LOST DRONE

[KANER525]

I need some help if someone is willing to give me some advice. I was flying my drone today at my house just to get an overhead pic when all of a sudden crazy winds picked up and pretty much took my drone away never to be seen again. At about 1000 ft away I lost connection and my remote stated GPS mode. Due to the wind the drone just kept getting further and further away until I could no longer see it. It got to the point where the controller said it was around 4500 ft away. I kept hitting the home button but nothing worked. Then all of a sudden it said LOW BATTERY RETURNING HOME and actually started working its way toward me. It got to about 2700 ft away and it said landing due to the battery level. It started dropping in elevation to about 69' and I lost it completely. I went to the FIND MY DRONE section of the App but it only give me coordinates of where I lost connection and it went into GPS MODE. I know for a fact it is around 2700 ft away but that area is all timber land and its like finding a needle in a haystack. Is there anyway to pull GPS coordinates off the controller for where it took its emergency landing? I am new to all this so hopefully you guys can help me out. Thanks in advance!

 

[sar104]

That's all rather confusing. Could you just post the flight log - that will likely make what happened clearer.

 

[Skywatcher2001]

Is there anyway to pull GPS coordinates off the controller for where it took its emergency landing? I am new to all this so hopefully you guys can help me out. Thanks in advance!

"CLICK HERE" and follow the instructions . . .

 

[GregE]

Hey Neighbor- If you were flying Saturday with that weather front screaming through--- Ooops!!
We had some Costco shopping cart tipping gusts today too

 

[swimpmeister]

Welcome to the forum, there are some amazing people here that can definitely help you figure out what happen by posting your flight logs. Best of luck to you and don’t give a flying!

I need some help if someone is willing to give me some advice. I was flying my drone today at my house just to get an overhead pic when all of a sudden crazy winds picked up and pretty much took my drone away never to be seen again. At about 1000 ft away I lost connection and my remote stated GPS mode. Due to the wind the drone just kept getting further and further away until I could no longer see it. It got to the point where the controller said it was around 4500 ft away. I kept hitting the home button but nothing worked. Then all of a sudden it said LOW BATTERY RETURNING HOME and actually started working its way toward me. It got to about 2700 ft away and it said landing due to the battery level. It started dropping in elevation to about 69' and I lost it completely. I went to the FIND MY DRONE section of the App but it only give me coordinates of where I lost connection and it went into GPS MODE. I know for a fact it is around 2700 ft away but that area is all timber land and its like finding a needle in a haystack. Is there anyway to pull GPS coordinates off the controller for where it took its emergency landing? I am new to all this so hopefully you guys can help me out. Thanks in advance!

 

[BigAl07]

WELCOME to the forum @KANER525

Hopefully you can get some help and find your missing UAS. Good luck and SAFE FLIGHTS!!

Allen

 

[Jim Daniels]

I need some help if someone is willing to give me some advice.
I was flying my drone today when all of a sudden crazy winds picked up and pretty much took my drone away never to be seen again.

Sorry about your drone, hope you find it
Best advice I can give is to check your current weather conditions, (as well as the forecast),
before you launch.

There weren't any "sudden" crazy winds, they were present all day.
Looking at the graph of Past Shelton Weather, you can clearly see the wind was already up to 18 mph by 6am and sustained winds over 20 mph the entire day.
(these are ground wind speeds, and don't even include *gusts*)

Maybe sar104 can toss up one of his wind graphs at altitude to help you better understand what you and the mini were dealing with at altitude.

Lastly, if given the choice, always fly upwind so the drone will come back to you during issues.

 

[sar104]

Sorry about your drone, hope you find it
Best advice I can give is to check your current weather conditions, (as well as the forecast),
before you launch.

There weren't any "sudden" crazy winds, they were present all day.
Looking at the graph of Past Shelton Weather, you can clearly see the wind was already up to 18 mph by 6am and sustained winds over 20 mph the entire day.
(these are ground wind speeds, and don't even include *gusts*)

Maybe sar104 can toss up one of his wind graphs at altitude to help you better understand what you and the mini were dealing with at altitude.

Lastly, if given the choice, always fly upwind so the drone will come back to you during issues.

Not without a flight log. I'm not that good.

 

[slup]

Not without a flight log. I'm not that good.

?...

 

[GregE]

We don't know what day this occurred. Sure hope it wasn't Sunday. This part of WA is the Chehalis Gap and SW winds funnel through and squeeze the rain out too

I need to go clean up the numerous limbs from my driveway.......

 

[Jim Daniels]

We don't know what day this occurred. Sure hope it wasn't Sunday.

You don't, (but the rest of us do)
The OP posted on Sunday @7:06pm
"I was flying my drone today at my house just to get an overhead pic when all of a sudden crazy winds picked up and pretty much took my drone away never to be seen again".

That is specifically why I looked up, then posted the graph of Sunday's strong winds.
No way should that drone have been launched, and is clearly the reason for the loss.

A safe bet would be that the winds aloft were even stronger than at ground level.

 

[GregE]

Actually it was 5:06 PM Are you military?
But you're right - I was really hoping he'd kept it in the house on Sunday

Mission-itus we used to call that - often results in medals or body bags

 

[Jim Daniels]

Actually it was 5:06 PM Are you military?
But you're right - I was really hoping he'd kept it in the house on Sunday

Yes I am lol !!
(I did get you to read the post though)
I hope he was saying to himself "this probably isn't a good idea"
We all live and learn, sometimes by the school of hard knocks, (which I finally graduated) ?