Stuck above the clouds/fog

[Micah Smith]

We had some dense fog today, and I took the Spark up around 200ft. At this point, I was completely in the clouds/fog. I went on up to about 425ft to see if I could come out of the clouds. I started to descend and the drone thought the clouds were the ground, so my altitude reading said between 0.7-1ft. Needless to say the drone thought it was “landing” on the clouds, thus descending at a super slow rate, 0.6mph to be exact. My battery eventually died completely before i got out of the clouds, so somewhere between 200 & 425ft. I watched the drone crash to the ground in my neighbors backyard. I called them and they said I could look in their backyard. I found it, nose buried into the ground. I picked it up, stuck another battery in it, and surprisingly it took off! Everything worked perfectly! Then I noticed the gimbal was having trouble. The rotation axis was working, but the up/down axis was stuck. My motor was completely burned out. Called DJI, used my Care Refresh, and a new unit is on its way. Do y’all have any suggestions on what I should do next time, besides not flying into a cloud lol?

 

[John Dwyer]

Did the RTH button not work?
Thank goodness for the care refresh, I must admit I thinking of getting that myself.

 

[Micah Smith]

It was trying to return to home, it just thought it was already “on the ground”. The drone thought the fog was the ground. If that makes sense

 

[PascalG]

What if you turned off collision avoidance?

 

[RoccoT312]

Yeah I would have turned off the sensors especially the bottom sensors

 

[Micah Smith]

Pascal & Rocco-the obstacle avoidance is disabled automatically while landing, but it only disables the front sensors. There is no option anywhere to disable the bottom sensors-I googled it while it was coming down lol. Def would have disabled the sensors if I could have.

 

[RoccoT312]

Just out of curiosity how far did the Drone fall out of the sky did you have visual sight of it or because of the fog and clouds you couldn't see it

 

[RoccoT312]

still works God bless

 

[actionjack]

Does Sport mode disable bottom sensors?

 

[Owlpic]

Put your hand under Spark's bottom, when it is NOT in Gesture mode. Spark will rise to keep the distance constant for what it thinks is now ground.
You can then understand what happened with the cloud, and I consider it a software bug. I believe you should report to DJI. This could happen with ground fog.

 

[NUFan]

Good thing it didn't kill a kid playing in the back yard and end up another negative drone news story making us all Look bad.

 

[Sparkbart]

Not being a wise-guy, but I think you learned your lesson, don't fly into the clouds. The other thing is to keep your Spark in VLOS and fly in good weather. These things were made to fly in good conditions with moderate winds. As someone else pointed out luckily it didn't crash on anybody or do any property damage...

 

[Micah Smith]

Since y’all want to bash me instead of helping me, I’m closing the thread.

*edit: i didn't mean everyone. thank y'all for your helpful answers. i meant i know not to fly above the fog again, i just wanted to share my experience.

 

[KSBV]

I don't see any of this as bashing you. The lesson is to don't fly (quoting the manual) in severe weather conditions. This includes winds exceding 10m/s, snow, rain and fog. You should not have flown in fog and you did get lucky.

You asked for advice and our response is simply RTFM.

 

[Micah Smith]

Yeah, thank you for all the responses. I know now not to fly into fog. I was actually asking what I should do if I find my self in a situation similar, and just sharing my experience. Thank y'all again for your responses.

 

[Nikon1]

Since y’all want to bash me instead of helping me, I’m closing the thread.

I would agree with @KSBV - there's no bashing just advice, which is what you asked for.

When Pilots on this forum and the Mavic forum bash people, it's usually for a good reason.

My personal advice - take it or leave it - is if you ask for advice and you get it, unless it's really mean spirited (and there's not much of that around - the Mods and Admins keep a good and observant eye) it's just people trying to help.

I'd say you were very lucky that no one / no property was damaged and DJI is replacing your Spark. Your sharing your misfortune is a lesson for everyone reading this thread. Thank you for posting it up!

Good and Safe Flying.

 

[Nikon1]

OK - Maybe I was wrong: there can be some mean spirited comments.

I give you : Beware of .900

 

[Micah Smith]

I would agree with @KSBV - there's no bashing just advice, which is what you asked for.

When Pilots on this forum and the Mavic forum bash people, it's usually for a good reason.

My personal advice - take it or leave it - is if you ask for advice and you get it, unless it's really mean spirited (and there's not much of that around - the Mods and Admins keep a good and observant eye) it's just people trying to help.

I'd say you were very lucky that no one / no property was damaged and DJI is replacing your Spark. Your sharing your misfortune is a lesson for everyone reading this thread. Thank you for posting it up!

Good and Safe Flying.

thank you for your advice! y'all all are awesome!

 

[KNAVE]

OK - Maybe I was wrong: there can be some mean spirited comments.

I give you : Beware of .900

Just read through this. LOL

 

[LuvMyTJ]

Well I think a lesson was learned here. But do take care in the future. These are "toys" but they could also cause some serious damage. Be safe and fly safe.