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DRONE DISCONNECTS / LOSES SIGNAL WITHIN VIEW OF PILOT, THEN SPLASHES INTO 120meter DEEP ALPINE LAKE...

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Sorry for the loss but upload the Flight logs and we can see what happened I'm sure were all curious.
My drone is possibly at the bottom of a 400 foot / 120 meter Alpine Lake!!! OR it emergency landed in massive rock cliffs and desert brush. How do I get the flight records???

I am in chat with DJI support now.

Will find out more for all of you.
 
My drone is possibly at the bottom of a 400 foot / 120 meter Alpine Lake!!! OR it emergency landed in massive rock cliffs and desert brush. How do I get the flight records???

I am in chat with DJI support now.

Will find out more for all of you.

 
To the OP , nobody doubts you BUT equally until we see the flight logs there can be no corroboration of your version of events.

Is there an issue you cant post the flight logs to end speculation here?
 
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Isolated location has nothing to do with GPS as far as i know unless you are millions of miles of miles from our earth
 
If he just lost signal, the drone would have come back.
In design and theory and in MOST, BUT NOT all disconnects / loss of signal does the drone return automatically.

Using a Samsung Galaxy Tab A and a Kindle Fire 8 loaded with Android 7 and 8, I had constant false messages of firmware mismatches. Some would pop up during flight. THEN the drone signal gets lost or the GO 4 app would crash. The RC ITSELF would maintain communication, but being blind, I would have to RTH and start a new flight after re-powering and changing to a new drone battery. WORSE yet, on other occasions, the whole craft would lose connection, likely due to GO 4 app sending false data or simple hiccups (data bit crashes - must know PC and I.T. to understand) that false signals can be generated via the software if the software perceives a firmware mismatch. AFTER ALL, THIS IS BEYOND EVEN FLY BY WIRE TECHNOLOGY, it is fly by software using on and off bits to control flight over radio signal technology... VERY delicate stuff.

NO, not every time does the drone RTH on its own during signal loss. IT DEPENDS on what caused the signal loss. If it is due to the GO 4 application, you need luck, a good prayer, and a few cans of beer for your nerves and hope the darn thing makes its way home. I have had MULTIPLE flyaways and now this.... I KNOW !!!
 
I'm curious, how does the app crashing cause a fly away?
how does it NOT ??? of course the app having a crash can cause a fly away... the app sends its own signals of what ever at that point. As stated in another reply, this is software, using on and off bit code, then transmitted over radio signals easily interfered with. The biggest link I have noted is a false message being displayed that there exists a firmware mismatch when, in fact, the drone and RC and GO 4 app are actually all up to date. There, in itself, shows that a platform is being setup by error in which false flight control / flight operation signals can be emitted. To my experience, it was as though the drone stuck to the last message for "fly straight and up" and then it just keeps going.

Have you NOT heard of a "flyaway". It is very understandable that this is one cause for such an event, others report the same as what is described here, by the tens if not hundreds.

On the flyaways, I disconnected the tablet, then I took a risk by restarting my RC, and then hit RTH manually, then the craft returned. Hmm, very clearly is it that the drone was told to fly away. But I did not say to do it. Again, I re-powered the RC and then hit RTH. Clearly, the drone was receiving bogus messages until I reset and re-instructed as necessary.
 
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THANK YOU MUCH. RESEARCHING NOW.
 
I am in chat with DJI support now.

Before syncing flight info, try and get your DAT in case it's needed, that will probably be lost after syncing (auto or manual).
Your TXT will be there.

It's just nice to get the analysis info BEFORE you talk to DJI, so you can have some basic understanding as to what happened, and be better prepared for their likely response, be it warranty, discount off a new aircraft, or nothing.

You might also be armed with some vital information to present to them, THEY often overlook small details that could indicate equipment failure, and going too soon to them could equal a less favourable outcome for you.

Good luck.
 
DUALLY NOTED. I AM RESEARCHING NOW. THANK YOU !!!
It takes two minutes

Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
That will give you a detailed report of the flight.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.

It will also help if you can xplain ...
Did you have the drone in sight?
Did it hover after losing signal?
Did you see it fall?

Without data, all you'll get will be wild guesses.
And as seen above most are going to be totally wrong.
 
