removed

how could you get a message when the drone is underwater

Pastime Posted at 8-6 08:55
how could you get a message when the drone is underwater

I assume they have some level of waterproofing on the electrics - it was definitely sending back a signal from under the water as it floated past - the grey screen was the water so it was broadcasting - but the motors were blocked by the water...

HarleyFlyer Posted at 8-6 09:02
I assume they have some level of waterproofing on the electrics - it was definitely sending back a signal from under the water as it floated past - the grey screen was the water so it was broadcasting - but the motors were blocked by the water...

Wow that is really strange but interesting

Pastime Posted at 8-6 09:35
Wow that is really strange but interesting

Today has just been weird!

Just got a call - someone found my drone in the bottom of their boat! Saw the QR code - scanned it and got my name and number and called me. This explains how it was still broadcasting...

Still doesn't explain why it decided to AutoDecend with 60% battery on loss of signal rather than RTH as normal.  Will be checking all the settings in the morning when I collect it.

Wow.  Very strange.  So it crashed and landed in someone's boat...presumably, a boat with a bit of water sloshing around in it.  Quite an odd mix of luck!

If you post your flight logs, someone here can probably interpret the data and provide some informed speculation about what happened.

Burstmode Posted at 8-6 10:07
Wow.  Very strange.  So it crashed and landed in someone's boat...presumably, a boat with a bit of water sloshing around in it.  Quite an odd mix of luck!

If you post your flight logs, someone here can probably interpret the data and provide some informed speculation about what happened.

What a day! It was a huge boat apparently no water inside and drone is bone dry they say. not sure what was blocking the camera but will find out tomorrow.

Nice chaps on MavicPilots have interpreted the data and say it was set to autoland - which is strange as I haven't changed it - and it always RTH on disconnect. but maybe a mystery to never be solved.

https://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/38OB8SGV6A2Z7I0MS7PD/


Failsafe action set to "land".

Perhaps DJI can clarify if the 3 second disconnection mentioned in the manual for the failsafe RTH applies to the other failsafe actions as well? That's a very rapid response, it's something like 11 seconds an the Mavic Mini and Mini 2, I wonder why the difference?

Do you have any cached video on RC that you can post ? Or post any video you have when you get drone back ...

Goggles Pisano Posted at 8-6 10:59
Do you have any cached video on RC that you can post ? Or post any video you have when you get drone back ...

No there’s nothing at all cached on the card, another thing to investigate when the drones back.

One other thing to take from this, at 6300ft from the home point you were well beyond your range of sight. Having VLOS is a legal requirement, the reason for which is aptly demonstrated by the fact that you had no idea the drone had landed on a boat, you are lucky the drone didn't hit someone on that boat.

2km VLOS, wow you got superman eyesight. Maybe this experience will help you understand why the CAA has the VISUAL LINE of SIGHT rule. Lucky you did n't hit an air ambulance or police helicopter. Play with fire, you will eventually get your fingers burnt.

I see your using the heavier battery (3797 mAh) making your drone over 250g, different rules apply. I'm not digging at you, just trying to remind you of rules apply in the UK to flying drones, bend the rules if you must but don't post about it on a public site.

https://register-drones.caa.co.uk/drone-code

Mavic57pro2 Posted at 8-6 11:57
2km VLOS, wow you got superman eyesight. Maybe this experience will help you understand why the CAA has the VISUAL LINE of SIGHT rule. Lucky you did n't hit an air ambulance or police helicopter. Play with fire, you will eventually get your fingers burnt.

I see your using the heavier battery (3797 mAh) making your drone over 250g, different rules apply. I'm not digging at you, just trying to remind you of rules apply in the UK to flying drones, bend the rules if you must but don't post about it on a public site.

