Having lost my MP a few months ago, I've been contemplating getting back in, especially with a introduction of Mavic Air.   However, I've imposed a little penalty for myself that until I figured out what I can learn from the incident, I do not deserve a new drone.   So here I'm, trying to figure out WHAT I should learn from my lesson.
To recap:  I flew my drone near a beach on a very sunny winter day.   About 10min into the flight, I lost the line of sight of my drone.   So I initiated the Return Home sequence.   Sadly after a while I still could not see or hear the approach of my drone and at some points I lost the connection to my drone.    I looked up the flight record and went searching for the drone at the last known location based on the co-ordinates.   Three of us searched around for almost 2 hours but no luck.  

I uploaded the flight record and disussed w/ the DJI support as well as some moderators here.   Apparently the flight record did NOT show that I activated the return home sequence.   Moreover, the flight record indicated that I landed the drone into the water.

For the life of me, I could NOT imagine WHY I would try to land my drone if I don't even have sight of it.

So without blaming any party specifically, I'm wondering WHAT I should do in the future to avoid this painful experience?      I'm willing to put this behind and move on AS LONG AS I learn something from this painful experience.     Would love to hear from this community of expert pilot here.   

Don’t  lose sight of the drone.

Maybe you set the rth to landing in stead of actually return to home point

Read the manual. Don't fly beyond VLOS especially when over water.

It sounds like you accidentally initialized the auto landing procedure. It's an easy thing to do when initializing RTH from the DJI GO app since those icons are right beside one another on the left side of the DJI GO app.

Fly VLOS before you confident enough to go further. Always check the settings on your app before every flight. I have a pre-flight check list before every flight like checking compass, imu battery cells etc.

As comment above suggest, I think same, you probably initialized auto landing procedure instead of RTH. Don't fly beyond VLOS and always initialize RTH with button controller.

Jeff7577 Posted at 2018-3-25 04:50
Don’t  lose sight of the drone.

Oh boy!   If I do that, then I might as well get a toy drone!   :-)

A CW Posted at 2018-3-25 04:56
Read the manual. Don't fly beyond VLOS especially when over water.

Tx.  I actually did.  (Maybe not very thoroughly!  :-)       Any particular reason for not doing VLOS when over water?   Initially I DID think that maybe I should NOT ever let the drone leave my sight but that sort of defeats the purpose of 7km range on the Mavic Pro doesn't it?   :-)

Phantom Help Posted at 2018-3-25 05:03
It sounds like you accidentally initialized the auto landing procedure. It's an easy thing to do when initializing RTH from the DJI GO app since those icons are right beside one another on the left side of the DJI GO app.

Tx.  I'm pretty sure I used the physical button on the remote for the RTH though...

I would to scared to fly out of eye sight, these things aren’t cheap and I don’t want to loose mine

A toy drone is not a bad idea, because you learn to fly manually and not rely on RTH. You get wind experience. landing, better hand eye coronation. Everyone want the good drone but don't understand the in's and out's. It's easy to part with 50 bucks than 1000. I still fly my toy JJrc in difficult situation so if it happen with my Mavic I hopefully know what to do. Just my 2 cents

Woe Posted at 2018-3-25 05:57
A toy drone is not a bad idea, because you learn to fly manually and not rely on RTH. You get wind experience. landing, better hand eye coronation. Everyone want the good drone but don't understand the in's and out's. It's easy to part with 50 bucks than 1000. I still fly my toy JJrc in difficult situation so if it happen with my Mavic I hopefully know what to do. Just my 2 cents

Fair point.   Perhaps I should hold off from the Mavic Air purchase then.  Tx.

Suren Posted at 2018-3-25 05:26
Fly VLOS before you confident enough to go further. Always check the settings on your app before every flight. I have a pre-flight check list before every flight like checking compass, imu battery cells etc.

Alright, perhaps I should indeed hold off from the Mavic Air and stick to my toy drone for the time being!   :-)     Any other comment/thought/advice from those who DOES fly beyond VLOS?   

alecela Posted at 2018-3-25 06:02
Alright, perhaps I should indeed hold off from the Mavic Air and stick to my toy drone for the time being!   :-)     Any other comment/thought/advice from those who DOES fly beyond VLOS?

