Hi,
I am helping to look into a drone accident where a M300 unexpectedly entered RTH mode and eventually landed into the sea. Having viewed the log, I think that this was due to DJI program error. Yet, I appeal here to see if anyone had experienced similar before and if there are any better way to response.
For some reason, I cannot fully disclose the log here, pls be understanding.
Incident
The drone first took off on a boat. The weather was fine. Obstacle sensors were switched off as the drone would be landing by hand-catch. RTH location was set to follow remote controller. The payload was camera lens by DJI. The pilot tested the condition of the drone after take off (observe the response of the drone against stick input). Everything was fine.
Upon took off, satellite reception was fine with home point updated. After about 6 minutes of uneventful flight, the radio connection suddenly lost for 10 seconds. The drone was within radio & visual line of sight and the estimated distance between RC and drone was only ard 800 meters.
Upon re-connection, the drone was stationary on the same flight height. It was 23 meter away from the point where connection was broken. No RTH was initiated. Instead, the drone was still in P-GPS mode and hovering. It stopped responding to the pilot’s command (full speed forward) and remain hovering.
About 12 second later, the drone suddenly flied back. It first ascended to the RTH height and head back to the home point (which was the take off point, HP01). When closing up to the take off point, it automatically upon the Home Point and changed direction towards the new Home Point (HP 02). It repeated the above twice and eventually auto landed on HP 04.
During this period, pilot had no control over the drone (stick control/ payload operation/ any other setting). He can view the FPV camera only. As he had no control over the drone, it was considered too risky to land it on a floating boat (other ppl there). The drone thus landed on sea and sank as submarine.
Upon log review, it was found that the drone entered into “Go Home (RC Disconnected)” mode. The pilot did not operate/ initiate that function (RC.goHomeDepressed= false). According to pilot, he also did not update the home point during the flight.
It was also found that during this “Go Home (RC Disconnected)” condition, the downlink and uplink were ranged 80-100.
Assumption
Having considered the above, I incline to believe that the drone eerily entered into a strange condition and “thought” that the RC link was disconnected and thus disregarded all input from the pilot.
Has anyone seen something like this before? And more importantly, any better way to prevent and response to such situation?
Thank you.
I am helping to look into a drone accident where a M300 unexpectedly entered RTH mode and eventually landed into the sea. Having viewed the log, I think that this was due to DJI program error. Yet, I appeal here to see if anyone had experienced similar before and if there are any better way to response.
For some reason, I cannot fully disclose the log here, pls be understanding.
Incident
The drone first took off on a boat. The weather was fine. Obstacle sensors were switched off as the drone would be landing by hand-catch. RTH location was set to follow remote controller. The payload was camera lens by DJI. The pilot tested the condition of the drone after take off (observe the response of the drone against stick input). Everything was fine.
Upon took off, satellite reception was fine with home point updated. After about 6 minutes of uneventful flight, the radio connection suddenly lost for 10 seconds. The drone was within radio & visual line of sight and the estimated distance between RC and drone was only ard 800 meters.
Upon re-connection, the drone was stationary on the same flight height. It was 23 meter away from the point where connection was broken. No RTH was initiated. Instead, the drone was still in P-GPS mode and hovering. It stopped responding to the pilot’s command (full speed forward) and remain hovering.
About 12 second later, the drone suddenly flied back. It first ascended to the RTH height and head back to the home point (which was the take off point, HP01). When closing up to the take off point, it automatically upon the Home Point and changed direction towards the new Home Point (HP 02). It repeated the above twice and eventually auto landed on HP 04.
During this period, pilot had no control over the drone (stick control/ payload operation/ any other setting). He can view the FPV camera only. As he had no control over the drone, it was considered too risky to land it on a floating boat (other ppl there). The drone thus landed on sea and sank as submarine.
Upon log review, it was found that the drone entered into “Go Home (RC Disconnected)” mode. The pilot did not operate/ initiate that function (RC.goHomeDepressed= false). According to pilot, he also did not update the home point during the flight.
It was also found that during this “Go Home (RC Disconnected)” condition, the downlink and uplink were ranged 80-100.
Assumption
Having considered the above, I incline to believe that the drone eerily entered into a strange condition and “thought” that the RC link was disconnected and thus disregarded all input from the pilot.
Has anyone seen something like this before? And more importantly, any better way to prevent and response to such situation?
Thank you.