2k km from homepoint, not from observer VLOS refer to the observer

fateofangel Posted at 8-6 22:27
2k km from homepoint, not from observer  VLOS refer to the observer

From the CAA website
"The remote pilot must always keep the UAS within their unaided visual line of sight, but FPV may be used, when a spotter is assisting the remote pilot.
The law states:
“The remote pilot may be assisted by a UA observer helping them to keep the unmanned aircraft away from other aircraft and obstacles.
The UA observer must be situated alongside the remote pilot and observers must not use aided vision (e.g. binoculars).
UA observers may also be used when the remote pilot conducts UAS operations in first-person view (FPV), which is a method used to control the UA with the aid of a visual system connected to the camera of the UA. In all cases, the remote pilot is still responsible for the safety of the flight.”

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 8-6 23:46
From the CAA website
"The remote pilot must always keep the UAS within their unaided visual line of sight, but FPV may be used, when a spotter is assisting the remote pilot.
The law states:

and?

You imply that VLOS is relevant to the observer, it is, or the pilot. But the observer, if there was one, must be beside the pilot and, since the OP mentions the drone not RTH'ing, the pilot was presumably at the home point. Therefore, in this flight, it appears that VLOS relates to VLOS from the home point.

He's removed his post, maybe he was n't aware of the drone laws in the UK.

I have analysed all my flight logs, and it turns out this was 100% user error!! On the 16th of July I flew inside a barn to get a 360 for someone, and correctly turned off RTH in case there was any kind of issue... and COMPLETELY FORGOT to switch it back again afterwards - so lucky escape and a lesson for all...

I've done that once myself, I doubt you'll do it again, it scared the crap out of me when I caught on. But do bear in mind the comments about VLOS and weight, especially in such an area.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 8-7 00:51
I've done that once myself, I doubt you'll do it again, it scared the crap out of me when I caught on. But do bear in mind the comments about VLOS and weight, especially in such an area.

Yes, noted thank you.
Just for closure - it had landed on the front of one of these boats - (moving on the Thames at the Time)...

Yes, noted thank you.
great.

Just for closure - it had landed on the front of one of these boats - (moving on the Thames at the Time)...

Jeepers, did you buy a lottery ticket yesterday by any chance? If so check it

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 8-6 10:40
https://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/38OB8SGV6A2Z7I0MS7PD/

Yeah, i have noticed that its very quick at initiating RTH, its not good when trying to do a range test, one slight movement with the RC and 3 second later its on its way back, i had to cancel that twice, then gave up the 3rd time, it was just a few m before 5.5

Nowt much worse than drone policing, c'mon guys, we have all fractured a law from time to time.
He removed his post because it didn't land in the water etc, i would have removed it too lol.

OP, glad you got to the bottom of it and wow, that was lucky to land there

Bashy Posted at 8-7 20:50
Nowt much worse than drone policing, c'mon guys, we have all fractured a law from time to time.
He removed his post because it didn't land in the water etc, i would have removed it too lol.

Bashy, so if we observe behaviour that could cost a drone pilot their drone or land them in legal deep sh1t we are not to say anything?
So are we not to warn people about the risks of strong winds at height etc.?

I know what my motivations were, not to police but rather to draw to the pilot's attention the risks he was running.
Since Mavic57pro2 said  "I'm not digging at you, just trying to remind you of rules apply in the  UK to flying drones, bend the rules if you must but don't post about it  on a public site." I would assume that that was their purpose too.

Ten seconds  before the disconnection the drone passed over an major road and pedestrian bridge, if the disconnection had occured just those ten seconds earlier the drone might have come down on that bridge, hitting either a pedestrian or vehicle in the process, it might even have rejected the landing site and hovered at a height just about perfect to hit a car etc.  windscreen.
I take it that it landed on one of those two small motor boats in the above photo, as such it came down in close proximity to uninvolved people.
That's two narrow escapes from things that could have had serious physical and legal consequences. Should we not warn people of such risks?

Add to that that the drone was very much BVLOS and over 250g ("Plus" battery as shown by the battery capacity in the log ) and the pilot has been very lucky in that it didn't hit anyone or a vehicle and that the boat user didn't report the matter to the police.

The pilot had a thread concerning this flight over on MavicPilots, it has been removed. With Mavic57pro2's warning in mind presumably at the pilot's request and he has removed posts from this thread too, I assume for the same reason. The Phantomhelp log will disappear in a few days.

