Darren, you should contact DJI support, provide them with logs, videos, and describe the situation. It wasn't your failure, and most likely they will send you a new one. (and yes, this is a common practice for DJI, my friends was getting replacement after support confirmed that the problem was caused not by you but the hardware malfunction)
Another thing m8 night time never land your drone at night omg mine bounced then went 3 meters high then hit the ground again several more time s like it had no idea were the ground was
I always notice when i'm flying over water weather sea or a lake with my mini 2 that the drone tends to be trying dipping down in altitude even if i'm high as 8 meters above water, and lately yes sometimes the drone tends to steer left or right without any input in my controller, i always land and recalibrate sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't , still no idea why this happens
Love it when pros crash AND document the event for the community. Max respect bro. Easy for you to buy a new drone and never speak of this but you did the hard thing making this video. Painful day for you but appreciate you making this video for the benefit of the community. Sorry for your loss but RESPECT BRO 😎
sounds like it might have been a balancing issues or something and maybe u could have recalibrated it or something i dunno? either way but good tip if you ever see the drone start to behave oddly. dont fly with it lol and try to check it out first! thanks for the v ideo!
Hi Darren, I think we all realise that every time we fly we are a little closer to a drone loss. I think what really hurts is losing the footage as well. I make it a policy to swap out the Micro SD cards regularly through the day, especially when I think I've nailed some good footage. Coming from a photography back ground I always carry 3 or 4 spares. Another tip is to swap the RC card and the drone card at half time, that way the mornings footage is safely tucked away inside the RC
The exact same thing happened to me with my mini 2. I was filming my brother paddling down the dusi River and it also dropped into the water. Thankfully I was able to retrieve it. Sent it to dji with the flight logs and the fixed it for free because they said it wasn't my fault.
Man I feel you. I almost crashed mine today against a tree while I was learning how to auto follow trace my car. I hope you feel better tomorrow and think how many drones you actually saved from all the different owners out there. Keep going with your guides and videos. Is the most normal thing to happen to someone as experienced as you. All professionals have to change their gear often. To become the best you have to fail. We all learn from you here, thanks a lot for this unfortunate video.
totally understand the sentimental value you mentioned! We do build somewhat of a friendship with our equipment. I have been flying RC aircraft for many years and when they go down it's heartbreaking and sad. Lessons learned and I hope way more safe flying for you! Thanks for sharing this!!
Hey Darren! So sorry mate!! All is not lost. You have the flight logs so you can raise a ticket with DJI. Not sure if you saw my Mini 3 Pro crash video last month but had a similar issue, crashed over water with no stick input from me. DJI repaired under warranty despite me not having Care Refresh. So raise a ticket, tick the box that says you think it's equipment fault, upload the logs and see what happens..... Best of luck buddy 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Thanks for the honest video and guide. I often fly super low over water and have had a few 'close' calls and I totally understand how gutting this must be. But it's good to see your analysis of what happened and your review of the drones behaviour throughout the day. Sorry for your loss. 🙏
So sorry to hear and for your loss - thank you for sharing your analysis. My suspicion for the cause is two-fold: potentially lense fog on the downward vision sensors (aka cameras) due to cold weather causing those anomalies in the flight behaviour. Pair this with substantial voltage drops in Sports mode + very cold weather, it's probably caused a malfunction/height drop of some sort.
Oh Darren so sorry to hear your story, not surprised you are gutted? It's the sort of thing that can happen to anyone but shouldn't. You are so good at telling us all how to avoid problems. Another lesson learnt by me!!
Darren - Having lost a Mini 2 in a rushing river, I share your feelings of loss and frustration as to why things like this happen. I hope that DJI can come up with a way to shut off the downward sensors so that they do not get confused over water, snow, or ice.
I've just taken delivery of a Mini 3 Pro, so found your experience (although devastating for you) an invaluable and salutary lesson, Darren. Thanks for passing this on and I hope sincerely that nothing like it ever happens to you again. Best wishes for more great footage and the rest of the festive season. 🤝👍
It's bound to happen again, it's just part of being an aerial photographer. Every flight is one closer to the last for whatever piece of equipment that you're using.
Thank you for the detailed report on your incident. The video of your wobbling drone reminded me of a near-loss of my mini 2 last winter in the alps, where it was about minus 10° C. It quickly started to get unstable, drifting to all sides, hard to control, impossible to hand-land. So, I simply flew it straight into the snow, where I could recover it undamaged. I used it later again in warmer conditions, no problem. It seems like some of the electronics in these drones don't take cold temps well, certainly something to keep in mind. Regards
My mini 2 was hovering badly on Monday but was just taking photos of frosty scenery but wouldn't stay still even in virtually no wind, checked props and screws and all was fine that day, had her out today and all seems well but had been sitting in cold car whilst in work on that day even tho i had batteries with me. Glad i never flew over water and will always check stability now before flying off. Thanks Darren for this advice and honesty even tho you learnt the hard way we now don't have too.
Hi Darren so sorry to hear you lost your mini 3 pro, the one positive is that everyone reading this has learned something and hopefully won't make the same mistake. Keep up the good work.
I am so sorry, to hear that you lost your mini pro 3. Thanks for sharing this unfortunate happening. Having lost one myself (my first mavic mini went down into the Eagean sea, showing -7 meters at its last effort) I know the feeling. May you keep on shooting great videos 😊
This is the second video I have watched this week where the drone started off with a strange issue, not hovering etc and it wasn't taken seriously. Sadly a drone lost but a massive lesson learnt I guess. Thanks for sharing
It's the speed at which it went down! Initially I was thinking I'll not fly below 12m but 8m is 26ft and for it to go down that fast makes you think something failed. On the plus side, try not to think of it as a crashed drone and more of a time capsule..... 😃
Interesting. I've been flying my Mini 3 in the same conditions over the last week and noticed that the drone was wobbling around in the sky as I was bringing it back down to land, when there wasn't any wind, even at low level. I also noticed the drone drifting to the left when flying forwards from low level to medium level. I thought that it must have been my inputs, but now seeing this video I suspect I had the same issues, and it's brought on by freezing temperatures (maybe misting of the sensors?).
