Took off with 58% Drone Battery. About 38 Seconds, Critically Low Warning and landed Mavic Air in Water. I was able to recover. I had DJI Refresh and Refresh Plus. Refresh Plus Expires November 2020…so coverage is active. Sent in Mavic Air to DJI. Sent in Flight Record (which shows fast battery loss - 58% then next line 0%. DJI sent invoice for $69 Replacement. I called. They did not review flight record because they said something about only sending out replacements with Refresh Plus anyway - so no need to check flight record. No explanation on what happened. Joined this forum. Uploaded Flight Record and clearly see massive battery drop in about about 1 second.
Would someone be willing to review the flight record below (it is a short record) and give me their input? I am also curious what I should have expected from my DJI Refresh Plus which was still active. Thank you so much. -Scott
DJI is not that clever…if the total volts < treshold ( < 8.5 volts total) value than a forcelanding is initiated.
Plus the % level shows zero % from that point and further.
But if the voltage drop is momentarily than it should give the option to cancel the autolanding and give control the the pilot (with a warning ofcourse > land ASAP)
As @JJB explained, the aircraft auto landed due to low battery voltage.
It’s best to always start a flight with a fully charged battery. If you absolutely must start a flight on a nearly depleted battery, you should consider not flying at full stick in windy conditions (both of which you did). Doing those things will make the battery voltage temporarily dip down low – and that could be low enough to trigger an auto landing.
Excellent. A point I have taken to heart, flying a particular contract each week here in Hawaii in a really windy part of the island.
On days with no wind I comfortably complete the mission (only 13 min flight… 63 WP/Photo)
But in the past there was this particularly windy day, she could handle it but at about WP 53 I was informed that she would be taking a rest and landing and the battery went critical… I was trying to complete it all on one battery because I still had video and a NADIR to shoot… with my remaining batteries… it happens very fast, fighting the wind takes a toll…
Now I am much more cognizant of the wind speed and how it can impact battery life…
Lesson learned…
my pleasure. You could have saved youd drone as the start of the forcelanding happend flying above land. You just did continue to fly, guess you was not aware of a forcelanding in progress.
DJI should imo play more audio warnings
