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DJI Mavic Air Issue with low clouds
1378 11 2018-4-8
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djiuser_q0w9k0fk8TAq
lvl.3
Flight distance : 122159 ft
Canada
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Hi everyone this happened to me this morning 08/04/2018

I was filming up on Ben A an in Scotland a few hundred feet up. I filmed here last week with no problems and captured some incredible video.

This morning however I was setting up a shot to film a Helx for a friend.

There were 13 satelites (No wind at all) and the drone was steady as it went up. I got it to a good altitude and managed to capture the shot. I set it up for a second take when some low cloud mist rapidly came in. Almost immediately I got a sensor fail warning and I was warned to immediately land. I hit the home button and it stayed hovering. I tried to land it and it stayed hovering and would not come down. I moved it to the side to a clear area away from the mist and I managed to get it down without a problem. My guess is that it was protecting itself the sensors could not see anything (Might be wrong?)

Anyway I got off the hill and made my way to ground level. I set the Air up to fly across Loch Katrine a very big body of water. It flew as far as it possibly could with no problems and returned to home with precision.

I have a lot of flight hours now and I am still absolutely delighted with the drone. I'm posting this as a discussion point to see if anyone else has had similar problems. From being clear skys to being swamped by a low cloud mist happened very quickly.
2018-4-8
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Wachtberger
Captain
Flight distance : 261509 ft
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Mist and clouds confuse the bottom sensors. Absolutely normal behaviour. You have taken the appropriste action and were able to land it safely, well done!
2018-4-8
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hallmark007
Captain
Flight distance : 9812789 ft
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Ireland
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Land immediately means just that and it means manually, your sensors are becoming misted and confused , always be aware when flying through clouds.
2018-4-8
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djiuser_q0w9k0fk8TAq
lvl.3
Flight distance : 122159 ft
Canada
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Wachtberger Posted at 2018-4-8 06:43
Mist and clouds confuse the bottom sensors. Absolutely normal behaviour. You have taken the appropriste action and were able to land it safely, well done!

Thanks for the reassurance much appreciated I can tick that one off as another learning curve I checked my footage and the minutes before the cloud rolled in are incredible clear pictures down to the valley. Then the visibility just completely goes. The error occurred at that point what an incredible feat of engineering it is. many thanks
2018-4-8
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djiuser_q0w9k0fk8TAq
lvl.3
Flight distance : 122159 ft
Canada
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hallmark007 Posted at 2018-4-8 07:16
Land immediately means just that and it means manually, your sensors are becoming misted and confused , always be aware when flying through clouds.

Thanks for this I reviewed the footage when i put the Air up there were no clouds or mist and amazingly no wind. The mist just rolled in so the footage captured a fly around with views down to the valley. The low cloud came down in seconds. What's amazing is the warning kicked in as the clouds came in (Instantly) the Air stayed fixed and a simple couple of maneuvers remedied the situation. in context we are talking about 5 minutes of filming. I brought it down following the instructions and packed it away. Really appreciate your reply because any advice is valuable advice Cheers
2018-4-8
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hallmark007
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Flight distance : 9812789 ft
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Ireland
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djiuser_q0w9k0fk8TAq Posted at 2018-4-8 07:47
Thanks for this I reviewed the footage when i put the Air up there were no clouds or mist and amazingly no wind. The mist just rolled in so the footage captured a fly around with views down to the valley. The low cloud came down in seconds. What's amazing is the warning kicked in as the clouds came in (Instantly) the Air stayed fixed and a simple couple of maneuvers remedied the situation. in context we are talking about 5 minutes of filming. I brought it down following the instructions and packed it away. Really appreciate your reply because any advice is valuable advice Cheers

Your welcome, it’s a learning curve for us all.
2018-4-8
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QuadKid
Captain
Flight distance : 482349 ft
United States
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djiuser_q0w9k0fk8TAq Posted at 2018-4-8 07:47
Thanks for this I reviewed the footage when i put the Air up there were no clouds or mist and amazingly no wind. The mist just rolled in so the footage captured a fly around with views down to the valley. The low cloud came down in seconds. What's amazing is the warning kicked in as the clouds came in (Instantly) the Air stayed fixed and a simple couple of maneuvers remedied the situation. in context we are talking about 5 minutes of filming. I brought it down following the instructions and packed it away. Really appreciate your reply because any advice is valuable advice Cheers

Once you feel confident enough you can always disable the sensors to avoid situations like this. I always disable VPS / OAS when flying low over water and/or getting shots were the drone is facing directly into the sun. The sun will stop you dead in your track due to the forward sensors.
2018-4-8
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Aeromirage
Captain
Flight distance : 1778045 ft
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I flew above the clouds once when there was heavy fog and the bird kept reading zero altitude and telling me to land. When downward sensors see nothing the bird things it is near the ground.
I have gotten to the point that I have turned off OA sensors and leave them off. I fly at night a lot and would have to turn them off to keep from getting hundreds of warnings that ambient light was too dim. I always fly in VLOS anyway so I don't really need them.
2018-4-8
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djiuser_q0w9k0fk8TAq
lvl.3
Flight distance : 122159 ft
Canada
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QuadKid Posted at 2018-4-8 08:10
Once you feel confident enough you can always disable the sensors to avoid situations like this. I always disable VPS / OAS when flying low over water and/or getting shots were the drone is facing directly into the sun. The sun will stop you dead in your track due to the forward sensors.

That's a good piece of advice many thanks
2018-4-8
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Tomcatuk
Captain
Flight distance : 28743 ft
United Kingdom
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Looking forward to seeing the video...
2018-4-8
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maurom82
Second Officer
Flight distance : 143757 ft
Italy
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thanks a lot for sharing your experience. It is very useful!!!
2018-4-10
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DJI Susan
Administrator
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Glad to see your question has been addressed out. Generally, it is not recommended to fly through clouds in considering of safety. Take care.
2018-4-15
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