I just wanted to post and say thanks to this forum and the many experienced pilots who contribute to it. Today I experienced my first app crash. Full disclosure, I never fly outside of LOS so I could see her. But having the app crash would have sent me into a panic that probably would have resulted in some stupid pilot error and caused me some problems. I was over water, and flying at a fairly low altitude (25 feet) when it crashed on me. I was about 500 feet away, so not crystal clear view, but I could still see it. I honestly didn't panic at all, which may or may not be a good thing, I haven't decided yet. But because of the countless threads I've read here, and all of the great advice I've seen, I felt like I knew exactly what to do. Again, yes, I know this isn't the same as losing the app when you're 1400 feet away or more, but for me, it was a BFD. I ascended to what I felt was a safe altitude immediately. Made visual contact to make sure she wasn't racing off. And then decided to follow the rest of the good advice to see if I could navigate her back using only the RC. I kept an eye on the distance and made some slight turns, then pushed forward on the sticks. First time, she went further away (I'll confess to swearing a little at that point), second pass she only went slightly further away. Third time, the distance started dropping and I just stayed the course until I had a very clear visual on the mavic, then flew her down for a simple landing. Again, I totally realize that this wasn't something that would probably be considered a big deal to any experienced pilot, but for me, it was a good confidence booster under a slightly controlled circumstance. I felt that because of all of the things I'd read here, and how all of that went through my head while this was going on, I should come here and say thanks.
First DJI GO 4 App crash
- Thread starter boone
- Start date
Then let me share you a personal story that happened to me in Thailand. I was flying the drone, and moved past LOS to get some great scenery photos when the app suddenly disconnected. I couldn't get it to reconnect so what I did was, since I was near a mountain, a throttled all the way up to max altitude and looked at the telemetry on my controller. I engaged the RTH only long enough so the drone points to back home and I started flying. I was watching the distance get smaller and smaller until I could see the drone in the distance. I was in forested mountain so RTH would have guaranteed a crash into trees during landing or approach. Once I saw it I navigated down and toward me at my altitude and landed the drone safely.
My app disconnected because some dirt had gotten on my dongle preventing a clear physical connection between RC and phone.
Pedro
Well-Known Member
gusri.candra
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2017
- Messages
- 175
- Reactions
- 49
- Age
- 52
Scary experience...! I also had that problem when 2km away and could not have visual contact to my baby-mavic. Application freeze to its last image and red alert show disconnected. Luckily the RTH on the RC worked well.
Next time I will try reboot the application. Do you guys think it has to do with the new firm ware..? Is the new firm ware doesn't work well...?
Next time I will try reboot the application. Do you guys think it has to do with the new firm ware..? Is the new firm ware doesn't work well...?
I think it has everything to do with your device and too much crap running in the background.
Here's the thing, I think I might know why the app crashed, but it's just a theory right now. First of all, I had problems before I even took off with the app, so that kind of made me a little prepared for a crash too. But here is what I think was going on. I believe I had my cache set to a value that was higher than I actually had available space on my iPhone. Like a lot higher actually. I realized that on the ground before take off and immediately freed up some space to fix the problem. What I didn't do, though, was tame the cache setting so it wasn't so huge. So when I was flying, I think the cache just again exceeded what was available on the device and then just said "fuqit, I'm out of here". Not sure how to test that without risking a crash, or I would, but that's honestly what I'm thinking right now.
Last edited:
And I'd never experienced a problem with the app before today. And I changed the cache size the previous flight. To me that would be a red flag that something I did previously fubar'd it. And that would be the cache size setting change I made.
m0j0
Well-Known Member
If You can see it. You can bring it back without the application. If you can't then you need to practice until you can. 1 video and a few minutes of your time to watch it is all it takes.. Here is the video
Practice practice practice this. About 10 minutes of work and you will be ready to go.
Here is a little advice. Use RTH as a last resort. If you can see it and control it then you do not need RTH or the APP. Fly it back yourself. Disconnects happen occasionally, do not panic. If you can see it, and have sufficient battery, reconnect the application and keep flying. If you do not have sufficient battery to continue flying bring it back and land it.
RTH works like a champ. Find out how it works and practice it. Then put that in your operator tool bag and don't use it... I know that sounds crazy but.. If you can see it and control it. You are better than the programming at getting it back and landing it safely. If you aren't then you need to work at it until you are.
My .02
Practice practice practice this. About 10 minutes of work and you will be ready to go.
Here is a little advice. Use RTH as a last resort. If you can see it and control it then you do not need RTH or the APP. Fly it back yourself. Disconnects happen occasionally, do not panic. If you can see it, and have sufficient battery, reconnect the application and keep flying. If you do not have sufficient battery to continue flying bring it back and land it.
RTH works like a champ. Find out how it works and practice it. Then put that in your operator tool bag and don't use it... I know that sounds crazy but.. If you can see it and control it. You are better than the programming at getting it back and landing it safely. If you aren't then you need to work at it until you are.
My .02
Last edited:
In my story I mentioned above, I only used RTH to make the drone point back home. I canceled and flew in myself until I could see it.
hi Cyberpower, what does it mean "LOS"? (sorry for the dumb question, but i just learn now the shorts
)hi Cyberpower, what does it mean "LOS"? (sorry for the dumb question, but i just learn now the shorts
Line of sight, and you will also see VLOS which is Visual Line of Sight (which I believe is more commonly used).
i told it. it was a dumb question
thank you boone! and congratulation for your nice save
.i told it. it was a dumb question
thank you boone! and congratulation for your nice save
Its only dumb if you don't ask it. We all start somewhere. Glad to help. Happy flying.
mig25
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2017
- Messages
- 63
- Reactions
- 16
- Age
- 77
Great video...i don't have the drone yet but ill practice this. Question. If the unit is going forward to you or away, what then? Its all visual. I flew r/c planes for years. I painted the bottom wing yellow and top red on all my aircraft. Never lost one in 10 years. I would pull up and if i see red its going away...yellow its coming at me. I was thinking of putting yellow tape on the front legs but these are pretty small. May be of no use
m0j0
Well-Known Member
The idea is to get an idea which direction it is going across your view. It is pretty simple actually.
My Android app crashes on almost every single flight. This often leads to bizarre or dangerous flyaways or lack of response. I stopped using it. Using iPad instead of my phone as result.
Similar threads
- Locked
