I almost lost my drone today. I took off from a ledge around a waterfall and a canyon. The drone just refused to descend below the take off height. I tried switching off all safety features and also at one point maxed out the altitude. The drone would also not move back towards the takeoff site. After miniutes of trying to move the drone back and forth I was able to bring it back barely as the battery was also running out. I was in full sight of the drone with every step.

I am a newbie at flying drones and am not able to find any solution to this problem. I have attached the flight record and hopefully this helps. Can someone more knowledgable please guide me on to to setup this type of flying so I wont be in this sticky situation next time. Thank you.

Also I just used google earth to view the flight record. The drone flight data is flipped. The drone actually started off from the east side but the flight logs show west side as the home point. I flow east to west then back. But somehow its the opposite? While I was flying when the battery died I did notice it going back to home on the other side of the canyon for some reason.

Newbie? Don't attempt these kinds of flights until you are no longer a newbie. RTFM many times, then PRACTICE!!! In an open enviroment.

I wonder if it was anything to do with the low visibility for the VPS to work properly.

Your flight log on Phantomhelp
https://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/4B5QB9W29RH6AZGSVO4K/

Your flight data is a mess and hard to follow because you used some non-standard joystick configuration.
I'm not going to spend the time to decipher it.

But I can see that you made a number of mistakes, because you don't understand much about flying your drone.
The site you chose to fly meant that you had very poor GPS reception - tree cover blocks GPS.
This probably explains why you think that the home point wasn't where it was recorded.

You launched with a battery that was already partly discharged, which was why it only lasted 6 minutes.
You need to have a freshly charged battery to fly.
And despite your suggestion that the drone wouldn't descend below launch point, it seems to have spent the last 27 seconds lower than the launch point.

You were very lucky you didn't lose it this time.
There are lots of things that can go wrong when you fly your drone.
Before getting adventurous, you need to learn what they are and how to make sure they don't happen to you.
Unless you do that, you won't have that drone for long.

Go to a nice clear, open area like a big playing ifeld.
Somewhere that there are no trees, buildings, wires and did I say trees?
Stay away from trees .. they are your drone's #1 enemy.

If there's nothing to hit, it's hard to get into trouble.
Learn to fly where it's safe and you can get some experience with the basics.
And swap your joystick configuration to Mode 2 if you want any help with data analysis.

Hi,

Had a look at your flightlog too.
Not mode2 but afer quick check i think is mode3 for the controller, happily FRAP can read that without problems.
Hard to find, too many short stick inputs.

Not a very good flight !
Flying into a canyon is often tricky due to bad GPS reception, best is to start with a fully charged battery always, but for this type of flight a full battery imo a must.

Flight start with 16 satellites but bad reception.
Without a white GPS icon top right in the FlyApp no HomePoint can be set.During the whole flight HomePoint wasn`t recorded properly.
Few times warings at start of your flight:
No GPS. Fly with caution !!
GPS signal weak. Hovering unstable. Fly with caution, well 34 this warning in flight.

At 4m26s a ForcedLanding by you, with down stick + IR height measuring low height = landing. Cancelled by you.
At 5m17s auto RTH due to low battery. BUT as the RTH setting was automatically (see the plus remark) reset to 20 meters (and not reset back by you)...20 meters RTH,
20 meters good height for a RTH in that situatiuon?   RTH cancelled by you.

Not going down as you said, i do no see long periods of down stick. Plus if the IR height is < 0.5 meter than drone will at first not descend but after a while it will go into autolanding.

Happily for you your drone made it back home...
Enough lessons learned i guess.....

Plus
Your initially RTH height setting at 120 meters!  far too high ofcourse, it use lots of batt juice to fly UP and DOWN to land in a RTH (no connection)

Max height was changed at 2m31s, be aware that the RTH height setting is also changed automatically if the new max height < your RTH height setting!

Be aware, if you fly down into canyon and the horizonal distance to your drone is less than 50 meters, in case of of a disconnect it will fly at current altitude back to home, wich is not possible ofcourse...wil fly into a 'wall'.  RTH is cancelled by the software and drone will hover and wait...and wait and....
If you cannot restore connection to the drone, you loose your drone!

BTW loosing GPS flying into or in a canyon will reset the max height allowed to fly. If this happen you cannot fly up out of the canyon, just nice to know .....

