Lost my Mavic in the wind...

01s0uljah · Sep 4, 2017

Well, didn't think I'd be here to post a lost Mavic.. and it happened today. Thought I'd bring out my Mavic in my backyard as I usually do and catch the sunset. I ascended to 300+ feet (I know it was stupid), by that time I get a warning of high winds and stupid me ignored it and carried on going higher.. By that time, it was too late.. the strong winds were carrying it north east and could bring it down. The last recorded point was at about 230ft and lost signal. Drove around the block for 2 hours and could not find the bird.

I'm guessing by looking around the forum that I'm crap outta luck.. I've got DJI Refresh, but that doesn't cover fly aways. I've loaded my flight log into healthy drones in the following link..

Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones

See attached, and any helpful info would be greatly appreciated!!!

pixl · Sep 4, 2017

You took it out in this storm? That's crazy man.....the winds preceding a storm like this are always huge.

01s0uljah · Sep 4, 2017

pixl said:
You took it out in this storm? That's crazy man.....the winds preceding a storm like this are always huge.

I just learned that tonight.. It was a stupid idea on my part...

MrsTreat · Sep 4, 2017

Try to locate it.

pixl · Sep 4, 2017

01s0uljah said:
I just learned that tonight.. It was a stupid idea on my part...

The sky over Toronto around 6pm.

Screen Shot 2017-09-04 at 8.19.02 PM.png

MrsTreat · Sep 4, 2017

pixl said:
The sky over Toronto around 6pm.
View attachment 21191

Well, have to admit, I might have taken the drone up to get a cloud level shot of that. But then, I can afford another drone.

01s0uljah · Sep 4, 2017

It was a bit before 5:00PM when I brought it up. It was probably about 200ft at the last recorded point in the flight log, so it most lightly drifted even further.. I'm not keeping my hopes up... but I posted a Kijiji ad to see if it can returned..

I'm pretty much SOL right?

pixl · Sep 4, 2017

The report you linked to shows a height warning received and overridden* at 1635 ft. First brief signal loss came at 1561ft away, 1484 ft AGL. Final, fatal loss of signal came 4826 away, 743 ft AGL. It's worth noting that you were flying in the final approach path for Pearson YYZ runway 24.

So, the uploaded data doesn't jive with what you're saying -- that override is a manual thing. I'm not judging -- it's easy to want to have fun and let that override safe practices. But I guess you learned the hard way.

edit: based on what I saw of the storm, it would not surprise me if the winds at that elevation at that time exceeded 40 mph. It will have fallen a fair distance from the last location reading. Even if you had managed to keep radio contact, you couldn't have gotten it back.

*flight ceiling is 270 feet AGL throughout Canada.

Dan · Sep 4, 2017

I guess this is where Sports Mode might of helped bring it back

JMF · Sep 4, 2017

pixl said:
The report you linked to shows a height warning received and overridden* at 563 ft. First brief signal loss came at 1561ft. Final, fatal loss of signal came 4746 ft. It's worth noting that you were flying in the final approach path for Pearson YYZ runway 24.

So, the uploaded data doesn't jive with what you're saying -- that override is a manual thing. I'm not judging -- it's easy to want to have fun and let that override safe practices. But I guess you learned the hard way.

*flight ceiling is 270 feet AGL throughout Canada.

Good Rush song, YYZ

james_mav · Sep 4, 2017

pixl said:
The sky over Toronto around 6pm.
View attachment 21191

Too bad you were not out in the country instead of in front of the housing. Those clouds are awesome.

pixl · Sep 4, 2017

james_mav said:
Too bad you were not out in the country instead of in front of the housing. Those clouds are awesome.

Not my picture....came from storm reports on Twitter.

MarcelKoks · Sep 4, 2017

Remember that the wind gets (much) stronger the higher up you go. So if you get a warning, stay at that level or better, a bit lower. Never continue ascend....

01s0uljah · Sep 5, 2017

MarcelKoks said:
Remember that the wind gets (much) stronger the higher up you go. So if you get a warning, stay at that level or better, a bit lower. Never continue ascend....

I learned the hard way

Went back to look again and no sign of the bird... It's time to let of it and move on...

MrsTreat · Sep 5, 2017

01s0uljah said:
I learned the hard way

Went back to look again and no sign of the bird... It's time to let of it and move on...

It may still be flying.

01s0uljah · Sep 5, 2017

Masheen said:
Caught in the jet stream and now circling North Korea.

Sorry OP that you lost your bird. I think the risk taken with the last flight just pushed it over the edge of no return.

Pretty much.. I hope its in a good place... if someone finds it and enjoys it.. Thats cool too.. It would suck it's just hanging off a tree and ready to drop to its inevitable death. Or if someone actually returns it, I'd cash reward them and claim my DJI Refresh

01s0uljah · Sep 5, 2017

Masheen said:
Is there any ID on the Mavic to make that a possibility?

I took off the ID when I put my camo decal on

Might not even need repairs if landed with RTH low batt.

Just trying to give you some hope dude !!

Thanks for that.. I'm moving on.. slowly...... Mavic Pro 2?!

Bite BayKon · Sep 5, 2017

01s0uljah said:
Pretty much.. I hope its in a good place... if someone finds it and enjoys it.. Thats cool too.. It would suck it's just hanging off a tree and ready to drop to its inevitable death. Or if someone actually returns it, I'd cash reward them and claim my DJI Refresh

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't I read somewhere that you can report your loss to DJI (with serial number) and they can track it down (through reregistration) if somebody else flies your MP ?

pixl · Sep 6, 2017

I'm just happy this happened before my next flight out of YYZ on Monday. Hopefully the OP will only do his future high altitude flying in areas outside of restricted airspace.