So, not the best, and proof you can't rely on obstacle avoidance! Learn and move on...... 😖 ** Remember to IGNORE any replies asking you to contact me on Telegram; scammers keep trying to get you to pay for postage for a prize that doesn't exist.**
my mini 2 had a similiar crash result just from the shelve in 2 m I send it in and ask for a quote and had to pay about 43€ incl. VAT - best experience ever. And: no dji care of cause, just the usual repair quote procedure. But it had been simply a damage of the gimbal camera only but it looked pretty much the same except the crack in the plastic I did not have.
This is a major known deficiency with DJI's obstacle avoidance and one of the reasons I don't like to over rely on it. When your drone is not in "operator motion"... ie: you're moving it, the obstacle avoidance assumes there's no reason to bypass/brake over objects even if it sees the object. GPS Skydio does it a lot better in my regards but yeah, I have found the same issue with the Air 2S, to the point that taking off forward from a stand still will often cause a weird obstacle avoidance freak out. Sorry about your loss, Ian, I feel it as Mini 2 owner.
Same situation happens when riding motorcycles, those that live in the countryside are used to open roads are more likely to crash in an urban area. Those that ride in London are more likely to crash on the open roads. Situational awareness mate. Or until you become more experienced, in the area you take off and from fly from. Stick to flyingforward and play back in reverse!
I'll be receiving my mini 3 today. I live in a rural area with lots of hills, hollers, and trees so I especially appreciate this video and your tips. Thanks for posting this video!
Great video Ian! 6 years licensed here and everyday is a school day still with drone flying. I flew a job yesterday where i did almost exactly the same process as you with how I took off and was constantly watching the drone and not the screen and listening for the home point update. You've given is all a good further check. Thank you
Very helpful! I too have flown my Mini 3 with 10-15 satellite locks and thought Home Point Updated meant it must have enough to know where it is so the exact number doesn't matter. I also felt that when I flew higher it would pick up the others in due course. I never know of those services either, thanks!
There is something rather comforting when an expert has his/her incidents. It makes the rest of us, not feel as bad, when we have a "Houston we have a problem" moment. Great video.
Not questioning Ian's ability as an RP, suggesting a TH-camr is an expert is somewhat misleading. There are hundreds of RP's who fly many more hours per month than a TH-cam/blogger. Many of their flights are in challenging situations with lots of aerial obstructions and many factors to consider where as TH-camrs send it up out their back garden and over open fields or above their estate. Not really 'expert' flying.
Ian, you have no idea how apt this video is. Having recently returned from Ingleton Falls, I completely lost control of my Mini Pro 3. I simply can’t explain it. During flight my drone just wouldn’t respond to my inputs. It stayed level, but was flying around aimlessly. I had no idea that 16 satellites was a bare minimum. Going forwards I’ll certainly make sure I have around 25. Panicking is an understatement, which, really, is the last thing you want to do. Eventually I managed to get it hover in location where I could land it safely but must of taken a good 5 mins to get the drone to respond property. I’ll check the logs and see what happened. FYI if you’re ever visiting Ingleton Falls, my issues surfaced around mid-way where there is a small ice cream shop at the top of the tall steps. Many thanks for all the info contained in this video 👍
I know a lot of ppl dont like lens hood. (for dslr, drones, etc) But for $10 you can attach a lens hood on your mini 3 pro and add protection for the gimbal. Doesn’t add alot of weight and I have not seen any detrimental effect on videos and photos yet.
Hi, Ian. Thank you for sharing this informative video and sorry to hear about the incident that you experienced. May we know if you have an ongoing case with us that we could possibly assist you with? Please let us know, we're here to help. Thank you for your support.
Wow, I’m impressed you guys are so proactive in offering assistance. Hopefully, I’ll never need your help but it’s reassuring to hear you guys actually give a shit.
Hi DJI. Yes, the case has been opened and the Netherlands unit has received the Mini 3 Pro thanks. Hopefully they're getting back to me in the next few days. Thanks for the input!
@@IaninLondon Thank you for the information. We are looking forward to a smooth process of your case and for you to be able to fly your drone soon. Should you have any questions regarding your case, please know that we are always here to help. Thank you for your support.
Hi@@Radiusxe We are sorry to read about this feedback and if you feel this way. Do you have an active case number or ticket number? If yes, could you please provide us the details? Rest assured that we'll verify and check this for you. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
I hit a bird while flying my DJI Mavic which in turn broke one of my props off it was about 1/2 mile away. Broke my heart. I was flying in a marshy area no way to retrieve it. I feel for you. DJI will take care of it. Good Luck 👍 Great analysis..
Brave. Few people like to admit their mistakes. However, if you hadn't made this video, given my location, there is a good chance I would have done the same thing with my Mini 3 Pro. I can't thank you enough.
I made the mistake of not waiting for the postage lable from Dji and payed myself for my mini 2 it took longer as it was stuck in customs the repair turned out to be free lesson learned.
I almost crashed my mini 2 by losing gps signal switching in atti mode for around 15 mins, in those 15 mins I was trying to land it, but it was swaying too much and I was afraid not to crash it into a building, so I flew it 5 mins away from me into a green space as I tried to land it I told to myself: "this is it, I'll crash it". Before it lost signal I saw on camera getting closer and closer to a tree as I was trying to land it, luckily for me I believe it stabilized itself with its optical flow being close to the top of the tree, which to my surprise it regained GPS signal. I was so relieved, up to this day I still don't understand why GPS signal dropped all of a sudden at 100m altitude.. DJI needs to implement better GPS chips. on my old samsung s7 phone I never lost gps signal in the open, let alone high up in the air..
something similar happened to me.. no crash flying above a stream. it was losing altitude and moving backwards. I just took back control and landed. will check satellites next time. thanks for great video.
I love high force, i have only ever flown there once, it is a scary place to fly lots and lots of trees, stunning but scary, thank you for sharing about the satellite info
Great analysis of the crash and everyone should have a look at this video. Airdata is an invaluable app that I used to analyze a crash and found out that I seem to fly with just a little bit of left on both sticks that caused me to drift into some trees. I'm surprised that more people aren't using Airdata to check what might have gone wrong with the flight as it is free and has so much information available. Great job and good luck when you get a replacement drone.
I feel your pain brother.....parked my Mini 2 in Cenote Esmerelda in Bacalar Mexico a little over a week ago (230 feet deep). Had just finished a day of flying around while sailboat touring the Bacalar lagoon and went up for one last flight...losing the 256GB sd card hurts almost as much as losing the drone. Gutted is the only way to describe the feeling BUT as you said lessons were learned and now I'm looking forward to testing out my new Mini 3 Pro. Keep up the great work with your channel, your videos provide a lot of insight and help others, like myself, become better drone pilots and content creators! Cheers! 👍😉
Thank you so much for sharing this unfortunate incident. I agree with you, its important to know what went wrong to help ovoid similar problem in future. For us, owners of the same drone will definitely benefit from this
I know how you feel mate, I did the same with my mini 2, on a cold morning I put the drone up, I did let it hover for over a minute to let the battery temp increase, then I took it to just above my house where it decided to suddenly just drop, hitting the roof and breaking drone. I had care refresh so it was sorted quickly. I got a new drone back within a week, great, so I went out, took the new drone out over a small pond, guess what it was ok flying around until it suddenly dropped out of the sky, straight into the pond, to say I was gutted was an understatement. After getting wet and retrieving the drone I again sent it off, together with the battery which was in it at the time. It turned out to be a faulty battery, even though I don't over charge them or leave them in the charging hub. Anyway within a week I had another new drone and battery. Top marks to dji. Hope you get it sorted soon mate. Regards Jon
I had a defective Mavic Platinum, he got a mind of her own, so I put it away for 2 years, one day I decided to flight one more time and give it a chance, and the same was going everywhere, this drone had a total of 8 flights and from day 1 was erratic, so I call dji and I told them the drone was out of warranty and I had all the documentation, so they said send it back and send me the UPS label, 2 week later I had a brand new unit, with the explanation of what did happen to the other drone, and a letter of sorry with a $100 dollars voucher for dji products. Is today the drone have 40 flights and is working like a charm. Never crashed or damage the props. Love it.
