Mavic Fly Away this evening. Shes Gone!

[Capt Drone]

Here is what happened.

About the 6th flight of the day. Great weather. Was at 347 feet above takeoff point getting good everything. Was in sport mode. Getting a beautiful picture on my I-pad Mini. I was just over 2000 feet away in my rural neighborhood when I get an event message that says adjust antenna to avoid signal blockage. At almost exactly the same time the screen goes blank and the RC says LOSS of Signal. I checked my antenna position (just fine) and quickly changed my position. I waited a bit and touched return to home. Nothing, it just said Signal Lost.

I walked over to the position where it last reported. Nothing. Went back out after dark with a high powered light and GPS but nothing to be found. It is a wooded area. Will try again in the morning. I hoped that when I got home it would be setting there waiting for me but no such luck.

Do you guys think it is really there or did it fly off? It reported its last position and altitude of 347 feet. I had a good picture right until the end. Was way above the terrain.

Healthy Drone showed no problems other than a message that said Battery Overcurrent during discharge. I was running wide open when that happened so throttle back an it went out. This happened about 30 seconds before it was lost. I had lots of battery, only in the air about 3 minutes on full everything.

Any suggestions for finding it are appreciated.

 

[msinger]

Please upload your TXT flight log here and post a link back here.

 

[Capt Drone]

How do I upload the log to the forum?

 

[HFMan]

You may have only lost video/telemetry downlink... How long did you wait for it too come home? It may not have gotten the signal to come home, and sat out there waiting for a command. If you shut off the controller, it should have come home and it could have taken a few minutes depending on wind.

 

[Capt Drone]

I thought of that and did shut off the controller. No luck.

 

[msinger]

How do I upload the log to the forum?

Follow the instructions at my link above.

 

[Capt Drone]

Here is a shot from Healthy Drone.
HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

 

[Capt Drone]

Here is another shot from Healthy Drones.

HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

 

[RC Mantis]

Twice I have flown behind a mountain and lost all signal. Both times the Mavic returned too home on it's own. I have got into the habit of setting the return point prior to each flight. Did you set the return point before your flight or trust that it auto set the home point (which I think it does)?

 

[Capt Drone]

I normally use the auto return to home but I do check it after I takeoff to make sure it is there. According to the log, it recorded it.

 

[Capt Drone]

I had that warning about discharge about a minute before it was lost. I'm feeling like I had TOTAL power failure.

 

[dewster]

Maybe sport mode needs to be dialed back or DJI needs to put a 4S lipo on the Mavic.

 

[JLane]

And are you sure you had the Signal Lost behavior set to RTH, not Hover or Land?

 

[int3grate]

Do you know what the speed/direction of the wind was at the time? If the battery gave up (which it kind of sounds like it did), I'd imagine it would probably drift with the wind in an autorotation away from the point where you lost connection.

 

[stratos]

that a really strange description on what happened.
I mean if you controller suddenly died your mavic will automatically trigger the RTH. No reason for it to fly away.

 

[stratos]

Twice I have flown behind a mountain and lost all signal. Both times the Mavic returned too home on it's own. I have got into the habit of setting the return point prior to each flight. Did you set the return point before your flight or trust that it auto set the home point (which I think it does)?

Yup I do the same buddy. For reassurance I always set up manually.
Twice I have "lost" my drone while in the air, twice I have had him back by itself with no issues whatsoever.

I think most people go into panic mode and rush the last place the drone was, while the drone is waiting on where they took off,

 

[int3grate]

Yup I do the same buddy. For reassurance I always set up manually.
Twice I have "lost" my drone while in the air, twice I have had him back by itself with no issues whatsoever.

I think most people go into panic mode and rush the last place the drone was, while the drone is waiting on where they took off,

Good question. I wonder if he went looking for it immediately or waited for it to return home.

 

[RC Mantis]

I am wondering if the forward avoidance sensors stayed off on the return to home do to being in sport mode. If the obstruction that blocked the signal to the controller was taller then the return to home hight there would have been a collision. This should not be the case but I can see how it could happen.

 

[int3grate]

If he had return to home obsticle avoidance turned on, it will avoid objects even if it's in sport mode. I think by default that is off though.

 

[RC Mantis]

If he had return to home obsticle avoidance turned on, it will avoid objects even if it's in sport mode. I think by default that is off though.

There is also A RTH setting where the Mavic tries to fly around an obstacle. In this case it flies sideways and as I know all to well the Mavic does not have any side avoidance sensors.