It took me a while before I got brave enough and trusted my devices before going out of VLOS. What I have done is exactly what you are doing now. Ask a lot of questions on this forum, there are a lot of well educated guys here that give exceptional advise and once you have built confidence you will know when you are ready. I suggest get the mavic air/pro and start with beginners mode for some weeks and then take it slow from there before pushing the boundaries. I only took my first risk yesterday but before that my app was set to max distance of 500 meters and 50 meters height.

alecela Posted at 2018-3-25 06:02
Alright, perhaps I should indeed hold off from the Mavic Air and stick to my toy drone for the time being!   :-)     Any other comment/thought/advice from those who DOES fly beyond VLOS?

Why wouldn’t you get a new drone, lots before and after you have made silly mistakes most get lucky and get away with it, those who don’t can learn a lot more from their experience, it looks like phantomhelp is right you made a mistake that many more have made, so don’t beat yourself up about it just get back on the wagon.
Below is a link that will help with your preflight checks. Good luck.

https://forum.dji.com/forum.php? ... &fromuid=260008

alecela Posted at 2018-3-25 05:59
Fair point.   Perhaps I should hold off from the Mavic Air purchase then.  Tx.

I admit I have flown beyond, but been flying for more than 3 yrs. Still learning. which is why I said the toy drone is not a bad idea. Not saying hold off, get to know your birds behaviors and yours and its abilities and limits. Even the best pilots have bad days, but they keep learning.

When doing RTH you must push down and hold the button down for a bit for it to activate - by pressing it quickly might be the cause it did not register. Nothing wrong with staying with a cheap toy as long as you can. I do not know if there is an actual figure but lets say the first 50 hours of a newbie pilot is highest risk period. after that the risk does not disappear but risk of user error goes down considerably.
If you can get as many of those hours behind your back as possible with a cheap drone you will still get the most valuable part ie: experiance with flying, finger and muscle and brain coordination - experiance with various wind situations and some understanding of what are good questions to be asking to help your learning and understanding.
Beginners should really stay away from water and heavy topographical environments and resist trying out range tests until they have some good experiance.
Stay low and slow as long as possible - stay over flat land without structures or obstructions as much as possible. Practice flying forward / backwards / left and right/ figure 8s/ sharp turns/ slow bends ect
Going though the manual will inform you a lot. There is a new Version 2 https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/ ... 0Manual%20V2.0-.pdf
Knowing your settings menus (hardware and cameras) - knowing what settings are offered and where to access them and a bit of practice in how to access them quickly are valuable tools to have in your bag before heading out for a range test or going long distance over water.

alecela Posted at 2018-3-25 05:54
Tx.  I actually did.  (Maybe not very thoroughly!  :-)       Any particular reason for not doing VLOS when over water?   Initially I DID think that maybe I should NOT ever let the drone leave my sight but that sort of defeats the purpose of 7km range on the Mavic Pro doesn't it?   :-)

The Mavic Pro you can get up to 2 miles VLOS, how far were you when it landed in the water?

alecela Posted at 2018-3-25 05:55
Tx.  I'm pretty sure I used the physical button on the remote for the RTH though...

If you hit the RTH button on the RC then the drone either was set to a new home point accidentally while you were flying and that spot presumably was over the water, so when you hit RTH it went to the new home point of the water and landed?

Your flight record shows no RTH but how was the landing initiated?

I would echo what others have written above, don't give up just yet. You still have the RC, Batteries etc. Why not get a second hand MP, you'll find them at good rates now I believe. And prices will further drop as soon as the new model will be released.

If you had actually hit RTH, the beeping would have confirmed it. You can't shut it off.

I'd suggest a second hand Spark - fun to get back into it with,  and a great learning platform - to then go on from, if you decide you want to.

alecela Posted at 2018-3-25 05:55
Tx.  I'm pretty sure I used the physical button on the remote for the RTH though...

I haven't seen your flight log, so I cannot do anything but make some assumptions. If you'd like me to review your flight log, please upload it here and post a link back here.

I used to fly light aircraft  (Piper PA 28 Warrior) , and a lot of the training in flying an aircraft "for real" is being prepared for and dealing with "interesting situations" and emergencies... and how to prevent a situation turning into an emergency. It's experience and knowledge I'm applying to my drone flying.

So.... one of the things I'm doing is practising using the various "emergency" modes in a fully controlled situation, i.e. in a nice big large open field with no hazards so if it all goes wrong I won't crash.
I know exactly what my drone will do if I tap the RTH icon on the DJI GO 4 app, and I know what it will do if I press the RTH button on the controller.
I know what it will do if I then hit the pause button or select sports mode or select land whilst it's doing RTH.
I've deliberately let it use Low Battery RTH and watched it come home and on the helipad. I've also cancelled Low Battery RTH while it's on its way back, I let it's battery run to 10% and watched it land itself in the field, and saw how little control I had in that situation. All very simple things but actually doing them has been confidence building and good experience.

