Anyone Lost A Drone ?

Paul51 · May 5, 2020

It would seem that some folk are less than capable than others …..
Lost Drone

And you all thought line of sight was important

Thomas B · May 5, 2020

Where was it seen last? I had the waypoints set to circumnavigate the continent.

dronerdave · May 5, 2020

Probably happens more than we know.

Starz · May 6, 2020

And here’s the silly part.
While officials say it is likely the drone, which took off on Saturday, has landed,

Landed? I didn’t see any wheels.

scro · May 6, 2020

Starz said:
And here’s the silly part.
While officials say it is likely the drone, which took off on Saturday, has landed,

Landed? I didn’t see any wheels.

Perhaps retractable? or maybe it (crash) landed.

peterc4 · May 6, 2020

It happens a lot more than people think and if you dont get it back expect no sympathy of DJI speaking from real time experience. I have had the mind set for the last 5 years that one day it will dissapear so when it does it is not as bad..

dronerdave · May 7, 2020

Except the drone in the article had an 18 foot wing span

This drone crashed into the sea up towards Alaska and was refurbished. Here is a pic of it during test flights after it was recovered/repaired. So yeah it happens.

ChrisOutdoors · May 8, 2020

dronerdave said:
Except the drone in the article had an 18 foot wing span

This drone crashed into the sea up towards Alaska and was refurbished. Here is a pic of it during test flights after it was recovered/repaired. So yeah it happens.

View attachment 100734

Cool! I wonder what they were able to save after crashing into the ocean. Electronics are completely trashed in salt water. Prob just the aircaft frame and anything thats not corrosive.

dronerdave · May 8, 2020

ChrisOutdoors said:
Cool! I wonder what they were able to save after crashing into the ocean. Electronics are completely trashed in salt water. Prob just the aircaft frame and anything thats not corrosive.

It did some damage to the engine which was made overseas and difficult to get parts for. Not sure about the electronics...it takes some kind of atmosphere measurements IIRC. They had a complicated pre-flight and safety procedure. Flew good though:

Paul51 · May 9, 2020

It's not rocket science (although some folk like to make it so) there are independent GPS trackers out there. Drones of this size are more than capable of carrying these devices. (Should be mandatory, in my views). Otherwise, it gives us all a bad name …..

dronerdave · May 10, 2020

Paul51 said:
It's not rocket science (although some folk like to make it so) there are independent GPS trackers out there. Drones of this size are more than capable of carrying these devices. (Should be mandatory, in my views). Otherwise, it gives us all a bad name …..

While most research companies fly far more advanced aircraft than most of us in the hobby world, who's claiming it's rocket science? As far as finding it, even a full size plane may be difficult to locate after a crash depending on the terrain. I don't know what their Latvian flight agency requires unmanned experimental aircraft to have on board and don't have a clue what type of equipment failed when they said they lost communication. I'd think most research companies play by the rules for their best interests.

While I do think some people have feelings about drones and might compare hobby drones to military types, I think most people would look at a mavic crash totally different than a large industrial drone going down. But the media has turned the word "drone" into a buzz word and unfortunately it does get a reaction out of some people.