Mavic 2 Pro disconnected mid-flight and lost

ff22 · May 17, 2019

raylo32 said:
I still don't see where in DJI Go4 to update the battery firmware. It isn't on the same menu as the AC and RC firmwares. Can you point me to it? And I am not sure why a battery BMS would need updates anyway. I would have thought we'd just need to update the RC and flight controller in the AC??

I have followed the following process: If the aircraft has a firmware update, I do it. Then I power off the drone, change Battery, and power on the drone. At that point it might suggest "inconsistent" firmware and offers to update. I do so. Then power off again, change to my third (and final) battery and power on. Again, it might suggest it needs the update. Do so.

Now on a few occasions, the battery might not need it. But the attempt after a drone update generally allows me to do it in the comfort of my den and have all three batteries updated. It is not a terrible chore in the field since the battery update goes pretty fast.

Interceptor · May 18, 2019

Wednesday I was flying my Mavic Air and lost connection as it was returning to home. I could not regain control of it as it was headed for my house. It was about 8-10 feet above ground and making a slow death approach to the house. Finally the inevitable happened and the drone struck the house crashing a horrible death to the ground. My first deadly drone crash. The back motor arm had broke off. I had no idea why I lost control and reviewing the flight log i saw my GPS went from 16 satellites to 6 as it was making the death approach. A friend of mine had heard their were several incidents on this day due to Sun flares that were causing interference with satellites. I think this was a plausible cause since I had no errors up to the lost connection.

davshev · May 18, 2019

austin1124 said:
Hi all,

I was flying my Mavic 2 Pro today and it suddenly lost the connection and never returned. It was over water/along the coast, so I was unable to retrieve it or look for it on the ground. I have absolutely no idea why it happened, the connection was perfect and it was only 194m from me (I was bringing it back to land). There was no wind or other external factors, that I am aware of, and the battery was at about 75% at the time. It tried to return home after the connection loss but did not. I've attached the flight records, any help parsing them would be great. I also have DJI Care Refresh, but it is my understanding that it would likely not cover it since I could not retrieve it. Thank you very much.

Sorry to hear you lost your drone. You may as well contact DJI...it can't hurt. I have DJI Care also, but I just got a personal articles policy with State Farm for $60 per year. If the aircraft is damaged, I can return it to DJI, but if it's lost, I'll file a claim with State Farm.

raylo32 · May 18, 2019

Oh, man sorry to hear that. One thing I don't understand about these is why they need so many satellites. My old Iris+ didn't have GLONASS, just GPS and flew accurately with 5 or 6 sats.

lilewis · May 18, 2019

I had a surprisingly different outcome 2 days ago. M2P was at 300ft. Started to rain. I quickly (too quickly) shut down the Ipad and controller first then went to shutdown the drone. Except it was still at 300 ft! While I was trying to restart the controller and Ipad, I heard the drone getting louder and louder - and it landed right back at the home point, soaking wet. I tested it this am and it seems to be fine. In my humble opinion, RTH is the best feature on the aircraft.

austin1124 · May 18, 2019

I appreciate again all the help and thoughts from everyone. A brief update: I contacted DJI support and they created a flyaway case, they are conducting data analysis on the flight records and will contact me in 3-5 days regarding them. I will be sure to provide an update then.

@anzacjack I had the same thought, I felt lucky that it was not in a position where it could have dropped out of the sky and landed on someone or something after thinking about it. I mostly just never thought it was a possibility in the first place until it happened.

@davshev That is great advice on the State Farm policy. If this doesn't turn out like I hope I will certainly look into it.

Meta4 · May 18, 2019

Interceptor said:
I had no idea why I lost control and reviewing the flight log i saw my GPS went from 16 satellites to 6 as it was making the death approach.
A friend of mine had heard their were several incidents on this day due to Sun flares that were causing interference with satellites.
I think this was a plausible cause since I had no errors up to the lost connection.

If solar flares affected your GPS, it still wouldn't have caused the numbers of satellites to drop.
Solar activity wasn't the cause of your incident.
The most common cause of loss of satellites is obstacles blocking the sky view.
Even losing GPS, you should still have full control of your drone.
Post flight data to find out more about your incident.

noosaguy · May 18, 2019

Housenotes said:
How do you do a battery firmware update?

