Had my Mavic Air for a few years, use it a lot, its been good.
I foolishly was in sport mode getting low to the water for a nice shot along the river while on the edge of the river in my boat, I then had a brain fart. The angle of attack changes massively when in full speed using sport mode, and due to this, as I moved forward, the front two props touched the water and the drone was gone.

I now have a controller and fly more kit, with no drone.

1. Do I buy another Mavic Air, so that the kit I have is not wasted?
2. Do I upgrade to a Mavic Pro? (If so, can I use my existing controller)

If I get another air and working close to water, I will add some foam pipe and ping pong balls to it, so atleast it will float if I cock up again.

Thanks in advance guys, cheers

I would be very surprised if the Air controller will work with a Mavic pro, ditto the batteries.

Regarding ping pong balls and foam, I would suggest that any such high speed flip into water will be fatal for the drone irrespective of whether or not it floats and is recovered.

Buy another air or sell the kit.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 4-16 11:11
I would be very surprised if the Air controller will work with a Mavic pro, ditto the batteries.

Regarding ping pong balls and foam, I would suggest that any such high speed flip into water will be fatal for the drone irrespective of whether or not it floats and is recovered.

Thanks, and yeah I wanted the SD card back more than anything as it has the days footage on it, which was incredible.

I'm going back to the river on Monday with my magnet, just to see if I retrieve the sd card. Chances are its moved with the current as its so light.

I know the Mavic Pro batteries are different, but it was more the controller I am interested in.

Anyway, thanks :-)

basejumper Posted at 4-16 12:11
Thanks, and yeah I wanted the SD card back more than anything as it has the days footage on it, which was incredible.

Some people swap cards when they change a battery, for that very reason. Backing the card up to safe memory at the end of a day's flying would be a good idea, I'd use 64G or 32 Gb cards but they aren't that readily/cheaply available now so I am using 128Gb.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 4-16 12:32
Some people swap cards when they change a battery, for that very reason. Backing the card up to safe memory at the end of a day's flying would be a good idea, I'd use 64G or 32 Gb cards but they aren't that readily/cheaply available now so I am using 128Gb.

I do do that normally, but I was on my boat and had plans to download it when moored up, but ofcourse, I got brave and paid the price.

Won't happen again

Hello there basejumper. I am sorry to read and to know what happened to your DJI Mavic Air  and thank you for reaching out. Since this unfortunate event happened to your DJI Mavic Air, I would recommend for you to contact our DJI Support Team at https://www.dji.com/support?site=brandsite&from=nav for further assistance with regards to this matter. We will do there best to help you and give out the best resolution for the said issue. Again, I am sorry and thank you.

DJI Stephen Posted at 4-16 19:20
Hello there basejumper. I am sorry to read and to know what happened to your DJI Mavic Air  and thank you for reaching out. Since this unfortunate event happened to your DJI Mavic Air, I would recommend for you to contact our DJI Support Team at https://www.dji.com/support?site=brandsite&from=nav for further assistance with regards to this matter. We will do there best to help you and give out the best resolution for the said issue. Again, I am sorry and thank you.

Hi, there is no resolution as it was my fault and its at the bottom of a river.

I would just like confirmation as to whether my Mavic Air controller will work with any other Mavic drone?

Cheers

basejumper Posted at 4-16 12:11
Thanks, and yeah I wanted the SD card back more than anything as it has the days footage on it, which was incredible.

I'm going back to the river on Monday with my magnet, just to see if I retrieve the sd card. Chances are its moved with the current as its so light.

Sorry to hear of losing your drone.  

I do a lot of scuba diving.  A while back I found a Mavic Air 2 in a local river.  I pulled out the SD card inn hopes of it giving me a clue as to the owner.  The card was readable but unfortunately hand no information to help m e find the owner.  So hopefully if you recover your drone the SD card will also still be  readable.  

DowntownRDB Posted at 4-17 05:12
Sorry to hear of losing your drone.  

I do a lot of scuba diving.  A while back I found a Mavic Air 2 in a local river.  I pulled out the SD card inn hopes of it giving me a clue as to the owner.  The card was readable but unfortunately hand no information to help m e find the owner.  So hopefully if you recover your drone the SD card will also still be  readable.

Thanks, I have also recovered an SD card from a GoPro camera from the bottom of a lake and was able to use some software to recover the footage. I just hope I can do the same this time around, but worried about the river currents as the River Arun is notoriously strong.

I have retrieved the mSD card from a drone that spent a week in the sea. All the ferrous and light metals had corroded and some of that corrodsion had stained/coated the card's contacts. After scrubbing the contacts clean the card played perfectly.

A couple of days in a river shouldn't bother the card.

If you blast the drone out with a hair drier or leaf blower etc. and then put it in the airing cupboard for 3 or 4 days (NO RICE) and there might even be a SLIM chance that the drone may be flyable. I'd guess the battery will be toast. The camera might be useless if water got on the sensor.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 4-17 11:39
I have retrieved the mSD card from a drone that spent a week in the sea. All the ferrous and light metals had corroded and some had stained/coated the card's contacts. After scrubbing the contacts clean the card played perfectly.

Excellent!
What did you use, Iso Propyl or something similar?
Lets hope I find the drone tomorrow...

basejumper Posted at 4-17 11:45
Excellent!
What did you use, Iso Propyl or something similar?
Lets hope I find the drone tomorrow...

Tap water and a phosphour-bronze/brass wire brush and or a nylon pot scrubber. Alcohol probably doesn't do much to corrosion stain.
The only thing I would say is, stroke the card from the opposite end of the card to and over the contacts and out into air, do not stroke the other way just in case you snagged a contact and rip it out of the card.

Do not scrub hard, I do not know how abrasion resistant the gold coating of the contact is.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 4-17 11:53
Tap water and a phosphour-bronze/brass wire brush and or a nylon pot scrubber. Alcohol probably doesn't do much to corrosion stain.
The only thing I would say is, stroke the card from the opposite end of the card to and over the contacts and out into air, do not stroke the other way just in case you snagged a countact and rip it out of the card.

Thats great info, thanks!

basejumper Posted at 4-17 11:45
Excellent!
What did you use, Iso Propyl or something similar?
Lets hope I find the drone tomorrow...

A pencil eraser works wonders.

Mobilehomer Posted at 4-17 12:14
A pencil eraser works wonders.

A pencil eraser really does work well.  Has saved me several times on reading old cards.