Rewarded for being Stupid!

[hookalakupua]

Ok guys, here's my story for review. I offer this in order to hopefully help others but also for some constructive criticism and insight from those of you with much more experiences.

So I'm on my second to last day in Scotland and as I'm returning home for the day I happen to come across this massive rock formation that I can see in the distance (Holyrood Park). Immediately thinking of the great video I could capture, I immediately navigate my way to to the park entrance. Upon entering, I see that this park is massive and that the rock formation is made up of some beautiful valleys and ridges that people apparently are climbing.

I immediately sat down to launch the MP and as there were a handful of people spread throughout the park, I picked out a course that would get me to the valleys without having to fly directly over anyone. I'm not sure what my exact elevation was but I'm guessing about 130-160ft. I arrived at the first meadow in 20 or 30 seconds and proceeded to fly away from my take-off spot.

Mistake #1 - I failed to reset my RTH Max Height above the 400ft that I've flown since I've had it. The mountains were definitely higher than that and I should have checked their height to be sure.
Mistake #2 - I made the conscious decision to navigate the valley using my ipad as I let it fly out of sight.

The signal remained clear and strong throughout the journey as I thought I was capturing some incredible video.

Mistake #3 - For the first time in 73 flights, I was so excited that I apparently forgot to hit record after takeoff.

About 13 minutes into the flight, I received an immediate loss of RC and HD connection. I quickly let go of both joysticks and the signal quickly went in and out. Trying to control my panic, I sat there for what seemed like an eternity and after about 30 seconds, I realized the signal wasn't coming back.

Mistake #4 - Because I lost visual sight, I became disoriented and didn't know exactly where the MP was.

As I started to walk forward to try and regain a signal, I got a quick signal return of the MP and immediately hit the RTH button. I then saw a massive rock formation in front of the MP and now real panic took over. It was trying to RTH but the rock formation was above my set max height so its Obstacle Avoidance set in and I believe it just hovered there. I lost the signal again, never to be regained.

Mistake #5 - I had read posts about people tracking their MP's but I never took the time to understand how.

As I started to run towards the valley, I decided to pull up the grid location screen on the ipad and by complete surprise, I had a red arrow that I assumed was the MP's location. As I climbed up and through the valley, I learned that it would immediately orientate me in position to the MP. This was by complete accident due to my ignorance.

Once I realized this, I then had a thought that I could reach the MP before it was forced to land. Due to flyers here, I knew enough that it would probably just hover until it either regained signal or it's battery forced it to land. My fear was that if I didn't reach it that it would either crash during decent or be picked up by someone after landing. *No, I wasn't concerned of it hitting anyone as the path was 30-40ft from the wall and it would be pretty hard for someone not to notice it coming down.

Mistake #6 - Before hitting the valley, I saw 3 bike riders and several cars between the park I was at and the valley where my MP was. In hindsight, I should have begged one of them to take me to drive me the 1/2 mile around the Rock Wall to where the MP was in order to recapture the signal before the forced landing. Unfortunately, I wasn't thinking clear and didn't know for sure it was there.

After 30 minutes of hiking and climbing this massive valley, I realized this was at best a recovery effort now. Being part of a Search and Rescue Team for the better part of 15 years, I was determined to find it through a grid search as I didn't realized at the time how precise the location actually was. I knew I had to find it all costs in order to take advantage of my DJI Care. Well after 40 minutes or so of some intense climbing, I came to the top of this massive rock formation. I then realized that this was the formation I had last seen from the MP and that it was somewhere on the backside of this cliff.

Mistake #7 - I should have taken more time to think through the last picture I saw as I would have been able to deduce that the MP was exactly on the backside of this cliff.

As I started to make my way back down and around the cliff, I eventually could see this massive rock wall in the distance and knew that this had to be where it was. During this time, the GPS location on the ipad was unbelievable as it changed orientation with the slightest change in my direction and heading. At this point it had been 52 minutes since I started looking for it and now my concern was that someone had picked it up. Another 10 minutes of walking up the backside of this cliff and my heart is about to burst out of my chest as i'm dead from exhaustion and because I can see that I'm almost on top of its last signal.

