Mavic 3 Flyaway - Gone

[bsmall]

Beautiful Easter Sunday here in Dallas/Fort Worth. Perfect conditions for my brand new Mavic 3 to disappear.

Flight Log Here.

Devastated, to say the least. Does the "H" represent home? If so, WHY?! Right in the middle of a busy street? Does the altitude give you the impression that it landed on top of something (a tree, a roof, etc.)?

Combed the area for hours. Only thing I can assume is that it hovered over the street and someone grabbed it as they drove up on it.

I have no idea what to do next and would greatly appreciate any guidance you experts here can provide me.

Thank you all.

bsmall

 

[snowghost]

You can post the flight log. Someone will analyze it for you.

 

[bsmall]

You can post the flight log. Someone will analyze it for you.

I thought I posted it in the body of the post above. Is there a better way to post it? Thank you!

Here is it again: DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[Skwirl]

I just took a look at your log. Never looked at anyone else's, just mine.
Theres no message saying homepoint set.
The first item is a red warning, GPS weak.

 

[maggior]

It looks to me like you started flying before the remote announced that "the homepoint has been updated, please check it on the map". Because of the small number of satellites you had a lock on when you started flying it must not have updated the homepoint. It must be that 12 satellites are required to update the home point because that's when the homepoint shows up.

The log shows the flight distance of "0 feet" until the point was reached where it established the homepoint. Flying and seeing that your distance isn't changing would have been a clue that something was amiss. Though maybe that's not what displayed in DJI Fly.

Once you saw that it was going "home" and it wasn't really home, you could have taken control over of the drone and flown it to yourself.

It may not have made it down to the road, it may be in one of those trees.

 

[snowghost]

If the Class B warning did a GeoFence, would that show as such in the narrative?

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

I thought I posted it in the body of the post above. Is there a better way to post it? Thank you!

You did.

 

[dirkclod]

Where the H is looks like it’s in those trees, says autolanding .

Where I would look anyway.

 

[Faster]

I'm not an expert by any means and my words could be wrong but seems to me you started flying without having enough satellites locked to have a Home Point. After flying 2:40 your aircraft got 12 satellites and recorded that place as a Home Point, you continue flying until due to weak signal engaged the RTH and the drone flight directly and landed in that place that was recorded as a HP.

 

[bsmall]

I'm not an expert by any means and my words could be wrong but seems to me you started flying without having enough satellites locked to have a Home Point. After flying 2:40 your aircraft got 12 satellites and recorded that place as a Home Point, you continue flying until due to weak signal engaged the RTH and the drone flight directly and landed in that place that was recorded as a HP.

Doesn't matter that you aren't an expert. I'm grateful that you even took the time to reply. Your response seems spot on. I just can't fathom why it didn't establish a home point when it initially took off and hovered for roughly two minutes, like it has done the few times before. Worked like a charm each and every time. Why this time? Baffling.

I do find this interesting and very applicable: DJI Mavic 3 GPS Problems Fixed "within The Next Two Months"

 

[bsmall]

Where the H is looks like it’s in those trees, says autolanding .
View attachment 146975
Where I would look anyway.

Heading down there to look in the tree right now! I figured that it would see the tree as an obstacle and not land in it, but, cross your fingers for me. And thank you for the reply.

 

[snowghost]

It's not only good advice to wait for the nice lady to confirm Home Point, but to also look at it on the map to make sure the compass is accurate and aligns to actual facing.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Going by the VPS height the log ends with the drone at 38ft above what it saw as solid ground near the junction of Cheek Sparger Rd and Spring Garden Drive.
38ft could be the height of some of the trees in that area but the log ends with the drone level so I suspect the drone simply descended out of contact, a recorded tree landing would almost certainly leave the drone tilted.

It may have then got caught in a tree or landed in Cheek-Sparger Rd or perhaps the plot of land just to the south? of Cheek-Sparger Road but if you can not see it on the road or in or under those trees or on the plot of land or fragments in the road then I suspect it has been lifted.

Depending on how long ago this flight was flown the drone may still, have power, I would take the controller and phone with you and trigger beeping and flashing in the App BUT ONLY when you get to the search area i.e. DO NOT waste battery or risk drawing unwanted attention to the drone.

If it 'later' saw the tree and rejected the landing site I suspect it would hover ....until the forced landing kicked in due to low battery voltage and then it would have descended no matter what.

The slow GPS acquisition thing is very much on going.

 

[Eagle Eye 62]

It's not only good advice to wait for the nice lady to confirm Home Point, but to also look at it on the map to make sure the compass is accurate and aligns to actual facing.

Exactly, Always wait to hear the lady and then confirm on the map. I get it, it's easy to want to get up in the air quickly, but having lost a couple of drones myself (all due to my fault, mainly not paying attention and prepping the flight plan properly) you should always check everything before you fly. Some people use a written pre-flight checklist to help them remember.

 

[bsmall]

Going by the VPS height the log ends with the drone at 38ft above what it saw as solid ground near the junction of Cheek Sparger Rd and Spring Garden Drive.
38ft could be the height of some of the trees in that area but the log ends with the drone level so I suspect the drone simply descended out of contact, a recorded tree landing would almost certainly leave the drone tilted.

It may have then got caught in a tree or landed in Cheek-Sparger Rd or perhaps the plot of land just to the south? of Cheek-Sparger Road but if you can not see it on the road or in or under those trees or on the plot of land or fragments in the road then I suspect it has been lifted.

Depending on how long ago this flight was flown the drone may still, have power, I would take the controller and phone with you and trigger beeping and flashing in the App BUT ONLY when you get to the search area i.e. DO NOT waste battery or risk drawing unwanted attention to the drone.

If it 'later' saw the tree and rejected the landing site I suspect it would hover ....until the forced landing kicked in due to low battery voltage and then it would have descended no matter what.

The slow GPS acquisition thing is very much on going.

Just came back from the area. Spent another hour and a half looking around. Binoculars into trees, walking the area to the south that you mention. The RC seems useless because it simply won't connect to the aircraft, so no beep. I'm afraid I'm out of luck. Grateful for your help.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

That's a pity, just as a matter of interest was there any ID on the drone or on the mSD card?
Was the drone bound to your DJI account? If so the finder will not be able to fly it.

 

[bsmall]

That's a pity, just as a matter of interest was there any ID on the drone or on the mSD card?
Was the drone bound to your DJI account? If so the finder will not be able to fly it.

The drone was connected to my DJI account, yes. Will that benefit me in any way?

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

No, but I believe it will prevent the finder from flying it, small comfort I know but maybe some ........
Was this flight two days ago? If so the drone has long switched off?
The DAT number is 11, I guess the counter zeros at 99+1 but I am wondeing how many times you have flown this drone?

 

[bsmall]

No, but I believe it will prevent the finder from flying it, small comfort I know but maybe some ........
Was this flight two days ago? If so the drone has long switched off?
The DAT number is 11, I guess the counter zeros at 99+1 but I am wondering how many times you have flown this drone?

Only 10 total flights on this new Mavic 3.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

OUCH that's an expensive learning curve.