When I saw this video pop up, I thought, “Oh no, not another Mini 3 Pro mishap for Ian.” But there it was. Like others, I am sad that this happened, but you certainly have given us reason to think carefully as we fly. Thanks also for all the flight analysis and the explanation regarding contacting DJI and getting repairs. Cheers from Wisconsin, Ian.
Ian, That is a super video because you address “customer service” support if needed. To me, it clearly shows that DJI has quality (including timely) customer service which you may not find with other drone companies. So, for me, we have to factor in the quality of “customer service” when making a drone purchasing decision.
Sorry to hear about your loss! 4 years licensed - no crashes. Last Sunday, my second flight with my 5-day-old Mini 3 Pro - in the hover 1.5 metres above the river 35metres from me, when props caught a branch when I was distracted by the RC camera view screen switching to the Start screen.....CRASH ....PLOP....no drone. My fault - lesson learned - a crash can happen to anyone. 😖 Great video Ian. Fly safe everybody.
@@IaninLondon Shout out to Coverdrone - got my replacement yesterday. DJI analysed the footage - pilot error. Coverdrone had footage analysed by Heliguy - drone arrived Saturday morning. Absolutely brilliant. Crash Sunday - new drone 6 days later.👏👏👏
I had a MAJOR failure when testing my brand new mini 3. The day was bright, and with the OA turned on with the manoeuvre around the obstacle as opposed to the drone braking when an obstacle is detected, I slowly flew the drone towards my van (a huge long wheelbase Mercedes’ sprinter) getting closer inch by inch with nothing being detected, I pushed a little further and further eventually a prop came into contact with the van and ermmmm… you know the rest (drone smashed to the ground). I couldn’t believe it, I ran this test as I heavily use OA in certain circumstances and I always test this feature with a nee drone. I also had issues with signal strength (who hasn’t with them mini 3) and issues with planned time lapse recordings just stopping half way through the shot, missing some truly once in a lifetime shots in the process. DJI have now replaced the drone quibble free, which is much appreciated. I am a DJI fan boy and have various DJI tech, the mini 3 does have legit issue though I have to say. Will report back once I’ve tested the new replacement
Good to see there’s technology that can prove that sometimes it’s not user error and actually a hardware/software issue !! Hope they fixed it for free mate
Great video Ian. This seems like a DJI problem. 13 satellites 🛰️ by any standard is more than sufficient for an accurate gps lock to maintain Lat/Long and Height. I know for navigation a minimum of 3 satellites are required for 2D (Lat/Long)and 5are required for 3D navigation (Lat/Long/Height), so having 13 would be more than sufficient
I totally agree. Also the recorded position you see in the flight data logs reflects the position it believes it was and we don't see the position jumping (as you would with weak GPS issues). This smells more of software failure to me.
That was my first though too, 13 sats isn't enough for stable flight ? My old cheap Hubsan used to fly with way less that 13 sats and was totally reliable.
Agreed this is a lot of satellites. Used to use a GPS all the time and we would be completely spot on with 7 or above. I'm thinking it's less to do with the amount but more about his environment at the time. GPS shouldn't have been an issue but maybe the Rock around him contained material which caused the issue. In the same way as standing near your car when flying.
Had similar experience in Taiwan in the mountains with my mini 2. GPS was so bad I could not raise the drone over 50 feet (restricted) had to fly carefully to get more sats down the gorge. I was then able to fly back to my non gps location and raise up. But noticed stability was poor. Very intensive concentration required. As I raised out of the gorge I got my 25 sats. And some good shots. Taiwan flying was a great experience and taught me a few things about my drone. Thanks for sharing your experience. P.s had 2 crashes in Taiwan but got lucky, some minor repairs with superglue and two sets of props. But got some awesome footage.
I always launch and allow it to hover about chest high a few feet in front of me. I take my time and let myself relax and take note of my surroundings and plan my intended flight. By this time I usually have acquired strong gps and updated home point. Only then do I rough in my camera settings before heading off at max speed. But even that method is not fool proof. One time I was at my local bike park and had the drone hovering in front of me doing my check list...out of nowhere comes a guy on his bike hauling ass and takes the drone straight to the chest, knocking it down to the ground and running it over for good measure. 😂 Somebody get DJI refresh on the line STAT! And my damage from that crash was almost identical to yours. Good talk🤟😂
It's a bit of a weird crash, even at 7-8 satellites the drone normally will signal it is able to maintain a hover, but the satellite indicator will be yellow, which means it has a chance to drop out and start drifting. If the indicator is white it is generally safe enough to fly, but there can be situations where it drops out temporarily for no apparent reason.
Thanks for this video Ian. Crashes hurt, but grateful for your sharing this experience so we might avoid! And a timely reminder that no matter our experience, a moment's distraction can be the difference between a great day with our drone or one we anguish over. Cheers for this and all your videos. 👍
Crazy good video, thank you so much! I am a new operator flying the DJI Mini 3 Pro with no issues. I'm still learning and honing my skills, but whilst attempting to take off yesterday in low light (not yet dark), my drone became unstable and I had a minor crash. I knew nothing about the flight data logs and how to use them or the Airdata app. I was able to review all of the notifications and while I still don't know why my drone was in an unstable hover, I did learn to pay attention to the notifications on the screen which could have avoided the crash. A few propeller change-outs and my drone is right as rain. (But I still have crash insurance.)
WOW! Thanks Ian! I had the same problem but without the same catastrophic event! Fortunately. I was flying above a river in an area shadowed by mountains in the surrounding area. I flew the drone out and down the river when, all of a sudden, I got a message saying GPS signal weak and the drone began to fly as though it was lost!! Fortunately, I hit the RTH button and gained control just before it crashed into some neaby trees. Ever Since, I make absolutely sure that I have great GPS lock and lots of satellites available before taking off. Thanks SO much for the info about how to access the flight logs and to replay the flight! Awesome info!! Cheers!
yep again, High Force waterfall another local feature for me to visit!! if you want stunning views all around this area is great there are several falls nearby to see, many reservoirs to see/walk around flyover etc
Altitude is your friend! Avoid tree height, get a good GPS fix too! The old Mavic 2 pro was perfectly stable on just 7-8 satellites, but the minis have half as many antenna and these are smaller with less antenna gain.
I've had my Mini 3 Pro for 9 days. Obstacle avoidance is a joke. I got a return authorization yesterday. It'll be shipping back to them tomorrow, along with the Fly More Kit.