Something that has already saved me from a crash is that I practised how to abort an Intelligent Flight Mode such as Rocket or Helix - and on Saturday I was filming, I thought the drone had plenty of airspace behind it for a "Dronie"... but I hadn't! However I *always* rest my finger on the pause button as soon as I initiate an Intelligent Flight Mode, so when I saw it was all going to hell-in-a-handbasket I just pressed the pause button, the drone did an emergency stop, hovered in place and life remained good   but if I hadn't practised I could easily have panicked and crashed the drone.

What makes this hobby so damned addictive is there is always something new to learn and try, whether it be flying, planning, photography, filming, learning, finding my own limits, finding the drone's limits,... and reading about other people's experiences on this on other forums, learning from them, and trying new things out.

Dirty Bird Posted at 2018-3-25 08:56
Only a few hundred feet.  It was bright & I didn't see the antenna on the screen until it was too late.

I'm sorry but I don't understand what you mean when you refer to the part about not seeing the antenna on the screen until it was too late? Do you mean the signal was lost and it did not RTH? When did you lose your Mavic Pro?

Dirty Bird Posted at 2018-3-25 14:28
I was flying over the marina at the Inner Harbor via FPV.   It was a bright, sunny, day & the screen was hard to see.  As I flew over a large cruiser at the last instant I spotted the thin antenna.  Pulled up but there is a bit of latency & signal dropped.  I was pretty sure why too.

I was only a few hundred feet away. Ran down from Federal Hill to the spot  3 businessmen were standing near & I asked them if they saw the drone.  They had & explained it hot the antenna, something fell off, & the bird had catapulted into the harbor beside the ship.

Jeez that's the only scary part about flying your drone over open water, if by chance it has a collision with a bird or boat then recovering the sunken drone is practically impossible.

When did this happen, recently?

Hi- Try again, but buy the insurance! Essentially for the first year ---  3 drones for the price of 1.6 (or so) drones. Helped me as I'm stumbling out of the gate.

alecela Posted at 2018-3-25 05:41
Oh boy!   If I do that, then I might as well get a toy drone!   :-)

Maybe that is where you need to start

alecela Posted at 2018-3-25 06:02
Alright, perhaps I should indeed hold off from the Mavic Air and stick to my toy drone for the time being!   :-)     Any other comment/thought/advice from those who DOES fly beyond VLOS?

If you loose it, don't blame it on the drone. Also, if the manufacturer says, "7km range" don't trust in it.  Also, don't fly over water.

alecela Posted at 2018-3-25 05:54
Tx.  I actually did.  (Maybe not very thoroughly!  :-)       Any particular reason for not doing VLOS when over water?   Initially I DID think that maybe I should NOT ever let the drone leave my sight but that sort of defeats the purpose of 7km range on the Mavic Pro doesn't it?   :-)

Because if the drone malfunctions and lands/crashes you won't be able to retrieve it - which appears to be what happened in your case... The warranty is void if the drone is lost!

Dirty Bird Posted at 2018-3-25 20:19
It happened last April or May so almost a year ago.  That's why my Mavic videos abruptly stopped & I started posting lots of videos from my P3 & P4 birds.

I still had the rest of the Mavic Fly-More kit & had been waiting for DJI to make available the bird-only version of Platinum model before ordering a replacement.  Unfortunately this still hasn't happened.  When they released the Alpine edition I ordered one of those instead.

You can't go wrong having two Mavic Pros and the Spark is a clever addition if you like compact and portability.

Dirty Bird Posted at 2018-3-25 20:33
Forgot to mention that I normally attach a Getterback device when flying over water so as to have a chance for easy recovery if a bird goes down in the water.  Unfortunately I've been lax in attaching it to the bird & did not have one installed when my Mavic was lost.

The bird went down within 25' of the shore so recovery would have been a piece of cake had the Getterback been installed & successfully deployed.  I did contact a diver in hope of a possible recovery.  The water there is 30-35' deep, visibility is near zero, & the former State Police diver said diving to the bottom of the harbor requires Hazmat gear.  It was too expensive considering the Mavic was likely ruined beyond recovery due to the depth & being salt water.

I don't know if I'd want the bird back if there's nothing to do with it, especially if you don't have DJI Care Refresh (1 year).