Lost drone - need advice on how to find it

[inca]

Hi, 4 days ago my Mavic Pro lost signal about 300m in front of me, then the battery died off and it did an emergency landing. I couldn't locate exactly where it landed and I've been looking for it. Yesterday it got into some very heavy rain for about an hour, but I am still hopeful that it can work, after watching some water test videos.

The log from the DJI Go 4 app is here:
DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

Important notes:
I had cancelled the original RTH request because I was flying the drone directly back to me anyway and wanted it to record the return journey without going up to RTH height.
When I had the "signal lost" message, the drone was around the last spot on the map, also confirmed by the last frame of the video I was recording. At this moment I was NOT able to see it personally due to a mountain being a dark background.
Hoping it still got signal from the RC I moved the drone to its left to move away from the sea. The RC had no signal but somehow I could still see the battery percentage and rpms on its screen, and it was showing that the camera was recording, though with no image on my phone.
Then shortly after, while I was trying to initiate RTH from the RC, I spotted the drone up in the air, not too far from what is says "Baris ve Ozgurluk Aniti" on the map (a monument), which confirmed that it had moved to its left with my instructions. The area is relatively steep hill from the monument/highway down to the beach, covered with small bushes and trees. I could not really estimate how far it was from me and I wasn't sure what was directly under it. I could see it because in my line of sight it was just above the level of the mountain and was visible against the sky.
Before I could think of what to do, it gave the "landing" signal on the RC (with still 'no signal'). I lost sight of it immediately after it descended a bit, again the background making it too hard to see. I might have tried to move it closer to me in the panic thinking it might land on the highway. Not sure about my last moves, which is why I am not sure where it is. I ran toward it hoping the signal would come back. It didn't. By the time I reached the area, there was 7% on the battery. I tried initiating the propellers so I could hear it, but didn't hear anything.
Find My Drone option was showing it in the see where the last signal was sent to me, as seen on the map, and that is quite far from where I last saw it with my own eyes.

I am not sure if there is anything anyone can do here to help me, since the log is partial and some crucial information is missing.
However, perhaps you have some tips on what I can do to increase my chances of finding it. Already spoke to a cafe on the other side of the road, and the municipality guy who works around there. They have my number.

What do I do if someone saw it landing, grabbed it and just left?

Otherwise, do you think the heavy rain would ruin it all? It was not working after all and if I dry all its parts before it's powered up, I hope it can survive (if I find it!)

 

[SpinItUp]

It's not looking good with only 20% juice
@ 30% you went out another half a km, imo this is reckless


Ever thought of another hobby?


or maybe 1 of these guys can help

 

[ac0j]

You are going to need scuba gear it looks like to me.
I think it's dead. Sorry!
we can see what the experts think
@sar104 @BudWalker

 

[frank candor]

Hi, 4 days ago my Mavic Pro lost signal about 300m in front of me, then the battery died off and it did an emergency landing. I couldn't locate exactly where it landed and I've been looking for it. Yesterday it got into some very heavy rain for about an hour, but I am still hopeful that it can work, after watching some water test videos.

The log from the DJI Go 4 app is here:
DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

Important notes:
I had cancelled the original RTH request because I was flying the drone directly back to me anyway and wanted it to record the return journey without going up to RTH height.
When I had the "signal lost" message, the drone was around the last spot on the map, also confirmed by the last frame of the video I was recording. At this moment I was NOT able to see it personally due to a mountain being a dark background.
Hoping it still got signal from the RC I moved the drone to its left to move away from the sea. The RC had no signal but somehow I could still see the battery percentage and rpms on its screen, and it was showing that the camera was recording, though with no image on my phone.
Then shortly after, while I was trying to initiate RTH from the RC, I spotted the drone up in the air, not too far from what is says "Baris ve Ozgurluk Aniti" on the map (a monument), which confirmed that it had moved to its left with my instructions. The area is relatively steep hill from the monument/highway down to the beach, covered with small bushes and trees. I could not really estimate how far it was from me and I wasn't sure what was directly under it. I could see it because in my line of sight it was just above the level of the mountain and was visible against the sky.
Before I could think of what to do, it gave the "landing" signal on the RC (with still 'no signal'). I lost sight of it immediately after it descended a bit, again the background making it too hard to see. I might have tried to move it closer to me in the panic thinking it might land on the highway. Not sure about my last moves, which is why I am not sure where it is. I ran toward it hoping the signal would come back. It didn't. By the time I reached the area, there was 7% on the battery. I tried initiating the propellers so I could hear it, but didn't hear anything.
Find My Drone option was showing it in the see where the last signal was sent to me, as seen on the map, and that is quite far from where I last saw it with my own eyes.

I am not sure if there is anything anyone can do here to help me, since the log is partial and some crucial information is missing.
However, perhaps you have some tips on what I can do to increase my chances of finding it. Already spoke to a cafe on the other side of the road, and the municipality guy who works around there. They have my number.

What do I do if someone saw it landing, grabbed it and just left?

Otherwise, do you think the heavy rain would ruin it all? It was not working after all and if I dry all its parts before it's powered up, I hope it can survive (if I find it!)

Cross fingers

 

[Meta4]

Hi, 4 days ago my Mavic Pro lost signal about 300m in front of me, then the battery died off and it did an emergency landing. I couldn't locate exactly where it landed and I've been looking for it.

All your flight data shows is the drone out over water 300 metres from home and 50 metres up when the flight record ends.
It gives no information that helps understand what happened after that.
If it landed there it's in the water.

