Lost Mavic Air - Need help finding it! Logs attached

[WanderbraveStudios]

Posted this is the general crash thread but thought I'd try here too - we're attempting to go recover it tomorrow, so any help is greatly appreciated!

Problem? The Air crashed into a rock face and went down (we lost connection for a second or two, ATTI mode kicked in, and we were unprepared for that mode - totally a newbie mistake here), cannot locate it as GPS stopped at the impact site, but we still had a connection until the battery died, and heard the ESC beeps when we turned them on in Find My Drone. Hoping to narrow the search area or at least confirm we are searching in the right location - the area is filled with brush and cliffs, so the tighter the area we can get, the better.

Was unit in a crash? Yes

What have you tried so far? Went to the crash site and have searched for about 5 hours total so far in the most likely areas. Heard the ESC beeps with Find My Drone before the battery died - so have a pretty good idea where it is, but still not 100% sure since we've heard the beeping can be quite loud.

What device are you using ( iphone , ipad, Samsung , etc)? Google Pixel 3

What firmware are you running ( aircraft, remote controller)? We had just upgraded to the latest for everything that morning (8/5/19)

What Go app version are you using? V4.3.20

Any modification? (if so what) None

Did you change anything or install any apps? (if so what) No

Do you have a video or pictures of the problem? (if so post link) Flight log: DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

Thanks in advance for any help we can get. It was terrible crashing it but we thought we'd be able to recovery a lot easier. It's been highly disappointing, especially since we were in the middle of filming a music video :/

 

[Mossiback]

The log experts may correct me, but if you were close enough to hear it beeping then I don't think a log analysis will get you any closer. When you lost connection the logging on your Pixel 3 stopped and losing GPS would give no coordinates to log anyway.

 

[WanderbraveStudios]

The log experts may correct me, but if you were close enough to hear it beeping then I don't think a log analysis will get you any closer. When you lost connection the logging on your Pixel 3 stopped and losing GPS would give no coordinates to log anyway.

Thank you, you're probably correct. The log doesn't have any more GPS points but it does have all the other points so we can see how far it fell and all that. More than anything, we weren't sure how loud the beeping was and if it was super loud, maybe an analysis would narrow it does further. We had only owned the poor drone for about 1.5 weeks :/

Any other suggestions on finding these things? I wish I had painted it bright pink...

 

[Meta4]

Thank you, you're probably correct. The log doesn't have any more GPS points but it does have all the other points so we can see how far it fell and all that.

Because the drone tumbled after the crash, and lost its skyview as it went further down, there are no good GPS data after the impact at: 44.88457 -122.62239
The barometer data indicates that the drone fell about 60 feet after the impact and the last good GPS location.

 

[sar104]

I'm inclined to agree. For what it's worth, the last recorded GPS location is the yellow pin. Extending purely inertial calculations after the FC lost confidence in the GPS data gives the green pin location, which is around 20 meters further southwest. If you want to get the mobile device DAT file (FLY029.DAT) then that will contain the lower-confidence GPS data after the ATTI switch. Since the aircraft remained powered up for a while, that may be worthwhile.

Mobile device DAT file: How to retrieve a V3.DAT from the tablet

 

[WanderbraveStudios]

I'm inclined to agree. For what it's worth, the last recorded GPS location is the yellow pin. Extending purely inertial calculations after the FC lost confidence in the GPS data gives the green pin location, which is around 20 meters further southwest. If you want to get the mobile device DAT file (FLY029.DAT) then that will contain the lower-confidence GPS data after the ATTI switch. Since the aircraft remained powered up for a while, that may be worthwhile.

Mobile device DAT file: How to retrieve a V3.DAT from the tablet

Thanks, I tried to attach it (and a compressed .rar of it) but both said that the uploaded file is too large...

Sidenote, you mention green and yellow pins but I'm not seeing those on the Phantom Flight Log data - am I missing something?

 

[WanderbraveStudios]

These are the last coordinates posted in the .dat file under IMU_ATTI if that is what we're looking for:

-122.6223211​

44.88457389​

 

[WanderbraveStudios]

err, no, I see a different gps coordinate section now so maybe these are the ones to pay attention to:
44.884611, -122.622528

 

[sar104]

These are the last coordinates posted in the .dat file under IMU_ATTI if that is what we're looking for:

-122.6223211​

44.88457389​

No - that's not the correct field. You want GPS_0__Lat and GPS_0__Long and quite likely not the last recorded values.

