Drone down

[Marko9219]

Dang. I live part time 20 minutes from there. I know the area well. I wish I had these maps 2 days ago, I was just there. I won't be back down for a week or two now.

 

[maigesheng]

"SUPER windy" = don't fly your drone. Period.

The OP ACKNOWLEDGED that it was SUPER windy (capitalization was his), realized that fact, and flew anyway. That's the kind error in judgment that not only loses a drone but can possibly cause damage to someone else's person or property. And when those kinds of poor decisions are made in more urban areas the "bad drone pilot" (the bad apples with poor decision making skills) ends up reflecting back on ALL drone pilots. Then, here comes MORE regulation.

So, you betcha, I want these characters to stop buying drones and stay out of the hobby.

If people don't want to be criticized for their poor decisions then they shouldn't be posting about their poor decisions in a public forum.

Mark

Sir.
There was no one in this desert, for miles and miles around. I was in the middle of nowhere. I assure you, no one was ever at any risk of getting hurt.

As I mentioned, I have flown in SUPER windy situations before and the drone has responded beautifully. I thought it was built for since winds and have read on these very forums that this is the case.

The drone was disconnected from the controller. I lost complete control. I couldn’t do an emergency landing by shifting the sticks to the lower corners. Return to home (twice) was unsuccessful.

I will buy another drone (not right away) and I will fly in wind conditions again. I hope this doesn’t give you a hear attack.

 

[maigesheng]

I apologize if I am encouraging a flame war.
When I get home, I’ll start another thread containing flight logs.

I appreciate all the responses. While I assume this drone is gone forever, it would be cool to see if any of the local community ever comes up with anything out there in the desert.

Peace ya’ll. Happy flying.

 

[sar104]

I apologize if I am encouraging a flame war.
When I get home, I’ll start another thread containing flight logs.

I appreciate all the responses. While I assume this drone is gone forever, it would be cool to see if any of the local community ever comes up with anything out there in the desert.

Peace ya’ll. Happy flying.

With the flight data there is often a reasonable chance of narrowing down the landing location to within a manageable area. That depends on a number of factors, but it's definitely worth giving it a try.

 

[Coolwater]

I've flown in the area you were and I had similar issues but it was not windy.
I later found out the place has a lot of aerial land mines in the form of highly magnetic deposits and government transmission sites.
There were a couple places where the magnetic interference was so bad I couldn't calibrate the drone compass at all.
The military has "experimental" sites as well that use radar and other fun stuff that crap up the radio spectrum more than usual.
My advice for anyone flying out in the US West is; keep it close until you know things behave as they should be.

 

[Photo Booth]

Sir.
There was no one in this desert, for miles and miles around. I was in the middle of nowhere. I assure you, no one was ever at any risk of getting hurt.

As I mentioned, I have flown in SUPER windy situations before and the drone has responded beautifully. I thought it was built for since winds and have read on these very forums that this is the case.

The drone was disconnected from the controller. I lost complete control. I couldn’t do an emergency landing by shifting the sticks to the lower corners. Return to home (twice) was unsuccessful.

I will buy another drone (not right away) and I will fly in wind conditions again. I hope this doesn’t give you a hear attack.

If the drone had disconnected from the controller in calm air (eg, NOT "SUPER windy") then it wouldn't have floated away from you and it would have been able to return to home when its battery got low enough to initiate auto return to home. The winds were ABSOLUTELY a factor in the loss of your drone. Pilot error for flying in unsafe windy conditions.

Mark

 

[W2EJ]

Your also a pretty big binary.

There are 10 kinds of people in this world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

 

[CAG]

What I see, as a newbe, with many of these thread is that there are some who go out of their way to help someone who has had a problem, and a few who seem to think that it is their job to point out every mistake that the person made. Most times the person feels bad enough because they have either lost or damage an expensive drone and they only want help not judgement. If you are going to judge, keep it to your self, or go to some other site that deals with judging every move that someone else make. Let those that can help, help. The purpose of most of these Websites is to help people who are just getting started, gain knowledge, or in some cases find a drone that went astray. If you can't say something good. shut up!

 

[dirkclod]

OK guys lets not get started with the name calling in this, nothing helpful to say then don't .

 

[GavieboyDji]

Hi ya’ll.
Just thought I’d share:
I’ve been traveling in a road trip around the southern and western United States. Had a great flight with my Mavic pro in southern Utah.
The following day, I was in another area of southern Utah and pulled my car over for one last flight before leaving the state.
It was SUPER windy outside.
I started the drone up and toon it off the ground. It struggled with the wind gusts just a little but, generally stayed still, hovering above ground.

I took it up higher and started circling around, taking video of the awesome dessert area around me. Suddenly, I lost connection. Couldn’t see anything on my phone app.

So, I immediately pressed the left stick down, to ground it. But it didn’t respond. It started heading straight across the highway. I hit return to home. nothing happened. I pulled the sticks down to the low corners, nothing happened. Next thing I knew, the wind had taken it about a half mile away, through hilly dessert. I realized within a minute. That it was gone forever.

As I got back in my car, the low battery warning came on. My controller told me that it was now returning to home. Watching the controller, the distance was at 1800’ away, and began dropping rapidly. I jumped out of my car to watch for it as the distance fell to 1600’. Then 1500. The 1400. I was ecstatic!!

But suddenly the distance stopped dropping. 1400’ away from me, in a cold windy desert.

I looked at the drone on the map, and went wandering around looking for it. I got to the point where the map showed it was, putting myself directly on top of it. I looked all around, in bushes, under rocks, everywhere. The drone was not there and, I had 8 hours of driving ahead of me.

That’s it. No more drone. I guess I’ll never know what happened.