However, you made a VERY IMPORTANT point regards to the Vision Positioning System (VPS) if GPS is not working due to the desolate location, perhaps the drone itself was trying to use its own visual positioning system (VPS) as a means of reporting position and it failed.
VPS had no part in your incident.
Since you were 240 ft above the water, VPS may as well been switched off, it has a max range of 30 ft.
There is nothing inherently risky flying over water and loss of GPS is about the most unlikely scenario.
In design and theory and in MOST, BUT NOT all disconnects / loss of signal does the drone return automatically.
RTH is extremely reliable.
There are very few situations in which the drone will not return home on loss of signal:
LOS action has been changed from the default (RTH) - almost no-one ever changes this​
Wind is too strong​
Obstacles on RTH path​
We'll see what your LOS action was set to in your flight data, the others are probably not valid in this case.
Using a Samsung Galaxy Tab A and a Kindle Fire 8 loaded with Android 7 and 8, I had constant false messages of firmware mismatches. Some would pop up during flight. THEN the drone signal gets lost or the GO 4 app would crash. The RC ITSELF would maintain communication, but being blind, I would have to RTH and start a new flight after re-powering and changing to a new drone battery. WORSE yet, on other occasions, the whole craft would lose connection, likely due to GO 4 app sending false data or simple hiccups (data bit crashes - must know PC and I.T. to understand) that false signals can be generated via the software if the software perceives a firmware mismatch. AFTER ALL, THIS IS BEYOND EVEN FLY BY WIRE TECHNOLOGY, it is fly by software using on and off bits to control flight over radio signal technology... VERY delicate stuff.
All of that suggests that you are flying with a dodgy tablet that isn't really up to the task.

NO, not every time does the drone RTH on its own during signal loss. IT DEPENDS on what caused the signal loss. If it is due to the GO 4 application, you need luck, a good prayer, and a few cans of beer for your nerves and hope the darn thing makes its way home. I have had MULTIPLE flyaways and now this.... I KNOW !!!
Sorry but nothing in this statement is accurate.
If the drone loses signal, it will initiate RTH (as long as you haven't changed the LOS action).
Having multiple incidents that you believe to be "flyaways" is an indication that your understanding of how the drone works isn't the best.
how does it NOT cause a fly away ??? of course the app having a crash can cause a fly away...
Having the app crash does not cause a "flyaway" at all.
Your thinking here is very confused.
Losing the app doesn't affect your control signal at all and you still have full control with the R/C.
Have you NOT heard of a "flyaway". It is very understandable that this is one cause for such an event, others report the same as what is described here, by the tens if not hundreds.
I have heard of "flyaways", I have investigated more "flyaway" reports than you could imagine.
To save typing it all over again, here's what I think about "flyaways"

On the flyaways, I disconnected the tablet, then I took a risk by restarting my RC, and then hit RTH manually, then the craft returned. Hmm, very clearly is it that the drone was told to fly away. But I did not say to do it. Again, I re-powered the RC and then hit RTH. Clearly, the drone was receiving bogus messages until I reset and re-instructed as necessary.
Very interesting interpretation but none of it adds up.
I very much doubt that any of your drones flew away.
 
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how does it NOT ??? of course the app having a crash can cause a fly away... the app sends its own signals of what ever at that point.

On my DJI's the app doesn't send any signals at all to the drone, the controller does. I've had the app crash a few times and just flown via the controller until I get the app back up. Or in one case I was about finished simply so flew it back and simply landed. Didn't fly away any time when the app crashed.

Have you NOT heard of a "flyaway". It is very understandable that this is one cause for such an event, others report the same as what is described here, by the tens if not hundreds.

Yep I've heard of a flyaway, but I haven't had it happen on the times Go 4 crashed for me. I just flew normally with the controller until I sorted things out.
 
Drone entering atti mode can drift in wind, especially in high wind.

ATTI Mode doesn't equal "out of control". If it's drifting in ATTI Mode, control it with the controller and stop it. Anyway, the app crashing, which is the subject here is not gonna cause the drone to go into ATTI mode. I speak from a jurisdiction where VLOS is mandatory, so, you know, ATTI mode - big deal, you have the controller, just, you know, control it. If it's in some automated flight mode, cancel out of it and fly.

If there is enough wind that I don't think I could control my drone in ATTI Mode then those conditions are beyond my skill level and I wouldn't fly.
 
... states "do not fly at 2 meters above water". OMG. 2 meters... I would NEVER fly that low above the ground...

Really? I do it all the time. Around my backyard. The Air following me down a trail. In the park weaving through tree trunks. My Tello in the house. Sometimes I fly the Tello all through the house just inches above the floor. Commercially, with my Typhoon, I got some fantastic footage of a storage property flying just below the roofline and down the accessway looking sideways as the storage units went by. Pretty cool 7-second shot. I also got a really cool shot from 50' above the entry, descending to eye level and going through the gate.

Give it a try....you'll get some great shots and it's pretty fun. When doing laps at 150' gets old......
 
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Ok guys the OP isn’t going to post the logs and wants this thread deleted. Sorry @MAVJON 2112 I will not delete
it as to many members are involved but will close it.
Sorry guys but this is closed

CLOSED
 
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