Darren, sorry you lost your drone. I am new to drone flying. Recently lost mines after two weeks. Saw somewhere that before flying you should always first "calibrate or recalibrate the compass". Not sure it had anything to do with your issue, but interested to hear what you think about calibrations.
I'm very sorry about your crash, and the loss of your Mini 3 Pro. I wonder what was going with it, I guess we will never really know for sure. Thanks for sharing this experience, hopefully others can learn from it. Thanks for sharing.
Curious if you were flying outside of its rated temperature range (believe is -10 to +40° C). Asking as I just got mine a couple weeks ago and have had it up in the colder temps close to the -10 range.
If the sensors down are TOF sensors (time of flight), their measurement principle is sending out light and measure the time the reflection comes back. The time with light speed gets you the distance between the reflecting object and the sensor. In cold environments, if your drone is not fully acclimated, still warmer (and moister) from traveling in your car or being put out of a warm bag into flight, there may be fog building on the TOF optics. This is only a theory! But if the fog is leading to a almost-zero-reflection-time, can the drone eventually cut the motors because it thought it has been grounded or landed?
Sorry for your loss. For anyone out there, running a Mini 3 Pro in sports mode regardless of what you are flying over. I believe due to the angled rear props, the Mini 3 pro will loose altitude while flying so something to watch in all sports mode flying situations. In addition re-calibration could be a great alternative to see if this fixes the anomalies
I feel ya brother. They definately hold a special part in you for being with you on some of your most epic journeys. I have no idea why this happened but this past Wednesday I had the mini 3 pro up doing a hyperlapse and while up there supposedly in a hover just taking photos of a large intersection I notice that it moving all over the place. Now mind you, the controller is in my lap no hands near it and no wind. Footage came out terrible and have no idea what went wrong. Also.....not a lick of wind that day but cold. Thanks for posting and helping us all learn.
Really appreciate these kind of videos. Can learn more from failures than from general how to instructions. I've been flying the Mini 2 and just ordered the Mini 3 Pro with the RC controller. Definitely going to be using the screen record function. I carry multiple SD cards, mostly because I invariably leave the latest used one in my computer. I'm trying to be consistent in copying the files to a portable harddrive after flying sessions.
So, to begin with: Thank you, Darren, for sharing the chain of events and the unfortunate outcome. I think anyone flying a drone for enough time and locations, treats it like kind of a partner, and so the sadness is well understood. Having living in a place near the sea, I get to fly my M3P over water quite a lot. And I have long noticed that whenever the drone is ~10m or so above the water, its behavior could sometime be unexpected. So, I learned to ALWAYS have one eye on the altitude meter when flying it in that "death zone", and if I notice anything suspicious, I usually shoot it up and regroup. Also, when lowering altitude towards any water body, I usually have my gimbal looking straight down. I don't trust the altitude meter when over water, but I do trust my own eyes.
Thanks for sharing this story. I crashed my mini 3 pro on my second day flying. Yes a newbie mistake. Thankfully I had the DGI insurance. You made me feel better knowing everyone, not just newbies can have drone crashes.
Sorry Darren for losing the drone and, most of all, the footage! I saw a tip a while ago (I don't remember where) to swap out your SD card with every battery change. I have 3 SD cards now and so I have been doing that, so that if it crashes, you loose the last card and content only. Also, I would think that a light, plastic drone would FLOAT and not SINK! That was surprising! I do have the Care Refresh and I have always had it because I just can't afford another drone any time soon if I lose mine! Thanks for the video. It is a great reminder of what can go wrong. Memo to self: buy more spare propellers!
Thanks for the reminder. I just had the same issues a couple sessions ago. Drone drifting to the right for no reason. Gimbal behaving strangely when raising or lowering it. I inspected the drone there onsite but could see nothing wrong. Flew it again a few days later and had no glitches at all. Did you ever find out why or what happened after the fact?
Hi Darren thanks for the video and my condolences on your loss. I’d just like to say that my 3pro has been “acting up” since the last RC and drone updates. Almost like it’s drunk! Mine has a tendency to drift off course, more leftwards and backwards too if hovering. Swapped props and still it happens even indoors with no influence. Could this be a glitch in the new firmware and software? ESP as the other drone was fine. I’m not trusting mine just at the moment, even less after seeing your video.
Thanks for sharing and 100% certain you will save a good few of us from going thru the same one day.I will remember this video whenever my drones play up like that and not going near water if they do .Cheers and sorry for your loss
Thank you for taking the time to post this tip. I have a mini 3 coming in soon and I will be watching for this. As far as the lost SD card, I have a notepad file on my drones SD card titled "please read me" and it has my cell number and a friendly note asking to call... just in case some good person finds it at some point.
I am sorry for the loss of your M3P and fully understand the sentimental attachment to drones and many other material objects. Your warning is a good one and be certain in knowing that I have learned from your experience. Cheers from Wisconsin, Darren.
Oh, so sorry to see this! I love flying over water and usually do it over the river. Flying low usually gives the best footage, but I get nervous when the drone is more than a 300 m or so away and usually take it up at That point. Too bad you can't retrieve it. Thanks for sharing and reminding us how easily this can happen.
