Drone Lost Comm & Crash CYA?

[jjckflsh]

Hi,
I am trying to develop a lost comm and crash checklist. Sounds silly but in viewing all the events that have happen it seems a probable occurrence. It would be nice to have a group effort on this with experienced based answers.
1.) Who should I contact in the event of a flyaway to minimize any legal recourse for damages or other problems as a result of the flyaway. Obviously a good lawyer and my insurance agent is a start but, should I contact FAA, Local police or fire, Surrounding airports? Also considering not making things worse for myself.
2.) What sequence of procedures should be used when it becomes apparent that the sUAS is not responding. Like try pressing pause. Then trying to Climb the sUAS to a higher altitude to get better LOS. Then trying to trying to move to an area that has better signal transmission. Then RTH.?
3.) Being organized for a lost drone could help expedite recovery. What steps to be taken for a drone down? Take screenshot of flight telemetry performance then blow up google map then take screenshot? The steps to submit drone log with dji support info.

What are your thoughts?

Jack

 

[Meta4]

I am trying to develop a lost comm and crash checklist. Sounds silly but in viewing all the events that have happen it seems a probable occurrence.

It's not something that's likely to happen.
Most flights are boringly safe and predictable.
You can reduce the slim chance of an unfortunate incident by becoming familiar with all aspects of your drone's operation.

1.) Who should I contact in the event of a flyaway to minimize any legal recourse for damages or other problems as a result of the flyaway. Obviously a good lawyer and my insurance agent is a start but, should I contact FAA, Local police or fire, Surrounding airports? Also considering not making things worse for myself.

Probably no-one.
Are you flying somewhere that a lost drone would cause trouble for someone?

ps. Drones don't "flyaway" . There is always a cause for lost drone incidents.

2.) What sequence of procedures should be used when it becomes apparent that the sUAS is not responding. Like try pressing pause. Then trying to Climb the sUAS to a higher altitude to get better LOS. Then trying to trying to move to an area that has better signal transmission. Then RTH.?

If your drone is not responding, there's not much you can do other than switch off the controller to initiate Failsafe RTH.
It sounds like you are confused though as you ask about things that would require your drone to respond to control inputs.
You are unlikely to run into a situation where your drone is not responding.

3.) Being organized for a lost drone could help expedite recovery. What steps to be taken for a drone down? Take screenshot of flight telemetry performance then blow up google map then take screenshot? The steps to submit drone log with dji support info.

None of the above.
The best thing to do would be to investigate your recorded flight data.
If you need help, come here and post the flight data and there are folks that can investigate the incident, probably find the cause to help you prevent a similar event and point you to a likely search area.

Here's the process:
Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
That will give you a detailed report of the flight.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives.

 

[SkyDogII]

Loss of communication just happened to me resulting in a crash into water. It’s totally my fault. I shouldn’t have been doing what I was doing.

So it does happen and there is nothing you can do but hold on tight.

I was flying my M2Z over a river channel. I decided to fly under a steel bridge about 15 ft off the deck and about 25 feet below the bottom of the bridge. Drone lost communication with the controller half way under the bridge. It did an auto return to home. It tried to climb, saw the bridge and decided to descend. It did right into the water. It floated down the river, less than a 1/4 mile. I had to run downstream to find the access to the channelized river.

I was shooting video the entire time but the last section was corrupt. The flight data didn’t show any loss of communication. I still had 9 satellites when I was going down. But it did show auto return to home and tried to avoid the overhead obstacle, the bridge. The drone did everything right.

so to end. Now I always use iPhone screen recorder for all my flights, even if I don’t shoot video, I still have a record that won’t die in a water crash due to a corrupt video file.

 

[GFields]

Meta4 is dead on.

Good luck

 

[Mossiback]

The main reason for a lost Mavic is pilot error. Launching without GPS lock (which prevents setting the homepoint), improper RTH settings, flying out of VLOS, ignoring low battery, high wind, and other warnings, misjudging wind speed and direction aloft, starting without a fully charged battery, panic, etc., all contribute to a drone loss that is then wrongly claimed as a flyaway.

If you truly lose communication and you have RTH set to return, it should at least try to come back to your home point. If communication was lost due to distance or obstruction then it should reestablish communication as it ascends or gets closer. While waiting you could try restarting the RC since doing so would cause no harm and may fix a RC error. Once communication and control are resumed you should cancel RTH and fly back manually. This allows you to change altitude if needed to find more favorable winds and scout retrieval sights if it is not going to make it back.

To help retrieve a lost drone you should have your phone number on it. You could also affix some reflective tape or other bright wrap to make it more visible in the trees or brush. Some get a tracking device like Marco Polo to help find it.

If you follow a pre-flight checklist and develop safe and proper flying habits you will not need to worry so much about a loss procedure.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I am almost sure the few times I’ve ventured too low, behind too many trees etc, when signal is getting weak, a warning for that comes up ?

Also, the is a connection signal ‘fuel gauge’ on most controller dashboards that shows connection strength.
Another thing to glance at now and then if going far or low as you proceed with a flight. .

 

[Meta4]

The main reason for a lost Mavic is pilot error. Launching without GPS lock (which prevents setting the homepoint)

Launching prematurely doesn't prevent recording a homepoint.
The drone will record a homepoint when it gets a good GPS location fix.
Launch prematurely and it will record a homepoint somewhere away from the launch spot.

 

[Mossiback]

I could have been more clear, but launching without GPS will prevent it from setting a homepoint. It will/should once it gains GPS but may not be where the user intends.

 

[Gryphon962]

If your drone is not responding, there's not much you can do other than switch off the controller to initiate Failsafe RTH.

Hmm... before you turn off the controller its always a good idea to try switching to Sport mode, which is known to cancel all 'Intelligent Flight Modes' and might restore control.

I recently had the chance to try all this out when my MP1 decided to just stop in the hover about 50 feet away, refuse to move, and the app was showing 'Signal Lost'. Switching to Sport mode regained control. Now, its true that turning the RC off will force the drone to execute the smart RTH, but not everyone has that turned on, and even when they do, sometimes the RTH altitude isnt high enough for that specific location.

So the lowest risk means of recovery is to try Sport mode first, then RC recycle.

 

[Meta4]

Now, its true that turning the RC off will force the drone to execute the smart RTH, but not everyone has that turned on, and even when they do, sometimes the RTH altitude isnt high enough for that specific location.

Switching off the controller would initiate Failsafe RTH which is the default Loss of Signal action.
Almost noone changes that.

 

[Gryphon962]

Switching off the controller would initiate Failsafe RTH which is the default Loss of Signal action.
Almost noone changes that.

I do if I'm flying indoors.... if you do that, you turn off all the RTH modes.