Just as I make my way around this last bend, I start scanning the bottom of the walk wall and within seconds I spot it some 30ft away and approximately 15ft or so off the rock wall. It appears to be in 1 piece but I can't tell if it's landed or just fallen like that. At this point I don't know if I should laugh or cry. As I approach the MP it looks like it's not only in 1 piece but I can't even see a mark on it. I check it the best I can and it appears that Magic Pixie Dust has saved the day!

Mistake #8 - After visually checking the MP, I go to test it and it takes off with no issues. I know I should probably just have thanked my lucky stars and headed home but at this point I had to know. I flew it around at ground level for a couple of minutes before flying it off the cliff. All goes well as it fly's perfectly.

So many mistakes to learn from as I was scared ****less and pissed for being so stupid. I hope this helps someone out there and let the constructive criticism begin.

Question: If my max RTH would have been higher than the cliff, theoretically I would have been ok right? I think I probably missed it by less than 100ft.

Here's the link to a quick video to give you an idea as to how massive the rock formation was:

iCloud - Loading …

 

[newnan3]

Not sure the answer to your question and maybe i missed it but why didnt you hike further into the park at the initial launch?

 

[hookalakupua]

Not sure the answer to your question and maybe i missed it but why didnt you hike further into the park at the initial launch?

Great question and yet another mistake. I was there for work and we were putting in 4-5 hours of running/playing a day. It was the last of 9 days and I was dead. Original intention was to fly from the park into the valley and straight back. In hindsight and if I'm honest, I was probably a little worried about launching and maybe getting in trouble for doing it at a park. Came to find out it would have been ok. Lessons learned.

 

[newnan3]

Did you try the "Find My Drone" feature in the GO app?

And no video of all this?? Hang your head in shame! Lol

 

[hookalakupua]

Did you try the "Find My Drone" feature in the GO app?

And no video of all this?? Hang your head in shame! Lol

Just add that to the list of mistakes. The thought never even crossed my mind at the time. Yes, I'm an idiot!

I've filmed every flight I've had with this **** thing and this is the one time I forget! Ugh! I do have video of the find and some flying afterward, but I was devastated when I made it home as I was dying to see what happened on landing.

50 Lashings sounds appropriate at this time!

 

[Macdarwin]

Glad you found it in one piece and i can tell that you're not lying about a 45 minutes hike by the sound of your breathing lol.

 

[hookalakupua]

Glad you found it in one piece and i can tell that you're not lying about a 45 minutes hike by the sound of your breathing lol.

My wife said the same thing! The climb was ridiculous, made even harder by the fact that I was traversing off the trail and through thickets of brush. I was knackered!!! hahaha

 

[newnan3]

Just add that to the list of mistakes. The thought never even crossed my mind at the time. Yes, I'm an idiot!

I've filmed every flight I've had with this **** thing and this is the one time I forget! Ugh! I do have video of the find and some flying afterward, but I was devastated when I made it home as I was dying to see what happened on landing.

50 Lashings sounds appropriate at this time!

I think the Find My Drone feature is a newer feature in the more recent fw updates....I think it would be the first thing I tried as I was just made aware of it.

Ive forgotten to put the memory card back in my MP several times and only realizing it once I arrived at the launch. Luckily no high value subjects were missed.

I would still consider your flight successful....you got your bird back and you learned some valuable lessons for future flights

 

[hookalakupua]

Yeah, I have the latest update and just wasn't smart enough to think about Find My Drone as I had never used it before.

Glad I'm not the only one to make that mistake.

Absolute success as could have been a lot worse! So relieved when I saw it sitting there. Could have been a very expensive mistake!

Life is good again.

 

[Drope]

epic! ty for sharing

 

[hookalakupua]

Question for those that watched the video. It appears the MP landed 10-20ft away from the wall. Is this because it descended to a safe/flat location? I would have thought it would have just come straight down once its Optical Sensors thought it was far enough away from the wall.

