I lost my drone

[ilostmydrone]

So I was flying my drone like a noob far away from my home when at 20 percent battery it told me it was emergency landing without giving me an option to cancel so I tried heading for the nearest road as I was high over a forest then my signal cut out. Any help would be appreciated as I have looked for it twice to no avail so far


Not sure if this is how to post my flight log?

 

[FLDave]

You posted the live AirData page so all the information is there for evaluation.
There were so many errors and warnings and yet you continued full forward and upward beyond legal limits.
Did you ever think how long it would take to return from over 2 miles or even how long it would take descend from 1,200 feet?
Look at the battery pages and you can get an idea of what was going on. You did moves which required high amps usage so battery eventually couldn't handle it.
While in the auto landing mode at 885 feet you were getting weak signals. I suspect that the you lost connection as the drone descended to no more data came to your phone. At that altitude it's possible that the drone ran out of battery and fell to something.
It's probably just an expensive lesson learned about flying with the regs and paying attention to the warnings. At 50% battery it would have been appropriate to initiate emergency RTH.

 

[FLDave]

If you had valid CareRefresh you might be able to get a replacement (in US it would be $499) for a non-recoverable done. I don't know details of a Canadian policy.

 

[ilostmydrone]

I know that now.

I’ve made a similar trip only over open fields a couple times already and made it back home with 10 percent and it never emergency landed just figured I would stay up higher to get a better signal didn’t expect it to start landing so early

 

[ilostmydrone]

so no idea where it would most likely be so I can take one last look?

 

[FLDave]

Look at the cells voltage graph; there was a big drop at about 14 minutes. I suspect there was a huge energy demand at this point; check battery amps page for the purple lines.

 

[FLDave]

It should be located a the last recorded point when connection lost, assuming the wind did not blow it away. AirData does not show the GPS coordinates so that is somewhere in the .txt file.

 

[ilostmydrone]

54°55'01.8"N 112°18'28.6"W · Lac La Biche, AB, Canada

Lac La Biche, AB, Canada

www.google.com

the location it gave me in airdata details

 

[ilostmydrone]

Couldn’t find it

 

[ilostmydrone]

Any chance it kept flying forward for a bit after it lost signal?

 

[ilostmydrone]

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Your log on phantom help.

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload and view flight logs from your DJI drones

www.phantomhelp.com

It is likely the drone would have kept literally flying after the disconnection PROVIDING that the disconnection was NOT due to a battery disconnection.
BUT since the flight mode was Autolanding, "flying" that means descending.

With no commands being received from the controller there would have been NO signifcant horizontal movement bar any wind drift and I do not know what the wind would have done, though, due to the 'weakening' battery, the drone's ability to fight wind would have likely been degraded as the battery percentage got lower.

It looks like it might have initially been getting 140ft to 155ft of descent per battery percent. So, from 885ft (at the end of the log), I suspect it made it to a 'landing height' in a controlled descent but it may have rejected the landing site and hovered until the critical landing thing kicked-in after which it would have started to descend again. I suspect the actual landing may have been in a tree or bush etc. Depending on the height of the ground relative to the take off point, the AGL height of the drone may have been greater than or less then the indicated 1179ft at the start of the autolanding.
I would let the find my drone function take you to what the app thinks was the last known position and from there look downwind, NE?. Bear in mind a Mini can hide very well in bushes.

I would ask, what was the reason for this flight? It looks as if you had no memory card in the drone so I think you would have only low resolution images available on the phone, if that.
You certainly were beyond VLOS and probably well above legal height limits.

 

[Merrill277]

So I was flying my drone like a noob far away from my home when at 20 percent battery it told me it was emergency landing without giving me an option to cancel so I tried heading for the nearest road as I was high over a forest then my signal cut out. Any help would be appreciated as I have looked for it twice to no avail so far


Not sure if this is how to post my flight log?

You must not have had it set to RTH, return to home. Or it would have done that instead. I used RTH at even 10% battery and quite a ways out too.

 

[rgarjr]

Do u have the video cache on your mobile device?

 

[cheddar-man]

So I was flying my drone like a noob far away from my home when at 20 percent battery it told me it was emergency landing without giving me an option to cancel so I tried heading for the nearest road as I was high over a forest then my signal cut out. Any help would be appreciated as I have looked for it twice to no avail so far


Not sure if this is how to post my flight log?

Hindsight is 20/20 they say!! In your setting you should have setRTH for low battery, not LAND!

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

The home point was set at 32.8seconds, the failsafe was set to Go Home, column DK of the Phantomhelp csv.

