Hi there, not sure if any other pilots have had this terrible loss.

[TrevorDawes]

Hi there. a building close to me was on fire so i took a flight to see from the air (This is an area well flown by me and my Mavic Pro)
The aircraft said "Landing" without warning and continued to land without the option to return home (Home GPS co-ordinates recorded before flight)
Try as i might, i could not gain control. Shortly thereafter the link was lost so the "Find my Drone feature" cannot show the exact position of the aircraft.
The sad part is that it probably landed in busy taxi rank (If this is the case, its gone forever...)
Has anyone had a similar experience? Me not a very happy person....
Is the telemetry stored on the controller and the aircraft?

 

[Lastrexking]

The flight data will be stored in Go4 on your mobile device. See section 3 of this post on how to retrieve them (courtesy of @sar104).

Mavic Flight Log Retrieval and Analysis Guide

With the introduction of the Mavic Mini there has been a noticeable uptick in the number of posts requesting help with lost or crashed aircraft. While there is plenty of help and advice available on this forum, and detailed guidance and options on several other websites, I thought that perhaps a...

mavicpilots.com

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

I would be interested to know if some Fire Depts. can now erect a TFR around a fire zone. They certainly should have that ability and it would explain this forced landing incident (craft finds itself suddenly in a NFZ).

If so, it would probably depend on how close you were to the fire event.

Chris

 

[sar104]

I would be interested to know if some Fire Depts. can now erect a TFR around a fire zone. They certainly should have that ability and it would explain this forced landing incident (craft finds itself suddenly in a NFZ).

If so, it would probably depend on how close you were to the fire event.

Chris

Pretty much anyone with any kind of government agency authority can implement a TFR. It takes one phone call and in my experience it takes around 30 minutes to put in place. You supply location, shape, altitude, expected duration, authorizing agency and point of contact. That generates the necessary NOTAM.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

But does a TFR activate DJI geofencing ?
This is what would be required to have a drone behave like this (and only DJI drones).

We see TFR zones come up on our apps / maps to fly legally, for home, grass, and car fires, motor vehicle accidents etc, of course haven't ever tried to fly in one, but I would think geofencing would not happen as such.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Oh yeah, post the flight logs, go here, follow instructions, post link to the report.

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload and view flight logs from your DJI drones

www.phantomhelp.com

The analysts can get more info from the data, so do post it for interest sake.

 

[Cobra193]

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you should know by now that flying anywhere near a fire can get you arrested, and some fire departments are deploying drone intercepters that force drones to land..

Signal Interceptor Scramblers Drone Gun Jammers

In the face of more and more chaos drone market, the government has to take more drastic measures. Perfectjammer's drone jamming gun good solved this difficult problem

www.perfectjammer.com

 

[sar104]

But does a TFR activate DJI geofencing ?
This is what would be required to have a drone behave like this (and only DJI drones).

We see TFR zones come up on our apps / maps to fly legally, for home, grass, and car fires, motor vehicle accidents etc, of course haven't ever tried to fly in one, but I would think geofencing would not happen as such.

Yes - it does. New TFRs get into the DJI Geo database very quickly now - it used to take 24 hours or so, but now it is nearly immediate, and if you have an internet connection it will either prevent takeoff or, if it activates mid-flight, may cause the aircraft to land. Interestingly, they are only authorization zones, and so you can (not necessarily legally) override them.

 

[scoble08]

Yes - it does. New TFRs get into the DJI Geo database very quickly now - it used to take 24 hours or so, but now it is nearly immediate, and if you have an internet connection it will either prevent takeoff or, if it activates mid-flight, may cause the aircraft to land. Interestingly, they are only authorization zones, and so you can (not necessarily legally) override them.

Are the TFR's pushed out live to app, or through database updates?

 

[sar104]

Are the TFR's pushed out live to app, or through database updates?

They appear to be pushed live, since database updates are relatively infrequent.

 

[Gindra]

While flying near a fire event is prohibited in the US, the OP is from South Africa. Is it also illegal there?

 

[Peter Trab]

Hi there. a building close to me was on fire so i took a flight to see from the air (This is an area well flown by me and my Mavic Pro)
The aircraft said "Landing" without warning and continued to land without the option to return home (Home GPS co-ordinates recorded before flight)
Try as i might, i could not gain control. Shortly thereafter the link was lost so the "Find my Drone feature" cannot show the exact position of the aircraft.
The sad part is that it probably landed in busy taxi rank (If this is the case, its gone forever...)
Has anyone had a similar experience? Me not a very happy person....
Is the telemetry stored on the controller and the aircraft?

It is possible to controle the drone if you keep on applying left stick (up) , you have to do this almost constantly, then you can controle the drone and fly home, if there are signals that will interrupt the signals to drone, this is not possible.
I know its easy to be hindsight but just if this should happen to you again.

 

[Deleted member 114292]

Last I checked to FAA does not control air space is South Africa.

 

[Texbow]

Last I checked to FAA does not control air space is South Africa.

I took it to mean that some regulatory body does and it's illegal there also.

 

[daveiam]

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you should know by now that flying anywhere near a fire can get you arrested, and some fire departments are deploying drone intercepters that force drones to land..

Signal Interceptor Scramblers Drone Gun Jammers

In the face of more and more chaos drone market, the government has to take more drastic measures. Perfectjammer's drone jamming gun good solved this difficult problem

www.perfectjammer.com

This is absolutely correct. You are immediately prohibited from flying your drone in the vicinity of an active emergency (Police, Fire). Just because you have flown it there before, does not give you the explicit authority to fly anytime you want. You should have known that.

 

[Lastrexking]

This is absolutely correct. You are immediately prohibited from flying your drone in the vicinity of an active emergency (Police, Fire). Just because you have flown it there before, does not give you the explicit authority to fly anytime you want. You should have known that.

In which country? The rules quoted are for the US. OP is in South Africa..

 

[scoble08]

They appear to be pushed live, since database updates are relatively infrequent.

Thx

 

[daveiam]

In which country? The rules quoted are for the US. OP is in South Africa..

Good point. This rule is for the United States. I don't know about what flight rules are enacted for South Africa. But think about it--if it isn't specifically prohibited in your country, you still should not be flying your drone anywhere near an active emergency scene. Any distraction to the incident commanders, or the operation is not wise.

 

[Merstham Flyer]

Hi there. a building close to me was on fire so i took a flight to see from the air (This is an area well flown by me and my Mavic Pro)
The aircraft said "Landing" without warning and continued to land without the option to return home (Home GPS co-ordinates recorded before flight)
Try as i might, i could not gain control. Shortly thereafter the link was lost so the "Find my Drone feature" cannot show the exact position of the aircraft.
The sad part is that it probably landed in busy taxi rank (If this is the case, its gone forever...)
Has anyone had a similar experience? Me not a very happy person....
Is the telemetry stored on the controller and the aircraft?

Didn’t need to read past the very first line.
”fire” “took a flight to see”
Wrong anyway. Asking for trouble with emergency services in the area.

 

[TrevorDawes]

Hi all you expert pilots. Further to my loss.
I have looked at the flight logs and it looks like battery failure in mid flight causing a forced landing.
Not sure where I get assistance from as the aircraft is out of warrantee