 

[sar104]

Thanks, I tried to attach it (and a compressed .rar of it) but both said that the uploaded file is too large...

Sidenote, you mention green and yellow pins but I'm not seeing those on the Phantom Flight Log data - am I missing something?

The yellow pin is from the last recorded position in the txt log, before the FC switched to ATTI at 623.4 seconds.



The green pin is based on the integrating the inertial data with respect to time to get position. That doesn't require any GPS data, and is not included in any of the flight log website analyses.

 

[WanderbraveStudios]

The yellow pin is from the last recorded position in the txt log, before the FC switched to ATTI at 623.4 seconds.

View attachment 79751

The green pin is based on the integrating the inertial data with respect to time to get position. That doesn't require any GPS data, and is not included in any of the flight log website analyses.

View attachment 79752

Awesome, thank you so much. The second set of coordinates were from GPS_0, so sounds like those might be closer, and they do seem to be about 20m or so SW of the last recorded GPS coordinates.

Thanks again - we'll go to that area and dig around and hopefully recover this thing.

Given that you seem to at least be an analysis expert, do you have any further tips for finding our MA? Is getting a cheap secondary drone to search the area usually worthwhile? The area has so much brush I'm inclined to think not, but perhaps it might help.

 

[Meta4]

do you have any further tips for finding our MA? Is getting a cheap secondary drone to search the area usually worthwhile? The area has so much brush I'm inclined to think not, but perhaps it might help.

You need some degree of luck.
It can be very hard to spot in bushy vegetation even if you are within a few metres.

 

[Dakarenduro]

If you have a friend with a drone, won't hurt to send it up and use the camera to try to get lucky and spot it.

 

[sar104]

Awesome, thank you so much. The second set of coordinates were from GPS_0, so sounds like those might be closer, and they do seem to be about 20m or so SW of the last recorded GPS coordinates.

Thanks again - we'll go to that area and dig around and hopefully recover this thing.

Given that you seem to at least be an analysis expert, do you have any further tips for finding our MA? Is getting a cheap secondary drone to search the area usually worthwhile? The area has so much brush I'm inclined to think not, but perhaps it might help.

I agree with @Meta4 - it can be very difficult in that kind of terrain, and unless it's stuck in the top of the canopy it is very unlikely that another drone will be much help.

 

[Bill combs]

err, no, I see a different gps coordinate section now so maybe these are the ones to pay attention to:
44.884611, -122.622528

i just punchedvin those coordinates on my google maps and now understand why you couldn’t see your drone,so much growth

 

[WanderbraveStudios]

Yeah, the vegetation there is pretty crazy. We've got long sleeved clothes and boots, and we'll give it our best shot.

 

[WanderbraveStudios]

Thanks for all the help guys! After going back today, our third time back, we were able to recover the drone! We replaced the props and it works great, no errors, no gimbal issues. It had landed in soft brush about 20m sw of the last good gps coordinate just like sar104 said. So thank you all! Now to go home and get all this mud off of us and the drone!

 

[freshcane]

Posted this is the general crash thread but thought I'd try here too - we're attempting to go recover it tomorrow, so any help is greatly appreciated!

Problem? The Air crashed into a rock face and went down (we lost connection for a second or two, ATTI mode kicked in, and we were unprepared for that mode - totally a newbie mistake here), cannot locate it as GPS stopped at the impact site, but we still had a connection until the battery died, and heard the ESC beeps when we turned them on in Find My Drone. Hoping to narrow the search area or at least confirm we are searching in the right location - the area is filled with brush and cliffs, so the tighter the area we can get, the better.

Was unit in a crash? Yes

What have you tried so far? Went to the crash site and have searched for about 5 hours total so far in the most likely areas. Heard the ESC beeps with Find My Drone before the battery died - so have a pretty good idea where it is, but still not 100% sure since we've heard the beeping can be quite loud.

What device are you using ( iphone , ipad, Samsung , etc)? Google Pixel 3

What firmware are you running ( aircraft, remote controller)? We had just upgraded to the latest for everything that morning (8/5/19)

What Go app version are you using? V4.3.20

Any modification? (if so what) None

Did you change anything or install any apps? (if so what) No

Do you have a video or pictures of the problem? (if so post link) Flight log: DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

Thanks in advance for any help we can get. It was terrible crashing it but we thought we'd be able to recovery a lot easier. It's been highly disappointing, especially since we were in the middle of filming a music video :/

found it yet? if not, try following the GPS where it was last traced, look around there, then try to get a connection, maybe works?