See my chart of your data.

cheers
JJB   [ Charts by FRAP ; the 'best' software for flightlog analysis ]

Thank you @Bashy @Labroides @JJB* . I was having issues with VPS I think. The drone just wouldn't descend below the launch point. I was pretty close to the waterfall maybe the water had something to do with it?

@Labroides The only experience I have flying the drone is near my home which is partly tree covered. I have noticed that the drone takes a good 5 minutes initially to lock on to the GPS after turning it on. Tree cover does affect that for sure. Its on me. I was impatient. The controller is set to Mode3 (Mode 2 feels unnatural to me)

@JJB* Thank you again for providing more useful info. This FRAP software does have more information laid out better. Not sure why there isn't a download link on google. It was my fault for not waiting for the GPS to lock on and probably I should have started the drone above the tree line and not inside the canyon.  
At 4m26s a ForcedLanding by you, with down stick + IR height measuring low height = landing. Cancelled by you.
I have no idea how this was triggered. but I promise you the location where the drone was it was a straight drop down like 200ft. So this is what im talking about I was trying to lower the drone below the take off height and it was just refusing to. I think the drone thought there was land below and triggered a landing. I had to cancel it because where will it land lol bottom of the canyon? I used my camera to verify there was nothing below and yet the drone was complaining. You dont see long periods of down stick is because the drone was unresponsive to my inputs. It was having trouble moving in any direction. I had to disable the safety collision avoidance from brake to bypass then just turned it off.  Because the controller kept beeping there was something all around it. Do you think it was because of the waterfall?

The drone for some reason was trying to land every time I tried to go below the takeoff height. Most times unresponsive. I was like 20ft from the drone with clear line of sight. My erratic flying was just wrestling the drone trying to make it come back to me.
As you can see in the log my take off and landing seem at different heights but that is completely incorrect the takeoff/landing point was the exact same. I just had massive pain to try to move it towards me. There were no trees between me and the drone for the entire flight. No trees above it either.

I was aware of the battery being low this flight was supposed to be a quick shot grab go down to the canyon and come back up nothing else. Instead I was stuck with an unresponsive drone that thought there was something all around it. Next time I will take off with a full battery.

There should be some periods of the drone hovering because I was trying to find settings on the controller, trying to figure out why the drone is stalling. Is there a way to disable all of these safety settings on the drone? I just want to fly in these tricky spots with clear line of sight and a good connection. I still dont know why the drone thought there was something below it. That is hurting my confidence if I cant fly it around tricky spots even with clear line of sight I dont know why bother.

hprime Posted at 5-8 05:35
Thank you @Bashy @Labroides @JJB* . I was having issues with VPS I think. The drone just wouldn't descend below the launch point. I was pretty close to the waterfall maybe the water had something to do with it?

@Labroides The only experience I have flying the drone is near my home which is partly tree covered. I have noticed that the drone takes a good 5 minutes initially to lock on to the GPS after turning it on. Tree cover does affect that for sure. Its on me. I was impatient. The controller is set to Mode3 (Mode 2 feels unnatural to me)

Hi,

FRAP > link > https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=203659&page=1&extra=#pid2023752
TIP always screen record your flight, analyse eacht flight using some software (i would suggest FRAP....)

Landing manually a DJI drone means lowering with the RC stick, drone will descend and will stop the descend at height if 0.5 meter. Continue the stick down = autoland.
Try at a safe open area ; hover at 20 meter, stick down and keep stick down. Drone will descend and stop at 0.5 meter, shortly after reacing 0.5 it will continue to land.

This 0.5 is height data from the lower IR height sensor. BUT is this sensor is false measuring 0.5 meter AND with stick down it will autoland!   even flying at 20, 50 or 200 meters baro height.
Flying if misty fog weather  of flying near waterfall (sensor gets 'wet')  sensor can measure false heights.
Hope you understand my other remarks as well.