I'm a software engineer and have written GPS applications in the past. What you're describing here sounds like the drone only managed to get a 2D lock and not a 3D lock. This happens when the device (your drone) cannot see sufficient satellites from a wide area above it. If you imagine the drone in the air, and a funnel shape going from the drone right up to the heavens. Every satellite captured within the top of the funnel that locks onto your drone, will enable the drone to get a 3-dimensional lock and calculate where it is accurately because it's seeing satellites from a even and spaced out area. If you are against a rock face, or against a high building, or up against the trees, the drone will only manage to get a GPS lock from the visible satellites that are in the open, opposite the plane it is against and therefore it won't be able to judge the distance (timings) from the GPS satellites in a circle around it so it will move to get to a position it thinks it should be in. This used to be a common problem with GPS trackers and SatNav in built up areas where the GPS signal bounced off high buildings and the timings were disrupted giving the impression the vehicle was flying off the side of the road. I think in a scenario like this, raising the drone up above the rocks to the open space will open the other side of the "funnel" exposing a circular constellation above it which will give it a solid lock using more evenly spaced out satellites allowing the drone to calculate where it is in a triangulation fashion thus allowing it to get an exact, accurate position.
Really useful video Ian, just a shame it had to happen to your Mini 3 first. Excellent explanation on how to download flight logs and interpret them. I was always taught to scan instruments before performing a task but there's a difference between a quick scan of the basics and a thorough scan. It does answer one question of why the homepoint sometimes updates automaticaly mid flight. Thanks again chap and I hope you get things sorted swiftly. Note to self - sync flight logs!
that's weird 3 gps signals should be a 2D fix and 4 signals is a 3D fix and a minimum of 7-8 signals is enough for redundancy. So the drift with 13 sats is a little bit weird. I think they might have been more wrong for it to drift worth to let DJI do some work in all honesty. Also I assumed that a DJI Drone with this age (rather new) would have a vocal line to warn that the drone is swapped to a mode instead of p mode. cause ideally you are looking at the drone but then when you open the settings to change something you will no longer see the telemetry/video. In our EU specific courses we have been drilled to do a standard checklist before continuing with the flight one is go up hover 10 secs then do all the stick movements then continue with the flight. this will give you a basic check that all should be in order before you start, what ever happens after i mean that is on you to counter and rth safely. PS the checklist is super overkill but if you want it I can share it. some things are pretty good to do tbh Hope you fast get replaced a new drone.
If you synchronise the flight logs on the RC you can then go into Airdata, click on Account and then DJI login. You then can synchronise the logs with Airdata. I do this all the time as I use the data to keep a flight log of all my flights with the five drones I currently have. Airdata as you know is nothing short of brilliant as it provides detailed information on the batteries and their performance amongst other things.
Thanks Ian....for your honesty I lost a mini 2 this year reference sideways misalignment. Airdata is very informative....but over 100 flights you have to pay.....I'm not sure the costs are warranted on operators who don't have too many accidents....but it happens
Thanks for explaining how to get and inspect the flight log. DJI does not show the dilution of precision (via a so-called DOP value) that you would need to judge whether the GNSS position is sort of reliable. The number of satellites is of course important, but, you also want to see whether the satellites are evenly distributed over the sky, this is what the DOP does. In case of a lot of obstacles the DOP would immediately show it.
Great video, but very surprised you need that many satellites locked for a stable hover. Really 8-10 should be more than enough. When I had my Mini 3 it drifted noticeably, especially in wind. I hit a wire with my Mini 2, it fell, but recovered before it hit the deck. I was very relieved. I don’t think the Mini 3 is as good with stability and recovery.
Great vid Ian. I drifted twice on take off flying in the dark..Gps recenetly been fairly poor and I had rushed Full GPS..I was lucky both incidents I just drifted into a bush...Last night I made CERTAIN good GPS. Learning along the way..👍👍
Sad to hear about your drone Ian, but as for satellite's. I'm lucky to get 10-11 where I'm at? I've never had any problems, but let's not get cocky, as they say never say never? Thanks for sharing
This isnt a plug btw but followed you from the beginning and after 3 years of flying become confident. I just uploaded a crash with my brand new mavic classic 3. Simply didnt wait for it to lock and the water made ATTI mode go all crazy, lost it and it crashed. Lucky its fine as landed in a bush but goes to show, none of us can be safe from mistakes or crashes.
@@IaninLondon oh it was terrible mate. Come down with some force as well. I thought o heard my home point updated bit checked now and didn’t it was in ATTI mode. As you say learn from the mistakes. Hope it’s gets sorted soon buddy
Sorry to hear you crashed, as we are told to always look at the drone, once the home point had been updated I to would have assumed all was well, DJI should add a verbal warning if the drone starts drifting after home point has been updated. Thanks again for an informative video good info going forward, always learning.
Interesting I take off really quickly sometimes and I do not get the full amount of satellites. I didn't know the drone could drift from lack of GPS. Thank you for sharing this will really help me out and keep my Mavic safe.
Ouch your going through these mini 3s Ian lol I flew mine the other day and had the box come up where I need to tick 3 box's to fly done that got me home point took of flew out then I find mine in some geo-lock and wouldn't bloody move done return to home that just kept switching of and just hoovered there lucky in the end I had the bigger battery so I could go over there at to land in someone's front garden then do a runner lol but people should be aware of this although you can tick them 3 box's you can get stuck just lucky I wasn't over water. Great video as usual Ian look forward to some more videos lucky you took a spare drone with you 😁👍👌 🇬🇧
This video is good timing for me. I just crashed my Mavic 3 Thursday. Flying at night, hit a tree at around 10 meters high, and it crashed into the road. Camera/Gimbal will probably have to be replaced. $771 ouch. But it was my fault. I can't believe 13 satellites isn't enough to hold your position. Guess I'll make a note of that for future flights. Thanks.
That’s why the FAA likes you to have a spotter if at all possible so one person can watch the drone to see in avoid other objects in the sky while you were looking at the screen
Ian, I’ve been following your TH-cam content for a while. I bought an old dji mavic pro 18 months ago and I’m not an expert by any stretch but I would never take off unless the home point is confirmed and the satellite lock number is 13 or more. I don’t fancy losing my drone…
My mini 3 pro crashed 50ft up into a tree and IM VERY LUCKY that it still works, The drone painfully hit a tree and fell hitting more branches in the way and it tried to stabilize itself after the trees but its broken propeller made it swivel into a ditch. EVERYTHING SO FAR WORKS and I only suffered a broken propeller. This thing could be sturdy sometimes
Sorry about the crash Ian. Great video that I am sure will help many others. Instructional, concise and well documented. When you do the log sync it should also sync logs to your other DJI Fly apps on your iOS or Android device if you don’t want to connect to a computer.
Before I finish watching this video, my youngest girl suffered exactly the same damage and at a waterfall stationary while adjusting the camera as well, she said she didn’t move etc so I looked at the flight log and just before the crash you see it state vision sensor dark or light I can’t remember but essentially that they are not functioning (mind you this was bang in midday and a sunny day but in the shade of a tree above) she was adjusting for the changed lighting condition from the shade of the tree but it was still very bright. Anyway time to watch the rest of your video
I just bought this drone, thanks so much for making these important videos! DJI - there should be much better warnings and screen prompts when the drone is in this situation so the user is more quickly aware!
