3 Final Flight of my DJI FPV Drone

[Paleomanjim]

Searching for a lost drone that has disconnected in flight is much different than searching for one that has crashed. This video shows the final flight along with my efforts to locate the drone. There are a lot of ways to go about finding it, but using the data in the DJI Fly app along with the flight video from the goggles can build a picture of what actually caused the disconnect, what was the altitude, speed (both up and down), the direction and improve the odds of finding it.

 

[mavic3usa]

Thanks for sharing the video, I also fly both the Avata 1 and FPV 1 drones and have all 3 goggles and I don't have those issues including the errors and low battery warnings. You said the V2 screen went blank and you were able to land the Avata, isn't it supposed to return to home? Your FPV disconnected and it also didn't RTH, is there a reason why none of your drones will RTH when there is a problem? I don't generally fly that far out but I sometimes get blocked or start to lose signal and would like to know if there is a problem since flying in the city you're going to lose the drone for sure if it doesn't come back.

 

[Paleomanjim]

Thanks for sharing the video, I also fly both the Avata 1 and FPV 1 drones and have all 3 goggles and I don't have those issues including the errors and low battery warnings. You said the V2 screen went blank and you were able to land the Avata, isn't it supposed to return to home? Your FPV disconnected and it also didn't RTH, is there a reason why none of your drones will RTH when there is a problem? I don't generally fly that far out but I sometimes get blocked or start to lose signal and would like to know if there is a problem since flying in the city you're going to lose the drone for sure if it doesn't come back.

Low battery warnings are common with DJI drones below around 60%, even when the drone is nearby. It is apparently just a warning to let the pilot know the status of the battery and can usually be ignored unless the battery level is truely low. RTH normally will return the drone to home, but there are exceptions and it is not full proof as many others have experienced. In my flight the drone was inverted at 80' AGL traveling down in excess of 30mph at the moment of disconnect. The drone needs to first stabilize itself and return to level flight before rising straight up to whatever the pilot as inputed as the RTH altitude (hopefully higher than surrounding obstacles). I suspect that in my flight the drone did not have time to level out before crashing. With the Avata I could see the drone when the goggles failed so why use RTH? I've had dozens of disconnects over the years and only twice has it failed to RTH. Normally when RTH kicks in the drone rises above the LOS and the view returns to the goggles at which point I always cancel RTH and continue my flight. I'm not blaming the drone or DJI, there are limits to what RTH can do. The point of this video was to give folks a full picture of what tools they can use to conduct the search.

 

[sarahb]

I enjoyed your video

 

[GFields]

Awesome video! Love the area. Sorry about your lose. Hope you're able to recover it.

 

[singram]

Low battery warnings are common with DJI drones below around 60%, even when the drone is nearby. It is apparently just a warning to let the pilot know the status of the battery and can usually be ignored unless the battery level is truely low. RTH normally will return the drone to home, but there are exceptions and it is not full proof as many others have experienced. In my flight the drone was inverted at 80' AGL traveling down in excess of 30mph at the moment of disconnect. The drone needs to first stabilize itself and return to level flight before rising straight up to whatever the pilot as inputed as the RTH altitude (hopefully higher than surrounding obstacles). I suspect that in my flight the drone did not have time to level out before crashing. With the Avata I could see the drone when the goggles failed so why use RTH? I've had dozens of disconnects over the years and only twice has it failed to RTH. Normally when RTH kicks in the drone rises above the LOS and the view returns to the goggles at which point I always cancel RTH and continue my flight. I'm not blaming the drone or DJI, there are limits to what RTH can do. The point of this video was to give folks a full picture of what tools they can use to conduct the search.

Hmm, with all my DJI drones past and present the low battery warning activates at 20% on the nose. Yours activates at around 60%? So then I assume this is adjustable?

 

[mavic3usa]

Low battery warnings are common with DJI drones below around 60%, even when the drone is nearby. It is apparently just a warning to let the pilot know the status of the battery and can usually be ignored unless the battery level is truely low. RTH normally will return the drone to home, but there are exceptions and it is not full proof as many others have experienced. In my flight the drone was inverted at 80' AGL traveling down in excess of 30mph at the moment of disconnect. The drone needs to first stabilize itself and return to level flight before rising straight up to whatever the pilot as inputed as the RTH altitude (hopefully higher than surrounding obstacles). I suspect that in my flight the drone did not have time to level out before crashing. With the Avata I could see the drone when the goggles failed so why use RTH? I've had dozens of disconnects over the years and only twice has it failed to RTH. Normally when RTH kicks in the drone rises above the LOS and the view returns to the goggles at which point I always cancel RTH and continue my flight. I'm not blaming the drone or DJI, there are limits to what RTH can do. The point of this video was to give folks a full picture of what tools they can use to conduct the search.

Cool; looks like an awesome place to fly!

 

[Paleomanjim]

I enjoyed your video

Thanks for watching

Awesome video! Love the area. Sorry about your lose. Hope you're able to recover it.

Thanks. The campground is 700 miles from home so the search is over. I doubt anyone will ever discover it because there are no trails up there and it is a very steep climb (especially for a 75 old!)

Hmm, with all my DJI drones past and present the low battery warning activates at 20% on the nose. Yours activates at around 60%? So then I assume this is adjustable?

Yeah, I think DJI must have an algorithm that sets the low battery alarm depending on mode, speed, distance from home and battery%. When flying in M mode it seems to alarm much more. M mode can really suck the battery down fast

Cool; looks like an awesome place to fly!

Thanks, yeah one of the best landscapes I have flown in yet, more to come