A flyaway after loss of control

[Blucenturion]

A very sobering realization that RTH does not necessarily work if underlying problems exist in equipment....My Mavic was repaired after the gimbal was knocked loose, test flown, and returned to me, enabling me to complete my job at a new sports field. After a message about overloaded gimbal, I landed, checked, and the gimbal was rotating freely whereupon I launched to a height that would give a wide view of the field. Many error messages popped up after reaching altitude, and I began attempting recovery, but it flew away on its own, camera pointing down. All attempts to initiate RTH were unsuccessful and with 39% battery remaining, gave a Disconnected signal. I later learned the location was a grove of mature redwoods, I'm guessing impact into the crown. My address and phone are within, so if anyone finds it, I'll probably hear from them. I've sent this to the drone repair facility, meanwhile.
If unfamiliar with this resource, click on notifications tab to view the flight log.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Possible chance of magnetic interference on take off can sometime explain this . Where did you take off of exactly that will help ?

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain.

 

[Blucenturion]

Possible chance of magnetic interference on take off can sometime explain this . Where did you take off of exactly that will help ?

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain.

All of the drama that ensued after takeoff would seem to point to mag interference. A concrete curb bordering the new running track was the closest thing. I wish I had hand launched, but it was simply uncontrollable from the start; the only remedy then would have been to shoot it down. I don't normally bring a 12 gauge when I fly. Did I mention it crossed a freeway, all the while hitting RTH repeatedly.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Unfortunately magnetic interference is the one thing that can hammer the compass and make the RTH impossible if there are Yaw errors happening. I lost two phantoms that way.

Best to always take off in the grass if possible .

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain.

 

[Meta4]

All of the drama that ensued after takeoff would seem to point to mag interference. A concrete curb bordering the new running track was the closest thing. I wish I had hand launched, but it was simply uncontrollable from the start; the only remedy then would have been to shoot it down. I don't normally bring a 12 gauge when I fly. Did I mention it crossed a freeway, all the while hitting RTH repeatedly.

How far away was this concrete?
It would have to be quite close to have any effect.

What direction was the drone facing when on the ground for takeoff?
It looks like this incident could have been prevented by checking the drone's actual orientation against the orientation displayed by the map.

 

[Blucenturion]

Hand launching and recovery will be the watchword going forward. I'm strongly leaning toward another Mavic Pro as replacement, having a battery as I do, and the aircraft is solid, always fulfilled its mission for four years.

 

[sar104]

It's pretty clear where it ended up and which tree it hit:

 

[Blucenturion]

Yes. However these trees are incredibly tall and until it falls to the ground and is discovered I stand zero chance of recovering it.

 

[Meta4]

Hand launching and recovery will be the watchword going forward. I'm strongly leaning toward another Mavic Pro as replacement, having a battery as I do, and the aircraft is solid, always fulfilled its mission for four years.

Launching from the ground is OK, and it's easy to check that the displayed orientation matches the actual orientation.
Which way was the drone facing at launch?
The data indicates it was pointing toward the east, but this won't be correct.

 

[Blucenturion]

It was facing east at launch.

 

[Blucenturion]

I stepped over the curb, facing the apartments and set Mavic on the asphalt for takeoff.

 

[Meta4]

It was facing east at launch.

If it was facing east, something else is going on.
@slup .. any ideas?

 

[sar104]

If it was facing east, something else is going on.
@slup .. any ideas?

The view in the photo above isn't east - it's around 60° south of east.

 

[slup]

It was facing east at launch.

The view in the photo above isn't east - it's around 60° south of east.

Should be pretty straight forward to see if the reason for this was magnetic interference if you share the mobile device .DAT log from this flight. The correct one ends with FLY355. DAT. Retrieve it and attach it in a new post here... I'm out & traveling so either another member will go through that log or it have to wait until I'm back home on Monday.

This will not bring your drone down from that tree... but it's always good to know why this happened.

 

[JohnnyD913]

A very sobering realization that RTH does not necessarily work if underlying problems exist in equipment....My Mavic was repaired after the gimbal was knocked loose, test flown, and returned to me, enabling me to complete my job at a new sports field. After a message about overloaded gimbal, I landed, checked, and the gimbal was rotating freely whereupon I launched to a height that would give a wide view of the field. Many error messages popped up after reaching altitude, and I began attempting recovery, but it flew away on its own, camera pointing down. All attempts to initiate RTH were unsuccessful and with 39% battery remaining, gave a Disconnected signal. I later learned the location was a grove of mature redwoods, I'm guessing impact into the crown. My address and phone are within, so if anyone finds it, I'll probably hear from them. I've sent this to the drone repair facility, meanwhile.
If unfamiliar with this resource, click on notifications tab to view the flight log.

I had a phantom 3 do this cause of magnetic anomaly

 

[Blucenturion]

Firstly, apologize about the direction at takeoff, I was generalizing.

 

[sar104]

Firstly, apologize about the direction at takeoff, I was generalizing.

So can you confirm that it was facing the direction shown in the photo you posted above?

 

[Blucenturion]

Should be pretty straight forward to see if the reason for this was magnetic interference if you share the mobile device .DAT log from this flight. The correct one ends with FLY355. DAT. Retrieve it and attach it in a new post here... I'm out & traveling so either another member will go through that log or it have to wait until I'm back home on Monday.

This will not bring your drone down from that tree... but it's always good to know why this happened.

All of the pertinent log data was in my original post via a link from AirData. Hope we are on the same page?

 

[Blucenturion]

So can you confirm that it was facing the direction shown in the photo you posted above?

Closest I can say is "most likely", I was facing that direction, holding it by the waist when I set it down.

 

[slup]

All of the pertinent log data was in my original post via a link from AirData. Hope we are on the same page?

Yes, we are on the same page... but the .TXT log doesn't include the data needed to say if this was a yaw error due to a magnetic disturbed compass during the power on phase. The mobile device stored .DAT log on the other hand, contains all necessary sensor data to diagnose this. And as this was a Mavic Pro, we can also use the CRAFT stored .DAT.

Go here & read up on how to retrieve the mobile device .DAT log (read section 3) - - > Mavic Flight Log Retrieval and Analysis Guide The correct one ends with FLY355.DAT.