Hi Ian, sad news about the mini 3, however the faithful Air2 s saved the day. Everyone can learn something from these unfortunate events. Really appreciate your honesty so we can all avoid a similar situation. 👍
Interesting and valuable video. If you tap on the wee map icon on the right of each flight entry in the flight logs list the RC will play back the flight. Less info than Airdata but useful nonetheless. When the home point update message is announced, who actually checks it on the map? Maybe we should, and have a look at the satellite and battery info while we’re at it.
Yes it can happen..did some aerials and forecast was for high electromagnetic interference..(just like when my car navi puts me in the ocean). When drone did return home..was way off landing area and would not fly in rear, so had to turn 180 to get to landing area and manual landing. Lucky not to be close to trees.
Thanks for the heads up Ian, I'm sorry you had to make this video. Pity there is no audible cue telling you the GPS signal is weak, strong wind ETC, even if it's just a notification tone. Good feature for third party Apps to have.
Hi Ian: Thanks for sharing this. I have a DJI Spark and had several flyaways by doing exactly what you said. As soon as the announcement "The homepoint has been updated .." came, I would take off. With my Spark, that happens when it is locked on 9 satellites. I asked the guy I bought it from and he said "Never take off until you have at least 12 satellites." I'm guessing that there is a difference in the internals between your drone and my Spark WRT how many satellites it needs. Also, I fly in Australia and the maximum number of satellites I've ever seen is 16. With at least 12-13 satellites locked before takeoff, I've had no more fly-aways. *Also*, for the newbs like me: The drone has to be more than 30 metres away horizontally for the Home function to work. If the drone is less than 30 MTRs away horizontally and you press Home, the drone will just land straight down where it is.
Where you crashed 'High Force' on the River Tees in the North Pennines (not Yorkshire Dales ;) there is a 'High Force' in the Yorkshire Dales aka Force Gill tho) is in my neck of woods, I'm pretty shocked if I get 15+ satellites, if I relied on that getting 16 to 25 I'd be lucky to fly very often! Personally I believe 13 satellites should have been more than sufficient IF the lock had been stable in this instance that doesn't seem to have been the case, High Force where you were flying is as you say in a quite deep hole in the ground surrounded by rocks at the bottom of a valley under the Pennines compromised GPS strength if we stop to consider would be a concern, but hindsight is always 20-20 and I doubt many of us would have done anything differently in that situation, of course now I'll be a lot more cautious thanks to your unfortunate experience. Thanks for the reminder and headsup :)
Yep; ,my bad; we'd been in the Yorkshire Dales until that morning! This is indeed High Force Co Durham. I'm also doing a follow up video as there's more to this than just poor GPS.... hopefully up tomorrow or Friday
Very sorry to learn what happened, Ian. Like the true professional you are, you always turn an accident into an opportunity for us to learn valuable lessons. I keep repeating on YT videos the advise you gave about the Mavic 3 obstacle detection blind spot and the need (in low light conditions) to check the Fly App's sensor icons, because the Fly App's message is so fleeting when the sensors are disabled due to insufficient light. One of the early drone videos I watched (can't remember which) advised to wait for 20 plus satellites (if possible in the environment you are in). I've kept to that guidance.
That sucks man ... crashed my mini3 last night. Instead of pressing going up I pressed forward luckily it went straight at my chest height lol and land on my soft grass no damage 😅, great tip to check locked satellites. What's happens with dji refresh if you can't recover your drone???
I flew mine into the valley at the Snow mountains in Nevada, 10000 feet up. I didn’t spot before I set it off that it hadn’t got the satellite links. As it was out the valley, I heard homepoint updated. It had set the home point where it was, out in this vast valley. I was on the screen trying to work out where I was - impossible due to the vastness of the landscape and I was stood on a ridge, and it all looked the same. I was panicking about not being able to get it back, when I realised there was a setting to make the controller the home point. At that point I could bring it back- phew. Learnt at that point to visually confirm satellites before launching it off.
Just one to be aware of if you are wanting to fly your drone when doing the NC500 north Scottish road trip... NATO each year run some naval exercises just off the coast up there and this can include GPS denial operations ... Dib dib dib be prepared!
Thanks for the analysis! Might be what happened to me. I was filming a very similar waterfall scene with my mini2. Same wind drift but mine hit a tree and went into the river.... 😭 - Wind coming down the valley pushed it into the tree even though I hadn't touch any of the sticks. Drone is long gone and tons of footage.
That's exactly what happened to me. Even though it went in the river, you should have opened a chat with DJI as they would be able to extract the flight logs from your remote and could have seen that it was moving without any stick input..
@@IaninLondon I wasn’t in cell reception at the time. Can they get that info from the find my drone part of the app? I have the short video clip and last position on there. I don’t see input data
Thanks, Ian for sharing. I too would assume 'Home point updated' would have indicated to me that there's a good GPS lock. Sorry to hear about your drone, but thanks for sharing. We'll all learn from each over.
So, not the best, and proof you can't rely on obstacle avoidance! Learn and move on...... 😖 ** Remember to IGNORE any replies asking you to contact me on Telegram; scammers keep trying to get you to pay for postage for a prize that doesn't exist.**
my mini 2 had a similiar crash result just from the shelve in 2 m
I send it in and ask for a quote and had to pay about 43€ incl. VAT - best experience ever.
And: no dji care of cause, just the usual repair quote procedure.
But it had been simply a damage of the gimbal camera only but it looked pretty much the same except the crack in the plastic I did not have.
Just want to let you know you can actually access the flight log in the DJI rc remote
This is a major known deficiency with DJI's obstacle avoidance and one of the reasons I don't like to over rely on it.
When your drone is not in "operator motion"... ie: you're moving it, the obstacle avoidance assumes there's no reason to bypass/brake over objects even if it sees the object. GPS
Skydio does it a lot better in my regards but yeah, I have found the same issue with the Air 2S, to the point that taking off forward from a stand still will often cause a weird obstacle avoidance freak out. Sorry about your loss, Ian, I feel it as Mini 2 owner.
I'd love to synchronise my flight logs, but they're always blank in my app !
Same situation happens when riding motorcycles, those that live in the countryside are used to open roads are more likely to crash in an urban area. Those that ride in London are more likely to crash on the open roads. Situational awareness mate. Or until you become more experienced, in the area you take off and from fly from. Stick to flyingforward and play back in reverse!
I'll be receiving my mini 3 today. I live in a rural area with lots of hills, hollers, and trees so I especially appreciate this video and your tips. Thanks for posting this video!
Great video Ian! 6 years licensed here and everyday is a school day still with drone flying. I flew a job yesterday where i did almost exactly the same process as you with how I took off and was constantly watching the drone and not the screen and listening for the home point update. You've given is all a good further check. Thank you
Very helpful! I too have flown my Mini 3 with 10-15 satellite locks and thought Home Point Updated meant it must have enough to know where it is so the exact number doesn't matter. I also felt that when I flew higher it would pick up the others in due course.
I never know of those services either, thanks!
There is something rather comforting when an expert has his/her incidents. It makes the rest of us, not feel as bad, when we have a "Houston we have a problem" moment. Great video.
