Flight Path/Video Storage

[Rod NCHRST]

A couple of questions, thanks in advance for replies.

Where is the flight data and/or video stored? I take a spin around the neighborhood, take some video of nearby forests. Upon return I find the video on the Mem Chip onboard.
Is the flight analytics (direction, coordinates, altitude, duration, etc. stored on the Mem card in addition to the video?
Where else is the video and the data stored?

A/C goes down in the forest, I can't visually locate it.

How do I get help from DJI finding it? If it's a flyaway ... no pilot error, and I have the insurance on the AC, how does DJI substantiate that the AC flew away, has been lost, was not pilot error etc.?
Does DJI have the flight data, the video back up?
If I don't have the AC, how do I have the flight path data to retrace my steps to find it?

In a discussion with another fellow, these kinds of questions arose, and I found myself at a loss for answers.

Thanks, folks,

Rod

 

[slup]

Where is the ... video stored?...

Pictures & vids are stored in full resolution on the SD card in the AC. If you have caching activated in the DJI app you will also have low resolution versions stored in the mobile device you flew with, mainly the live feed data without telemetry saved, so connection glitches will be seen there ... that cache function can be a bit glitchy, sometime not all pics/vids are saved.

Is the flight analytics... stored on the Mem card...?

The flight logs are both in the mobile device you flew with & in the AC ... but the one in the AC isn't readable by anyone else than DJI staff (with the exception for some older AC models).

In the mobile device you have 2 kind of logs that can be read by us ...
-one .TXT which contain telemetry transmitted from the aircraft to the RC. These logs don't include any raw sensor data - only the IMU solutions that are the output from the sensor fusion algorithm. They also include battery data, gimbal and camera data, flight status and error flags, but no motor data.

...and
-one .DAT log containing a subset of the aircraft DAT files, including most of the raw sensor data, also motor data is found here.

The above can differ a bit depending on the AC model ...
-the Mini 1 (at least ) also have another log stored on the AC SD card, named fc_log.log ... it contains equivalent data as the mobile device DAT log.
-the Mini 2's mobile device DAT is encrypted & can't be read by others than DJI staff for the moment.

Read more about logs & how to retrieve & read them here --> Mavic Flight Log Retrieval and Analysis Guide

How do I get help from DJI finding it?

Have never heard of that DJI help pilots to find their drones ... in the DJI app you have the function "Find my drone" though. It will record the last position reported back to your app & mark it on a map. Can be correct if the connection between the AC & RC is maintained the whole way to ground ... but if connection is lost whilst the AC is airborne it most probably isn't pointing at the correct location ... the AC would have landed else where.

If it's a flyaway ... no pilot error, and I have the insurance on the AC, how does DJI substantiate that the AC flew away, has been lost, was not pilot error etc.?

In most cases you need to have the drone & send it in in order to get anything from their care refresh program, that's why people stuff their drones with various independent location devices, beepers or floating devices ... exceptions to this have been seen if the logs clearly show the blame is DJI's. And DJI want the logs in all cases to substantiate the reason.

Does DJI have the flight data...?

If you decide to sync your flights to DJI cloud service they will have access to them ...

If I don't have the AC, how do I have the flight path data to retrace my steps to find it?

You have the logs as they are stored in the mobile device you flew with ... the will be readable through the DJI app & various free/paid web services or local MAC or PC programs.