I'd like to know the answer to this too. I have NEVER had an 'UPDATE BATTERY' message in 8 months. EVER!

Numone · May 18, 2019

When I first fired-up my M2P a few weeks ago, I too got inconsistent firmware warnings with two of the three batteries; the one which came with the AC was fine, but the two which came with the fly more kit were older. I just let it do it’s thing and it updated the FW via the iPhone. I remember thinking how easy that was compared to updates to the P3A!

wco81 · May 19, 2019

I was getting constant disconnects on a recent trip to Italy.

Repeated aircraft disconnects

I tried to fly from the Path of the Gods on the Amalfi Coast in Italy. This is a hiking path which runs several hundred meters above the coastline between the towns of Amalfi and Positano. I was in a ravine, at the back of it, with the opening about 1 km wide. Basically took off from a...

mavicpilots.com

There were various theories, like a bad controller cable or bad topography — I was seeing disconnects in canyons.

But now maybe a firmware update could be causing this?

First time I flew, over a seaside town, there were no disconnect problems. But I’m certain at some point I did at least one firmware update.

How do I check the firmware update logs as well as get the flight records and other data?

Is downgrading or going back on a firmware update possible?

Billyboy72 · May 19, 2019

I dont know much when it comes to the technical end of any of this but I do know this, if @sar104 cant figure this out then honestly and unfortunately not many can.

FormerMember07122019_2 · May 19, 2019

noosaguy said:
I'd like to know the answer to this too. I have NEVER had an 'UPDATE BATTERY' message in 8 months. EVER!

I believe the message is “inconsistent firmware” not update battery.

brettbrandon · May 19, 2019

Meta4 said:
If solar flares affected your GPS, it still wouldn't have caused the numbers of satellites to drop.
Solar activity wasn't the cause of your incident.

Solar flares can affect the number and signal quality of GPS satellites.
Space Weather and GPS Systems | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center

Meta4 · May 19, 2019

brettbrandon said:
Solar flares can affect the number and signal quality of GPS satellites.
Space Weather and GPS Systems | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center

Just because you've seen people post that here doesn't mean it's a real issue.
If it was a real thing, every time it happened, we'd hear of hundreds of affected drones.
I've been flying DJI for 5 years and still haven't seen a report of an incident that can be attributed to solar activity.

If you want to find out what real effect solar flares might possibly have, read this post from someone that actually knows:

Solar Flares

I was going to fly this morning until I seen this, not sure if these spikes could have an effect on things? If I understand it correctly they can effect GPS signals if they spike high enough. How high can it get before it not safe to fly?

www.phantompilots.com

brettbrandon · May 19, 2019

Meta4 said:
I've been flying DJI for 5 years and still haven't seen a report of an incident that can be attributed to solar activity.

You are assuming that they could tell if it was from a satellite or not. How about all the interference problems that they can't figure out the cause of. You don't think it is possible that some of the unexplained problems are from that?
I think the NOAA possibly knows a little more about GPS.

Meta4 · May 19, 2019

brettbrandon said:
You are assuming that they could tell if it was from a satellite or not. How about all the interference problems that they can't figure out the cause of. You don't think it is possible that some of the unexplained problems are from that?
I think the NOAA possibly knows a little more about GPS.

I look at flight data from incidents and get a pretty good idea of what is really happening rather than saying perhaps it's solar activity with nothing to support that.
There's almost always a simple solution to be found when you read the recorded flight data.
If it was a real thing, there would be hundreds of drones affected every solar cycle - but there aren't.
NOAA didn't give any specific information about what actual effects are on drone's GPS.
I think you didn't read the link I posted.

brettbrandon · May 19, 2019

It affects all GPSs and you wouldn't see it every cycle because it depends on the severity of the flare.
I simply replied to your blank statement that flares do not affect GPS which is incorrect.
I'm done now.

Meta4 · May 19, 2019

brettbrandon said:
I simply replied to your blank statement that flares do not affect GPS which is incorrect.

This blank statement?
If solar flares affected your GPS, it still wouldn't have caused the numbers of satellites to drop.
Try reading the link I gave you to find out what real effects of solar activity on GPS is rather than imagining all kinds of things that don't happen.