20 tips for pilot DJI Mavic Mini to protect your drone from crash and loss

Adequate price for a professional-quality flying camera, compact size, simple operation and a long battery life have made the Minik a “people's" drone for photographers, travelers and enthusiasts.

But this quadrocopter is not for records of altitude, range and speed. It is very light, afraid of wind and darkness, loses the remote control signal even with slight interference. Therefore, be patient, keep your ambitions of the pilot - the conqueror of heights, and the desire to make cool shots of the Mavic 2 Pro or Inspire level.

In this article you will find two dozen recommendations based on my personal experience of operating the DJI Mavic Mini, which will save the novice pilot from stupid mistakes and not obvious dangerous situations.

1. Sign your drone. Stick a sticker with your WhatsApp and Email. If you lose the quadrocopter and someone else finds it, then there is a chance that they will contact you and return the loss.

2. Watch the RC cable from the smartphone to the remote control. It is small, black and therefore very easy to lose, and there are no spare parts even in the FMC kit. I did not find any original replacement cables in DJI stores. I bought an analogue with more bulky plugs on Aliexpress. In the meantime, waiting for delivery, a month and a half collective farm meter "gut" of adapters and improvised means to at least somehow fly.

3. Do not forget to turn on the air mode on your smartphone when controlling a quadrocopter. A friend’s call or SMS from a loved one can cost you a drone.

4. Be careful when flying above water below take-off level, for example from a high coast or from a ship. The drone loses its position in height, due to glare, reflections and waves, it does not see the distance to the surface and tries to land. If at the same time there is a signal loss with the remote control, then you will not reach the solid surface and drown your copter. In general, in any flight over water, the loss of a drone is only a matter of time.

5. Do not launch the drone in strong winds. Mavik Mini is very light. Therefore, it is difficult for him to deal with gusts of wind. If you fly near trees, buildings or other objects, there is a risk of dropping the drone against a wall or getting tangled in branches.

6. Plan the flight direction always against the wind, so that it is easier to return with a fair wind. One of the most common causes of loss of drones is that there is not enough power and battery charge to return to the base against the wind.

7. Do not fly in poorly lit areas without propeller protection. Reinforced concrete and household appliances block GPS, distort the radio signal and give interference to the compass. The quadcopter is guided only by photo-sensors of the surface, and in the dark it is difficult for him. Therefore, you can fly into furniture, a wall or your household.

8. When flying in the city, avoid locations with cellular repeaters (groups of directional rectangular antennas on the roofs) as they disrupt communication with the remote control already at a distance of 30 meters.

9. Think in advance of the height and trajectory of the automatic return of the drone. There should be no buildings, trees, pipes, towers and lighting masts on the way. And especially the wires.

10. If you still couldn’t return the drone to the base and it made an emergency landing or crashed outside the line of sight, then do not rush to jump into the car and go to the point on the map. With a forced landing on an empty battery, you have about 10 minutes to find your copter. If the distance to the point is less than a kilometer (it is unlikely that you will fly further on the Minicon without losing a signal), quickly go directly on foot.

11. Do not fly far in the city and do not fly behind buildings. In my experience: flew over the building - lost contact and control.

12. Return to line of sight already at 50% of the battery. With a charge of less than 20%, fly clearly next to you over a hard, flat surface.

13. Do not take off from dust, sand, snow or grass and do not land the drone on such surfaces. Contact with any foreign particles can lead to rapid wear and destruction of mechanical and electronic parts - screws, motors, battery, electronic circuit board, suspension of the stabilizer and camera.

14. Do not take off, fly, or land the drone near animals or birds. The small size and buzz of the Mavik Mini cause aggression and provoke an attack of an animal or bird on your copter. In the photo for this article is the very dog ​​from whose mouth I literally pulled out my Minik!

15. Do not fly out of the window or through the window. If the remote control signal is lost, which is not uncommon near buildings, the drone will rise to the return height and, having returned according to the take-off coordinates, will sit on the roof or fall down, hitting any structures. Also, the risk of a crash on the window frame with a GPS glitch, a gust of wind or sudden control is not excluded.

16. Watch what mode you control the drone in. I often find myself switching to sport mode and worn between houses and trees without any sensors.

17. Do not fly unprotected near people. GPS glitch, a gust of wind or a control error can result in personal injury. In general, try not to fly over people.

18. Do not use intelligent modes in the forest and in the city, where the drone can collide with any object during an overflown.

19. Do not slow down while flying through bottlenecks with a head-mounted environment - windows, pipes, under bridges, through the vehicle’s interior, under fallen trees, through power transmission towers, etc. The sensor can detect interference from below and the copter will burst sharply up.

20. Always put on the camera’s protective cover when transporting the aircraft in a case, case or pocket, so as not to slam the camera and break the gimbal suspension.

Be careful, careful and ready for anything - then the number of emergency situations will be less. Write your observations and recommendations on the operation, piloting and shooting with the Mavik Mini in the comments. Check out my photos from this quadrocopter on Instagram on the hashtag #photo_city_s_air_of.

Have a nice flight and good shots!