It finally happened… my drone took a swim

After 4 years with my Mavic Pro 2 Enterprise, it finally met its end. I was flying in some pretty heavy rain, testing things out. The drone held up fine for about 20 minutes, so I kept going. Unfortunately, the RC controller didn’t fare as well. Even though I tried to protect it, water still got in.

During the flight, the Return to Home (RTH) alerts started. The drone turned on its own to come back, even though I had just swapped in a fresh battery with plenty of time left. I couldn’t control it, and then mid-RTH, the RC shut down completely. I watched helplessly as the drone descended, but it was off by 8 meters from the takeoff point and hovered right above the water. It was just out of reach.

After hovering for a bit, it ran out of battery and sank into the water. I managed to recover it the next morning at low tide, but it’s done for, and so is the controller. It’s frustrating because it was a technical problem, not something I could’ve controlled. It was the company’s drone, so at least I’m not paying for it out of pocket, but it’s still a rough loss after all these years.

Whether it’s a technical issue or operator error could be debated. You were flying in the rain after all. Do you think it was the water that finally did it in?

Fane said:
Whether it’s a technical issue or operator error could be debated. You were flying in the rain after all. Do you think it was the water that finally did it in?

I agree, ‘heavy rain’ is never a good idea with a DJI drone. They aren’t waterproof unless you modify them yourself. Same goes for the controller.

Fane said:
Whether it’s a technical issue or operator error could be debated. You were flying in the rain after all. Do you think it was the water that finally did it in?

It sounds like the controller failed first, not the drone itself.

@Marcell
Exactly, it was the controller. Funny how some folks are downvoting me just for explaining what happened.

Corey said:
@Marcell
Exactly, it was the controller. Funny how some folks are downvoting me just for explaining what happened.

To be fair, the drone’s RTH coordinates were way off. Assuming you let it get a good GPS fix before takeoff, that’s not entirely on you. Sorry about the drone, I’ve been there too.

If you fly drones long enough, something like this is bound to happen eventually. In our squad, we’ve lost 8 out of 18 drones. The first loss hits hard, but there will always be more. You just have to let it go.

@Zeke
Is that a Top Gun reference, or am I reading too much into it?

@Zeke
I definitely caught that reference.

@Zeke
:joy::joy::joy:

@Zeke
We’re not here to sugarcoat things.

Avery said:
@Zeke
We’re not here to sugarcoat things.

A good pilot learns from what happens and pushes forward. It’s what we do up there.

Honestly, this sounds like operator error because you decided to keep flying in heavy rain. When the weather turns bad, it’s time to return home. Plus, taking off from a pier isn’t ideal, since the landing zone is so small that any GPS error could be a big problem.

Make sure to let the drone get a good GPS lock before taking off. I always wait for 12 satellites and no warnings before I lift off, then I ascend slowly so the drone can fix its position well. Rain can also mess with GPS accuracy.

@Jai
I did rush a bit because I needed to film a convoy that was approaching. I still let the drone lock in its RTH position first. I’ve taken off from that pier many times without issues. It was just bad luck this time.

I’ve flown in rain before without problems, so I didn’t see any reason to stop this time. It was like a snowball effect of everything going wrong.

@Corey
So it was a ‘perfect storm’ then?

If that makes you feel better, go with it. But yeah, ‘technical incident’ sounds like a stretch when you flew in heavy rain.

Flying a drone in heavy rain feels like operator error to me.

Casey said:
Flying a drone in heavy rain feels like operator error to me.

I’ll call it 50/50. The RC shutting down and the drone missing the landing zone by 8 meters wasn’t entirely in my control.

@Corey
Fair enough. I’ve had some weird Return to Home bugs with my Air 2S, though never 8 meters off. Are you going to try and contact DJI? It’d be interesting to hear what they say about the landing issue.

@Casey
Not sure how to get the flight logs now that the drone is dead and the RC won’t power on. I’ve still got the SD card, though. I’m not even sure if it’s worth trying to salvage a 4-year-old drone.