Reaper Two Seven, thanks for sharing your experiences. I for one am in a learning mode before my Mavic arrives. I found it interesting that your Phantom had different behavior in RTH by engaging the OA.
Mavic Lost! Failure to Return to Home
- Thread starter Reaper Two Seven
- Start date
My comment was one of the ones pruned earlier. It's clear that what the OP did is a violation of FAA guidelines. But when someone has the intestinal fortitude to come here and voluntarily share the self-incriminating details of his flight, that should be seen as a learning experience for everyone. These forums aren't "safe spaces" where we expect no criticism or critique, but at the same time going to the gutter with personal attacks is absolutely uncalled-for.
One can commend the courage of someone willing to post a self-deprecating account of events, without necessarily agreeing with or condoning their flight behavior.
To be honest, I got much more frustrated at the childish behavior of fellow posters who felt the need to belittle and insult the poster, than I did over his actions.
Perhaps it's because I realize that, as an average American, I unwittingly commit THREE FELONIES by dinner time EVERY DAY - that I refuse to cast stones. Instead, I prefer to listen and learn from those who are willing to share their experiences.
One can commend the courage of someone willing to post a self-deprecating account of events, without necessarily agreeing with or condoning their flight behavior.
To be honest, I got much more frustrated at the childish behavior of fellow posters who felt the need to belittle and insult the poster, than I did over his actions.
Perhaps it's because I realize that, as an average American, I unwittingly commit THREE FELONIES by dinner time EVERY DAY - that I refuse to cast stones. Instead, I prefer to listen and learn from those who are willing to share their experiences.
HueJorgan
Well-Known Member
But most of the ignorant folks calling people childish do not realize this.
I need to call my shrink, there's no way I'm going to be able to sleep tonight. I'm hurt.
Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots
Do you really care what people think about you on the internet?
Serious question.
Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots
I would set a much higher RTH altitude, like another poster stated, for sure. And obstacle sensing would be turned ON. And I'd be a heck of a lot closer where I can see it.
J-Dub
Well-Known Member
Here's my future forecast for this awesome piece of technology: Someone flies through downtown-anywhere into a high rise, it falls hundreds of feet and hurts or kills someone. Then we get to only fly in the rural countryside or RC flying parks. Not very photographic.
Thanks for that
I happen to find the rural countryside very photographic, more than most parts in fact. Different strokes. Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots
UPDATE:
I have recovered my drone. With the help of member msinger AKA MavicHelp who was able to analyze my flight log and point me in the direction where the bird went down I was able to return to the scene and speak with the building management about the incident. I was honest about my mistake and described what happened. I was fully expecting them to be angry but surprisingly they were not. They were very understanding and cooperative. The security agent went onto the roof of the west wing (the building has the high rise tower in the middle with two four story wings on both sides) and there it was, right in the area msinger indicated it would be. Next to the air conditioner. Which, by the way was in the area that my friend and I covered in his drone but he did not think to go that far north or get close enough. Upon reviewing his video we did see it, but being so far away did not recognize it for what it was, tiny as the Mavic already is.
On the first search the security found the aircraft body and battery laying a few feet apart but the camera was missing. She went up an hour later on and found the tiny camera under the rooftop air conditioning unit and called me back to let me know she had it. Upon thanking her profusely and offering a reward which she graciously declined I was beyond stoked.
Now onto the good: the Mavic flies! Two props were broken at the tips but after replacing them the Mavic took to the skies without a beat. This thing loves to fly. Full functions, telemetry, altitude, speed, LED beacons, GPS, flight data all works as it should. Full range of movement. Arms are just fine. It folds and unfolds just like it did out of the box. The thing is built well. It did take an impact to the nose towards the starboard obstacle sensor and has a nasty scratch there. The top front cover is cracked near that spot. Starboard side front arm has a slight scuff near the red navigation light. Starboard rear arm has some very very slight scuffing to the bottom of it. Other than that, the rest of the body is absolutely flawless. Port side arms unaffected, heat sink on the bottom is mint. Maybe with the ability of the arms to fold allows it that much more "give" in a collision which could mean the difference broken an intact arm or a broken one.
