Lost Mavic Pro @ Lake Hudson Recreation Area (Clayton, MI) - $250 Reward

[Chad101]

Lost while taking photos of Comet Neowise. The drone probably isn't salvageable but I want those pictures!!
I will not have another opportunity to do this again since I'll be out of town for the next 3 weeks.

Flight Log:

https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/1ZOGYTK1WLI0XIHTI39K

I used a brand new, fully charged battery for this flight. However, something didn't seem right about how fast this battery was draining.

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[Mavic Mac]

Sorry for your loss - hopefully it is recovered

 

[Meta4]

Lost while taking photos of Comet Neowise. The drone probably isn't salvageable but I want those pictures!!
I will not have another opportunity to do this again since I'll be out of town for the next 3 weeks.

You climbed to 5200 feet in Sport Mode using nearly half the battery's charge in 6.5 mins and are surprised at the battery burn rate?
You left it hovering until the battery reached 22% before commencing the descent at 14:17.3.
Descending from that height would require 8.6 minutes.
At 15:38.7 (18% battery) you paused the descent to hover at 4290 feet until 16:45.2 when the drone commenced autolanding.
Normally a descent from 4290 ft would require 7.25 minutes , but with the battery at 17%, this wasn't going to end well.

At 20:21 the battery reached 0% with the drone still 1980 feet up and the voltage in Cell 1 started to collapse.
At 21:59.9 the data stops with the drone still 1000 feet up and directly above the launch point which was 250 ft from the nearest water.

I used a brand new, fully charged battery for this flight. However, something didn't seem right about how fast this battery was draining.

There are a few aspects to this flight that don't seem right.

 

[lannes]

A tad higher than the 400ft limit

 

[sar104]

Words fail me. No actually they don't. You recklessly and illegally flew it to 5200 ft AGL to photograph the comet? And then lost it through complete incompetence and decided to post about it on a public forum?



The descent track after power off in the prevailing wind field is easy to compute in this case, and the good news is it ended up in the water. I'm not going to post the calculations and descent track though because I don't feel inclined to give any assistance to this pilot.

Please find another hobby.

 

[PhantomFandom]

Words fail me. No actually they don't. You recklessly and illegally flew it to 5200 ft AGL to photograph the comet? And then lost it through complete incompetence and decided to post about it on a public forum?

Wow! I thought I had seen it all on these forums, but 5200 feet??? Wow! Not only reckless but consciously so, since that far exceeds not only the 400 foot default max altitude but also way beyond the hard limit of 500 meters in the firmware. So this Mavic must have been hacked to override that limit.

There is no excuse for this and it is yet another reason why the rest of us get a bad reputation in the media, the government imposes more burdensome regulations on UAS, and DJI is forced to impose these limitations on all of us. Again just wow!

I'm not going to post the calculations and descent track in this case because I don't feel inclined to give any assistance to this pilot.

Bravo! You always go above and beyond the call of duty here in these forums, and you are absolutely correct in letting this one pass.

 

[Mavic Mac]

Without having read the flight logs I felt bad they lost their drone, but now knowing all of the info I guess they got what they deserve. This is their first post, so maybe through ignorance, which yes I know is no excuse of the law, they flew this high

 

[PhantomFandom]

This is their first post, so maybe through ignorance, which yes I know is no excuse of the law, they flew this high

It's not ignorance when you hack your drone to reach altitudes it is not supposed to reach. DJI Go4 now warns you if you even set your maximum altitude over 400 feet, and tells you that you may be breaking regulations. Beyond that, the hard-locked altitude limit is 500 meters. Overriding that takes a conscious effort to hack the drone. There was clear intent here to fly well above legal limits.

 

[Mavic Mac]

It's not ignorance when you hack your drone to reach altitudes it is not supposed to reach. DJI Go4 now warns you if you even set your maximum altitude over 400 feet, and tells you that you may be breaking regulations. Beyond that, the hard-locked altitude limit is 500 meters. Overriding that takes a conscious effort to hack the drone. There was clear intent here to fly well above legal limits.

Ok - I never gave a thought of hacking my MA 1 - So yeah, if they hacked it I guess karma taught them an expensive lesson.
And like others have posted - it is this type of behavior that creates the restrictions on the rest of the flyers. Laws always address the lowest common denominator

 

[dirkclod]

Ok guys I’ve cleaned this up some and most of you know this or should but it is not staff or your place to start up on what he did .
educate but do so nicely.

15. The Community Owners strongly encourage users to obey all federal and local laws and regulations when flying. It is a helpful service to the community when members guide others in understanding and following the regulations. Meanwhile, fully understanding all international rules and regulations is complex and it is not the responsibility of the community owners, moderators or community members to police and enforce these rules and regulations. Any violation of another community rule, even if in the context of attempting to help enforce flying laws and regulations, is prohibited.

IIf you don’t agree with what he did fine walk on by or educate him
but we are not rude especially to first time posters.
@Chad101 I think you see how members take the ruses seriously
and no need in me commenting on it. From what I gather you were
flying a hacked drone .
Guys carry on if you like but please do keep our guidelines in mind before you do .