Ipad Dies During Flight

[Deleted member 133794]

Well that was a situation i wasn't ready for. Got up this morning and saw it was going
to be a decent sun rise so quickly set up my MA2 and headed out into the garden.
I took off rose to an altitude of 385 ft and had a lovely view of the early morning sun rise
on my ipad air screen. I made a few adjustments to video settings and hit record, i made a
few gimbal movements to get a better picture and then.........everything went BLACK there
was nothing on the screen at all. No matter what i tried the ipad had died. I knew it wasn't the
battery because it had been on charge all night. I had no control of the drone at all, i could see
the drones LEDs up above me but any movement on the sticks did nothing, so it was now a
waiting game, after about 5 minutes ( seemed like 5 hours ) RTH kicked in and it started
decending but i still had no control, thankfully it came down bang centre on the pad.
I checked the ipad again now the drone was down and it seems it has broken.
Was there something else i could have done to gain control just through the controller.
The wait was terrifying, hope this never happens again.

 

[dirkclod]

You should have had control of the drone without your device.

 

[Heindrich1988]

Yes, as dirk said, you can even takeoff and fly without any device connected to your controller, not that it's recommended to do so.

If stick movement really did nothing, then it suggests something else is up.

 

[old man mavic]

sounds like a combination of the cold and the fact you were directly overhead

 

[B52-D]

As Dirkclod mentioned, you still should have had control, as your iPad is only a display screen. Your controller was in charge of your Mavic. Sounds like you had more than one issue.

 

[dirkclod]

The only thing I can think of is during your trying to figure out
what was going on you disconnected from your controller like losing LOS then you would have had no control.

 

[Deleted member 133794]

Yes it did send me into a panic so perhaps i made it worse somehow.
I did expect to still have control so it was probably down to me.
Thanks for all your comments

 

[THE CYBORG]

I had – stress HAD an iPad that went blank during a flight but I had control of the drone.
After that indecent it was back to my trusty Samsung tablet & gave the iPad to my son.

 

[Platinum 4 ever]

Well that was a situation i wasn't ready for. Got up this morning and saw it was going
to be a decent sun rise so quickly set up my MA2 and headed out into the garden.
I took off rose to an altitude of 385 ft and had a lovely view of the early morning sun rise
on my ipad air screen. I made a few adjustments to video settings and hit record, i made a
few gimbal movements to get a better picture and then.........everything went BLACK there
was nothing on the screen at all. No matter what i tried the ipad had died. I knew it wasn't the
battery because it had been on charge all night. I had no control of the drone at all, i could see
the drones LEDs up above me but any movement on the sticks did nothing, so it was now a
waiting game, after about 5 minutes ( seemed like 5 hours ) RTH kicked in and it started
decending but i still had no control, thankfully it came down bang centre on the pad.
I checked the ipad again now the drone was down and it seems it has broken.
Was there something else i could have done to gain control just through the controller.
The wait was terrifying, hope this never happens again.

Hmmmm... I started to a Samsung tab A..that did what you are saying.... about two years ago bought my iPad mini 5... knock on wood.... it never happened again.....

 

[Deleted member 133794]

i think i probably panicked and made it worse for myself,
like dirkclod said i probably lost connection and it was all
down hill from then on. Lesson learned....hopefully.
Thanks again for all your help.

 

[DanMan32]

Perhaps the iPad messed up the USB, which then caused the remote to lock up. Remote couldn't have been completely hung or else the AC would have gone to failsafe.

 

[Kilrah]

It's been a while but I've had times where the device died and that locked control - yank the USB cable out and it comes back.
Depending on how the mobile device dies the RC probably still sees it connected and expects stuff ftom it, but disconnecting the cable makes it clear it's gone and everything goes back to direct control.

As to the iPad dying, how old is it, and was it cold? Worn out battery and cold temps can do that.

 

[Deleted member 133794]

Thanks chaps
that makes sense removing the cable puts it back to direct control.
It is an old pad and it was cold, bad combo all round.

 

[elborak]

that makes sense removing the cable puts it back to direct control.

Not sure what you mean here. The remote is always in control.

 

[DanMan32]

Yes but as I suggested and Kilera confirmed, the iPad is jamming through the USB the ability to enter any input on the RC, even though the RC still has a connection to the AC. Severing the USB connection unjams the sticks and buttons

 

[elborak]

Ouch! That's a bad design decision on DJI's part.

 

[Meta4]

Well that was a situation i wasn't ready for. Got up this morning and saw it was going
to be a decent sun rise so quickly set up my MA2 and headed out into the garden.
I took off rose to an altitude of 385 ft ... and then.........everything went BLACK there
was nothing on the screen at all. ... but any movement on the sticks did nothing

It's not possible to find one thing that explains what you've described.
You can disconnect the tablet and it doesn't have any effect on the control of the drone by the controller.
If you could not control the drone, that indicates loss of signal, not just losing the iPad.

If you flew straight up above you, that is the worst angle for signal propagation and it's common to lose signal if you were around 400 ft straight up.
But RTH would initiate within a few seconds of losing signal.
If it took 5 minutes, signal had not been lost for those 5 minutes.

Was there something else i could have done to gain control just through the controller.

When in doubt, switching off the controller will give you loss of signal and initiate RTH.

 

[DanMan32]

Again, seems the USB connection to the crashed iOS jammed the RC controls but not the RC/AC signal.

Disconnecting the USB cable probably would have freed the RC controls.

Not something one can easily reproduce, unless simply shorting the data lines does it. Overdraw of power on the power lines could also be a possibility but I doubt that.

 

[Deleted member 133794]

Thanks for all your comments and help, i've now got a better
understanding of what may have happened from all you guys
and also actions to take in the future should the same thing happen
again or something similar, instead of running around
like a headless chicken. Keep Calm and Carry On should have
been the order of the day.
Thanks again ??

 

[Jim Flannery K0UNX]

I've had a fully charged iPhone die from COLD whilst flying. The controller still worked though. Hit RTH and the drone came right back and landed.