I'm only just recovering from my first and only drone loss - and that was about 10 years ago. It was a sobering experience watching a couple of hundred quid disappear on a fly-away. I abandoned quads and stuck to RC aeroplanes. Now that tech has advanced to a quite frankly insane level, I'm about to pull the trigger on a Mini 3 Pro. I don't think I'll ever not be nervous when flying, god knows, I've taken plenty of aircraft home in black plastic bin bags. I think it's the outright cost of a total loss that scares me the most. Thanks for the vid!
That Mini 3 Pro of yours and the videos you got from it are what got me started into flying drones. I got a Mini 3 Pro and the fly more kit plus, all because of the stunning videos you created with your Mini 3 Pro. This is sad news indeed.
Gutted for you. My mini pro 3 took a nose dive when doing a hand take off, I managed to click a few bits of plastic back in place and the gimbal seems fine but I must admit I’ve lost confidence in the drone. It’s not as smooth when hovering now. I can’t understand why it nosedived as I’ve always done hand take offs and was shocked when it lifted out of my hand dropped 4 ft to the floor. I have DJI care , do you think I should send it back to get it checked out. ?
Thanks for the video, sorry for your loss! I fly over water all the time! I've definitely seen it get confused by the height, even when it's just flying straight. I try to keep it 10-15 feet above the water at all times, but do occasionally go lower. So it's a scary thing to know that it might just nosedive on it's own if it's confused..
I know the feeling brother as I had my first fly away of my Mavic 3 mid December of last year. I am a certified pilot and take great safety precautions when flying. I watched as the drone literally fell out of the sky and wasn’t able to retrieve it. Fortunately I did have DJI Care refresh to cover the fly away, but at the end of the day, I actually cried real tears 😢
Sorry to hear this, but great video on recovering the flight and joystick logs. I know your pain though, as far as loosing the SD card with the excellent footage.. I filmed a complete Montana mountain UTV trail ride, and lost the GoPro unit later that day in a river! That was once in a lifetime (for me anyway) footage of that Montana mountain ride! But hey, we live and learn every day. Thank you, Cheers.
Sorry to hear about this story of yours. I was flying my mini 3 pro on Monday morning after the heavy snow in london and I noticed that I had tiny ice crystals on the propellers. Do you think that could have happened to yours? Maybe ice buildup in the motors. I managed to get my lens fogging up which is a problem I have not seen many people have. DJI are gonna replace my drone which I think is great of them.
Hey man.. so I just bought the mini 3 Pro and it’s my first drone. Excuse my ignorance, but I see they sell floating landing gears (pool noodles lol). I don’t seem to see people really using them much on UA-cam anyway. Would that have saved your drone? What’s your take on those (especially for a beginning flying over water)?
So sorry to hear a few weeks ago I crashed my mini 3 pro, and broke its gimbal I hope you can make a good recovery, and continue with your amazing content one question, do you plan to get a new mini 3 pro, or not? Thank you!
Sad to hear your bad news today buddy. Funnily enough I had my mini 3 pro out today and something very similar was happening. I had the the same problem landing it as you did however as this was only my second flight so I didnt know till you told me that it cant see reflective surfaces. I was in Cine mode all morning but I also had the drifting problem. I was on the coast so there was some wind but it wouldnt fly forward or back without drifting to the left. My DJI supplier is only 10miles away and Its only 1 week old do you think I should return it for inspection? Unfortunately as a complete beginner I wouldnt know what to look for in an investigation. So sorry to hear of your loss Jon
Interesting, mine was acting like this a few days ago out in the cold! Wouldn't land even into my hand just like you said! Are the sensors lazer based and they're being effected by the cold? 🤷🏻♂️
hi darren. feel your pain and completely get where your coming from. my mavic 2 pro dropped out the sky after 3 years of faultless flying. bulging battery issue. I was gutted but I managed to get it fixed and I'm keeping it around like an old friend that's been on many adventures with me. it did worry me tho. at that point I had complete confidence in dii products and I was a bit gutted dji didn't put something out there to tell you about the battery bulging issue. it has made me more careful with my mavic 3 tho and I have just got the mavic mini 3 pro and when I was flying it in my garden it wasn't staying still at all it was drifting all over the place and loosing altitude. it dont just sit in the exact place like the mavic 2 and 3. there was no wind so at that point I was like I won't be doing any camera setting changes while its hovering because I dont think it sits where u want it to sit.
I just got as drone, haven't flown it yet, so maybe there is something I missed, but if you lost the drone in the lake, how did you get the footage of the lake which you were recording at the time, and how did you get the recording of the crash if you lost the memory card?
Mr. Darren... I feel so sorry about the lost of your Mini 3 Pro. I was so shocked when first time I saw this video. I learnt a lot from you to be how to fly this drone amd got many skills from you from your videos. Greets from BALI INDONESIA.!
Sorry to hear this Darren! I purchased mine after all the great testing you did with yours! Bummer on the no care refresh… As always, learning from your experiences! All the best.
I had the same! When you made a video about the big update last week. I did the update and make a test flight to check the update and crashed also. Lucky it was in the grass. I looked ad 2 days ago and there was a new firmware. On the moment the drone is back stabile.
Thank you for posting this. I have just ordered the mini 3 pro. I have lost just about every drone I’ve owned since the Phantom 3. I like flying close also. I love my DJI FPV for that. Great content.
I’ve got an Air2 which I use on canoe/kayak trips and have found out you need to be higher than normal to get a stable hover after take off. If I tap the lift of button ( hand launch) and take my eyes off it to sort out some piece of kit in the kayak, it will slowly descend towards the water. I now take off and give it a few extra meters and it’s quite happy to sit there whilst I square away the kayak. I would always be wary of flying in low temperatures, it can really suck the life out of those batteries.