I had cancelled the original RTH request because I was flying the drone directly back to me anyway and wanted it to record the return journey without going up to RTH height.

Your flight data doesn't show any RTH that you could have cancelled.
You can always stop the drone going to RTH height by using the left stick when RTH starts - just as the manual says.

 

[WithTheBirds]

It's not looking good with only 20% juice
@ 30% you went out another half a km, imo this is reckless
View attachment 50705

Ever thought of another hobby?
View attachment 50703

or maybe 1 of these guys can help

Trying to command the AC to fly left and hitting the RTH button when you have no FPV and don’t know if the control link is active or whether the AC might have initiated RTH and you might be cancelling it aren’t great ideas either. Pointing out what the OP should and shouldn’t have done isn’t helpful at this point. Any ideas how he might find it?

Do you have any suggestions as to how he might locate his UAV?

No need to find another hobby. These predicaments are common for many new entrants.

 

[Constant Drone]

Sorry you lost your drone. I would be devastated if mine went in the drink.
If you continue to fly around water you might look into a flotation device or a recovery system for your copter.

 

[SpinItUp]

What's this point (Blue Dot)? Is this 'I ran toward it hoping the signal would come back. It didn't. By the time I reached the area, there was 7% on the battery.'

 

[charliesRig]

I wish you all the best.
Never fly with less then 20% battery
............cR
.

 

[inca]

What's this point (Blue Dot)? Is this 'I ran toward it hoping the signal would come back. It didn't. By the time I reached the area, there was 7% on the battery.'
View attachment 50711
View attachment 50712

I haven't seen the dot there before posting the flight log. Do you know what it normally indicates? It does not show anywhere on my flight log on DJI Go 4.
When I ran toward the drone, I actually passed by that area toward the bottom of the hill. (Hoping I managed to attach the screenshot of my path).
I realize it's not easy to estimate the distance when I barely see a drone, but I certainly didn't think it was as close as the blue dot. I will check the area you pointed out just in case.



So far I focused my search on the yellow marked area here:

The trees are quite dense in some places. I borrowed a friend's Mavic Air to scan the area from above. It can help see it if it's stuck on a treetop/ bush. I have checked the shallow parts of the water using binoculars from the hill.

Today I will look more to the right of the picture and the area where you mentioned.

 

[inca]

Sorry you lost your drone. I would be devastated if mine went in the drink.
If you continue to fly around water you might look into a flotation device or a recovery system for your copter.

Thanks for the advice. Hopefully I will have a reason to check for these options.

 

[inca]

All your flight data shows is the drone out over water 300 metres from home and 50 metres up when the flight record ends.
It gives no information that helps understand what happened after that.
If it landed there it's in the water.


Your flight data doesn't show any RTH that you could have cancelled.
You can always stop the drone going to RTH height by using the left stick when RTH starts - just as the manual says.

I am pretty sure it didn't land where the last data point is, I saw it quite far toward the land but it can still be in the water very close to land. I couldn't estimate it's distance from me when I saw it.

At 6m 30.2s there was the warning.
Thanks for the pointer regarding the height control.

 

[SpinItUp]

I haven't seen the dot there before posting the flight log. Do you know what it normally indicates?

Not the foggiest, that's why I asked!

You can see it slowly losing altitude from the GE view and given it's straight path if it were to make land, anywhere near that jetty would be your only hope...but this is just mere speculation. Shown by the big red doughnut in this image.

 

[SpinItUp]

Maybe (just maybe) blue dot (circle) is where it sensed the jetty and avoided it and finally dropped? I say dropped because that is not on land but maybe close enough to be beached.
Monitor error a min' into the flight is probably due to being surrounded by interference and being so low from where you set HomePoint, which most probably contributed to the signal loss

 

[SpinItUp]

It dropped a little over 10m from the last RTH warning to the last position on map

The distance to shore on that trajectory shows 241m
Given the distance between the warning and last map point is 120m just doubles this to 20m so would be about 32m in alt (if it ever reached there)
Then you have structures to clear after that!!!
scrub that, I see the left stick brought it down in that last bit of excursion.

Do you have any suggestions as to how he might locate his UAV?

I'm done! see thread above /\ #13,14 & 15

 

[Meta4]

Maybe (just maybe) blue dot (circle) is where it sensed the jetty and avoided it and finally dropped?

The blue dot is unrelated to the position of the drone (which was 250 metres east of the blue dot when that flight record ended.
The blue dot will be an approximate location for the controller at the time.

 

[inca]

Not the foggiest, that's why I asked!

You can see it slowly losing altitude from the GE View attachment 50741 view and given it's straight path if it were to make land, anywhere near that jetty would be your only hope...but this is just mere speculation. Shown by the big red doughnut in this image.
View attachment 50744

View attachment 50745

As @SpinItOut also noticed, I was deliberately lowering it down and bringing it back home myself.

Any idea why the drone would lose signal in just 300m distance? I am asking for learning purposes not to repeat the mistake in the future.
I am not sure if the drone would continue in the trajectory I had kept it on, without the signal.

I spent yesterday looking up all over the hill again, I also looked into the water near the jetty, using my friend's drone. I didn't see anything in the water, but I can't be sure as it was not a calm day at sea.
Will check around one last day before I give up.

 

[SpinItUp]

You seem to have been controlling it low down surrounded by (at least on the shore side) premises which may have all sorts of communications/broadcasting equipment emitting signals all over the place.
It's best to be above any interference or high enough to overcome it..

 

[SpinItUp]

have you got the cached video to share?

 

[inca]

have you got the cached video to share?

Dropbox - 2018_10_14_16_32_36.mp4