knowing because the drone falling from 8000ft down into a residential area could have done a bit of damage, even taking into account the light weight of the drone.

Chad1 Posted at 12-30 07:31
This is something I would be very interested in knowing because the drone falling from 8000ft down into a residential area could have done a bit of damage, even taking into account the light weight of the drone.

as said. the DAT file is on your mobile device, post a cloud link on here to that file.

see post # 10

cheers
JJB

JJB* Posted at 12-30 08:47
as said. the DAT file is on your mobile device, post a cloud link on here to that file.

see post # 10

Is it possible that the FLY015 file was never created on my phone? I see the DAT files up until FLY012 but nothing further.

THanks

Chad1 Posted at 12-30 09:00
Is it possible that the FLY015 file was never created on my phone? I see the DAT files up until FLY012 but nothing further.

THanks

oops, sometimes DAT files 'dissapear' if data in synced with DJI....

Chad1 Posted at 12-30 07:31
This is something I would be very interested in knowing because the drone falling from 8000ft down into a residential area could have done a bit of damage, even taking into account the light weight of the drone.

Google search for "terminal velocity"

Hello Chad1,

From your flight log we can notice that:
From 1m 47.6s --> 2m 20s    you pressed the right up stick and your altitude increases until 281,7 feet. It means that you had inverted controls. Nothing special...
From 3m 59s    -->  4m 4.5s  you pressed and maintained the right down stick (full) but your altitude, instead of decreasing, actually increased to 397,3 feet. At this point, something is wrong with the control of the drone that probably caused the flyaway afterwards...
In my humble opinion, this is not a Pilot error.
Wish you a very happy New Year of 2021!

Mode 2 is the standard for North America. Mode 3 seems crazy to me but as long as your comfortable with it.

Visual Air Posted at 12-31 09:40
Mode 2 is the standard for North America. Mode 3 seems crazy to me but as long as your comfortable with it.

Mode 3 aligns with FPS video games which is why I use it and am comfortable with it

Chad1 Posted at 12-31 09:42
Mode 3 aligns with FPS video games which is why I use it and am comfortable with it

interesting. Glad you like it.

did you really lose your drone? I am pretty sure that you can check flight logs to locate where your drone evetually ended up- then you could search the area