I didnt see a mention or screenshot, but do you use UAV Forecast before flights? Every flight I check it. If winds are above 19MPH, I don't fly at all. If it's above 15MPH, there's a very high chance I don't fly. If it's 9-14 I keep an eye on it and if gusts are moving it enough, I stop flying. The only time I've had a Mini get moved like yours, was 21 mph winds and then when above a roof (so lots of updraft/crosswinds). I also just had an issue when I was near very high power electrical lines. I learned 3-4 days ago to expect power lines to cause interference with the command link (Air 2 to the DJI controller), and GPS (I normally have 16 satellites, and lock fast... interference dropped me below 9 sats and took long time to lock). I hiked to the top of a hill, which had power lines, but I launched about 200 feet to the side to make sure a RTH didn't have it come back, and then descend into power lines. Despite this, and then flying straight away (at 20' AGL) I still had a lot of interference. Wont ever do this again. If you watch my last video (posted 24 Dec) you'll see the hill. I don't want to spam your channel so I won't post a link unless you say it's ok.
I did almost exactly the same thing with my brand new (on second flight) Magic 3 Classic, about a week and a half ago. Only significant difference is that it didn’t show any odd behavior prior to the incident. I got some interference a second or so before, so I never saw the crash on screen. It just went black and said that the connection was lost. As I couldn’t see it and had started to raise the drone just before the crash, I kept hoping that it would just return home, but nothing happened. 😔 I’m sorry for your loss, Darren. I know how you feel…
Hi. i have dji mini 3 and i have missing some menu like quikshots and panorama... tried everything and cant find away to get it on my rc.. any advice? Thank u
I’ve had roughly 10 drones in my life. I learned early on that the drone will let you know if something is wrong. You hit the nail on the head when you said you took off and it was moving erratically and you thought something may be wrong. If it doesn’t rise up and sit rocksolid in the air, land it , turn it off, and clean the sensors. Turn it back on and try it again. Sorry to hear about your drone. Don’t feel bad, it happens to all of us. I’ve had roughly 4 crashes. We learned from all of them.
Might it have needed re calibrating? I flew my Mini 3 Pro the other day in -7°C, the first flight the gimbal was all over the place, with warning messages; I RTH’d it and swapped out the battery, but before I took off it prompted me to recalibrate the gimbal, next flight was perfectly normal. Something similar may have occurred, but with the flight management rather than the gimbal? Sounds unusual that it wouldn’t stabilise too well, especially where we can see from your footage over the water that it was essentially in calm conditions, ie not that windy?
Dumb question but... I wonder if these are light enough to float for a while in calm water? If so, maybe the SD could have been retrieved and the hit on the DJI care wouldn't be so bad.... If you had the DJI care refresh. Just say'n.
Sorry for this happens I encounter drifting at times with the Mini3 Pro due to satellites number under 13 ; lately the temperature dropped and I did not felt always a good response flying ; I use UAV forecast and below zero it says No good to fly . Could it be a issue with low temperature ?
My Mini 3 Pro was doing that same stuff yesterday. Drifting and not hovering in place. It was moving out about 10 feet with hovering. I thought it was odd. I luckily got mine back. Wonder if something was up with DJI software yesterday. Note yesterday was the first time I flown this week
So sorry to hear about your loss, it sucks man 😥 Do you have data of the temperature you were flying at? It looks cold... Big difference I noticed with the DJI Mini 2 vs 3 is the minimum operation temperature in the manual of 0c for mini 2 vs 10c for the mini 3. Could explain weird sensor behaviour / readings?
Hi darren... The same happened to me wt my mavic 2 pro in sport mode extrem low alt flyn in the sea luckly i realized it before hit the water.. In sport mode all the sensor and alt hold was not functional proper, so i never use sport mode anymore when flying extrem low alt....
bad news - hope you don't make the same mistake!
Hope you have a new mini 3 pro you have the best content
Darren, you should contact DJI support, provide them with logs, videos, and describe the situation. It wasn't your failure, and most likely they will send you a new one.
(and yes, this is a common practice for DJI, my friends was getting replacement after support confirmed that the problem was caused not by you but the hardware malfunction)
It’s was the sensor same thing happened on my mini 2 I could still fly it, but the camera doesn’t work no more
Another thing m8 night time never land your drone at night omg mine bounced then went 3 meters high then hit the ground again several more time s like it had no idea were the ground was
I always notice when i'm flying over water weather sea or a lake with my mini 2 that the drone tends to be trying dipping down in altitude even if i'm high as 8 meters above water, and lately yes sometimes the drone tends to steer left or right without any input in my controller, i always land and recalibrate sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't , still no idea why this happens
Love it when pros crash AND document the event for the community. Max respect bro. Easy for you to buy a new drone and never speak of this but you did the hard thing making this video. Painful day for you but appreciate you making this video for the benefit of the community. Sorry for your loss but RESPECT BRO 😎
🤜🤜
@@DMProductions its a bad time of the year, sorry to hear.
sounds like it might have been a balancing issues or something and maybe u could have recalibrated it or something i dunno? either way but good tip if you ever see the drone start to behave oddly. dont fly with it lol and try to check it out first! thanks for the v ideo!
Also drones need the same ( find my phone) app on all drones, I have lost 2 drones, and spent many hours looking for them,
Hi Darren,
I think we all realise that every time we fly we are a little closer to a drone loss. I think what really hurts is losing the footage as well. I make it a policy to swap out the Micro SD cards regularly through the day, especially when I think I've nailed some good footage. Coming from a photography back ground I always carry 3 or 4 spares. Another tip is to swap the RC card and the drone card at half time, that way the mornings footage is safely tucked away inside the RC
Wouldn’t want this to happen to my Mini 3 Pro. It’s too precious for me to just crash it. Thank you for sharing your experience so we can avoid it.