Not questioning Ian's ability as an RP, suggesting a TH-camr is an expert is somewhat misleading. There are hundreds of RP's who fly many more hours per month than a TH-cam/blogger. Many of their flights are in challenging situations with lots of aerial obstructions and many factors to consider where as TH-camrs send it up out their back garden and over open fields or above their estate. Not really 'expert' flying.
10:43 😉. I'm not an expert. But I do fly a lot.
I have found that DJI Care Refresh is AWESOME!! DJI is VERY responsive and has always done me right in the past. Thank you DJI
Ian, you have no idea how apt this video is. Having recently returned from Ingleton Falls, I completely lost control of my Mini Pro 3. I simply can’t explain it. During flight my drone just wouldn’t respond to my inputs. It stayed level, but was flying around aimlessly. I had no idea that 16 satellites was a bare minimum. Going forwards I’ll certainly make sure I have around 25.
Panicking is an understatement, which, really, is the last thing you want to do.
Eventually I managed to get it hover in location where I could land it safely but must of taken a good 5 mins to get the drone to respond property. I’ll check the logs and see what happened.
FYI if you’re ever visiting Ingleton Falls, my issues surfaced around mid-way where there is a small ice cream shop at the top of the tall steps.
Many thanks for all the info contained in this video 👍
Check the follow-up video linked at the end, regarding the downward vision system as well 👍🏻
@@IaninLondon awesome! Will do! Thanks fella for everything you do 😊👍
I know a lot of ppl dont like lens hood. (for dslr, drones, etc)
But for $10 you can attach a lens hood on your mini 3 pro and add protection for the gimbal.
Doesn’t add alot of weight and I have not seen any detrimental effect on videos and photos yet.
Lost my drone in Iceland and still don’t know why. Now I have a way to find out. Thanks so much Ian!
Hi, Ian. Thank you for sharing this informative video and sorry to hear about the incident that you experienced. May we know if you have an ongoing case with us that we could possibly assist you with? Please let us know, we're here to help. Thank you for your support.
Wow, I’m impressed you guys are so proactive in offering assistance. Hopefully, I’ll never need your help but it’s reassuring to hear you guys actually give a shit.
Hi DJI. Yes, the case has been opened and the Netherlands unit has received the Mini 3 Pro thanks. Hopefully they're getting back to me in the next few days. Thanks for the input!
@@IaninLondon Thank you for the information. We are looking forward to a smooth process of your case and for you to be able to fly your drone soon. Should you have any questions regarding your case, please know that we are always here to help. Thank you for your support.
Seems that DJI only assist youtu bers, where are you, when I need assist? And after week of waiting you just reply, not possible, we can't help you.
Hi@@Radiusxe We are sorry to read about this feedback and if you feel this way. Do you have an active case number or ticket number? If yes, could you please provide us the details? Rest assured that we'll verify and check this for you. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
I hit a bird while flying my DJI Mavic which in turn broke one of my props off it was about 1/2 mile away. Broke my heart. I was flying in a marshy area no way to retrieve it. I feel for you. DJI will take care of it. Good Luck 👍 Great analysis..
Brave. Few people like to admit their mistakes. However, if you hadn't made this video, given my location, there is a good chance I would have done the same thing with my Mini 3 Pro. I can't thank you enough.
Cheers Tom 👍🏻
I made the mistake of not waiting for the postage lable from Dji and payed myself for my mini 2 it took longer as it was stuck in customs the repair turned out to be free lesson learned.
I almost crashed my mini 2 by losing gps signal switching in atti mode for around 15 mins, in those 15 mins I was trying to land it, but it was swaying too much and I was afraid not to crash it into a building, so I flew it 5 mins away from me into a green space as I tried to land it I told to myself: "this is it, I'll crash it". Before it lost signal I saw on camera getting closer and closer to a tree as I was trying to land it, luckily for me I believe it stabilized itself with its optical flow being close to the top of the tree, which to my surprise it regained GPS signal. I was so relieved, up to this day I still don't understand why GPS signal dropped all of a sudden at 100m altitude..
DJI needs to implement better GPS chips. on my old samsung s7 phone I never lost gps signal in the open, let alone high up in the air..
Sad to see your Mini 3 crashed, Ian. 👍🏻Thanks for sharing the story, so all of us can learn and be more careful. ✨
Thanks Jaroslav and cheers for all the good words and support 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
At least it can be repaired and isn't melted like the last one .👍
Good little video, something to look out for when I visit high force.
something similar happened to me.. no crash flying above a stream. it was losing altitude and moving backwards. I just took back control and landed. will check satellites next time. thanks for great video.
I love high force, i have only ever flown there once, it is a scary place to fly lots and lots of trees, stunning but scary, thank you for sharing about the satellite info
Great analysis of the crash and everyone should have a look at this video. Airdata is an invaluable app that I used to analyze a crash and found out that I seem to fly with just a little bit of left on both sticks that caused me to drift into some trees. I'm surprised that more people aren't using Airdata to check what might have gone wrong with the flight as it is free and has so much information available. Great job and good luck when you get a replacement drone.
I feel your pain brother.....parked my Mini 2 in Cenote Esmerelda in Bacalar Mexico a little over a week ago (230 feet deep). Had just finished a day of flying around while sailboat touring the Bacalar lagoon and went up for one last flight...losing the 256GB sd card hurts almost as much as losing the drone. Gutted is the only way to describe the feeling BUT as you said lessons were learned and now I'm looking forward to testing out my new Mini 3 Pro.
Keep up the great work with your channel, your videos provide a lot of insight and help others, like myself, become better drone pilots and content creators! Cheers! 👍😉
Sorry to read about your loss! :(
Thank you so much for sharing this unfortunate incident. I agree with you, its important to know what went wrong to help ovoid similar problem in future. For us, owners of the same drone will definitely benefit from this
I know how you feel mate, I did the same with my mini 2, on a cold morning I put the drone up, I did let it hover for over a minute to let the battery temp increase, then I took it to just above my house where it decided to suddenly just drop, hitting the roof and breaking drone. I had care refresh so it was sorted quickly. I got a new drone back within a week, great, so I went out, took the new drone out over a small pond, guess what it was ok flying around until it suddenly dropped out of the sky, straight into the pond, to say I was gutted was an understatement. After getting wet and retrieving the drone I again sent it off, together with the battery which was in it at the time. It turned out to be a faulty battery, even though I don't over charge them or leave them in the charging hub. Anyway within a week I had another new drone and battery. Top marks to dji. Hope you get it sorted soon mate.
Regards Jon
I had a defective Mavic Platinum, he got a mind of her own, so I put it away for 2 years, one day I decided to flight one more time and give it a chance, and the same was going everywhere, this drone had a total of 8 flights and from day 1 was erratic, so I call dji and I told them the drone was out of warranty and I had all the documentation, so they said send it back and send me the UPS label, 2 week later I had a brand new unit, with the explanation of what did happen to the other drone, and a letter of sorry with a $100 dollars voucher for dji products. Is today the drone have 40 flights and is working like a charm. Never crashed or damage the props. Love it.
Excellent video. Great way to learn and to provide information on where to look for the flight recording; that I did not know existed.