We can warn of risks such as you mentioned, wind risks at height etc, of course, but going off-topic and stating laws etc, this isn't the place for that.

What members do is up to them, they know the laws, well, they should because they have to know, there is no way around it, they have to go through them to get their credentials.

It's not even our place to ask if they have the right credentials either, that is up to them and the relevant authorities.  

Going over people, going over roads, its a mini drone, 250g has been deemed "safe to do so" so another 40g or whatever it is ain't gonna kill anyone, it ain't gonna stop a car in its tracks, well, certainly no more than a 250g drone would. Yes it was over the limit for a 250g but they were actually flying in the 500g category A1 transitional, "No intentional flight over uninvolved persons". that's a given, its automatic so no laws were broken in that respect.

The drone landed safely, so the  "shoulda, coulda, woulda's" have no place here because none of those happened.

Are you saying that you have never strayed over 500m or gone past 400ft in the last what, 4 years? I am talking by even a single foot? because, whether or not it's 1ft or 10k feet, the law is still the law...

...this forum is about DJI products and their use of them, if laws have been broken and it's obvious, re above, it is still not our place to question the member and certainly not in public, for one its embarrassing, why not hit them in a pm, after all, it takes the thread way off topic such as we are now, although now, there is no longer any legitimate topic, not sure we could even talk about "removed" I wouldn't know where to begin lol.

Look, many of us break the law now and again in our lifetime, whether on purpose through driving or other means, we are not perfect and some like to take that risk. I bet there's a majority that has broken the drone laws, whether it be height or distance, heck, sometimes it's not even realising that you've even done it, e.g. going over height, I kept doing that with the mini 2, even though it's set to 400ft, it still goes over that for some reason, although I think I know why mind, I do not want to go over 400ft, no reason to do so, but it has done by about 40ft give or take some, I know the drone laws, i do not need policing, mistakes are made, some on purpose.

Who are we to judge?

Bashy Posted at 8-8 07:42
We can warn of risks such as you mentioned, wind risks at height etc, of course, but going off-topic and stating laws etc, this isn't the place for that.

What members do is up to them, they know the laws, well, they should because they have to know, there is no way around it, they have to go through them to get their credentials.

Bashy - thanks mate - what you said is appreciated. I just want to try and explain myself once more then I'm done with this thread lol...

1) I have learned some lessons from this experience - I consider myself a generally responsible pilot - and I try to stay within my own common sense parameters - which I don't generally flaunt online.

2) I'm a moderator elsewhere - and as such I wanted people to understand what went wrong with this flight (as it turns out 100% my user error and overconfidence)  so that others could also learn some lessons from my unfortunate experience.

3) I have now added to my preflight checklist - double checking the RTH settings and that I have the right battery in place for the location that i am flying - when I launched, I wasn't really intending to take it downriver, it's just that I finished all the shots I came for and had plenty of battery left and took her for a spin...

4) I don't mind a bit of a telling off - I brought that on myself - but I couldn't really get to the bottom of why it went missing without sharing the CSV file etc - so catch22 situation. As it turned out the chaps on MavicPilots sussed out the cause pretty quickly for me - but because of the warnings on here from a few people - I decided to remove the links to my airdata. I can't remove the Phantom one's as I didn't create them. I don't allow drone police in my group - but I also don't actively promote bending the rules either.

5) I am aware of the rules, and I am also aware of the risks. More so now than before I guess. Saturday was a lucky day for me, and I am grateful to have my drone back. And grateful to all of those who contributed to the conversation.

6) On reviewing the sd card footage - actually what happened exactly, is that the drone tried to land = decided not to land on the water and hovered 3ft above the water. The small hire boat just drove straight into the drone - their windscreen knocking it to the prow. I am aware that could have been a worse outcome...

Harleyflyer, with regards to the PH flight log, no one can delete them barr perhaps  the site's owner but it will disappear in a few days or so, the site is set up to do that automatically.

For this reason I am a bit surprised you posted the photo of the boats, I do not think you can remove it, or at least my attempts to remove photos that I have posted on here have, from memory, been unsuccessful. It is also why I have deliberately not used place names in this thread.

