currently the Mavic is stuck about 50ft up in a tree. I was flying in tripod mode in the woods through a trail of pine trees. The obstacle avoidance kicked in and wouldn't let me move the drone even though I had room to land. I kept trying to land it and it just started flying up and up. I was hitting the pause button the entire time. I started to get desperate as it was clipping trees and going further up and hit return to home which I now realize was a mistake as it was flying up even more to return home. I'm not sure why it wouldn't let me land or pause in the first place though.

At least you have sight of it, but that sucks! Ever since my very first flight, I realized I'll never use the front avoidance cameras again. It's unpredictable when making decisions of it's own. I fly outside with no avoidance on.

Scary!  Did you contact DJI?  What are they telling you?

I haven't contacted them yet. I was waiting to see if I can get it down but even the gusts of wind aren't bringing it down.

This is similar to what happened to me (but I wasn't in tripod mode).
Did you noticed if in that RTH mode it correctly reported on the remote that it was initiating the RTH? Or it just acted like it was in RTH without giving any feedback?

Hire a tree trimmer to climb the tree

I'm not sure they could. It's a pretty tall yet slim tree that is moving a lot at the tip and whimsy.

Know anyone else with a drone? Maybe you can strap a hook to one and try to get it that way?

I have a P3 and Inspire but it's too risky. It's  a heavily wooded area.

fans577e512d Posted at 2016-11-1 12:26
I have a P3 and Inspire but it's too risky. It's  a heavily wooded area.

Just go Rambo at it and chop it down

Time to improvise..

Maybe a sling/slingshot type device (golf ball on a string?) and attempt to target the the tree near the drone, just glance or pass the line by the drone just enough to bump it loose?
Don't hit the drone but instead the tree just enough to lodge in the tree so you can tug at it?

Matman Posted at 2016-11-2 02:40
Time to improvise..

Maybe a sling/slingshot type device (golf ball on a string?) and attempt to tar ...

I have used a fishing rod to cast a line over the limb and  used the fishing line to pull a small robe back over the limb. You then can possibly shake it out. Don't forget to have something/somebody below to catch it to prevent further damage. Many tree services also have bucket trucks that might reach it if they can get the truck near the tree. If you have a friend at the power company, many have fiberglasss extendo sticks that are about 30 feet long. Good luck recovering it. Hope it does not have extensive damage.

I got a drone stuck in a tree before, cheap one at that, but it was still stuck. I tied a nut, one from a bolt, to about 60 feet or fishing line and then I used a slingshot, to shoot it up there. Took several tries, but eventually it too got stuck and I shook the branch with the fishing line and down it came. Maybe this will work for you. Good Luck.

At least you have a permanent tripod now that will not fly away.

What altitude did you set your RTH to be prior to the flight?  You think being in a heavy tree populated area may have put you in a low GPS situation and it tried to return to home by itself?

fans95986b96 Posted at 2016-11-1 21:27
What altitude did you set your RTH to be prior to the flight?  You think being in a heavy tree popul ...

RTH doesnt work when you have bad GPS.

I believe the pause button is for when you're flying an intelligent flight mode.  I don't think Tripod Mode counts.  Unless I'm mistaken, the pause button does nothing in normal flight.

Nees Posted at 2016-11-2 04:16
At least you have a permanent tripod now that will not fly away.

Yes but unfortunately there is no USB in the tree to recharge the tripod.

You seemed to be in a very tight situation, could not just turn the aircraft around to where there were no obstacles or just back up and turn around, you were in the middle of a forest, you don't need to land when aircraft stops for obstacles, if though you hit RTH and there is an obstacle in front of aircraft it will try to clime until its 16 feet clear.

Gps will not always be great in such situations

There might be some answers when you get aircraft back

Sorry to hear of your crash but hopefully not to much damage when you get it back

The pause button is for the intelligent flight modes but it also works as emergency stop button and also to exit the Smart RTH.
If it happens again, turn off obstacle avoidance and then you can descend. I don't know why you couldn't. Also, did it go into RTH mode (did you see that on the screen?)
Best to contact customer support and start a ticket and they can analyze your flight logs.

TommyJeep Posted at 2016-11-2 05:04
I believe the pause button is for when you're flying an intelligent flight mode.  I don't think Trip ...

The pause button is for intelligent flight modes but also has other uses, explained in the above post.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-11-1 14:57
The pause button is for intelligent flight modes but also has other uses, explained in the above p ...

Awesome, thanks for the correction.

