Lost Mavic after losing RC Signal - RTH fail?.

[ElGuapo]

First and foremost thank you for the help and suggestion.

I didn't notice the signal bar as I was too busy panicking... I should have set the RTH attitude height higher, but a bit too late for that. Hopefully once I get my mavic back. I will make sure to set it before I go flying again. The remote itself never reconnected to the drone. I kept it on pretty much the whole time while I was trying to get to the last known spot and once I got there I even tried turn off and on the remote, but no luck. The google earth maps the field looks pretty to get around, but currently the field is full of wildflower that are as high 6ft plus. I have a friend that has a drone and going to see if he could help fly in the route on the way back to the home point, so hopefully that should help.

Mavic Joe,

Have you tried searching the area Msinger suggested with GPS coordinates?. Usually he is very accurate, he has helped a tone of people of the Phantom forum locate their drones. Just a suggestion.

Btw, saw your pics and video of the search area, you could be walking almost next to the Mavic and not even see it.

 

[Mavic Joe]

I tried really hard to follow the path as suggested by Msinger with the GPS coordinates, but it was almost impossible to stay straight. I was really optimistic that I was going to find it, but after 4 hours I was exhausted and didn't have much left to search on, plus it was getting dark. Maybe next weekend I might again, but we will see.

 

[msinger]

It would be tough to follow that path. Did you try looking around 34.032628, -117.811231 like I recommended?

 

[ElGuapo]

a Marco Polo or similar GPS tracker would be very helpful in this case, a little too late for that.

Sorry on your loss.

 

[Mavic Joe]

Msinger - spent most of my time in that area. So when I finally got to highest point (34.032628, -117.811231), then I pretty much started looking within about a 15 ft radius from that spot. Maybe I should have gone farther down, but at that point I was pretty exhausted and losing daylight.

 

[Mavic Joe]

My biggest concern is the sudden lost of connection and the fact it never reconnected. I've had the drone shy of 4 months and have never ran into a problem like this and I've flown it in I guess you could say less than ideal condition and never a problem. I thinking about having another go on the search, but honestly the flowers it is so thick that it could be 4-5 ft away from me and I wouldn't even be able see it.

 

[m0j0]

too many flyaways latly, could you please tell us kn what FW were you on ?
are we tracking these incidents ? could there be a killer BUG wating to be pointed?
as a customer=[official QA team for DJI] we need to raise a flag and let them know

Not a fly-away.. I call these give-aways. We have all made mistakes. There is no shame in it but this looks like pilot error.

 

[m0j0]

My biggest concern is the sudden lost of connection and the fact it never reconnected. I've had the drone shy of 4 months and have never ran into a problem like this and I've flown it in I guess you could say less than ideal condition and never a problem. I thinking about having another go on the search, but honestly the flowers it is so thick that it could be 4-5 ft away from me and I wouldn't even be able see it.

It's there.. don't give up.

 

[Turbo]

For the others reading, stick a Tile on the top of the drone so you can find it if you get within 100ft. Or for more $, there's the Trackimo.

Sorry for your loss, good luck in your search.

 

[tribar]

Update..

So I had my friend do a fly over the area as suggested on the route of the RTH for about an 30 minutes, but no luck. So I went back in on foot and cleared out over 100 yards through the field, then cleared out another 10 to 15 feet around the highest point and still no drone (4 hours). It was so thick out there that I could probably can only see maybe 4-5 feet through the brush, so it could have been right next to me, but I could have missed it....

Link to the field pic

Video going through the field

So I'm going to contact DJI and hope that there was a hardware issue causing the lost connection between the drone and the remote. Wishful thinking but what do I have to lose.

Maybe I could just wait until the flowers dead out, then head back in there and try searching for it again. Not sure if that would be more helpful or worst.

Just a suggestion:
Use an app line dronedeploy, pix4Dcapter or Precision-Flight to fly your friends drone over the area that msinger suggested and generate an orthomosaic which you can inspect and zoom in on with your computer.

 

[Mavic Joe]

Went out looking for the drone today with my crop flattener and to my surprise I was greeted by a bull that wasn't exactly happy to see me. So didn't stay around long enough to find out if he was nice or not. I figure that he could have the drone and that it was not worth getting horned or any type of injury. I think the search is over until the flower dies out.

 

[Cerberus]

Whats the firmware you were running when this happened?

And Sorry for your loss and hope you find it soon..

 

[Mavic Joe]

Drone firmware was v01.03.0500 and DJI go 4.0 app v 4.0.5

 

[Cerberus]

Drone firmware was v01.03.0500 and DJI go 4.0 app v 4.0.5

I see..

Again, sorry for your loss... Any luck finding your baby yet?

If you got a fellow buddy with a drone, maybe you can gather his assistance in using his drone for an aerial search?
I believe trying to look for something from a top down view might be more likely to spot it among tall grasses..

 

[Grungymike95]

Update..

So I had my friend do a fly over the area as suggested on the route of the RTH for about an 30 minutes, but no luck. So I went back in on foot and cleared out over 100 yards through the field, then cleared out another 10 to 15 feet around the highest point and still no drone (4 hours). It was so thick out there that I could probably can only see maybe 4-5 feet through the brush, so it could have been right next to me, but I could have missed it....

Link to the field pic

Video going through the field

So I'm going to contact DJI and hope that there was a hardware issue causing the lost connection between the drone and the remote. Wishful thinking but what do I have to lose.

Maybe I could just wait until the flowers dead out, then head back in there and try searching for it again. Not sure if that would be more helpful or worst.

To be upfront and honest with you, DJI is not going to do anything about it. They're gonna analyze your flight log and get back to you within 48 hrs saying it was your fault. Not saying its your fault, but thats what DJI is going to respond with.

 

[Mavic Joe]

To be upfront and honest with you, DJI is not going to do anything about it. They're gonna analyze your flight log and get back to you within 48 hrs saying it was your fault. Not saying its your fault, but thats what DJI is going to respond with.

I'm not expecting miracles, but I'm hoping for the best...

As for searching for the drone, if it wasn't for the bull I think I would have been out there until I found it, but my safety is my main concern and don't think it would be worth taking the risk for. I miss my drone, but at the end of the day I can always get a new drone....

 

[AyeYo]

My biggest concern is the sudden lost of connection and the fact it never reconnected.

What was your LOS to the drone at the time it lost signal?

 

[Jcombs1113]

Hate to hear this but some solutions I'm thinking of would be a a handheld metal detector of sorts to rent and walk with.

I see people saying pilot error, are their things to be done differently. Also would drone insurance cover something like this?

 

[Mavic Joe]

What was your LOS to the drone at the time it lost signal?

I was getting ready to set up a shot, so I had gone behind a hill and lost my LOS, but that was only for a few seconds

 

[Mavic Joe]

Hate to hear this but some solutions I'm thinking of would be a a handheld metal detector of sorts to rent and walk with.

I see people saying pilot error, are their things to be done differently. Also would drone insurance cover something like this?

I've probably covered over 2 football field looks for the drone in the dense flower field over a period of 3 days of searching. The worst part is that I could only see a couple of feet into the bush.

Thank you for the suggestion everyone