For what it is worth I am not having a go at you and the following is in answer to Bashy's post.

Bashy, if you think I was policing that's your problem, it was not my intention, full stop.
I was seeking to warn and then check whether the warning had been noticed, it has.

Have I broken VLOS? Yes I have. Over people? Not to my knowledge, if I see people I either detour or retreat. Besides in general such flights would be over the sea and I would be watching the sky with only glances at the screen and I would ditch the drone in the sea if needs be. In fact I have been all set to actually do that when a Phantom, in VLOS, was caught in a squall and being blown towards land and a village, fortunately the squall died just as I was about to initiate the CSC.

Have I broken 400ft AGL, hand on heart deliberately yes, 3 times in 3000+ flights, all over the sea and where I have never seen any form of manned aircraft under 20,000 ? ft and I had the field of view offered by normal human eyesight. I also broke it once through an accidental RTH height setting and a loss of connection and was crapping myself the whole way down, again over the sea.

Simply put I do not like flying over or near people or built up areas, full stop. May be I am odd but I fly with the "what if" thought foremost in my mind.

The flight of this thread, along the river and over the bridge, was deliberate and over uninvolved people, the river is populated by manned pleasure craft if nothing else.

Regarding ''so the  "shoulda, coulda, woulda's" have no place here because none of those happened.'', warning a pilot "after the event" would be a bit pointless. And, as it turns out, the drone did collide with a boat "The small hire boat just drove straight into the drone - their windscreen knocking it to the prow."

I guess we are not going to see eye to eye over this so this will be my final post in this thread.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 8-8 04:49
Bashy, so if we observe behaviour that could cost a drone pilot their drone or land them in legal deep sh1t we are not to say anything?
So are we not to warn people about the risks of strong winds at height etc.?

sean, i mean this in the nicest way possible but did you really just say "That's two narrow escapes from things that could have had serious physical and legal consequences."  a bit dramatic, wouldnt you say?  it's a mini3pro.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 8-8 09:33
Harleyflyer, with regards to the PH flight log, no one can delete them barr perhaps  the site's owner but it will disappear in a few days or so, the site is set up to do that automatically.

For this reason I am a bit surprised you posted the photo of the boats, I do not think you can remove it, or at least my attempts to remove photos that I have posted on here have, from memory, been unsuccessful. It is also why I have deliberately not used place names in this thread.

I wrote a reasonably long reply, then tried adding a PDF not knowing we couldn't, then it just kept saying loading so i had to refresh and lost the post and recover didn't work, so i will just leave it alone now cause i really cannot be @rsed writing it all out again lol.

PS, i didn't downvote you!

Bashy Posted at 8-8 20:16
I wrote a reasonably long reply, then tried adding a PDF not knowing we couldn't, then it just kept saying loading so i had to refresh and lost the post and recover didn't work, so i will just leave it alone now cause i really cannot be @rsed writing it all out again lol.

PS, i didn't downvote you!

wasnt me either. i wonder how do you tell?  im on a browser, do it show in an app or on your profile?

The Saint Posted at 8-8 20:32
wasnt me either. i wonder how do you tell?  im on a browser, do it show in an app or on your profile?

You cant tell who did place the votes, you only know how many if any, the mods will know who voted, of that i am quite sure, even if its just the IP address as some forum voting systems work that way, certainly for VB forums, but they also now show the username too. No telling how this forum software works, i think it might have been a bespoke forum.

you have got to be kidding me!  

The Saint Posted at 12-11 17:48
you have got to be kidding me!  

https://youtu.be/icYBXxrgnyA

Yeah, but in my opinion, this is so we do not collide with a manned aircraft, right? Its totally disregarding that we can just descend thus the need to know the orientation is not applicable.

Also, the Mini series was brought out as a lighter, safer AC for acceptable flight over people, I could be wrong but i think it would do more damage to a person than another aircraft.

I think the Mini 3 Pro will be my last drone because just wait till the new regs come out for the start of 2026, i bet ya last $ that the freedom we have now with the Mini's will not be as pleasing...