Lost my drone tonight

[JohnnyM]

I was flying in the countryside. It got pretty windy at altitude. The Fly app was reporting low battery and was returning to home. I think it may have got blown away from the RTH location on a strong gust of wind. However, for whatever reason it had to land as the battery was critical. It was not in my line of site. Inexperience didn’t help - this is my first drone - only have it over a week.
Find my drone on the app gives a specific location and lists Last Recorded Location coordinates. But my last flight in the Flight Data Center ends in a different place, about 100 meters away.
I searched both places but couldn’t find it - but it was getting dark and the weather had turned nasty. What is the most probable last location? The “Find my drone” location or the location at the end of my last flight in the Flight Data Center?
Thanks In advance for any help.

 

[Tony McDrone]

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help. Follow these instructions to post you flight log. Someone on the forum will be able to read them, and help you determine where your drone went down. I think the retrieval process is the same for all DJI drones, but if I am wrong, someone will surely correct me.?

Welcome to the forum...sorry for your loss.

 

[zeusfl]

Welcome to the forum...sorry for your loss as well.

 

[Thomas B]

Welcome to the forum from the deserts of Arizona! Enjoy.

recommend posting the flight log so or experts can answer your question.

 

[Meta4]

What is the most probable last location? The “Find my drone” location or the location at the end of my last flight in the Flight Data Center?

Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
That will give you a detailed report of the flight.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.
Or .. just post the txt file.

 

[boblui]

Can u post the location indicated by find my drone as well ?

 

[Tony McDrone]

The cavalry is here!!!??

 

[JohnnyM]

Thanks for the help guys. here is a link to my DJI Flight Log Viewer. DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[Meta4]

Thanks for the help guys. here is a link to my DJI Flight Log Viewer. DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

It's not easy to tell much from that data.
It contains only one record from the end of an 11 minute flight.
The drone was autolanding 3700 feet from home with a battery at 0%.

Can you post the flight record before this one?

 

[JohnnyM]

Try this.

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload and view flight logs from your DJI drones

www.phantomhelp.com

 

[maelstrom]

Try this.

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload and view flight logs from your DJI drones

www.phantomhelp.com

Never a good idea to start a flight with only 45% battery. It looks from the log as though the RTH was successful but at around 6:32 (with the drone over the home point) you put in a stick input to override the autolanding.

 

[Meta4]

Try this.

You launched with the battery showing only 45%.
You flew upwind (southeast).
At around 5 minutes, with the drone 92 m up and hovering with no joystick input, it was being blown around at 0-3 m/s by gusty winds.
You went higher, up to 118 m and at 5:51.4 initiated RTH when it was 221 m from home.
At 6:31.9 the drone reached a point above the homepoint and started descending.

But at 6:35.5 you cancelled the autodescent and unwisely took the drone up to 119 m.
Your piloting appears to have been confused and while you brought the drone down to 87 m, you also flew it north (downwind) at speed.

At 7:36.9 the battery reached critical low voltage and the drone started descending.
It was 81 m up and 360 m north of the home point.
You were still disoriented and kept flying it further away as it descended.

The last data saw the drone 11 m above the ground and the battery still at 10%.
It was descending at about 1 metre/sec so should have reached the ground fairly soon after, perhaps 20 or so metres to the north-northwest.

But the additional data from 3 minutes later shows a point 567 metres further NNW beyond the previous last recorded location.
The GPS Health of that last single record is 5/5 and the drone is near upright, so that location should be reliable.
What might have stopped the descent and allowed the drone to fly so far is a mystery.
Also a mystery is why that last data point shows the horizontal speed at 8.7 m/s.

 

[BudWalker]

Try this.

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload and view flight logs from your DJI drones

www.phantomhelp.com

It appears that the two .txts you provided (via phantomhelp) come from the same flight. Both have a last record that, if believed, was recorded some 20 minutes later.

You didn't provide the coordinates where you looked. But, did you try
53.680468, -9.793018

 

[boblui]

At the end of the 2nd .TXT file, the drone was at point A and more than 11 meters above the ground. The wind was blowing it towards point B which is the only coordinate shown in the 1st .TXT file. At that point the height above ground was just 5 meters so the drone should have landed somewhere there. If you cannot find it there, try searching along the projected flight path on the downwind side of point B.

 

[Geekser]

I hope you are able to locate your drone - I also want to say that I am very impressed with the skills that @Meta4 - @BudWalker and @boblui have the way they can read the data and determine approximate locations - just incredible - Hope I never need their help but am sure glad they are there if I need them! Best of Luck locating your Drone.

 

[chickentarts]

Yeah guys that was **** good! I did not loose my drone (yet) but I follow these threads just for this kind of stuff

 

[JohnnyM]

It appears that the two .txts you provided (via phantomhelp) come from the same flight. Both have a last record that, if believed, was recorded some 20 minutes later.

You didn't provide the coordinates where you looked. But, did you try
53.680468, -9.793018
View attachment 114134

Thanks. I did try searching this exact location today, but only for about 10 minutes. I was passing by on my way to a job and unfortunately didn't have the time to stay longer. I searched a 20 square meter area around the exact spot but found nothing. The area is bog with very uneven ground and is covered in 1-2 foot high grass.
If the weather is fine tomorrow, I'll go back and do a larger search. Would a metal detector help?

 

[JohnnyM]

You launched with the battery showing only 45%.
You flew upwind (southeast).
At around 5 minutes, with the drone 92 m up and hovering with no joystick input, it was being blown around at 0-3 m/s by gusty winds.
You went higher, up to 118 m and at 5:51.4 initiated RTH when it was 221 m from home.
At 6:31.9 the drone reached a point above the homepoint and started descending.

But at 6:35.5 you cancelled the autodescent and unwisely took the drone up to 119 m.
Your piloting appears to have been confused and while you brought the drone down to 87 m, you also flew it north (downwind) at speed.

At 7:36.9 the battery reached critical low voltage and the drone started descending.
It was 81 m up and 360 m north of the home point.
You were still disoriented and kept flying it further away as it descended.

The last data saw the drone 11 m above the ground and the battery still at 10%.
It was descending at about 1 metre/sec so should have reached the ground fairly soon after, perhaps 20 or so metres to the north-northwest.

But the additional data from 3 minutes later shows a point 567 metres further NNW beyond the previous last recorded location.
The GPS Health of that last single record is 5/5 and the drone is near upright, so that location should be reliable.
What might have stopped the descent and allowed the drone to fly so far is a mystery.
Also a mystery is why that last data point shows the horizontal speed at 8.7 m/s.

Thanks - this is very helpful to help me understand where I went wrong and will hopefully lead me to the drone.

 

[JohnnyM]

At the end of the 2nd .TXT file, the drone was at point A and more than 11 meters above the ground. The wind was blowing it towards point B which is the only coordinate shown in the 1st .TXT file. At that point the height above ground was just 5 meters so the drone should have landed somewhere there. If you cannot find it there, try searching along the projected flight path on the downwind side of point B.

View attachment 114139

View attachment 114141

Thanks. I did try searching around point B today, but only for about 10 minutes. I was passing by on my way to a job and unfortunately didn't have the time to stay longer.

I'm hoping to go back tomorrow - weather permitting, and I'll concentrate on searching downwind from that point. The area is a bog with very uneven ground and is covered in 1-2 foot high grass and water trenches.
Would a metal detector help?

 

[Thomas B]

Best of luck!

must state... fly out against the wind and back with it. Always start with a fully charged battery.

I truly hope you find your drone and in good shape.