The bad: Battery is destroyed. Like totally wasted. It looks like a twisted lump of plastic. It took a huge beating in the crash and got ejected. I can't imagine the foot pounds of energy that rippled through it during the sudden deceleration. The camera / gimbal mount has been detached from the aircraft body. The assembly looks like it might be fine, but the ribbon / connector has been torn. See the attached pictures.
Here's what happened: My Mavic lost RC connection as it flew around the building in question. It went into failsafe RTH. Without any way of getting input from me it initiated RTH and swung itself around and climbed from 252 feet to 90 meters (295 feet) which was the predetermined RTH altitude. As forward vision sensors were turned OFF at the time it did not engage them on the RTH. It dutifully made a beeline back to the home point before flying smack dab into the northwest/west side of the building. It fell about 250 feet to the rooftop of the west wing below. Member msinger went through my flight data and informed me of this and the recovered video from the drone collaborates with his information. He showed me a detailed satellite picture and highlighted the area where it went down. Thanks msinger! If you guys ever need help with located a downed drone please make him your go-to guy! He rocks!
I am going to work with DJI on repairing my drone as it appear that it does not have user serviceable parts at this time. I will keep you updated with the repair progress. Thank you to the members who offered support and especially to the one who offered me detailed help. It made a difference in being able to recover my Mavic and begin the repair process. Both of the Mavic and of my humility and bruised ego. I will most definitely fly smarter from now on.
I have recovered my drone. With the help of member msinger AKA MavicHelp who was able to analyze my flight log and point me in the direction where the bird went down I was able to return to the scene and speak with the building management about the incident. I was honest about my mistake and described what happened. I was fully expecting them to be angry but surprisingly they were not. They were very understanding and cooperative. The security agent went onto the roof of the west wing (the building has the high rise tower in the middle with two four story wings on both sides) and there it was, right in the area msinger indicated it would be. Next to the air conditioner. Which, by the way was in the area that my friend and I covered in his drone but he did not think to go that far north or get close enough. Upon reviewing his video we did see it, but being so far away did not recognize it for what it was, tiny as the Mavic already is.
On the first search the security found the aircraft body and battery laying a few feet apart but the camera was missing. She went up an hour later on and found the tiny camera under the rooftop air conditioning unit and called me back to let me know she had it. Upon thanking her profusely and offering a reward which she graciously declined I was beyond stoked.
Now onto the good: the Mavic flies! Two props were broken at the tips but after replacing them the Mavic took to the skies without a beat. This thing loves to fly. Full functions, telemetry, altitude, speed, LED beacons, GPS, flight data all works as it should. Full range of movement. Arms are just fine. It folds and unfolds just like it did out of the box. The thing is built well. It did take an impact to the nose towards the starboard obstacle sensor and has a nasty scratch there. The top front cover is cracked near that spot. Starboard side front arm has a slight scuff near the red navigation light. Starboard rear arm has some very very slight scuffing to the bottom of it. Other than that, the rest of the body is absolutely flawless. Port side arms unaffected, heat sink on the bottom is mint. Maybe with the ability of the arms to fold allows it that much more "give" in a collision which could mean the difference broken an intact arm or a broken one.
The bad: Battery is destroyed. Like totally wasted. It looks like a twisted lump of plastic. It took a huge beating in the crash and got ejected. I can't imagine the foot pounds of energy that rippled through it during the sudden deceleration. The camera / gimbal mount has been detached from the aircraft body. The assembly looks like it might be fine, but the ribbon / connector has been torn. See the attached pictures.
Here's what happened: My Mavic lost RC connection as it flew around the building in question. It went into failsafe RTH. Without any way of getting input from me it initiated RTH and swung itself around and climbed from 252 feet to 90 meters (295 feet) which was the predetermined RTH altitude. As forward vision sensors were turned OFF at the time it did not engage them on the RTH. It dutifully made a beeline back to the home point before flying smack dab into the northwest/west side of the building. It fell about 250 feet to the rooftop of the west wing below. Member msinger went through my flight data and informed me of this and the recovered video from the drone collaborates with his information. He showed me a detailed satellite picture and highlighted the area where it went down. Thanks msinger! If you guys ever need help with located a downed drone please make him your go-to guy! He rocks!
