Close call

[Nathanmot]

So today I decided I need some drone time. Probably my 50th flight in my life. First I'll tell you my setup. I have MP (non plat) with plat blades and Titan drones atlas antenna. I was using the wunderphone as does so many others. I started up everything and checked sensors. Everything seemed fine except I was not getting the audible "home is recorded" or on the screen confirmation. (All sensors were good and i had 17 sats) I tried a few times and decided it was ok because I'm still new to the wunderphone (3-5 flights). Airplane mode and all other electronics off that I had. Ok so I decided it was go time and did auto take off with precision and went on my way. 500ft out and 120ft up I got a disconnect and wunderphone displayed blank dji screen. I freaked out a bit and training kicked in thanks to this forum. I moved the phone and focused on the RC display and noticed the distance number was growing. I proceeded to add input to stop the growing numbers and to keep it manageable for the time being. Once I got a hold of the drone I started my troubleshooting. I checked the cable and that was connected. I then shut the app down and restarted it with no change. Drone is stable but seemed to want to wander around a bit. Next I brought my iPad mini out and turned it on and hooked it up and that also displayed a disconnect. I freaked out a bit more but realized I had state farm insurance so I would not be out for very long. Anyway like I said my training from this forum kicked in and I proceeded to fly to make the numbers smaller and bring it in. Was more difficult than I thought it would be. I suggest newbies to train on that. I brought the drone in till I could see it and landed it. I reset the drone and it still said disconnect. It wasn't until I reset the RC it connected. Does anyone see anything I did wrong? I'm always looking for better info to fly safer. Also all products are on the latest firmware(I know, I know) I have a guess but don't want everyone to be stuck on that and lose a valuable lesson someone might have for me.

 

[kakao]

I was wondering if resetting the RC (off/on) is a good idea in such circumstances?!

 

[Nathanmot]

I was wondering if resetting the RC (off/on) is a good idea in such circumstances?!

I chickened out and did not do that.

 

[sar104]

So today I decided I need some drone time. Probably my 50th flight in my life. First I'll tell you my setup. I have MP (non plat) with plat blades and Titan drones atlas antenna. I was using the wunderphone as does so many others. I started up everything and checked sensors. Everything seemed fine except I was not getting the audible "home is recorded" or on the screen confirmation. (All sensors were good and i had 17 sats) I tried a few times and decided it was ok because I'm still new to the wunderphone (3-5 flights). Airplane mode and all other electronics off that I had. Ok so I decided it was go time and did auto take off with precision and went on my way. 500ft out and 120ft up I got a disconnect and wunderphone displayed blank dji screen. I freaked out a bit and training kicked in thanks to this forum. I moved the phone and focused on the RC display and noticed the distance number was growing. I proceeded to add input to stop the growing numbers and to keep it manageable for the time being. Once I got a hold of the drone I started my troubleshooting. I checked the cable and that was connected. I then shut the app down and restarted it with no change. Drone is stable but seemed to want to wander around a bit. Next I brought my iPad mini out and turned it on and hooked it up and that also displayed a disconnect. I freaked out a bit more but realized I had state farm insurance so I would not be out for very long. Anyway like I said my training from this forum kicked in and I proceeded to fly to make the numbers smaller and bring it in. Was more difficult than I thought it would be. I suggest newbies to train on that. I brought the drone in till I could see it and landed it. I reset the drone and it still said disconnect. It wasn't until I reset the RC it connected. Does anyone see anything I did wrong? I'm always looking for better info to fly safer. Also all products are on the latest firmware(I know, I know) I have a guess but don't want everyone to be stuck on that and lose a valuable lesson someone might have for me.

Since the RC obviously still had uplink and downlink and the aircraft had a GPS lock (since you could see the range and control the aircraft), why did you not just activate RTH?

 

[Nathanmot]

Since the RC obviously still had uplink and downlink and the aircraft had a GPS lock (since you could see the range and control the aircraft), why did you not just activate RTH?

Panic is the simple answer. So use to using the display to select what to do. Also because of the homeport not being said or displayed on takeoff like normal

 

[eek]

He mentioned no home point was recorded

 

[SouthernComfort]

RTH is not always the best answer! I’d say OP did the perfect thing in this situation as far as getting the drone headed back in his direction. I would not have taken off without “home” being recorded, aside from that well done.

 

[kakao]

Not sure if its in Settings, but Home Point gets automatically recorded each time I take of.

 

[Nathanmot]

Not sure if its in Settings, but Home Point gets automatically recorded each time I take of.

I will check the settings but I have never changed it and I manually set the home port 3 times before I set off but it never said or notified me to confirm.

 

[Nathanmot]

RTH is not always the best answer! I’d say OP did the perfect thing in this situation as far as getting the drone headed back in his direction. I would not have taken off without “home” being recorded, aside from that well done.

Should of set off alarm bells with the home port not being recorded through sound or display with me by me but confidence was high at the time. I'm mostly concerned with the disconnect though.

 

[sar104]

He mentioned no home point was recorded

Not exactly - he mentioned not hearing homepoint announced. But since the aircraft had plenty of satellites locked and the RC distance display is distance to the homepoint, it presumably was set.

 

[sar104]

RTH is not always the best answer! I’d say OP did the perfect thing in this situation as far as getting the drone headed back in his direction. I would not have taken off without “home” being recorded, aside from that well done.

It may not always be the best answer, but in this situation I cannot think of a better one - it's much easier than the trial and error method to minimize distance.

 

[DanL54]

A couple days ago while flying my screen blacked out (almost panicked) but I still had control using the RC alone to bring my MP back by activating RTH. This happened twice out of the 4 flights i had that day. One mavicpilot said that it's a problem with Go4 version 4.1.20 and had reverted back to version 4.1.15 and that fixed the blackout problem. Can anyone confirm this method of fixing the problem and/or why this is happening?

 

[Flycaster]

To the OP, You should have also switched to sport mode when you trying to fly your AC back to you, you have more speed (to counteract the winds up there), I have read posts where folks have just "watched" as their AC continues to drift with the wind without using sportmode to overcome the higher wind speeds...

As to the Go4 app, I am on 1.0.4, and never had a disconnect, and AC is on .400.

 

[Cbslagle]

It is good to practice to ALWAYS turn the bird on and wait until you have at least 12 satellites. The "home" point will not be set until you have ample satellite connection. Sometimes it can take up to a minute after the MP is turned on.

 

[MichiganMavic]

I wait until I hear the homepoint recorded, and it’s Green to Go! Good job on bringing it back though[emoji106]. My panic button always is RTH. I’ve tested it numerous times so I’m comfortable with it, plus I know how it reacts to my reaction [emoji38]. I have had to restart my RC on my Inspire a few times [emoji15]. Would pushing the pause button let it hover until you figure out connection? I’m going to try several different Emergency Response Bird retrievals next time I fly so I have more options.

 

[Nathanmot]

It is good to practice to ALWAYS turn the bird on and wait until you have at least 12 satellites. The "home" point will not be set until you have ample satellite connection. Sometimes it can take up to a minute after the MP is turned on.

I had the sats. I always wait, I just didn't get the feedback from the setting the hope point after I selected it.