Lost drone - need advice on how to find it

inca · Oct 20, 2018

Some pics of the area

The location where this little drone is flying when taking these pics is approximately the same place I thought I saw the Mavic for the last time before it went for emergency landing.

SpinItUp · Oct 20, 2018

inca said:
Dropbox - 2018_10_14_16_32_36.mp4

Whatever the sticks were receiving after and during the time you said you tried to start the craft again to hear it i.e from where the blue dot on the log is, there's a good chance the AC/RC were still communicating.
The bad news is no logs to confirm this and you only have a memory of what you did.

Saying all that the landing which goes on for short of a minute (which isn't very long and may have become bait for the aquatic environment) suggests otherwise.

SpinItUp · Oct 20, 2018

You would've been better sending it away from the coastline. From where you were!

The interference is coming from inland.
Or the battery was unable to support the connection due to the insufficient juice in it.
Even just a combination of both.
Anything below 30% BATT' is dangerous territory.

ScubaBob · Oct 20, 2018

SpinItUp said:
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

Did I read this right? Did he take off with only 47% battery? If yes, that in itself was kinda dumb unless he was going to keep the drone within 100 meters. Another drone-in-the-drink. Pretty soon drones will be banned like straws!

Ron Melchionda · Oct 20, 2018

inca said:
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!)

Ron Melchionda · Oct 20, 2018

inca said:
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!)