how to handle a disconnection midflight?

[Turn11]

minimised by using a quality cable in the bottom port, and restarting the device just before connecting

I have seen various thoughts on order of startup.

I go to where I am going to fly, cable (MFI certified) my RC to the Apple iPad Air 2, put a battery in the AC & put the propellers on.

What is the proper order to turn on and start up everything?

 

[dbyantis]

Assuming it is within line of sight, which is what I did yesterday, or assuming it's out of LOS, and you only flew it in one direction in a straight line, and the wind is minimal that it has not drifted to the side. I'm talking when the mavic is out of los, I don't imagine how you would navigate it back manually without having a FPV, so RTH would be much first choice, while I reboot and try to reestablish FPV. My RTH is set to 30 meters (98 feet), that's taller than anything in the area where I'm learning how to fly. I'll try searching for those threads you mentioned, there's probably something I don't know about manually navigating back to LOS.

You can use the telemetry data on the controller that shows distance and altitude. You try to move the AC "forward" and "back" while watching the distance, if the distance closes, then grows, you know you are oriented toward the controller(you), if the distances do not get closer, do some yaw, check and repeat. Eventually, you can bring it straight back to you.Poor grammar, but I hope I got the idea across.

 

[Capt Drone]

Funny story relating to this.

A friend bought a new Mavic a few weeks ago. He is a complete newbee. Was flying the Mavic on his ranch with his 6 year old grandson at the controls quite a distance away when the Ipad went blank. Of course they thought they had lost it not realizing it would fly just fine without the app. They freaked out and jumped on their ATV to try and find the smoking remains. After driving about half a mile with the grandson in tears, he looks up and yells "stop, there it is!" I guess it was just a tiny dot against the sky but clearly moving. They chased it all the way back to their home and were amazed when it landed itself on the exact same spot that it had last departed. Apparently when the Ipad went blank they had sight of it but got confused and flew it away. They also had the RTH altitude set to maximum so guess when the battery got to the low level it automatically climbed to maximum altitude close to 1600 feet I guess and returned to home exactly as it was supposed to.

So just remember not to freak out if your pad or phone goes out. Probably just press RTH on you controller is your best course of action or simply do nothing at all. It should come back to your takeoff point?

 

[FuzLogix]

I am a newbie and I know how to change the settings, presently I have the setting to RTH. What are some of the circumstances that would cause you to use one of the other options

Hover would be a good option if you planned on flying under a bridge, you wouldn't want it losing connection under a bridge and flying up to RTH.

Dynamic RTH would be useful if you were launching from a moving platform such as a boat.

 

[Turn11]

Hover would be a good option if you planned on flying under a bridge, you wouldn't want it losing connection under a bridge and flying up to RTH.

Dynamic RTH would be useful if you were launching from a moving platform such as a boat.

Thanks for the thoughts - be alert to your surroundings and changing conditions. Fly accordingly.

IBM used to have note pads with just one word on the cover, THINK

 

[Gerry65]

I am a newbie and I know how to change the settings, presently I have the setting to RTH. What are some of the circumstances that would cause you to use one of the other options

What Fuz said and hover would be what you'd want if you were shooting in a wooded area or maybe during a tracking/profiling activity where there might be unforeseen or sporadic obstacles above you or below you if you were following from high up.

 

[motopokep]

You can use the telemetry data on the controller that shows distance and altitude. You try to move the AC "forward" and "back" while watching the distance, if the distance closes, then grows, you know you are oriented toward the controller(you), if the distances do not get closer, do some yaw, check and repeat. Eventually, you can bring it straight back to you.Poor grammar, but I hope I got the idea across.

This is excellent advice, thank you. Why wouldn't I rely on RTH button?

 

[Mossiback]

... Probably just press RTH on you controller is your best course of action or simply do nothing at all. It should come back to your takeoff point?

... Why wouldn't I rely on RTH button?

The RTH button is the best way to get it started back (providing you have it setup correctly) but you need to monitor the progress on the RC. If there is a head wind aloft it may actually lose ground unless you put it into Sport mode and forward stick to compensate. If you have visual you may also need to change altitude to find a favorable wind.

 

[=HH=]

Train yourself, then you'll know how to react and more importantly, you won't have a heart attack!
A “Just get it back home!” training flight today

I would agree with MarkNix train your self I had this happen to me 2.5 k out wall over water videoing an island . Know how to use your RTH and read manua

 

[BIGLUG24]

Any recommendation on a good USB cable, preferably short.

ANKER is the best cables you can get them on amazon all sizes and ends

 

[Vadar007]

ANKER is the best cables you can get them on amazon all sizes and ends

Thanks, that's who I went with.

