DJI's Support Interaction Regarding Last Known GPS Location...

[The Listener]

Well, sport's fans, even though it has been bemoaned for years, here (attached) is an actual log of an actual DJI Support interaction (today) about helping me find my lost Mavic Pro's last known GPS location when I was flying without having the DJI Go 4 app connected. Clearly, in hindsight, I was bone headed in more than a couple of ways and sort of deserved what I got. On the other hand, I've been flying for a couple of years and didn't completely understand how everything worked, because I had never lost a drone before. So, this is definitely a rag on DJI, but also a cautionary tale for those of you that haven't lost your drone, yet. So, know before you buy. Know better when you fly. And please help me if you know any non-DJI solutions to my problem.

Fly On Brothers and Sisters,
The Listener

 

[sar104]

DJI support is correct - there are no flight data on the RC, so there is no solution to your problem, DJI or third party.

 

[The Listener]

DJI support is correct - there are no flight data on the RC, so there is no solution to your problem, DJI or third party.

I appreciate your feedback, because I know that you have researched this WAY more than I have. Your link to the "Flight log retrieval and analysis guide" is really well written, but didn't include my situation (maybe it could be improved with "if you are flying xxx configuration, you are hosed in terms of last GPS data retrieval).

So, the question remains, is it:

1) frightfully bad engineering on their part (even though they, on the whole, have engineering an extremely well engineered product) that they didn't anticipate lost drones enough to put in points of redundancy about storing/retrieving last known GPS info along the data stream from one component of the system to the next,

2) due to technical understanding beyond my training (I'm a software guy), that it is too difficult to scrap this information as it moved between components of the system with good performance, and/or

3) it is a conscious business decision to not make all configurations of the system (I was flying a configuration that was not forbidden) pilot friendly in the situation of a lost drone?

I don't know. Just asking.

 

[sar104]

I appreciate your feedback, because I know that you have researched this WAY more than I have. Your link to the "Flight log retrieval and analysis guide" is really well written, but didn't include my situation (maybe it could be improved with "if you are flying xxx configuration, you are hosed in terms of last GPS data retrieval).

So, the question remains, is it:

1) frightfully bad engineering on their part (even though they, on the whole, have engineering an extremely well engineered product) that they didn't anticipate lost drones enough to put in points of redundancy about storing/retrieving last known GPS info along the data stream from one component of the system to the next,

2) due to technical understanding beyond my training (I'm a software guy), that it is too difficult to scrap this information as it moved between components of the system with good performance, and/or

3) it is a conscious business decision to not make all configurations of the system (I was flying a configuration that was not forbidden) pilot friendly in the situation of a lost drone?

I don't know. Just asking.

I'll certainly add a note on that issue to the guide. The main reason for the lack of data on the RC is that it doesn't have any data storage capabilities. They obviously could have included that, but then you would be looking at a more expensive, complex piece of equipment with an operating system and non-volatile memory. A bit like the SC. I think the assumption is that most people will operate with a mobile device. A different question might be why the Goggles don't create a log.

 

[The Listener]

Well there is storage for the Black Box, but your point might be that they didn't think that if they couldn't store a bunch of flight data, but only a critically select subset, that they might be criticized for being half-baked?