I am going to work with DJI on repairing my drone as it appear that it does not have user serviceable parts at this time. I will keep you updated with the repair progress. Thank you to the members who offered support and especially to the one who offered me detailed help. It made a difference in being able to recover my Mavic and begin the repair process. Both of the Mavic and of my humility and bruised ego. I will most definitely fly smarter from now on.
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And to think @msinger was the first to offer help asking you to upload your flight record to his site. More than once, and each time you confidently said there was no point to it. Hindsight being what it is, had you taken him up on his offer initially, your friend would still have an intact bird. Lots of lessons to be learned. One I learned early on is not to ignore msinger 
GlenT
Well-Known Member
Wow! This is great news. For two reasons, firstly that the Mavic/transmitter gathers and retains enough information to locate it with such precision. And secondly, that there are people here who have the knowledge and experience to help others in such a way. Great result.
That's awesome, I started following your thread while at work this morning, I'm glad it all worked out....kinda. Hope you're back in the air safely in no time.
J-Dub
Well-Known Member
Glad it was recoverable and didn't land on somebody's head. Can you see Helicopters and small aircraft when you are piloting through high rises? Just wondering. And yes, I'm being an a$$. You are one lucky person.
m0j0
Well-Known Member
Sorry for your loss.
Unless there was excessive wind 47% remaining charge is more than enough to bring it back from that distance..
My critique, in hindsight of course, would be did you have obstacle avoidance on at all? I tend to turn it off when I'm flying out. I turn it off because the obstacle avoidance slows the bird down substantially but then I am flying in the middle of the desert where my only obstacle is the ground. That said my bet is it hit something on the return trip. Take a look at the logs where you lost signal. Draw a line from that point to your recorded home position. Should be able to find it.
If he had TX control and lost video only, ascending/gaining altitude is likely to regain video and a more stable signal. It is exactly what I would do, have done, in similar circumstances. The distance increase is negligible compared to the interference and obstacles between the TX.
Unless there was excessive wind 47% remaining charge is more than enough to bring it back from that distance..
My critique, in hindsight of course, would be did you have obstacle avoidance on at all? I tend to turn it off when I'm flying out. I turn it off because the obstacle avoidance slows the bird down substantially but then I am flying in the middle of the desert where my only obstacle is the ground. That said my bet is it hit something on the return trip. Take a look at the logs where you lost signal. Draw a line from that point to your recorded home position. Should be able to find it.
Thanks for that
Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots
Me too. Frame grab from a flight this AM over some boring open areas:
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m0j0
Well-Known Member
At the end of the day it's your lesson learned and it benefited everyone to read it.
m0j0
Well-Known Member
There are useful folks on this board for certain. and there are those that aren't.
Excellent news.
Why did you you turn off obstacle avoidance? it's on be default right? I just wondered why someone might turn it off. there must be benefits of this is someway expect
Why did you you turn off obstacle avoidance? it's on be default right? I just wondered why someone might turn it off. there must be benefits of this is someway expect
Hi !
First, GREAT help of msinger and good you got it back, as warranty is out of the question anyways (right) you could look at oth ends of the ribbon cable and look if you can source it for yourself...
Maybe you are lucky a second time...
Second:
Like i said, setting RTH Altitude to be higher then the gighest Obstacle around is certainly a good idea, ALSO for safety.
But right now I (and MAYBE only me, your decision) would turn OFF OA as OY is known to fail if the craft flies toward the sun. OA will stop the craft dead and it will NOT come back. Only happens at "the right angle" but it happens.
If RTH Altitude is set high enough there is no need for a (faulty) OA !
This is strictly my personal subjective opinion but at least think about it !
Greetings,
Ender
[Moral mode ON]
I certaily did my part of stupid and / or dangerous things but i managed to learn from it.
I beg you to do the same.
[Moral mode OFF]
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