I too wondered about why there was no RTH as a consequence of the long disconnection at 8:40 but if you look at the log, the flight mode was "Sport" immediately prior to the disconnection and "P_GPS" immediately after the reconnection. I guess the flight mode was switched during the disconnection and that on reconnection that change of flight mode cancelled the RTH.

I too am puzzled as to why there was no low battery RTH.

 

[MS Coast]

Look at the cells voltage graph; there was a big drop at about 14 minutes. I suspect there was a huge energy demand at this point; check battery amps page for the purple lines.

At 13:27, he had flown the drone to a point about 2.5 miles out at probably twice the legal altitude. The battery was so low that the aircraft went into auto-landing mode. Whatever energy demands that were made were made against a nearly depleted battery.

 

[ilostmydrone]

Do u have the video cache on your mobile device?

Yes but the angle is pointing almost straight so not much help. If the gimbal were pointed down I would be able to see the vicinity in which it was landing

 

[LoudThunder]

So I was flying my drone like a noob far away from my home

Since your first posting was ILostMyDrone and not in the "Pilot Check In," you never received out typical Welcome Package that includes all the advice that you could have used to not lose your drone… So, in the event you actually find your drone or you buy another one. Here is our typical posting to New Members…

Welcome from the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, USA. We have a Member's Map in the Upper Right of the Title Bar.

Members map

mavicpilots.com

Since you live in Canada, there are specific laws and rules for you to follow, please check to ensure these are current. And if you want to stay out of trouble, obey them…

Drone Laws in Canada [Updated September 4, 2024]

According to Transport Canada, drone use is allowed in Canada, subject to regulations. Read on for more details on the new Canada Drone Laws

drone-laws.com

Now, for some Good Old Fashion Advice…

Do not let the excitement of the moment get the best of you. When you are going out to fly, do it slowly and deliberately. Get used to a set procedure and even practice it.

There are so many things I could write but these are the highlights that I feel need mentioning.

Plug in your phone/tablet into your controller; turn on the Controller and DJI Fly App (if it does not start on its own…). On the Drone, open the front legs, then open the back legs, then remove the Gimbal Cover.

The Gimbal is the most delicate item on the Drone and banging or bumping can damage it. I also fastened a short "Remove Before Flight" ribbon to the cover so it's more noticeable and I do not forget to remove it…

Turn on the drone and watch it come to "life." Watching the Gimbal go through its self-check is almost like watching a kitten or puppy opening its eyes for the first time…

Place the drone down (preferably on a Landing Pad) while it finishes its self-test (collecting satellites, etc…).

Check your battery status (Phone, Drone, and Controller), check the Signal Strength, by now the Controller should have reported it updated the Home Point.

Lift off, 4-5 feet (1-1/2 meters) or so, hover a bit, check the controls (move the drone a bit forward, back, left, right, yaw left and right). By now, your Controller will probably report again, Home point Updated.

If you go out in a rush and race thru your start up and take off before the drone has finished it prep, it may update its Home Point over that pond or that old tree you are flying over and in your excitement, you'll fly the drone long past it Low Battery point and when it engages Return to Home and lands in the pond or in a tree; it will be all on you…

Now go have fun, learn to fly the drone by sight before you try to fly it out a distance depending on the video feed, FPV.

I would also advise you to use YouTube and watch a lot of the Videos on flying and setting up the Drone. When it is too dark, too cold, or too wet, you can "fly it vicariously" through YouTube. Also watch some of the Blooper Drone Videos and learn how not to fly your "New Baby."

Below is the link to all of the downloads offered by DJI for the Mini 2, including the User Manual.

After you read the Manual, read it again, you will be surprised what you missed the first time and you will be better prepared for that first "scary moment…"

DJI Mini 2 - Download Center - DJI

Learn and download DJI Mini 2 related apps, software, and manuals at the DJI Download Center

www.dji.com

Once

 

[JustJeff]

You posted the live AirData page so all the information is there for evaluation.
There were so many errors and warnings and yet you continued full forward and upward beyond legal limits.
Did you ever think how long it would take to return from over 2 miles or even how long it would take descend from 1,200 feet?
Look at the battery pages and you can get an idea of what was going on. You did moves which required high amps usage so battery eventually couldn't handle it.
While in the auto landing mode at 885 feet you were getting weak signals. I suspect that the you lost connection as the drone descended to no more data came to your phone. At that altitude it's possible that the drone ran out of battery and fell to something.
It's probably just an expensive lesson learned about flying with the regs and paying attention to the warnings. At 50% battery it would have been appropriate to initiate emergency RTH.

I couldn't agree more. To me, the whole story sounds like B.S. "No warnings", or anything like that sounds impossible to this VERY novice user. I get all kinds of data while flying, and I may miss or ignore it, but it's there.