My Mavic flew off today in the NV wilderness

[ACR]

After looking at that video again, I feel like I need a professional rock climber to get the drone back. :-( Hopefully, it kept flying a little bit before the video cut out.

Hey utah,

Sometimes there's alternate routes, and as you know things look much different in video/picture than in person. Take it slow and look for the best approach for the climb. Try a grid search.

There was this time a fellow classmates shoe was tossed into a field. Our friend who was in air cadets (and is now a pilot), recommended a grid search (we were 12 years old or so, what's a grid search?) and wouldn't you know, he found that lost shoe in the tall grass. Took him less than two minutes.

Point is, make a search plan and try the grid approach. It will save you from chasing your tail while looking for your precious. With your truck acting up, don't forget about letting people know where you are and when you'll be back, please.

 

[utahlasvegas]

Okay, I'm in a cheap motel with WiFi now, and I'll try to get that data to him. I need to go back and find the link. Thanks for your help!

 

[erkme73]

Okay, I'm in a cheap motel with WiFi now, and I'll try to get that data to him. I need to go back and find the link. Thanks for your help!

Glad to hear. Whatever the effort, it's worth it. It's almost magical. Some of the best threads here and at Phantompilots.com involve his detective skills.

 

[utahlasvegas]

@msinger , here is the link to my flight log. I'm hoping to try to find it tomorrow. It's a brutal drive out there, and my truck is acting up, so I want to get it looked at first. Thanks!

Phantom Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[BD0G]

From the looks of the area you should be able to make the climb, as long as it didn't tumble over the side.

OK .I gotta ask @F6Rider -How did you get such awesome pics of the longitude and latitude specified area?
I might need this "skill" in the future.

Just got back in from some Santa Cruz - Davenport Ca excursion with the Mavic Pro and had to revisit this thread hoping for an "I found it" posting , but was denied.

Don't give Grey Wolf any attention as this just feeds the desire to call people out. Whats funny is the area was not even Red Rocks but near Lake Mead and from my understanding of the area its perfectly fine to fly there.

Problems with lost drone and now truck issues. Man you cant catch a break! They always come in 3's so make sure to let someone know exactly where you are or will be and have plenty of water on hand as the third issue could be lost @utahlasvegas .

 

[BD0G]

Oh, and Go Get that Shizz. A thousand dollar drone loss is a bit much to swallow.

 

[utahlasvegas]

"Man you cant catch a break! They always come in 3's so make sure to let someone know exactly where you are or will be and have plenty of water on hand as the third issue could be lost @utahlasvegas."

Well, I also busted my knee up kind of bad, and it still hurts, so hopefully that makes it the 3. If / when I walk out there, I'm bringing my trekking poles to help keep some weight off of it.

 

[utahlasvegas]

"Oh, and Go Get that Shizz. A thousand dollar drone loss is a bit much to swallow."

Thanks @BD0G!

 

[utahlasvegas]

I shot a wedding to pay for the drone, and I had to wear a suit for 7 hours and really don't like weddings.

 

[erkme73]

It looks like it may have hit that hill. Import the KML into google earth and you can see that after the RTH initiated it attempted a straight-line return and probably flew into that hill...

 

[utahlasvegas]

I hope I can get up there without breaking anything.

 

[erkme73]

And I don't want to step on msinger's toes, but... It looks like as you took the bend around that hill, you lost signal. You were already at the max altitude of 400' at that point, so, it couldn't go any higher. It turned around, and flew right into the hill. Did you have obstacle avoidance turned on? The return speed was 24MPH...

So, if/when you get it back, set the max altitude to 500m. Then set your RTH altitude higher than anything you intend to fly around, behind, or near.

Do you have Google Earth on your computer? Download the KML from msingers page where you uploaded the log. Then open it in Earth. Having the ability to spin the flight path in 3D really shows what happened and where to look. I know GE doesn't do large hills/mountains/cliffs justice, so it's probably way more intimidating that in looks...

 

[utahlasvegas]

Thanks! I'm not sure what a KML is.


Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots

 

[erkme73]

Keyhole Markup Language (I had to look that up). It's the extension of files that Google Earth can read. Basically msingers website takes the flight data from your txt file and creates a KML file. If you have Google Earth installed on your PC/tablet, you should be able to simple open the KML file (this is a direct link to your KML from his website) in GE.

 

[utahlasvegas]

Thanks! That worked, and it's helping me see a couple different possible routes to get the drone. I'm not much of a rock climber, but I think I can do some careful crawling. I thought I had object avoidance turned on. My takeoff spot was quite a bit lower than where the crash happened.

 

[BD0G]

That is some awesome detective work! I learned 2 things from this topic so far.

1. If the app says cold battery - Don't ignore it and think that the Mavic will fly great anyway.
2. One can open a .kml file that is produced by msingers website to view ones flight path overlaid onto a google earth representation.

Something I am still wondering about though. If utahlasvegas was at max legal (or is that just recommended) altitude of 400 feet and obstacle avoidance detected a big object like the mountain then obstacle avoidance could not allow the DJI Mavic Pro to go up and over as the max height was already reached.
What would it do? Go around ? Or if the RTH kicked in when signal was lost then could it still ascend higher than 400 feet and then return to the home point?

 

[BD0G]

After looking at the Google Earth view it looks like it did have the trajectory to slam right into the top of that far mountain. The line points downward and if the Mavic continued along that path it was doomed without Obstacle Avoidance.

It also looks like you received the low battery temp shortly after takeoff but chose to disregard it. You must have flown towards the evening or earlier in the morning I take it.

I have to give you credit though for your choice of flying areas. There is nothing that you can hurt out there (other than your Mavic or Mad Max if he is driving by to scavenge fuel) its a barren wasteland.


Also make sure to take pictures of where you find it assuming that you do find it.

 

[sweatlounge]

Good luck finding it


Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots

 

[MadbeaverDK]

Good luck finding it @utahlasvegas. Beautiful colors and scenery in the low res video. I hope you find it, but remember that your safety always takes top priority. Also I really like this thread, as it shows how people are willing to help out a fellow pilot.

 

[hiwese1]

Good luck finding it. I am very impressed with this thread and how we have so many ways to find a downed craft. The only situation I would be worried about is water crashes.