36 seconds of terror

[BrianVivian]

Please excuse the overly dramatic title, bit for me...the following was borderline terrifying.

Flying in a new spot today. Received LAANC authorization, checked satellites and made sure I had a good home point. 6 minutes into an otherwise normal flight I get...nothing. A frozen image on the screen and an aircraft not connected to RC message. As you can see from the log, I wasn't far out and there was nothing between me and the AC. I even watched as it climbed to the RTH altitude and came back home (sigh of relief). Upon landing, I finally regained control. 2 flights later that same day with zero issues. Does the log show anything obvious as to why it would go from 100% signal strength to 60% to 0% in about 20 seconds?


Air 2 S.

 

[eEridani]

Looking at the log and csv - I'd have to guess you turned the controller pointing away from the drone. That or the drone transmitter or controller receiver is intermittent? Looks like you lost connection at least four times: 6 seconds, 5 seconds, the 15 second break that caused the Failsafe RTH, followed by a long 37 second break just after entering RTH.

If you were pointing the controller at the drone the entire time, it hints at a DJI hardware problem.

 

[BrianVivian]

OP here... just for the sake of argument, what would happen if I asked the controller to download an image from the AC while it was flying?

 

[Flycaster]

OP here... just for the sake of argument, what would happen if I asked the controller to download an image from the AC while it was flying?

I think it automatically downloads a "low res" image as you take images.
The "High Res" images are left on your bird's memory card.

 

[BrianVivian]

Good to know that it's automatic. I was thinking that the act of sending from the controller to my phone via bluetooth was a bad thing to do while flying.

 

[RonMav]

Good to know that it's automatic. I was thinking that the act of sending from the controller to my phone via bluetooth was a bad thing to do while flying.

If it was probably wouldn't allow for it.

 

[bricman12]

Hey op, ive had this issue with my cell phone.

The connector would get hung up on my case and sometimes the phone would disconnect even though it looked plugged in.

To fix it, I took a dental handpiece and carved the shape of the connector into my case so there is a solid contact. It freaked me out quite a bit until I figured why there was a disconnection.

This may not be your scenario but it sounds like the issues I've had.

 

[GaryFlorida]

Our phones are little computers. Some are newer and stronger than others. IF you are using perhaps an older phone, the processor will not be as robust. and THIS might lose video feed, and other comms. I used to have to reboot MavicFly, during a troubled flight, just to get my video back.
Until I did THIS:
Add a couple of steps to "pre-flight"
1) turn phone into airplane mode. you will not need Bluetooth or phone calls to answer. And no phone WiFi needed either...the remote does that.
2) CLOSE all running apps. they hog computer chip power. You only want one app running, during "showtime," and it's the Mavic app.
If your problem was from overloaded/overwhelmed phone processor, this will fix it.
It sure did for me, first try, every try.

 

[BrianVivian]

Thanks all for the replies. I don't use a phone, have the RC Pro. I *DID* send a downloaded picture to my phone via bluethooth while flying. I'm thinking that was my problem. It's been disconnect-free since then, and I do all my picture transferring AFTER the flight.