When I saw this video pop up, I thought, “Oh no, not another Mini 3 Pro mishap for Ian.” But there it was. Like others, I am sad that this happened, but you certainly have given us reason to think carefully as we fly. Thanks also for all the flight analysis and the explanation regarding contacting DJI and getting repairs. Cheers from Wisconsin, Ian.
It's all good.... Í learn and move on....🤠👍🏻
Ian, That is a super video because you address “customer service” support if needed. To me, it clearly shows that DJI has quality (including timely) customer service which you may not find with other drone companies. So, for me, we have to factor in the quality of “customer service” when making a drone purchasing decision.
Sorry to hear about your loss! 4 years licensed - no crashes. Last Sunday, my second flight with my 5-day-old Mini 3 Pro - in the hover 1.5 metres above the river 35metres from me, when props caught a branch when I was distracted by the RC camera view screen switching to the Start screen.....CRASH ....PLOP....no drone. My fault - lesson learned - a crash can happen to anyone. 😖 Great video Ian. Fly safe everybody.
Ow...... Get the drone only for £600 🤠👍🏻
@@IaninLondon Shout out to Coverdrone - got my replacement yesterday. DJI analysed the footage - pilot error. Coverdrone had footage analysed by Heliguy - drone arrived Saturday morning. Absolutely brilliant. Crash Sunday - new drone 6 days later.👏👏👏
I had a MAJOR failure when testing my brand new mini 3.
The day was bright, and with the OA turned on with the manoeuvre around the obstacle as opposed to the drone braking when an obstacle is detected, I slowly flew the drone towards my van (a huge long wheelbase Mercedes’ sprinter) getting closer inch by inch with nothing being detected, I pushed a little further and further eventually a prop came into contact with the van and ermmmm… you know the rest (drone smashed to the ground).
I couldn’t believe it, I ran this test as I heavily use OA in certain circumstances and I always test this feature with a nee drone.
I also had issues with signal strength (who hasn’t with them mini 3) and issues with planned time lapse recordings just stopping half way through the shot, missing some truly once in a lifetime shots in the process.
DJI have now replaced the drone quibble free, which is much appreciated.
I am a DJI fan boy and have various DJI tech, the mini 3 does have legit issue though I have to say.
Will report back once I’ve tested the new replacement
Thanks for this Ian …. Sorry that you had problems, but as they say ‘every day is a school day’.
Yep 👍🏻
Good attitude on working out what went wrong and sharing so we can learn from it. Thanks!
I appreciate you posting this video. I typically stay away from such areas, but good to know. Thanks.
Good to see there’s technology that can prove that sometimes it’s not user error and actually a hardware/software issue !! Hope they fixed it for free mate
Yes, they did. Follow up video linked in notes 👍🏻
Great video Ian.
This seems like a DJI problem. 13 satellites 🛰️ by any standard is more than sufficient for an accurate gps lock to maintain Lat/Long and Height. I know for navigation a minimum of 3 satellites are required for 2D (Lat/Long)and 5are required for 3D navigation (Lat/Long/Height), so having 13 would be more than sufficient
I totally agree.
Also the recorded position you see in the flight data logs reflects the position it believes it was and we don't see the position jumping (as you would with weak GPS issues).
This smells more of software failure to me.
That was my first though too, 13 sats isn't enough for stable flight ?
My old cheap Hubsan used to fly with way less that 13 sats and was totally reliable.
Agreed this is a lot of satellites. Used to use a GPS all the time and we would be completely spot on with 7 or above. I'm thinking it's less to do with the amount but more about his environment at the time. GPS shouldn't have been an issue but maybe the Rock around him contained material which caused the issue. In the same way as standing near your car when flying.
Had similar experience in Taiwan in the mountains with my mini 2. GPS was so bad I could not raise the drone over 50 feet (restricted) had to fly carefully to get more sats down the gorge. I was then able to fly back to my non gps location and raise up. But noticed stability was poor. Very intensive concentration required. As I raised out of the gorge I got my 25 sats. And some good shots. Taiwan flying was a great experience and taught me a few things about my drone. Thanks for sharing your experience. P.s had 2 crashes in Taiwan but got lucky, some minor repairs with superglue and two sets of props. But got some awesome footage.
I always launch and allow it to hover about chest high a few feet in front of me. I take my time and let myself relax and take note of my surroundings and plan my intended flight. By this time I usually have acquired strong gps and updated home point. Only then do I rough in my camera settings before heading off at max speed. But even that method is not fool proof. One time I was at my local bike park and had the drone hovering in front of me doing my check list...out of nowhere comes a guy on his bike hauling ass and takes the drone straight to the chest, knocking it down to the ground and running it over for good measure. 😂 Somebody get DJI refresh on the line STAT! And my damage from that crash was almost identical to yours. Good talk🤟😂
It's a bit of a weird crash, even at 7-8 satellites the drone normally will signal it is able to maintain a hover, but the satellite indicator will be yellow, which means it has a chance to drop out and start drifting. If the indicator is white it is generally safe enough to fly, but there can be situations where it drops out temporarily for no apparent reason.
Thanks for this video Ian. Crashes hurt, but grateful for your sharing this experience so we might avoid! And a timely reminder that no matter our experience, a moment's distraction can be the difference between a great day with our drone or one we anguish over. Cheers for this and all your videos. 👍
Great, educative video. Love your outro shots.
Crazy good video, thank you so much! I am a new operator flying the DJI Mini 3 Pro with no issues. I'm still learning and honing my skills, but whilst attempting to take off yesterday in low light (not yet dark), my drone became unstable and I had a minor crash. I knew nothing about the flight data logs and how to use them or the Airdata app. I was able to review all of the notifications and while I still don't know why my drone was in an unstable hover, I did learn to pay attention to the notifications on the screen which could have avoided the crash. A few propeller change-outs and my drone is right as rain. (But I still have crash insurance.)
Learn and fly again :)
Thanks Ian. Bless you for being candid with us here - many wouldn't! Very valuable information as always... Thank you.
Thanks Mike!
WOW! Thanks Ian! I had the same problem but without the same catastrophic event! Fortunately. I was flying above a river in an area shadowed by mountains in the surrounding area. I flew the drone out and down the river when, all of a sudden, I got a message saying GPS signal weak and the drone began to fly as though it was lost!! Fortunately, I hit the RTH button and gained control just before it crashed into some neaby trees. Ever Since, I make absolutely sure that I have great GPS lock and lots of satellites available before taking off. Thanks SO much for the info about how to access the flight logs and to replay the flight! Awesome info!! Cheers!
I'm doing a follow-up video as flying over water had a major part in this...👍🏻. Hopefully up tonight or tomorrow
yep again, High Force waterfall another local feature for me to visit!! if you want stunning views all around this area is great
there are several falls nearby to see, many reservoirs to see/walk around flyover etc
Such a humble and honest guy that I have the upmost respect for. Thanks for sharing this crucial information for your followers. 👍🏽
Cheers! :)
Altitude is your friend! Avoid tree height, get a good GPS fix too! The old Mavic 2 pro was perfectly stable on just 7-8 satellites, but the minis have half as many antenna and these are smaller with less antenna gain.
Chapeau Ian, thank you for that and good luck with your Mini 3 Pro! You Sir are a Pro! Egésségedre!
Cheers! 🤠🤠
I've had my Mini 3 Pro for 9 days. Obstacle avoidance is a joke. I got a return authorization yesterday. It'll be shipping back to them tomorrow, along with the Fly More Kit.