The exact same thing happened to me with my mini 2. I was filming my brother paddling down the dusi River and it also dropped into the water. Thankfully I was able to retrieve it. Sent it to dji with the flight logs and the fixed it for free because they said it wasn't my fault.
Man I feel you. I almost crashed mine today against a tree while I was learning how to auto follow trace my car. I hope you feel better tomorrow and think how many drones you actually saved from all the different owners out there. Keep going with your guides and videos. Is the most normal thing to happen to someone as experienced as you. All professionals have to change their gear often. To become the best you have to fail. We all learn from you here, thanks a lot for this unfortunate video.
totally understand the sentimental value you mentioned! We do build somewhat of a friendship with our equipment. I have been flying RC aircraft for many years and when they go down it's heartbreaking and sad. Lessons learned and I hope way more safe flying for you! Thanks for sharing this!!
Hey Darren! So sorry mate!! All is not lost. You have the flight logs so you can raise a ticket with DJI. Not sure if you saw my Mini 3 Pro crash video last month but had a similar issue, crashed over water with no stick input from me. DJI repaired under warranty despite me not having Care Refresh. So raise a ticket, tick the box that says you think it's equipment fault, upload the logs and see what happens..... Best of luck buddy 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Ah really mate ? I may just do that 🙏
@DMProductions keep us in the loop if you do this, would be interesting to find out the cause
Thanks for the honest video and guide. I often fly super low over water and have had a few 'close' calls and I totally understand how gutting this must be. But it's good to see your analysis of what happened and your review of the drones behaviour throughout the day. Sorry for your loss. 🙏
So sorry to hear and for your loss - thank you for sharing your analysis.
My suspicion for the cause is two-fold: potentially lense fog on the downward vision sensors (aka cameras) due to cold weather causing those anomalies in the flight behaviour.
Pair this with substantial voltage drops in Sports mode + very cold weather, it's probably caused a malfunction/height drop of some sort.
Oh Darren so sorry to hear your story, not surprised you are gutted?
It's the sort of thing that can happen to anyone but shouldn't. You are so good at telling us all how to avoid problems.
Another lesson learnt by me!!
I know mate, can happen to anyone! Hope people see this and can react/avoid any issues
Darren - Having lost a Mini 2 in a rushing river, I share your feelings of loss and frustration as to why things like this happen. I hope that DJI can come up with a way to shut off the downward sensors so that they do not get confused over water, snow, or ice.
I've just taken delivery of a Mini 3 Pro, so found your experience (although devastating for you) an invaluable and salutary lesson, Darren. Thanks for passing this on and I hope sincerely that nothing like it ever happens to you again. Best wishes for more great footage and the rest of the festive season. 🤝👍
It's bound to happen again, it's just part of being an aerial photographer. Every flight is one closer to the last for whatever piece of equipment that you're using.
Thank you for the detailed report on your incident. The video of your wobbling drone reminded me of a near-loss of my mini 2 last winter in the alps, where it was about minus 10° C. It quickly started to get unstable, drifting to all sides, hard to control, impossible to hand-land. So, I simply flew it straight into the snow, where I could recover it undamaged. I used it later again in warmer conditions, no problem. It seems like some of the electronics in these drones don't take cold temps well, certainly something to keep in mind. Regards
Dji cloud is a great idea
I think so too!
My mini 2 was hovering badly on Monday but was just taking photos of frosty scenery but wouldn't stay still even in virtually no wind, checked props and screws and all was fine that day, had her out today and all seems well but had been sitting in cold car whilst in work on that day even tho i had batteries with me. Glad i never flew over water and will always check stability now before flying off. Thanks Darren for this advice and honesty even tho you learnt the hard way we now don't have too.
Hi Darren so sorry to hear you lost your mini 3 pro, the one positive is that everyone reading this has learned something and hopefully won't make the same mistake.
Keep up the good work.
Sorry for your loss mate! Thank you for this great post! I feel your pain!
I am so sorry, to hear that you lost your mini pro 3.
Thanks for sharing this unfortunate happening.
Having lost one myself (my first mavic mini went down into the Eagean sea, showing -7 meters at its last effort) I know the feeling.
May you keep on shooting great videos 😊
This is the second video I have watched this week where the drone started off with a strange issue, not hovering etc and it wasn't taken seriously. Sadly a drone lost but a massive lesson learnt I guess. Thanks for sharing
It's the speed at which it went down! Initially I was thinking I'll not fly below 12m but 8m is 26ft and for it to go down that fast makes you think something failed.
On the plus side, try not to think of it as a crashed drone and more of a time capsule..... 😃
Interesting. I've been flying my Mini 3 in the same conditions over the last week and noticed that the drone was wobbling around in the sky as I was bringing it back down to land, when there wasn't any wind, even at low level. I also noticed the drone drifting to the left when flying forwards from low level to medium level. I thought that it must have been my inputs, but now seeing this video I suspect I had the same issues, and it's brought on by freezing temperatures (maybe misting of the sensors?).
Darren, sorry you lost your drone. I am new to drone flying. Recently lost mines after two weeks. Saw somewhere that before flying you should always first "calibrate or recalibrate the compass". Not sure it had anything to do with your issue, but interested to hear what you think about calibrations.
I'm very sorry about your crash, and the loss of your Mini 3 Pro. I wonder what was going with it, I guess we will never really know for sure. Thanks for sharing this experience, hopefully others can learn from it. Thanks for sharing.
Curious if you were flying outside of its rated temperature range (believe is -10 to +40° C). Asking as I just got mine a couple weeks ago and have had it up in the colder temps close to the -10 range.