 

[motopokep]

The RTH button is the best way to get it started back (providing you have it setup correctly) but you need to monitor the progress on the RC. If there is a head wind aloft it may actually lose ground unless you put it into Sport mode and forward stick to compensate. If you have visual you may also need to change altitude to find a favorable wind.

Ok, makes sense. Didn't think about that because I don't fly in windy conditions (over 7 mph wind) Otherwise, good advice.

 

[dronerdave]

Ok, makes sense. Didn't think about that because I don't fly in windy conditions (over 7 mph wind) Otherwise, good advice.

I use UAV forecast app to check the winds at different altitudes. Surprising how different it can be compared to the ground wind.

I've only had the go4 app crash a few times and it hasn't given me any trouble since I updated. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it continues to work properly and that I don't screw something up. Each time I was able to get the app working. Height is your friend and I don't like to use RTH unless I have it in site but sometimes that isn't possible. That's unnerving to this newbie. I try to get it up and clear of any thing to crash into and manually fly back if possible. I do keep a pair of field glasses at hand in case I lose the app. As mentioned it takes a bit to figure out which way it's headed when the camera is down. I usually fly with friends when I take it out far from the takeoff point so it can help having a spotter to tell me where it's heading. Even with bright strobes, it's easy to lose site of if it at 1000 feet out once you take your eyes off of it. The biggest challenge for me so far has been trying to fly back in ATTI mode but that's a different subject.

 

[motopokep]

I actually tried flying in 9 mph wind just now, it wasn't bad at all, only couple slight shakes, and 1 wind warning when I got up higher. I went out about quarter mile out of sight (houses blocking view), and not in a straight line, but in a pattern, veering off to the right to do some discovery above a park. I used the signal boosters, had excellent signal, I know the area very well so if I went down I'd know exactly what path to follow to find it. I brought it back manually. It was a great feeling to hear the Mavic first (house blocking view) and then see it above me. I've had about 5 short flights so far and this was my farthest one for flying out of sight.

As far as flying back in ATTI mode, I used the flight simulator today for the first time, and I took the drone far out of sight and used telemetry, how Dybiantis mentioned above, and managed to bring it back a few times. I guess to sum this up, if the app crashes, try reconnecting cables, reboot the tablet, if that doesn't connect you, get up high , at least 100 feet or more, to be above the tallest trees, and either RTH, or fly back by telemetry numbers on the RC.

 

[kakao]

That short cable provided by DJI that goes from RC to a phone is such a piece of crap ..

 

[Mavhawk]

Hover would be a good option if you planned on flying under a bridge, you wouldn't want it losing connection under a bridge and flying up to RTH.

Dynamic RTH would be useful if you were launching from a moving platform such as a boat.

Great advice. I just read a post where a guy hit return to home, or the plane went into RTH and it flew upward right into the bottom of the bridge. Wow what a bummer. Marc.

 

[kidroc]

Two answer your the OPs question yes it means the APP disconnected but the RC is still in control

 

[ÉireAir]

I mentioned above, that most of the issues seem to stem from the bazillion different Android devices out there, and they tend to have the most issues from what I read.

I was using a google nexus 4 until last December, complete nightmare, slow lost connection etc, then started using a Samsung Galaxy S8, fantastic. At most 2 drop outs for a few seconds only.

 

[Mavhawk]

You can fly your Mavic without an app running on another device. It will be more difficult without the fpv given by the camera and app but you’ll still get height, distance, speed, battery level and rpm. That is way more information than we used to get even a few years ago. However, I suggest you buy a quality usb cable that fits between the bottom port of the RC and your chosen device as the DJI supplied cables have been involved in way too many app disconnects.

I'm going over this post to try and learn anything I can to deal with an emergency, or disconnect. I just now realized (kind of a duh moment), that if the video connection goes out but you still have connection on the RC, you can't just look at that wonderful little radar symbol on the bottom left of the Go 4 screen, but,,,,,if your out of line of sight, I would think that maybe you could look at the controller distance reading and depending on whether it increases in distance or decreases or neither, it could help you orient the drone with the yaw stick and start bringing it in. Open for comment here. Marc.

 

[BossBob]

Absolutely correct. Watch the reported distance as you fly the drone in a straight line for a few seconds. If the distance increases, just apply reverse stick to start reducing the distance. You can then add some left or right drift to see if the rate of change increases or decreases. Again, if the rate of change decreases you’ll need to do the opposite of whatever you were doing. If the range decreases steadily then starts to increase again you’ve probably flown past yourself and will need to go through the routine above again to bring the drone closer still so that you can hear and see it.