I can't speak for anyone else here but I don't even fly near trees say anything about amongst them, especially with a new product with possible issues.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-11-1 17:56
The pause button is for the intelligent flight modes but it also works as emergency stop button and  ...

I will do this, however I still haven't gotten the drone down. I had to leave it there for the night because I didn't have anyway to get it down. I'm hoping the wind takes it down or I can try the slingshot method tomorrow.

No I think you should get out there with the Inspire, tie a long rope to it with a hook and something neon (so you can see it better), then see if you can get ur drone down that way.

Also pls video this and share it with us whether it works or not thanks

TommyJeep Posted at 2016-11-2 06:00
Awesome, thanks for the correction.

No problem at at all.

fans577e512d Posted at 2016-11-2 07:15
I will do this, however I still haven't gotten the drone down. I had to leave it there for the nig ...

Just be carefull getting it down, you bought the DJI care right?

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-11-2 11:14
Just be carefull getting it down, you bought the DJI care right?

I didn't . I got it down by cutting the teee down. It suffered a broken arm however everything is in tact as far as wiring goes and it still powers on.

jfxjlm Posted at 2016-11-2 07:11
At least you have sight of it, but that sucks! Ever since my very first flight, I realized I'll neve ...

How do you turn off the avoidance in mavic,
I havent got mine yet but its an option I can try as my P3 had no avoidance and I was fine flying that ...

fans577e512d Posted at 2016-11-2 07:13
I didn't . I got it down by cutting the teee down. It suffered a broken arm however everything i ...

"I got it down by cutting the tree down."

That's badass o-O

I don't think it should matter whether or not he has DJI care if the thing is faulty.

fans577e512d Posted at 2016-11-2 14:13
I didn't . I got it down by cutting the teee down. It suffered a broken arm however everything i ...

WOW, broken arm. I'm sorry about that. Please contact support and send it in for repair.

fans21b3bb64 Posted at 2016-11-2 14:23
How do you turn off the avoidance in mavic,
I havent got mine yet but its an option I can try as m ...

You can turn off OA from the Visual Navigation Settings page.

Hopefully the flight log and you account allow for it to be repaired under warranty if it wasn't responding as it should have... Are they even equipped to repair these yet?

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-11-2 22:58
WOW, broken arm. I'm sorry about that. Please contact support and send it in for repair.

I started a claim. Will they be able to pull the flight logs?

I just had about the exact same thing happen to me. I was in Tripod mode when the Mavic started ascending on its own with the controls in neutral. It did come down but only to about that auto-takeoff height and it wouldn't land. The Pause button did work for me, the Mavic quit Tripod mode and then I was able to land. I had just flown through an arch and under a structure for about 8" that might have interrupted GPS briefly. I think that must be a factor.

st pauli Posted at 2016-11-2 07:10
Hopefully the flight log and you account allow for it to be repaired under warranty if it wasn't responding as it should have... Are they even equipped to repair these yet?

There's lots of spares on Ebay already - spare arms, main plastic body parts etc. No electronics yet but you can almost build something that looks like a Mavic for around £250 or $300

fanse33c6ec0 Posted at 2017-1-18 10:30
I just had about the exact same thing happen to me. I was in Tripod mode when the Mavic started ascending on its own with the controls in neutral. It did come down but only to about that auto-takeoff height and it wouldn't land. The Pause button did work for me, the Mavic quit Tripod mode and then I was able to land. I had just flown through an arch and under a structure for about 8" that might have interrupted GPS briefly. I think that must be a factor.

If you're gonna be flying underneath anything, it's a very good idea to set the signal loss function to Hover instead of RTH.

Probably also a good idea to disable any of the options that allow it to climb over or fly around any obstacles. And if you're on Android you can also disable Landing Protection, to make sure the Mavic won't ascend if something gets too close underneath it.

Not much you can do about it now, but for future reference, if you're in a place like that, my suggestion would be changing the incase of disconnect to release throttle/land for situations like this.

Good luck getting it back

Jason Lane Posted at 2017-1-18 10:47
If you're gonna be flying underneath anything, it's a very good idea to set the signal loss function to Hover instead of RTH.

Probably also a good idea to disable any of the options that allow it to climb over or fly around any obstacles. And if you're on Android you can also disable Landing Protection, to make sure the Mavic won't ascend if something gets too close underneath it.

Sounds like this would be an ideal situation to have a "flight mode" that allows you to do this without going through menu's and settings to disable only to have to reverse everything when you fly out in the open...