M3 lost connection. Lost or not?

[RadioK]

Yesterday, while I was flying with my Mavic 3, suddenly I got a message like if my drone was not conntected to RC any more. The screen of my phone became still and grey.
The distance was about 800 m, about 100 m height, and the RC signal was OK (not even yellow, as far as I can remember).
I pressed RTH button on my RC, but nothing has happened.
As the drone was still in the VLOS, I tried to operate it manually, and it worked - the drone was responding to the RC levers, and I was able to get it back, but all the time with the gray screen, and with the "Drone disconnected" message.

My first thought was that there was a cable problem, or something other that has appeared just accidentally, so right after the first try, I made another flight, and I had the same situation. From the RC side, I got a message that the drone had been disconnected, but it was still controllable. When the drone was already close to my position, I switched off the RC, and than, the AC started the automatic RTH, like it should right when the RC connection was lost. When I switched on the RC once again, everything was working perfectly, and I was able to abandon the autolanding procedure.

So there I have two questions - what could be a reason for such repeatable loosing connection, and why the connection was manifested as lost "only" from the RC side (for a matter of fact, the connection was still there, the drone was controllable, and the automatic RTH procedure started only when I have manually switched of the RC).

Any help will be appreciated, and I hope it's not a common M3 problem, as there is a high risk of loosing your drone due to it.


My settings: M3 latest firmware 01.00.0800, RC-N1 latest firmware 04.12.0600, Samsung S10e U1 latest firmware Android 12, DJI Fly 1.7.0

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

I had posted here links to these logs on PH but have deleted them because of the possible 900ft + AGL in two of these logs.

 

[RadioK]

I had posted here links to these logs on PH but have deleted them because of the possible 900ft + AGL in two of these logs.

Could you explain me why would it be so crucial if the log was from a flight of a 900ft + AGL? Could it be a potentional reason of loosing the connectiion if the drone was still in the VLOS, and the straight line to it was shorter than 1 km?
Or is there just a rule on PH that they will deny to analyze any logs from a flight above 120m?

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Because I don't want to be party to posting logs/information that may get you in trouble. I can't remove the logs from PH, they will time expire anyway, but I can remove the links to them that I had posted.
There is no rule in PH concerning height limitations, I think the highest I have seen was 4000ft + caused by a malfunctioning and uncontrollable drone.

 

[RadioK]

Because I don't want to be party to posting logs/information that may get you in trouble. I can't remove the logs from PH, they will time expire anyway, but I can remove the links to them that I had posted.
There is no rule in PH concerning height limitations, I think the highest I have seen was 4000ft + caused by a malfunctioning and uncontrollable drone.

OK, thanks for the explanation. My main concern is to eliminate the risk of loosing my drone during any future flight, but I do appreciate that you don't want to get me in any legal problems (I belive that back in Poland, local authorities do not watch any DJI forums, )

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

At such heights your drone is probably in the airspace allocated to manned aircraft, (above 500ft?). If a collision occurs loosing the drone due would then be the least of your worries.
I would use a screen recorder to capture messages and you would to be left uncertain as to the disconnection message.

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

It sounds to me (without looking at the logs) as if you are only losing the video feed. DJI is not the best at wording their warnings. Video feed is usually the first thing that breaks up in high interference areas. It can also be caused by a bad cord, lint or dirt in the device port or loose connection.

 

[Capt KO]

I also believe this is a phone problem not the drone or RC. They functioned as required and you had control visually, thus VLOS rules. Either a bad phone connection is at fault or your phone cpu is overloaded requiring shutting down other apps using power. Clean all connections and replace the cable if needed. Pause or delete any other flight or high draw apps while using FLY..it uses a lot of juice.

 

[RadioK]

I also believe this is a phone problem not the drone or RC. They functioned as required and you had control visually, thus VLOS rules. Either a bad phone connection is at fault or your phone cpu is overloaded requiring shutting down other apps using power. Clean all connections and replace the cable if needed. Pause or delete any other flight or high draw apps while using FLY..it uses a lot of juice.

I would have belived that the incident had been caused by either the connection problem (bad/dirty/wet usb cable or phone socket), or the phone problem (overloaded), but the fact that there was no reaction when I had pressed RTH button on my RC eliminated such a simple explanation.
In past, a few times I had tried to fly without the DJI Fly App, just using my RC, and everything was fine - I was able to get my drone back pressing the RTH button. This time there was no reaction to this button.

I have uninstalled the DJI Fly 1.7.0 App from my phone, wiping out the cache, and since then everything seems to be fine (at least so far). I can remember that right before that problematic flight I had updated the DJI Fly App, so perheaps the reason was hidden somewhere in the malfunctioning app, not in the hardware.