Thank you Ian, for the extremely useful information. Greetings from the Caribbean.
I'm a software engineer and have written GPS applications in the past.
What you're describing here sounds like the drone only managed to get a 2D lock and not a 3D lock.
This happens when the device (your drone) cannot see sufficient satellites from a wide area above it. If you imagine the drone in the air, and a funnel shape going from the drone right up to the heavens. Every satellite captured within the top of the funnel that locks onto your drone, will enable the drone to get a 3-dimensional lock and calculate where it is accurately because it's seeing satellites from a even and spaced out area.
If you are against a rock face, or against a high building, or up against the trees, the drone will only manage to get a GPS lock from the visible satellites that are in the open, opposite the plane it is against and therefore it won't be able to judge the distance (timings) from the GPS satellites in a circle around it so it will move to get to a position it thinks it should be in.
This used to be a common problem with GPS trackers and SatNav in built up areas where the GPS signal bounced off high buildings and the timings were disrupted giving the impression the vehicle was flying off the side of the road.
I think in a scenario like this, raising the drone up above the rocks to the open space will open the other side of the "funnel" exposing a circular constellation above it which will give it a solid lock using more evenly spaced out satellites allowing the drone to calculate where it is in a triangulation fashion thus allowing it to get an exact, accurate position.
Excellent summary 👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you so much for educating us on what happened. I wish you all the best getting your Mini 3 Fixed.
Incredibly useful. I don't have Care Refresh and so this may come in handy one day. Fingers crossed I have been lucky so far.
Really useful video Ian, just a shame it had to happen to your Mini 3 first. Excellent explanation on how to download flight logs and interpret them. I was always taught to scan instruments before performing a task but there's a difference between a quick scan of the basics and a thorough scan. It does answer one question of why the homepoint sometimes updates automaticaly mid flight. Thanks again chap and I hope you get things sorted swiftly. Note to self - sync flight logs!
About to get my first ever drone, the Mini 3 Pro, I found this really useful and clearly explained - thank you.
that's weird 3 gps signals should be a 2D fix and 4 signals is a 3D fix and a minimum of 7-8 signals is enough for redundancy. So the drift with 13 sats is a little bit weird. I think they might have been more wrong for it to drift worth to let DJI do some work in all honesty.
Also I assumed that a DJI Drone with this age (rather new) would have a vocal line to warn that the drone is swapped to a mode instead of p mode. cause ideally you are looking at the drone but then when you open the settings to change something you will no longer see the telemetry/video.
In our EU specific courses we have been drilled to do a standard checklist before continuing with the flight one is go up hover 10 secs then do all the stick movements then continue with the flight. this will give you a basic check that all should be in order before you start, what ever happens after i mean that is on you to counter and rth safely.
PS the checklist is super overkill but if you want it I can share it. some things are pretty good to do tbh
Hope you fast get replaced a new drone.
If you synchronise the flight logs on the RC you can then go into Airdata, click on Account and then DJI login. You then can synchronise the logs with Airdata. I do this all the time as I use the data to keep a flight log of all my flights with the five drones I currently have. Airdata as you know is nothing short of brilliant as it provides detailed information on the batteries and their performance amongst other things.
Very true 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Thanks Ian....for your honesty
I lost a mini 2 this year reference sideways misalignment. Airdata is very informative....but over 100 flights you have to pay.....I'm not sure the costs are warranted on operators who don't have too many accidents....but it happens
Thanks for explaining how to get and inspect the flight log. DJI does not show the dilution of precision (via a so-called DOP value) that you would need to judge whether the GNSS position is sort of reliable. The number of satellites is of course important, but, you also want to see whether the satellites are evenly distributed over the sky, this is what the DOP does. In case of a lot of obstacles the DOP would immediately show it.
Great video, but very surprised you need that many satellites locked for a stable hover. Really 8-10 should be more than enough. When I had my Mini 3 it drifted noticeably, especially in wind. I hit a wire with my Mini 2, it fell, but recovered before it hit the deck. I was very relieved. I don’t think the Mini 3 is as good with stability and recovery.
Feel your pain, watched my mavic platisink into the river, pilot error, sickening thing is I have the footage as it hits the water. INEXPERIENCE!
Great vid Ian. I drifted twice on take off flying in the dark..Gps recenetly been fairly poor and I had rushed Full GPS..I was lucky both incidents I just drifted into a bush...Last night I made CERTAIN good GPS. Learning along the way..👍👍
Cheers Heinrich!
Very grateful for your presentation!
Sad to hear about your drone Ian, but as for satellite's. I'm lucky to get 10-11 where I'm at? I've never had any problems, but let's not get cocky, as they say never say never?
Thanks for sharing
Excellent analysis and a lot of information about drones.
This isnt a plug btw but followed you from the beginning and after 3 years of flying become confident. I just uploaded a crash with my brand new mavic classic 3. Simply didnt wait for it to lock and the water made ATTI mode go all crazy, lost it and it crashed. Lucky its fine as landed in a bush but goes to show, none of us can be safe from mistakes or crashes.
Water will do that....... No downward vision sensor lock
@@IaninLondon oh it was terrible mate. Come down with some force as well. I thought o heard my home point updated bit checked now and didn’t it was in ATTI mode. As you say learn from the mistakes. Hope it’s gets sorted soon buddy
Sorry to hear you crashed, as we are told to always look at the drone, once the home point had been updated I to would have assumed all was well, DJI should add a verbal warning if the drone starts drifting after home point has been updated. Thanks again for an informative video good info going forward, always learning.
Thanks Karen. Yep, live and learn..... :)
Thanks for sharing this very helpful info, post crash
Thank you much for sharing your experience and tips, very helpful.
It wasn't a mistake, you learned from this, so it's a life lesson :)
Interesting I take off really quickly sometimes and I do not get the full amount of satellites. I didn't know the drone could drift from lack of GPS. Thank you for sharing this will really help me out and keep my Mavic safe.
Ouch your going through these mini 3s Ian lol I flew mine the other day and had the box come up where I need to tick 3 box's to fly done that got me home point took of flew out then I find mine in some geo-lock and wouldn't bloody move done return to home that just kept switching of and just hoovered there lucky in the end I had the bigger battery so I could go over there at to land in someone's front garden then do a runner lol but people should be aware of this although you can tick them 3 box's you can get stuck just lucky I wasn't over water. Great video as usual Ian look forward to some more videos lucky you took a spare drone with you 😁👍👌 🇬🇧
If you can and I appreciate it’s not always possible but an observer who understands can make a huge difference
Gr8 analysis. Thx for sharing ! Sorry for the crash. Stinks.
“Thanks Ian” for taking us through the ‘process’. Not ALL of us “techies”..EVEN though we fly! Sorry about your Mini 3 Pro man..
This video is good timing for me. I just crashed my Mavic 3 Thursday. Flying at night, hit a tree at around 10 meters high, and it crashed into the road. Camera/Gimbal will probably have to be replaced. $771 ouch. But it was my fault. I can't believe 13 satellites isn't enough to hold your position. Guess I'll make a note of that for future flights. Thanks.