If the sensors down are TOF sensors (time of flight), their measurement principle is sending out light and measure the time the reflection comes back. The time with light speed gets you the distance between the reflecting object and the sensor. In cold environments, if your drone is not fully acclimated, still warmer (and moister) from traveling in your car or being put out of a warm bag into flight, there may be fog building on the TOF optics.
This is only a theory! But if the fog is leading to a almost-zero-reflection-time, can the drone eventually cut the motors because it thought it has been grounded or landed?
Thanks for sharing to help other pilots!
Sorry for your loss. For anyone out there, running a Mini 3 Pro in sports mode regardless of what you are flying over. I believe due to the angled rear props, the Mini 3 pro will loose altitude while flying so something to watch in all sports mode flying situations. In addition re-calibration could be a great alternative to see if this fixes the anomalies
can confirm, tested with my own
I feel ya brother. They definately hold a special part in you for being with you on some of your most epic journeys. I have no idea why this happened but this past Wednesday I had the mini 3 pro up doing a hyperlapse and while up there supposedly in a hover just taking photos of a large intersection I notice that it moving all over the place. Now mind you, the controller is in my lap no hands near it and no wind. Footage came out terrible and have no idea what went wrong. Also.....not a lick of wind that day but cold. Thanks for posting and helping us all learn.
Really appreciate these kind of videos. Can learn more from failures than from general how to instructions. I've been flying the Mini 2 and just ordered the Mini 3 Pro with the RC controller. Definitely going to be using the screen record function. I carry multiple SD cards, mostly because I invariably leave the latest used one in my computer. I'm trying to be consistent in copying the files to a portable harddrive after flying sessions.
Thank you for your videos! Especially the first night flight of your dji mini 3 pro.
Glad you like them!👌
So, to begin with: Thank you, Darren, for sharing the chain of events and the unfortunate outcome. I think anyone flying a drone for enough time and locations, treats it like kind of a partner, and so the sadness is well understood.
Having living in a place near the sea, I get to fly my M3P over water quite a lot. And I have long noticed that whenever the drone is ~10m or so above the water, its behavior could sometime be unexpected. So, I learned to ALWAYS have one eye on the altitude meter when flying it in that "death zone", and if I notice anything suspicious, I usually shoot it up and regroup. Also, when lowering altitude towards any water body, I usually have my gimbal looking straight down. I don't trust the altitude meter when over water, but I do trust my own eyes.
An expensive mistake, but a valuable lesson to all. Thanks for your sharing mate
Excellent advice! 👍
Sorry for your loss, and thank you so much for sharing your experience.
Thank you 😊
Gutted for you Darren, these things happen mate. Love your channel one of the best in the UK. Take care.
Thanks for sharing this story. I crashed my mini 3 pro on my second day flying. Yes a newbie mistake. Thankfully I had the DGI insurance. You made me feel better knowing everyone, not just newbies can have drone crashes.
Sorry Darren for losing the drone and, most of all, the footage! I saw a tip a while ago (I don't remember where) to swap out your SD card with every battery change. I have 3 SD cards now and so I have been doing that, so that if it crashes, you loose the last card and content only.
Also, I would think that a light, plastic drone would FLOAT and not SINK! That was surprising! I do have the Care Refresh and I have always had it because I just can't afford another drone any time soon if I lose mine!
Thanks for the video. It is a great reminder of what can go wrong. Memo to self: buy more spare propellers!
Thanks for the reminder. I just had the same issues a couple sessions ago. Drone drifting to the right for no reason. Gimbal behaving strangely when raising or lowering it. I inspected the drone there onsite but could see nothing wrong. Flew it again a few days later and had no glitches at all. Did you ever find out why or what happened after the fact?
Hi Darren thanks for the video and my condolences on your loss. I’d just like to say that my 3pro has been “acting up” since the last RC and drone updates. Almost like it’s drunk! Mine has a tendency to drift off course, more leftwards and backwards too if hovering. Swapped props and still it happens even indoors with no influence. Could this be a glitch in the new firmware and software? ESP as the other drone was fine. I’m not trusting mine just at the moment, even less after seeing your video.
Thanks for sharing and 100% certain you will save a good few of us from going thru the same one day.I will remember this video whenever my drones play up like that and not going near water if they do .Cheers and sorry for your loss
Sorry to hear that Darren… never a good feeling when you crash a Drone, let alone lose it altogether. Thanks for sharing tho’👍
Thanks for sharing your story Darren, really gutted for you.
Good lesson. I will always remember now.
Can you please tell which one should I go for(Mini3 pro or mavic air 2)?
Thank you for taking the time to post this tip. I have a mini 3 coming in soon and I will be watching for this. As far as the lost SD card, I have a notepad file on my drones SD card titled "please read me" and it has my cell number and a friendly note asking to call... just in case some good person finds it at some point.
I am sorry for the loss of your M3P and fully understand the sentimental attachment to drones and many other material objects. Your warning is a good one and be certain in knowing that I have learned from your experience. Cheers from Wisconsin, Darren.
Oh, so sorry to see this! I love flying over water and usually do it over the river. Flying low usually gives the best footage, but I get nervous when the drone is more than a 300 m or so away and usually take it up at That point. Too bad you can't retrieve it. Thanks for sharing and reminding us how easily this can happen.
I'm only just recovering from my first and only drone loss - and that was about 10 years ago. It was a sobering experience watching a couple of hundred quid disappear on a fly-away. I abandoned quads and stuck to RC aeroplanes.
Now that tech has advanced to a quite frankly insane level, I'm about to pull the trigger on a Mini 3 Pro. I don't think I'll ever not be nervous when flying, god knows, I've taken plenty of aircraft home in black plastic bin bags. I think it's the outright cost of a total loss that scares me the most.
