Lost MP1 in Madeira

Secbra · Jul 22, 2019

Hi guys lost my MP1 in Madeira. Flying of Pico Ruivo. Suddenly high wind picked it up and carried it away. Tried sport mode but watched the distance just increasing with the wind direction. Although had over 30% battery when this happened it wasn't enough to overcome the force and return home. Battery died and the drone just dropped into a grey area valley. Last known GPS while still in the air was 32.745267,-16.948870.
Took a hike next day and managed to get very near to the location but the terrain there is unforgiving and without knowing the exact spot I was unsuccessful finding it. If anybody finds it please let me know. I am after the footage from my holiday.

sar104 · Jul 22, 2019

If you want to upload the flight log it's relatively straightforward to estimate the descent trajectory and impact point, at least to within ten meters or so.

Secbra · Jul 23, 2019

Ok many thanks, hope I've got the right file that you need. The battery died while the drone was still in the air. Although the altitude from the take of wasn't high the take of point was at Pico Ruivo which is 1862m up the sea. The drone dropped into a massive canyon.

Meta4 · Jul 23, 2019

Secbra said:
Last known GPS while still in the air was 32.745267,-16.948870.
Took a hike next day and managed to get very near to the location but the terrain there is unforgiving and without knowing the exact spot I was unsuccessful finding it.

That location is about right for the point where signal was lost.
Signal was lost when the battery died at 16:08.1.
But as it was approx 1925 ft above the terrain below, it would have drifted with the wind while falling toward ground that would have been even lower.
So the final GPS position is not where the drone will have come to rest - it's going to be further to the south and further downhill.

@sar104 is the go-to guy for falling drone trajectory calculations.
Perhaps he'll take on the challenge.

sar104 · Jul 23, 2019

Secbra said:
Ok many thanks, hope I've got the right file that you need. The battery died while the drone was still in the air. Although the altitude from the take of wasn't high the take of point was at Pico Ruivo which is 1862m up the sea. The drone dropped into a massive canyon.

Okay - I see what you mean. Is that canyon accessible? The calculation is certainly complicated by the terrain, even if we trust the DEM. The wind speed was around 40 mph (18 m/s) out of the north (13°), so blowing across the canyon. That makes it difficult to predict the wind speed once the aircraft fell below the canyon rim, so we have to make some assumptions to try to bound the problem. The image below shows the estimated impacts for 3 cases, no wind at all (green), linear decrease to zero in the canyon (orange) and continued 18 m/s wind all the way to impact. Red and green differ by 300 meters, but I'd have some confidence that the aircraft ended up within 50 meters of the line between them.

Secbra · Jul 23, 2019

Thanks a lot both of you guys. I took a hike next day after crash but the terain was unforgiving. Been almost to the last known location in the air and could not get any further. One step wrong and could have dropped down the sinkhole too. The whole hike was a struggle. See photos I took along the route below.
I will post your advice to the Madeira hikers and climbers and see if there is someone that has a bit more strength and experience climbing these rocks.