Mavic Mini fly-away case investigated...

The INVESTIGATION results arrived…and are deeply underwhelming

Yes, the results of my Mavic Mini fly-away case investigation have finally reached me, unlike that Mini which didn't want to stay with me at all...

Here's an extract from the mail I received:

For your case CAS-XXXXXX0-TXXXX6, we have finished the data analysis, and the result is as follows:

1. The aircraft worked under GPS mode and it responded to the pilot's commands well;
2. Flight Time T=07:21, Relative Height H=33 m, Distance to Home Point D=321.1 m, the pilot pulled back the pitch stick and the flight record ended when the aircraft was flying backward at a speed of 3.1 m/s;
3. Take-off point: 4X.5666842 1X.5343523; The last recorded point: 4X.5651199 1X.5310026.

The record ended without any sign of abnormality, so we could not verify what happened afterward.

To their credit they did offer something to compensate me, a 30% discount for another Mavic Mini. No options to get any other model but a Mini without the remote and the accessories, which makes me think, if you take the remote alone from a Mavic Mini package I reckon you can certainly say it's easily a 30% off the the product value... so practically they're offering me to pay for the whole thing, just sparing me the hassle of re-selling the brand new remote that every Mini ships with.

Not happy at all... not having been able to retrieve the drone for later analysis (and claim) clearly has had an impact on the investigation. I am glad though that unlike many others they did not make any unsubstantial claim like wind, weather, battery, antennas, you were wearing a green jacket... and I think that's the best treatment one can expect from a big Corp. not receiving any evidence of what happened thereafter.

At this point I think I have to agree with them and pay to get another Mini... after all I very much liked it. It's just that I'll also buy their glass bell and put under it because as much as I like it I'll never be able to fly that thing with ease and confindence again, not for now, not so early.

Update - Considerations

As one forum user was suggesting there are other causes that add up to the first loss of communication. I consider myself a likely victim of software glitch, be it for the betrayer signal strength indicator that stayed full, the no prior warnings of degraded quality link or the missed RTH.

As he was enumerating in the forum post I'll borrow the list of possible causes for the failed RTH:

• Wind too strong for RTH
• Battery level too low
• Obstacles on the RTH path
• Drifting without GPS
• Sudden loss of power
• Birdstrike or collision
• RTH cancelled

I think it's pretty much comprehensive and the more I go through this list the more and more I can rule out pretty much everything except... the bird strike, which I think it's not very much likely and not an explanation for not finding the drone in the return path.

Whatever the case I think it's time to move on, learn a notable lesson and get another Mini, after all I am still craving to get my hands over another one, it's just that this time I'll be a way lot more cautious.