Thanks for the vid!
Thanks for the info
That Mini 3 Pro of yours and the videos you got from it are what got me started into flying drones. I got a Mini 3 Pro and the fly more kit plus, all because of the stunning videos you created with your Mini 3 Pro. This is sad news indeed.
Gutted for you. My mini pro 3 took a nose dive when doing a hand take off, I managed to click a few bits of plastic back in place and the gimbal seems fine but I must admit I’ve lost confidence in the drone. It’s not as smooth when hovering now. I can’t understand why it nosedived as I’ve always done hand take offs and was shocked when it lifted out of my hand dropped 4 ft to the floor. I have DJI care , do you think I should send it back to get it checked out. ?
Thanks for the video, sorry for your loss! I fly over water all the time! I've definitely seen it get confused by the height, even when it's just flying straight. I try to keep it 10-15 feet above the water at all times, but do occasionally go lower. So it's a scary thing to know that it might just nosedive on it's own if it's confused..
Nên luôn bay cao tối thiểu 25-30m thì sẽ an toàn tuyệt đối !
@@sonphamngoc1366 tôi đồng ý! nhưng đôi khi thật vui khi bay thấp!
I know the feeling brother as I had my first fly away of my Mavic 3 mid December of last year. I am a certified pilot and take great safety precautions when flying. I watched as the drone literally fell out of the sky and wasn’t able to retrieve it. Fortunately I did have DJI Care refresh to cover the fly away, but at the end of the day, I actually cried real tears 😢
Did you ever figure out what caused the flyway? What were the circumstances around the event? Flying low? Over water?
Sorry to hear this, but great video on recovering the flight and joystick logs. I know your pain though, as far as loosing the SD card with the excellent footage.. I filmed a complete Montana mountain UTV trail ride, and lost the GoPro unit later that day in a river! That was once in a lifetime (for me anyway) footage of that Montana mountain ride! But hey, we live and learn every day. Thank you, Cheers.
Sad news, thoroughly agree about the attachment we have to our kit. Thanks for sharing your story.
Bummer man thanks for the video for us to learn from
Sorry to hear about this story of yours. I was flying my mini 3 pro on Monday morning after the heavy snow in london and I noticed that I had tiny ice crystals on the propellers. Do you think that could have happened to yours? Maybe ice buildup in the motors. I managed to get my lens fogging up which is a problem I have not seen many people have. DJI are gonna replace my drone which I think is great of them.
Hey man.. so I just bought the mini 3 Pro and it’s my first drone. Excuse my ignorance, but I see they sell floating landing gears (pool noodles lol). I don’t seem to see people really using them much on UA-cam anyway. Would that have saved your drone? What’s your take on those (especially for a beginning flying over water)?
So sorry to hear
a few weeks ago I crashed my mini 3 pro, and broke its gimbal
I hope you can make a good recovery, and continue with your amazing content
one question, do you plan to get a new mini 3 pro, or not? Thank you!
Sad to hear your bad news today buddy. Funnily enough I had my mini 3 pro out today and something very similar was happening. I had the the same problem landing it as you did however as this was only my second flight so I didnt know till you told me that it cant see reflective surfaces. I was in Cine mode all morning but I also had the drifting problem. I was on the coast so there was some wind but it wouldnt fly forward or back without drifting to the left. My DJI supplier is only 10miles away and Its only 1 week old do you think I should return it for inspection? Unfortunately as a complete beginner I wouldnt know what to look for in an investigation. So sorry to hear of your loss Jon
Interesting, mine was acting like this a few days ago out in the cold! Wouldn't land even into my hand just like you said!
Are the sensors lazer based and they're being effected by the cold? 🤷🏻♂️
hi darren. feel your pain and completely get where your coming from. my mavic 2 pro dropped out the sky after 3 years of faultless flying. bulging battery issue. I was gutted but I managed to get it fixed and I'm keeping it around like an old friend that's been on many adventures with me. it did worry me tho. at that point I had complete confidence in dii products and I was a bit gutted dji didn't put something out there to tell you about the battery bulging issue. it has made me more careful with my mavic 3 tho and I have just got the mavic mini 3 pro and when I was flying it in my garden it wasn't staying still at all it was drifting all over the place and loosing altitude. it dont just sit in the exact place like the mavic 2 and 3. there was no wind so at that point I was like I won't be doing any camera setting changes while its hovering because I dont think it sits where u want it to sit.
Sorry to hear/see about the loss but I've learnt a lot so thank you for posting the vid.
I appreciate that
I just got as drone, haven't flown it yet, so maybe there is something I missed, but if you lost the drone in the lake,
how did you get the footage of the lake which you were recording at the time, and how did you get the recording of the crash if you lost the memory card?
Mr. Darren... I feel so sorry about the lost of your Mini 3 Pro. I was so shocked when first time I saw this video. I learnt a lot from you to be how to fly this drone amd got many skills from you from your videos. Greets from BALI INDONESIA.!
cant you use flight data (cant remember the app ive got) to shed more light on it??
Sorry to hear this Darren! I purchased mine after all the great testing you did with yours! Bummer on the no care refresh… As always, learning from your experiences! All the best.
I had the same! When you made a video about the big update last week. I did the update and make a test flight to check the update and crashed also. Lucky it was in the grass. I looked ad 2 days ago and there was a new firmware. On the moment the drone is back stabile.
Ohhh mate!
Thanks for the advice.
Thank you for posting this. I have just ordered the mini 3 pro. I have lost just about every drone I’ve owned since the Phantom 3. I like flying close also. I love my DJI FPV for that. Great content.