Close flying to a waterfull is nit a very good idea, waterspray to the sensors  is not what they like to see  ;-)
Start flying a practise many flights open area  get used to your drone before flying such a flight near a waterfall.
Into a canyon or any other situation where you can loose GPS...bad idea, loosing GPS and lesslightning, even more bad idea.
Check the manual for height restrictions in these situations.

cheers
JJB

JJB* Posted at 5-8 06:00
Hi,

FRAP > link > https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=203659&page=1&extra=#pid2023752

Is it possible to disable all these sensors for full manual control on a DJI mini pro 3?

hprime Posted at 5-8 06:04
Is it possible to disable all these sensors for full manual control on a DJI mini pro 3?

nope. APAS off is possible (option FlyApp), Downward vision + IR sensor cannot be disabled.

hprime Posted at 5-8 05:35
Thank you @Bashy @Labroides @JJB* . I was having issues with VPS I think. The drone just wouldn't descend below the launch point. I was pretty close to the waterfall maybe the water had something to do with it?

@Labroides The only experience I have flying the drone is near my home which is partly tree covered. I have noticed that the drone takes a good 5 minutes initially to lock on to the GPS after turning it on. Tree cover does affect that for sure. Its on me. I was impatient. The controller is set to Mode3 (Mode 2 feels unnatural to me)

Be wary of descending into narrow canyons, drones can get 'stuck' in them and be unable to climb out because of height limits that may be imposed whilst in the canyon. I'll let someone else explain the reason why that can happen, I can never remember it but I do remember that it can be a risk.
Incidentally descending below the take off point can be done, my lowest is somewhere in the -300'+' ft range from the top of a sea cliff.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 5-8 06:16
Be wary of descending into narrow canyons, drones can get 'stuck' in them and be unable to climb out because of height limits that may be imposed whilst in the canyon. I'll let someone else explain the reason why that can happen, I can never remember it but I do remember that it can be a risk.
Incidentally descending below the take off point can be done, my lowest is somewhere in the -300'+' ft range from the top of a sea cliff.

Shouldn't do - the altitude is limited to height relative to takeoff position.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 5-8 06:16
Be wary of descending into narrow canyons, drones can get 'stuck' in them and be unable to climb out because of height limits that may be imposed whilst in the canyon. I'll let someone else explain the reason why that can happen, I can never remember it but I do remember that it can be a risk.
Incidentally descending below the take off point can be done, my lowest is somewhere in the -300'+' ft range from the top of a sea cliff.

yes, said in my previuous post  ;-)

PLUS  guess not many knows this as actual knowledge before starting a flight into a canyon ect.

if the horizontal distance < 50 meter to HP for a MINI3Pro, loose contact and the drone will not climb to RTH height but fly home at current altitide. 99% it will see an obstacle and RTH is cancelled!
Bye bye Drone.....(if connection is not restored)

cheers
JJB

gnirtS Posted at 5-8 06:24
Shouldn't do - the altitude is limited to height relative to takeoff position.

It has happened, and though I don't remember the full explanation it did make sense. The OP is better forewarned of the risk rather than to find out through experience.

JJB* Posted at 5-8 06:24
yes, said in my previuous post  ;-)

PLUS  guess not many knows this a actual knowledge before starting a flight into a canyon ect.

Meaning no offence JJB* but sometimes I find it a bit difficult to understand what you are saying, I'd guess I am not the only one.
At a guess that being due to your first language not being English.
That said I did miss your mentioning it but even so my mentioning it in a single post might make it more evident to the OP.

gnirtS Posted at 5-8 06:24
Shouldn't do - the altitude is limited to height relative to takeoff position.

The negative altitude is not limited, but there are potential problems if your drone has no GPS and the IR sensors detect something below them.
In that case, the Mini 3 pro would be limited to 5 metres above the spot that was sensed by IR and likely unable to return to the top.

hprime Posted at 5-8 05:35
Thank you @Bashy @Labroides @JJB* . I was having issues with VPS I think. The drone just wouldn't descend below the launch point. I was pretty close to the waterfall maybe the water had something to do with it?

@Labroides The only experience I have flying the drone is near my home which is partly tree covered. I have noticed that the drone takes a good 5 minutes initially to lock on to the GPS after turning it on. Tree cover does affect that for sure. Its on me. I was impatient. The controller is set to Mode3 (Mode 2 feels unnatural to me)

It was my fault for not waiting for the GPS to lock on and probably I should have started the drone above the tree line and not inside the canyon.  
Because of the heavy tree cover, it wouldn't have made any difference to wait.
The tree cover was thick enough that GPS reception was always going to be sketchy there.
If you had dropped down into the narrow canyon, you would have lost GPS anyway, even if you had somehow acquired it.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 5-8 06:44
Meaning no offence JJB* but sometimes I find it a bit difficult to understand what you are saying, I'd guess I am not the only one.
At a guess that being due to your first language not being English.
That said I did miss your mentioning it but even so my mentioning it in a single post might make it more evident to the OP.