Ow! Learn and move on 🤠👍🏻👍🏻
That’s why the FAA likes you to have a spotter if at all possible so one person can watch the drone to see in avoid other objects in the sky while you were looking at the screen
Ian, I’ve been following your TH-cam content for a while. I bought an old dji mavic pro 18 months ago and I’m not an expert by any stretch but I would never take off unless the home point is confirmed and the satellite lock number is 13 or more. I don’t fancy losing my drone…
Thanks for sharing, great information. 👍
My mini 3 pro crashed 50ft up into a tree and IM VERY LUCKY that it still works, The drone painfully hit a tree and fell hitting more branches in the way and it tried to stabilize itself after the trees but its broken propeller made it swivel into a ditch. EVERYTHING SO FAR WORKS and I only suffered a broken propeller. This thing could be sturdy sometimes
Sorry about the crash Ian. Great video that I am sure will help many others. Instructional, concise and well documented. When you do the log sync it should also sync logs to your other DJI Fly apps on your iOS or Android device if you don’t want to connect to a computer.
This is true, and you can also set up AirData to aut0-sync each flight for you too.
Before I finish watching this video, my youngest girl suffered exactly the same damage and at a waterfall stationary while adjusting the camera as well, she said she didn’t move etc so I looked at the flight log and just before the crash you see it state vision sensor dark or light I can’t remember but essentially that they are not functioning (mind you this was bang in midday and a sunny day but in the shade of a tree above) she was adjusting for the changed lighting condition from the shade of the tree but it was still very bright. Anyway time to watch the rest of your video
Hope didn't suffer any damage 👍🏻
Thanks Ian, excellent advice.
I just bought this drone, thanks so much for making these important videos!
DJI - there should be much better warnings and screen prompts when the drone is in this situation so the user is more quickly aware!
Thanks Ian,sorry for your misshap,but your findings and advice are noted
Hi Ian, sad news about the mini 3, however the faithful Air2 s saved the day. Everyone can learn something from these unfortunate events. Really appreciate your honesty so we can all avoid a similar situation. 👍
Interesting and valuable video.
If you tap on the wee map icon on the right of each flight entry in the flight logs list the RC will play back the flight.
Less info than Airdata but useful nonetheless.
When the home point update message is announced, who actually checks it on the map?
Maybe we should, and have a look at the satellite and battery info while we’re at it.
Great video. Very valuable info. Thanks for walking us through the entire process.
Excellent info and teaching, Thank YOU Sir
Yes it can happen..did some aerials and forecast was for high electromagnetic interference..(just like when my car navi puts me in the ocean).
When drone did return home..was way off landing area and would not fly in rear, so had to turn 180 to get to landing area and manual landing.
Lucky not to be close to trees.
Very well done and said!!!! I don't have a DJI Mini 3... I'm considering my options for a "Camera Drone" as another toy to fly around with.
Thanks for the heads up Ian, I'm sorry you had to make this video. Pity there is no audible cue telling you the GPS signal is weak, strong wind ETC, even if it's just a notification tone. Good feature for third party Apps to have.
Very helpful info mate, thanks for posting it 👏
Hi Ian: Thanks for sharing this. I have a DJI Spark and had several flyaways by doing exactly what you said. As soon as the announcement "The homepoint has been updated .." came, I would take off. With my Spark, that happens when it is locked on 9 satellites. I asked the guy I bought it from and he said "Never take off until you have at least 12 satellites." I'm guessing that there is a difference in the internals between your drone and my Spark WRT how many satellites it needs. Also, I fly in Australia and the maximum number of satellites I've ever seen is 16.
With at least 12-13 satellites locked before takeoff, I've had no more fly-aways.
*Also*, for the newbs like me: The drone has to be more than 30 metres away horizontally for the Home function to work. If the drone is less than 30 MTRs away horizontally and you press Home, the drone will just land straight down where it is.
Where you crashed 'High Force' on the River Tees in the North Pennines (not Yorkshire Dales ;) there is a 'High Force' in the Yorkshire Dales aka Force Gill tho) is in my neck of woods, I'm pretty shocked if I get 15+ satellites, if I relied on that getting 16 to 25 I'd be lucky to fly very often!
Personally I believe 13 satellites should have been more than sufficient IF the lock had been stable in this instance that doesn't seem to have been the case, High Force where you were flying is as you say in a quite deep hole in the ground surrounded by rocks at the bottom of a valley under the Pennines compromised GPS strength if we stop to consider would be a concern, but hindsight is always 20-20 and I doubt many of us would have done anything differently in that situation, of course now I'll be a lot more cautious thanks to your unfortunate experience.
Thanks for the reminder and headsup :)
Yep; ,my bad; we'd been in the Yorkshire Dales until that morning! This is indeed High Force Co Durham. I'm also doing a follow up video as there's more to this than just poor GPS.... hopefully up tomorrow or Friday
Very sorry to learn what happened, Ian. Like the true professional you are, you always turn an accident into an opportunity for us to learn valuable lessons. I keep repeating on YT videos the advise you gave about the Mavic 3 obstacle detection blind spot and the need (in low light conditions) to check the Fly App's sensor icons, because the Fly App's message is so fleeting when the sensors are disabled due to insufficient light. One of the early drone videos I watched (can't remember which) advised to wait for 20 plus satellites (if possible in the environment you are in). I've kept to that guidance.
Yep. 20 is safe.... Altho it used to be far less.... Maybe it's not using true GPS.... Might be the alternative...
That sucks man ... crashed my mini3 last night. Instead of pressing going up I pressed forward luckily it went straight at my chest height lol and land on my soft grass no damage 😅, great tip to check locked satellites. What's happens with dji refresh if you can't recover your drone???
They will look at the flight logs and take it from there...... How's the chest :)
@@IaninLondon yeah it ok that's god it wasn't the beasty mavic3 lol
I flew mine into the valley at the Snow mountains in Nevada, 10000 feet up. I didn’t spot before I set it off that it hadn’t got the satellite links. As it was out the valley, I heard homepoint updated. It had set the home point where it was, out in this vast valley. I was on the screen trying to work out where I was - impossible due to the vastness of the landscape and I was stood on a ridge, and it all looked the same. I was panicking about not being able to get it back, when I realised there was a setting to make the controller the home point. At that point I could bring it back- phew. Learnt at that point to visually confirm satellites before launching it off.
Just one to be aware of if you are wanting to fly your drone when doing the NC500 north Scottish road trip... NATO each year run some naval exercises just off the coast up there and this can include GPS denial operations ... Dib dib dib be prepared!
great info as always
Great help for us interested in getting a drone, thanks.
Thanks for the analysis! Might be what happened to me. I was filming a very similar waterfall scene with my mini2. Same wind drift but mine hit a tree and went into the river.... 😭 - Wind coming down the valley pushed it into the tree even though I hadn't touch any of the sticks. Drone is long gone and tons of footage.
That's exactly what happened to me. Even though it went in the river, you should have opened a chat with DJI as they would be able to extract the flight logs from your remote and could have seen that it was moving without any stick input..
@@IaninLondon I wasn’t in cell reception at the time. Can they get that info from the find my drone part of the app? I have the short video clip and last position on there. I don’t see input data
Thanks, Ian for sharing. I too would assume 'Home point updated' would have indicated to me that there's a good GPS lock. Sorry to hear about your drone, but thanks for sharing. We'll all learn from each over.