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Lost Mavic Pro- Found- Crashed

Neil Reid

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2019
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122
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Age
67
Location
Dallas, Tx.
Hi-

Am new to drones and during my 42nd flight, lost connection with my Mavic Pro. It was on its way home but didn't make it. I believe it's on the roof of a commercial building. I have the flight path. Willing to buy a nice lunch for a good soul who will help me scout it out. Am in north Dallas- Neil Reid
 
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Hi-

Am new to drones and during my 42nd flight, lost connection with my Mavic Pro. It was on its way home but didn't make it. I believe it's on the roof of a commercial building. I have the flight path. Willing to buy a nice lunch for a good soul who will help me scout it out. Am in north Dallas- Neil Reid, 469-744-0272.
Neil
I am sure if your post your flight logs their are members here that will give you the location of where to look.
Could you just go the commercial building and speak with the maintenance dept and ask them to escort you to the roof and buy them lunch ?
 
Hi-

Am new to drones and during my 42nd flight, lost connection with my Mavic Pro. It was on its way home but didn't make it. I believe it's on the roof of a commercial building. I have the flight path. Willing to buy a nice lunch for a good soul who will help me scout it out. Am in north Dallas- Neil Reid, 469-744-0272.




Sorry that happened. If I was close I would help and am sure someone here will help out. Food luck.
 
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Logs give the location, go to building/security/maint and ask - may be cheaper. :)
 
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If I were you, I'd remove my phone number from your post and have people PM you if they can help. Not sure you really want your number publicly posted like that.

Good luck getting the drone back.
 
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Gents- many thanks for the feedback and support! I returned to the site and the construction superintendent was kind enough to assist; I focused at the point the drone lost connectivity.

The good news: Found it next to a pile of construction rubble.

The bad news: It hit a building at 35 feet and crashed to the concrete below- fairly heavy repairs needed.

Drone Crash Site 12 Sept 2019 RJHS.jpgDrone Pieces 12 Sept 2019.jpg

Four mistakes I made:
1. At 42 flights I have enough basic skill mixed with overconfidence that I flew NLOS.

2. As an RF engineer of 25 years (unlicensed radios), I had brain lock and pushed the radios way beyond their capability. Details upon request but in hindsight, I should have known better than to push the radios that hard.

3. When the controller requested to RTH because the drone lost connectivity, I cancelled. I thought I was better than the smarts built into a Mavic Pro.

4. I read the flight map wrong- it showed a green line to Home, but it never left the point where it lost contact and crashed. I was searching in the wrong places.

A bit of an expensive lesson, but less than a lost drone. Lessons learned, I'm humbled, and will now be more conservative in my flying. You break the rules at the peril of your drone and wallet.

Thanks again gents for your support and experience. Fly safe and fly smart!

Neil
Dallas, TX.
 
Gents- many thanks for the feedback and support! I returned to the site and the construction superintendent was kind enough to assist; I focused at the point the drone lost connectivity.

The good news: Found it next to a pile of construction rubble.

The bad news: It hit a building at 35 feet and crashed to the concrete below- fairly heavy repairs needed.

View attachment 81599View attachment 81600

Four mistakes I made:
1. At 42 flights I have enough basic skill mixed with overconfidence that I flew NLOS.

2. As an RF engineer of 25 years (unlicensed radios), I had brain lock and pushed the radios way beyond their capability. Details upon request but in hindsight, I should have known better than to push the radios that hard.

3. When the controller requested to RTH because the drone lost connectivity, I cancelled. I thought I was better than the smarts built into a Mavic Pro.

4. I read the flight map wrong- it showed a green line to Home, but it never left the point where it lost contact and crashed. I was searching in the wrong places.

A bit of an expensive lesson, but less than a lost drone. Lessons learned, I'm humbled, and will now be more conservative in my flying. You break the rules at the peril of your drone and wallet.

Thanks again gents for your support and experience. Fly safe and fly smart!

Neil
Dallas, TX.
Looks like you need a free inspection
We diagnose than quote you how much it will cost to fix your drone. should you decide not to fix we send it back
Free shipping regardless both ways, free inspection you only pay if we fix
Also if you do submit a ticket use mavicpilots forum coupon for $35 off the repair
 
If you were truly able to send RTH, you didn't totally lose signal. I believe that the app will suggest RTH if it sees the signal intermittent and wants to give you a chance to preemptively return before you completely lose connection. That or it lost downlink but app suspects you might still have uplink. AC won't consider signal loss and return if it still has uplink. That tended to occur with my P3.

Was your RTH altitude setting high enough?
 
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Looks like you need a free inspection
We diagnose than quote you how much it will cost to fix your drone. should you decide not to fix we send it back
Free shipping regardless both ways, free inspection you only pay if we fix
Also if you do submit a ticket use mavicpilots forum coupon for $35 off the repair
If you were truly able to send RTH, you didn't totally lose signal. I believe that the app will suggest RTH if it sees the signal intermittent and wants to give you a chance to preemptively return before you completely lose connection. That or it lost downlink but app suspects you might still have uplink. AC won't consider signal loss and return if it still has uplink. That tended to occur with my P3.

Was your RTH altitude setting high enough?
Thank you Dan- great insight and appreciated. So much more for me to learn. The preset height was more than enough to get it home and I searched every square foot of the return trajectory indicated on the app. I returned to the site a couple hours later to check where it last indicated position and sure enough I found it- fairly heavily damaged but I have it. Looking into parts and repair vids and will also be calling the good folks at DJI Drone Repair. Again- my thanks!
 
Looks like you need a free inspection
We diagnose than quote you how much it will cost to fix your drone. should you decide not to fix we send it back
Free shipping regardless both ways, free inspection you only pay if we fix
Also if you do submit a ticket use mavicpilots forum coupon for $35 off the repair
Hi and thanks for the info- I'll be calling your shop tomorrow morning for a quote. Looking forward to getting it back into the air, a bit more cautious and wiser. : )
 
If you were truly able to send RTH, you didn't totally lose signal. I believe that the app will suggest RTH if it sees the signal intermittent and wants to give you a chance to preemptively return before you completely lose connection. That or it lost downlink but app suspects you might still have uplink. AC won't consider signal loss and return if it still has uplink. That tended to occur with my P3.

Was your RTH altitude setting high enough?
Since the OP said he chose to turn off the RTH signal, his altitude setting would not matter at all, if he chose to try and fly it home himself. I feel that was the poor decision choice that caused his loss. At least he found it, thankfully and luckily it did not hit anyone below.
 
WOW . . .!!!

All these "I Crashed/Lost My Drone" stories are the stuff of nightmares. We definitely need them posted to keep us all committed to the flight plan. No deviations please . . .
 
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If you were truly able to send RTH, you didn't totally lose signal. I believe that the app will suggest RTH if it sees the signal intermittent and wants to give you a chance to preemptively return before you completely lose connection. That or it lost downlink but app suspects you might still have uplink. AC won't consider signal loss and return if it still has uplink. That tended to occur with my P3.

Was your RTH altitude setting high enough?
Hi Danman - I believe the RTH altitude was correct- 100m; easily 20m more than nearby obstacles. Thanks for that check though!
 
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