Hi Sean,

No offence here too, guess my chinese is better than my english.  :-)
The more readers understand the errors in log, the more readers does not make these mistakes.

cheers
JJB

Mobilehomer Posted at 5-7 17:41
Newbie? Don't attempt these kinds of flights until you are no longer a newbie. RTFM many times, then PRACTICE!!! In an open enviroment.

What do you mean by rtfm?

I wish there was a way to disable reliance on GPS, bottom sensor and just let me take full control. The on board gyroscopes should be able to maintain steady flight I think. But after reading all these comments I think I realize how close I was to losing the drone to water. If I had not cancelled RTH or forced landing It would have thought there was land below it and just cut power. Love DJIs technology but sometimes the software should grant full manual control when needed.

djiuser_kbGgrwJLz3NH Posted at 5-8 08:07
What do you mean by rtfm?

Read The Fu****g Manual    sorry for my language

JJB* Posted at 5-8 07:56
Hi Sean,

No offence here too, guess my chinese is better than my english.  :-)

Well you Chinese is almost certainly better than mine lol.

JJB* Posted at 5-8 08:13
Read The Fu****g Manual    sorry for my language

I don't respond to those. That's what Google is for.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 5-8 06:39
It has happened, and though I don't remember the full explanation it did make sense. The OP is better forewarned of the risk rather than to find out through experience.

Shouldn't and doesnt happen in that way at all unless OA is kicking in or its very close to the HP.

All DJI drones for years are altitude fixed at takeoff reference so they can always climb to (firmware limit) 500m above starting point meaning they can always climb out of a canyon.

Better to pass the OP accurate information.

gnirtS Posted at 5-8 18:29
Shouldn't and doesnt happen in that way at all unless OA is kicking in or its very close to the HP.

All DJI drones for years are altitude fixed at takeoff reference so they can always climb to (firmware limit) 500m above starting point meaning they can always climb out of a canyon.

Well I guess you should tell the poster of this thread that they are imaging their problems
https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=109181 title =Maximum altitude reach problems, forum  = mavic series / general support

or Meta4 in the thread
https://mavicpilots.com/threads/ ... nto-canyons.114128/

or JJB* in this thread.

or Zbip57 in post12 of this thread
https://mavicpilots.com/threads/going-over-a-cliff.136007/

The thread I remember was from a poster in the USA or Canada who flew the drone down into a canyon and could not get it to climb back to them. They ended up having to fly the drone along the canyon until they found a point where the canyon rim was below the ceiling the drone imposed but I can't find or remember the thread. The low point of the canyon rim was close to or beside the road.

gnirtS Posted at 5-8 18:29
Shouldn't and doesnt happen in that way at all unless OA is kicking in or its very close to the HP.

All DJI drones for years are altitude fixed at takeoff reference so they can always climb to (firmware limit) 500m above starting point meaning they can always climb out of a canyon.

Hi gnirtS

You are right about the max 500 climb above starting point!
Fly lower than starting point you will see negative numbers, no problem to fly up from minus 100 meter to plus 500 meter.

BUT if you loose GPS in flight than the situation is dramatically changing.
Software automatically limit the max height !  unfortunately not from the reference zero height at start but from the current height when loosing GPS.
So fly minus 50 meter into a canyon, loose GPS and you will never fly back your drone out of the canyon.

cheers
JJB

gnirtS Posted at 5-8 18:29
Shouldn't and doesnt happen in that way at all unless OA is kicking in or its very close to the HP.

All DJI drones for years are altitude fixed at takeoff reference so they can always climb to (firmware limit) 500m above starting point meaning they can always climb out of a canyon.

Except that DJI programming is dopey sometimes.
If the drone has no GPS reception and downward sensors detect a bottom, or a tree, or a ledge, that sets a new zero height.
I've seen data from three incidents where this has happened.