Kind of curious to buy another one but, ****. $1000 down the drain like that without explanation.

What would you guys have done in this situation?

Flick straight into sports mode and you would of had your drone now.
What is it with these newbie's pressing rth when it's badly windy that is the absolute worst thing to do.
This is about the 5th post it's so easily read the dos and don't in high wind problem's.

Someone needs to do a Sticky for these Newbie's

 

[JDawg]

Ma

Flick straight into sports mode and you would of had your drone now.
What is it with these newbie's pressing rth when it's badly windy that is the absolute worst thing to do.
This is about the 5th post it's so easily read the dos and don't in high wind problem's.

Someone needs to do a Sticky for these Newbie's

Maybe. Lowering the bird and going to sport mode would be even better but we really don't know enough to know.

 

[PropSpin]

Flick straight into sports mode and you would of had your drone now.
What is it with these newbie's pressing rth when it's badly windy that is the absolute worst thing to do.
This is about the 5th post it's so easily read the dos and don't in high wind problem's.

Someone needs to do a Sticky for these Newbie's

His first problem is that his connection was lost and never appeared to reconnect. Or at least not until the very end.

 

[smoothie]

Flick straight into sports mode and you would of had your drone now.

After he lost connection?

It does sound like at some point it reconnected if the low battery indicator came on but that is unclear.

 

[Yoda007]

Start a treasure hunt. Post up all the info and offer a reasonable reward. Maybe there are some droner's on the forum that live in the general area that can try to locate the wreckage just for fun. You could possibly get your drone back. What have you got to loose?

Or post “Lost Drone” signs with proper info/pics and offering a reward like I did A young man called the next day a block away (the built in locator was off by a block). I immediately purchased a Marco Polo device and use it on every flight nowadays.

 

[Waldo Pepper]

Hi ya’ll.
Just thought I’d share:
I’ve been traveling in a road trip around the southern and western United States. Had a great flight with my Mavic pro in southern Utah.
The following day, I was in another area of southern Utah and pulled my car over for one last flight before leaving the state.
It was SUPER windy outside.
I started the drone up and toon it off the ground. It struggled with the wind gusts just a little but, generally stayed still, hovering above ground.

I took it up higher and started circling around, taking video of the awesome dessert area around me. Suddenly, I lost connection. Couldn’t see anything on my phone app.

So, I immediately pressed the left stick down, to ground it. But it didn’t respond. It started heading straight across the highway. I hit return to home. nothing happened. I pulled the sticks down to the low corners, nothing happened. Next thing I knew, the wind had taken it about a half mile away, through hilly dessert. I realized within a minute. That it was gone forever.

As I got back in my car, the low battery warning came on. My controller told me that it was now returning to home. Watching the controller, the distance was at 1800’ away, and began dropping rapidly. I jumped out of my car to watch for it as the distance fell to 1600’. Then 1500. The 1400. I was ecstatic!!

But suddenly the distance stopped dropping. 1400’ away from me, in a cold windy desert.

I looked at the drone on the map, and went wandering around looking for it. I got to the point where the map showed it was, putting myself directly on top of it. I looked all around, in bushes, under rocks, everywhere. The drone was not there and, I had 8 hours of driving ahead of me.

That’s it. No more drone. I guess I’ll never know what happened.

Kind of curious to buy another one but, ****. $1000 down the drain like that without explanation.

What would you guys have done in this situation?

That’s happened to me 2-3 times before, drone isn’t at its last connection when it went down on its own due to low battery.

What happened is When it landed or almost landed it disconnected again due to low elevation, it tried to fly itself back to home point and never reconnected due to low elevation, it fles maybe a few hundred yards at most before low battery brings it down again.

If possible, I know it’s an 8 hour drive but it’s possible to find it not too far from it’s last connection were you stood. Walk the same path to home point direction you’ll find it, please keep us posted.

Paul

 

[maigesheng]

Hi guys.
So, Im home now. Drone is, more than likely, obliterated by the temperature and weather out there in southern utah. But I am attaching the flight log.


If anyone can find this, I'd be stoked!!!! While I would love to get it back, Id be just as interested to figure out what went wrong, beside the wind and cold.

I dont have tons of money to work with but, I would certainly offer a belated christmas card with a little belated holiday cheer in it!!

Also... for the potentially nefarious, out there:
If someone didnt find the drone but, happened to find the sd card that was in it.... I would be pretty happy about that too lol.

My email is [email protected]


Thanks again, for all the positive and/or helpful responses. You are a cool community and, recovery or not, I appreciate it!!

Happy flying.

 

[maigesheng]

And just a little more relevant info:
I had crashed the drone into a tree about a year ago. Camera was completely dis-attached and lost to the river.

I had it repaired by an authorized dealer. Ever since, it had connection issues where I would lose all control and video on my phone.

I read that this was probably the cable which connects the phone to the controller so, I replaced that. All was good for a month or three but, the connection issue happened again.

I replaced the cable again and, this was the first time I used the new cable. Drone disconnected and was taken away by high winds.

 

[dirkclod]

Thread Cleaned as well as I could.
Guys please report and not quote mess so I don't have to butcher these threads .
I don't like it no better than you.
Carry on but be civil . Someone gets out of hand or inappropriate report it not quote it.

 

[Turn11]

1400’ away from me, in a cold windy desert

I live and fly in this environment note my location. Flying in this environment without a locator is not a good idea. A LOT of the flying will be without benefit of cellular and IMHO the Marco Polo in specific because it works without cellular.
Another tool is the two apps UAV Forecast and Ventusky. UAV Forecast gives you wind speed at various elevations. Ventusky gives wind activity surrounding your location, just nice to know information.

no wind problems


Forearmed is forewarned (for those who don't know what it means)


Ventusky