So sorry to hear you crushed the Mini 3 Pro. Thanks for sharing your experience!
When you do all of this traveling with the drone, do you regularly do an IMU Calibration?
i can't wait go get some new footage since i just downloaded your luts pack for the mavic 3. They look SUPER nice man!
Ah awesome thank you 😊
I’ve got an Air2 which I use on canoe/kayak trips and have found out you need to be higher than normal to get a stable hover after take off. If I tap the lift of button ( hand launch) and take my eyes off it to sort out some piece of kit in the kayak, it will slowly descend towards the water. I now take off and give it a few extra meters and it’s quite happy to sit there whilst I square away the kayak. I would always be wary of flying in low temperatures, it can really suck the life out of those batteries.
I didnt see a mention or screenshot, but do you use UAV Forecast before flights? Every flight I check it. If winds are above 19MPH, I don't fly at all. If it's above 15MPH, there's a very high chance I don't fly. If it's 9-14 I keep an eye on it and if gusts are moving it enough, I stop flying. The only time I've had a Mini get moved like yours, was 21 mph winds and then when above a roof (so lots of updraft/crosswinds).
I also just had an issue when I was near very high power electrical lines. I learned 3-4 days ago to expect power lines to cause interference with the command link (Air 2 to the DJI controller), and GPS (I normally have 16 satellites, and lock fast... interference dropped me below 9 sats and took long time to lock). I hiked to the top of a hill, which had power lines, but I launched about 200 feet to the side to make sure a RTH didn't have it come back, and then descend into power lines. Despite this, and then flying straight away (at 20' AGL) I still had a lot of interference. Wont ever do this again. If you watch my last video (posted 24 Dec) you'll see the hill. I don't want to spam your channel so I won't post a link unless you say it's ok.
I did almost exactly the same thing with my brand new (on second flight) Magic 3 Classic, about a week and a half ago. Only significant difference is that it didn’t show any odd behavior prior to the incident. I got some interference a second or so before, so I never saw the crash on screen. It just went black and said that the connection was lost. As I couldn’t see it and had started to raise the drone just before the crash, I kept hoping that it would just return home, but nothing happened. 😔
I’m sorry for your loss, Darren. I know how you feel…
Valuable lesson learned.
I feel your Pain... I lost a Phantom 3 Pro in the River Wyre a few years back.
Hi. i have dji mini 3 and i have missing some menu like quikshots and panorama... tried everything and cant find away to get it on my rc.. any advice? Thank u
Gracias por compartir tu experience m servira para tener cuidado con mi dji mini 3 pro.saludos
That blows but being a new drone user this was very helpful. Def will look into the DJI Care Refresh. Thanks for documenting this.
I’ve had roughly 10 drones in my life. I learned early on that the drone will let you know if something is wrong. You hit the nail on the head when you said you took off and it was moving erratically and you thought something may be wrong. If it doesn’t rise up and sit rocksolid in the air, land it , turn it off, and clean the sensors. Turn it back on and try it again. Sorry to hear about your drone. Don’t feel bad, it happens to all of us. I’ve had roughly 4 crashes. We learned from all of them.
Thank you, so sorry!! Your video taught me tons!!
Glad it helped!
Sorry for your loss but thanks for owning up to it. Lots of good stuff has come from you having a mini 3 pro, not least that I bought one.
Might it have needed re calibrating? I flew my Mini 3 Pro the other day in -7°C, the first flight the gimbal was all over the place, with warning messages; I RTH’d it and swapped out the battery, but before I took off it prompted me to recalibrate the gimbal, next flight was perfectly normal. Something similar may have occurred, but with the flight management rather than the gimbal? Sounds unusual that it wouldn’t stabilise too well, especially where we can see from your footage over the water that it was essentially in calm conditions, ie not that windy?
can you make a DJI claim for this given that you have the logs? or are you needing to recover the drone back?
Oh no!!!! Sorry for the loss and thanks for coming on here and telling us.
Thanks for sharing
Dumb question but...
I wonder if these are light enough to float for a while in calm water?
If so, maybe the SD could have been retrieved and the hit on the DJI care wouldn't be so bad....
If you had the DJI care refresh. Just say'n.
Thank you👍
Sorry for this happens
I encounter drifting at times with the Mini3 Pro due to satellites number under 13 ; lately the temperature dropped and I did not felt always a good response flying ; I use UAV forecast
and below zero it says No good to fly . Could it be a issue with low temperature ?
dumb question, with the dji refresh... what would that have covered if you tanked the drone like that? a pro-rated replacement price, or what?
Sorry for your loss...but thank you for sharing!
I appreciate that
Question: In case the drone is insured and you crash it in the ocean and you cant recover it will dji care refresh give you a new one?
I had the exact same thing just happen to me this week with my mini 2. Glad I had GeekSquad protection. Looking to get Mini 3 pro now!
My Mini 3 Pro was doing that same stuff yesterday. Drifting and not hovering in place. It was moving out about 10 feet with hovering. I thought it was odd. I luckily got mine back. Wonder if something was up with DJI software yesterday. Note yesterday was the first time I flown this week
Happens to the best of us, bro. Live and learn.
So sorry to hear about your loss, it sucks man 😥 Do you have data of the temperature you were flying at? It looks cold... Big difference I noticed with the DJI Mini 2 vs 3 is the minimum operation temperature in the manual of 0c for mini 2 vs 10c for the mini 3. Could explain weird sensor behaviour / readings?
Hi darren... The same happened to me wt my mavic 2 pro in sport mode extrem low alt flyn in the sea luckly i realized it before hit the water.. In sport mode all the sensor and alt hold was not functional proper, so i never use sport mode anymore when flying extrem low alt....