 

[ErikDF]

Thanks for sharing. I could easily find myself doing the same mistakes you went through. Very often one mistake leads to another. I used to do rock climbing in the old days, Agages Grove on Buachaille Etive Mor 1966, Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome and North Face of the Rostrum in Yosemite Valley 1976. I would love to fly and take pictures of the wall you have shown and it is easy to get carried away and continue to fly to get the perfect video. I am not going to criticise, on the contrary, we can all learn by this and think carefully when we plan our flight missions.

 

[hp7950]

First I happy for you when I fly far I use the second choice in the small map so I can see how to return home by myself it's easy and rth must be very high because you use it mostly for emargency

 

[hp7950]

And tips for bad signal are gain altitude rise remote above your body and ajust antennas for best performance

 

[MacIak]

Thanks sharing your experience. I feel happy you recovered the mavic and burnt the necessary calories..
1 comment: LoS!!! Not visual off course, just make sure the signal can "see" the mavic.

 

[dwallersv]

Mistake commentary

#1: I believe this one can largely be mitigated to a nuisance by switching on the ascend-to-clear-obstacles switch in the RTH settings.

#2: The mistake is in planning, not flying out of VLOS (I know the rules, that doesn't mean such flights can't be planned properly and executed safely).

#4: My first attempt at an intermittent signal is to try ascending. Hold the left stick up while you try to regain a connection. It may give enough clearance that you'll get a consistent connection from which you can then decide what to do. This has worked for me before.

#8: If you flew it back over a cliff on the same battery it has landed with that was indeed dumb dumb dumb!

Great story, with the best possible ending And props for your candor!

 

[Nikon1]

Another TY for documenting what happened and your honesty in this whole adventure. As a very new pilot, I appreciate reading about what other, more experienced pilots do and try to learn from them. Kind of like a long distance mentoring.

I'm happy you found your bird and all is well with it!

 

[hookalakupua]

Thanks for sharing. I could easily find myself doing the same mistakes you went through. Very often one mistake leads to another. I used to do rock climbing in the old days, Agages Grove on Buachaille Etive Mor 1966, Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome and North Face of the Rostrum in Yosemite Valley 1976. I would love to fly and take pictures of the wall you have shown and it is easy to get carried away and continue to fly to get the perfect video. I am not going to criticise, on the contrary, we can all learn by this and think carefully when we plan our flight missions.

Those are some epic climbs! I'm willing to fly and capture your exploits if you want to get on them again! You guys that climb those things are certifiably bonkers! haha

 

[hookalakupua]

Thanks sharing your experience. I feel happy you recovered the mavic and burnt the necessary calories..
1 comment: LoS!!! Not visual off course, just make sure the signal can "see" the mavic.

Absolutely!! Lesson learned for sure.

 

[hookalakupua]

Mistake commentary

#1: I believe this one can largely be mitigated to a nuisance by switching on the ascend-to-clear-obstacles switch in the RTH settings.

#2: The mistake is in planning, not flying out of VLOS (I know the rules, that doesn't mean such flights can't be planned properly and executed safely).

#4: My first attempt at an intermittent signal is to try ascending. Hold the left stick up while you try to regain a connection. It may give enough clearance that you'll get a consistent connection from which you can then decide what to do. This has worked for me before.

#8: If you flew it back over a cliff on the same battery it has landed with that was indeed dumb dumb dumb!

Great story, with the best possible ending And props for your candor!

#1 - Ascend to Clear??!! ****... didn't even know that existed. Thank you!

#2 - Touche

#4 - Thanks as I'll remember that but hopefully it never happens again. Still can't believe I didn't set the RTH higher.

#8 - Ok, I promise I changed the battery as it was completely dead. Can't guarantee I would have done that if it still had power. Thanks for the reminder.

Truly appreciate all the insight. I've never been one to let my pride interfere with learning!