Mini 2 simply vanished in thin air, now what?

[3rdof5]

As mentioned above, I never take off until the Home point has been recorded with sufficient GPS signal unless I only intend to fly close by while maintaining VLOS. In that case I don't care about the home point as I'm always in full control and can see my aircraft.
When starting a longer flight you MUST have a proper homepoint recorded BEFORE takeoff or you are tempting fate.
Unfortunately, this time fate won out...

 

[rwilliam99]

As mentioned above, I never take off until the Home point has been recorded with sufficient GPS signal unless I only intend to fly close by while maintaining VLOS. In that case I don't care about the home point as I'm always in full control and can see my aircraft.
When starting a longer flight you MUST have a proper homepoint recorded BEFORE takeoff or you are tempting fate.
Unfortunately, this time fate won out...

As another data point, my last crash was when I did not have a proper homepoint recorded before I took off - I had good VLOS the entire flight - in fact it was very close to me the whole flight - but it was in a rather confined area (a waterfall amphitheater) and the lack of a good GPS signal caused it to get blown into a tree. I now will not fly until I get the "homepoint is updated" message AND I can confirm the drone is shown pointing the correct direction on the map.

 

[Droning on and on...]

As mentioned above, I never take off until the Home point has been recorded with sufficient GPS signal unless I only intend to fly close by while maintaining VLOS. In that case I don't care about the home point as I'm always in full control and can see my aircraft.

Don't forget a failure of your RC hardware, RF interference, or a smartphone failure (if you're using one) resulting in a disconnection, even if you have the bird in sight at distance.

Always set the HP before taking off to have the best chance of getting your drone back if something fails.

 

[3rdof5]

Don't forget a failure of your RC hardware, RF interference, or a smartphone failure (if you're using one) resulting in a disconnection, even if you have the bird in sight at distance.

Always set the HP before taking off to have the best chance of getting your drone back if something fails.

I have always used a phone or tablet with my P3 and there have been times when the phone locks up, dies, or disconnects from the RC but that has never affected flight control. And I have never had an RC fail ever, but that doesn't mean it can't happen.
You are correct though, if you have the homepoint recorded before takeoff, if all else fails, turn off the RC and let it come home.
And always make sure your RTH altitude is set to at least 25M (mine is set to 30 on all aircraft) to avoid trees.

 

[shb]

waited for the GPS locks

What do you mean by this? You always need to hear home point found, check it on the map. Without a home point signal loss is catastrophic. Good job slup.

 

[Droning on and on...]

And I have never had an RC fail ever, but that doesn't mean it can't happen.
You are correct though, if you have the homepoint recorded before takeoff, if all else fails, turn off the RC and let it come home.
And always make sure your RTH altitude is set to at least 25M (mine is set to 30 on all aircraft) to avoid trees.

Yup, I've never had an RC failure either, in 10 years.

Others have, though, and that's enough for me to eat the relatively low cost of waiting for a Home Point lock before taking off. And encouraging others

I'd go a bit higher on RTH altitude, though... I default to 200ft (66m), and do review this when I get to a location and adjust depending on how the ground topology looks where I'm planning to fly.

 

[Cymruflyer]

Wow, thanks for taking the time to compile and explain all that, Slup. I suppose I'm inclined to agree with you. I'm still very much unclear as to why I was good to go on initial take off till I got over the water. But yeah, bringing it back home and landing to require sats hence building a proper RTH location could have avoided all this for sure. Thanks all!

You can take off when ever you want, you should never take off though, until you hear that voice telling you the home point has been updated, please check it on the map. Do you always take off before hearing that comment, and maybe have been lucky up to now?

 

[Julius Danziger]

If the drone still had a GPS 'error' when it disconnected then I am sorry to say I think it will have descended WHERE IT WAS.

If the drone got GPS back then the drone will possibly have started an RTH when it disconnected.

I am not sure what would happen if GPS was re-established whilst it was in the previously mentioned descent and there is another corollary, what was the setting of the failsafe option, normally that would be RTH ( it is recorded in the log you have been asked for ) and if that was the case then it might have started an RTH.
HOWEVER it is likely that the homepoint it might have returned to was wherever "About 20ft away," was.

A similar thing happened to me three nights ago with my mini 3 pro
How do I find the log on the RC controller
Help would be aporeciated

 

[Meta4]

How do I find the log on the RC controller

The .txt file you need is at:
DJI\dji.go.v5\files\FlightRecord (for iOS devices)
or
Android\data\dji.go.v5\files\FlightRecord (for Android devices)

 

[Sam36401]

A similar thing happened to me three nights ago with my mini 3 pro
How do I find the log on the RC controller
Help would be aporeciated

You can find good instructions here. Scroll down to 'Locating your Flight Logs"

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload and view flight logs from your DJI drones

www.phantomhelp.com

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

A similar thing happened to me three nights ago with my mini 3 pro
How do I find the log on the RC controller
Help would be aporeciated

You may end up in the places that Meta4 mentions but have a look at post 7 in the thread Can anyone help me retrieve my flight logs?

 

[singram]

UPDATE I got so much awesome help with this, I feel I owe everyone an update! Just for grins, I had my wife post up on our community Facebook page inquiring if anyone has seen the drone, and sure enough, our neighbor a half mile away found it in his yard!! He was nice enough to drop it off tonight, but unfortunately by the time he found it, it had already been raining for a couple days straight. Aside from the possible water damage, the gimble is completely severed, the battery door is broken off(though may be able to be popped back on) and all props are toast. I went ahead and filed a claim with DJI a few days ago before I knew someone found it and they in error sent me a shipping label even though I had no drone to ship at the time. I think I'll go ahead and ship it back and see what the repair quote looks like. From what I've read from others, their usually very reasonable.

All else fails, I'm very grateful to at least get back my micro sd card full of previous pics/vids, as well as the battery, which doesnt appear damaged, corroded, burnt or swollen and actually charges, lol.

One last question though- in my case details, DJI listed the suggested return items as- drone, gimble cover, battery, and remote. Anybody know why they'd need the remote and battery? I honestly rather not send the remote if I dont have to. Thanks again all!! I learned so much, especially in regards to the flight records, phantomhelp flight log viewer, etc.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Good that you got it back.
To be honest I be inclined to ask on the dji forum whether or not you need to return the battery and controller.
Also try to record a video of the packing process, so that you have a recording of what you sent, and check the recording shows what you think it should show BEFORE you dispatch the parcel.

 

[FLDave]

By all means return the battery as DJ recommends not using a battery from a crashed drone. As part of the repair/replacement option DJI will send a new battery. As for the remote, my GUESS is that it is easier to send a full kit rather than just a drone; it may be what have already packaged as repair/replacements.
Also, check what is listed on the DJI support ticket.

 

[4 inch pistons]

Or possibly the remote may be part of the problem. Electronics can be very temperamental.

 

[Frieda]

I lost my second mini-2 recently. Covered under care refresh. