Lost Drone - Is there hope?

[samdezzy43]

Hello,

I'll try to keep the story short. I was flying my drone for a car shoot, and I was in said car. Wasn't a long drive. Nearly finished, when my phone freezes. We get out of the car, and I try to fix my phone. It's dead frozen. I then start to panic a little. We can see the drone, but just barely, very barely. Tried to fly it towards us but to no avail. Due to battery it wanted to fly home, but I didnt let it, as I wasn't where "home" was anymore. Then, battery got critical, and took off on its own. It didnt fly towards me, nor the original "home" point. Then the remote said landing.

Anyway, the DJI App flight record and find my drone features are useless, as my phone froze, so it only has information up until that freezing point. So my drone is very lost. Searched everywhere, with a full search party mind you.

I have sent DJI not only the flight logs (which are again useless for it's where abouts), but also the files off the RC black box. As the RC was connected to it until the end, I really hope there could be a location hidden in it's files. What do you guys think? Is there hope?
And if not, will I get a discount or replacement? Because this really sucks, and is at least 80 percent DJI's fault.

 

[Bazzam]

Hello,
Because this really sucks, and is at least 80 percent DJI's fault.

Sorry to here about drone loss, I'm sure you'll get some very helpful advise on locating your drone here....as for your mathematics that DJI being 80% @ fault, that might be up for further analysis

 

[Pushpak]

this really sucks, and is at least 80 percent DJI's fault.

I don't understand your logic on pointing finger towards DJI. Your phone froze (not made by DJI) and when the battery got low, it initiated RTH which was cancelled by you. When critical low battery level kicked in, it just did what it is programmed (landed) to do.

 

[samdezzy43]

Okay yes, slight exaggeration there. But the app freezing and the fly away aren't my fault. I respect DJI, and it was an amazing product, but I'm just very sad, and am praying for either a location or replacement. But as the phone froze, there isn't much hope for a location

 

[GerdS]

I don't understand your logic on pointing finger towards DJI. Your phone froze (not made by DJI) and when it initiated a smart RTH, you cancelled it. Upon critical battery, it just did what it is programmed to do.

DJI is responsible for the unreliable GO4 app which tends to crash and freeze on many mobile devices. I guess that the remote is aware of Mavic's latest position, so DJI might be able to get at least the GPS coordinates out of the log file.

But anyways, the pilot should have known Mavic's orientation from before the GO app was crashing and while he was still able to see the Mavic as a point in the air he should have tried flying it almost blind to his actual location or at least to a known position for landing near the street. In such cases, never get into panic. Think about what to do in such situations before they will happen and then try to remember that if it will happen.

 

[I_Chill_in_Amsterdam]

Following

 

[Michael Ainsworth]

Sorry can't help with finding it.
But if you get another or find yours and you do a similar thing with your location changing then turn off the RTH and instead choose Hover or land. That way it shouldn't be far from the last position.
Hope you find it.

 

[samdezzy43]

Cou

DJI is responsible for the unreliable GO4 app which tends to crash and freeze on many mobile devices. I guess that the remote is aware of Mavic's latest position, so DJI might be able to get at least the GPS coordinates out of the log file.

But anyways, the pilot should have known Mavic's orientation from before the GO app was crashing and while he was still able to see the Mavic as a point in the air he should have tried flying it almost blind to his actual location or at least to a known position for landing near the street. In such cases, never get into panic. Think about what to do in such situations before they will happen and then try to remember that if it will happen.

Couldn't agree more. On both counts. Unfortunately I panicked. I can think of at least 5 things I could have done in hindsight. I lose sleep over it.
I read this happened to someone else, who was flying without phone (though he had a choice), and all the remote black box files showed was stick movements :/
Really hoping there is a location in there.
Was hoping the files would be DAT files and I could use a converter like DATcon and go find it! But there were just "file" extension

 

[Robbyg]

I had the exact same kind of problem but for a different reason. My iPhone lost connection and nothing I tried would restore it. Long story short I made it back from about 1500ft and after landing and emptying my shorts I discovered the lightning connector was half way out. A quick squeeze of the arms and I was reconnected. I never realized the problem until I had already made it back. As this was around my 5th flight I was not prepared for this kind of event.

So what saved me when I was way out of visual range and was seemingly navigationaly blind?

An often over looked redundancy system on the mavic.
On your RC LCD display you have Height, Distance and speed.
This info is all you need to return to your location.

After my initial panic wore off I climbed the craft to 200ft.
Next I pushed the stick forward and noticed the distance was increasing. So I yawed the craft for a second and pushed the stick forward again. I was still moving away but at a slower clip. Two more yaws and I found the distance starting to narrow. A few nudges of yaw back and forth while returning and I had a peak spot for the fastest distance countdown. Then I just held the stick forward, waited about 40 seconds and the distance was down to 90ft and I could hear the Mavic above me. After a 50 ft descent I spotted my baby. The rest was an easy visual landing.

Hope this helps out someone else
Rob

 

[GerdS]

Yes this is a good method for such cases. I am just wondering why DJI didn't add the course to the remote's display in addition to distance. Would make things much more easy.
Home direction is unknown to the remote as long as it doesn't know its actual position from the mobile device, but aircraft course is known.

 

[YngveN]

Yes this is a good method for such cases. I am just wondering why DJI didn't add the course to the remote's display in addition to distance. Would make things much more easy.
Home direction is unknown to the remote as long as it doesn't know its actual position from the mobile device, but aircraft course is known.

Well, home direction(to recorded homepoint) is known to the Mavic, so relaying this to the controller should be easy enough.

 

[samdezzy43]

Wish I could have been that calm Rob. That's one of the things I could have done. Will keep me up at night for a long time

 

[kemmi387]

You might also consider getting a Trackimo GPS tracker to attach to your Mav if you find it. I have been considering getting one for the same reason. We paid way to much to lose these "toys" to just walk away...

 

[Cyberpower678]

I had the exact same kind of problem but for a different reason. My iPhone lost connection and nothing I tried would restore it. Long story short I made it back from about 1500ft and after landing and emptying my shorts I discovered the lightning connector was half way out. A quick squeeze of the arms and I was reconnected. I never realized the problem until I had already made it back. As this was around my 5th flight I was not prepared for this kind of event.

So what saved me when I was way out of visual range and was seemingly navigationaly blind?

An often over looked redundancy system on the mavic.
On your RC LCD display you have Height, Distance and speed.
This info is all you need to return to your location.

After my initial panic wore off I climbed the craft to 200ft.
Next I pushed the stick forward and noticed the distance was increasing. So I yawed the craft for a second and pushed the stick forward again. I was still moving away but at a slower clip. Two more yaws and I found the distance starting to narrow. A few nudges of yaw back and forth while returning and I had a peak spot for the fastest distance countdown. Then I just held the stick forward, waited about 40 seconds and the distance was down to 90ft and I could hear the Mavic above me. After a 50 ft descent I spotted my baby. The rest was an easy visual landing.

Hope this helps out some else
Rob

I had a slightly modified method but same in the blind part. I was still in GPS mode, so I started RTH for a couple of seconds and then canceled it when I saw the distance drop a few meters. I kicked in sport mode and brought it back.

 

[Robbyg]

Yes this is a good method for such cases. I am just wondering why DJI didn't add the course to the remote's display in addition to distance. Would make things much more easy.
Home direction is unknown to the remote as long as it doesn't know its actual position from the mobile device, but aircraft course is known.

It puzzles me why DJI used up a large section of the LCD with a fancy RPM gauge which IMHO is pretty useless. They should have used that space to create a radar display like they have in the App.

Rob

 

[Fearless Flight]

I had a slightly modified method but same in the blind part. I was still in GPS mode, so I started RTH for a couple of seconds and then canceled it when I saw the distance drop a few meters. I kicked in sport mode and brought it back.

I like your idea but for the OP his home point changed during flight. His best bet is to watch the distance meter on his controller.

The Mavic will fly forwards, backwards, left, and right so don't worry which way the craft is actually facing. If you want to keep it really simple don't use your left hand (yaw) at all to figure out which way will bring it home.

It's pretty easy just using your right stick to figure out what stick position is making the craft reduce the distance. This should get you close enough to see it where you can bring it in manually from there.

 

[Cyberpower678]

I like your idea but for the OP his home point changed during flight. His best bet is to watch the distance meter on his controller.

The Mavic will fly forwards, backwards, left, and right so don't worry which way the craft is actually facing. If you want to keep it really simple don't use your left hand (yaw) at all to figure out which way will bring it home.

It's pretty easy just using your right stick to figure out what stick position is making the craft reduce the distance. This should get you close enough to see it where you can bring it in manually from there.

Distance displayed is relative to the home point, not location, IINM.

 

[Fearless Flight]

Distance displayed is relative to the home point, not location, IINM.

Great point!

I think as long as he knew where his original HP was in relation to where he was currently the above technique should work just fine.

I think at the very least the OP should have just hit RTH and gone back to his original takeoff point to pick up his Mavic.

 

[cobra46]

If you're going to move after takeoff it would be best to set the RC location as the home point.

 

[scooot]

Due to the incredible knowledge of the forum members I am learning a lot since receiving my mavic.I have 1 question on this subject.
Would I be correct in assuming in a situation as the op you would be wise to set the home point as the controller?.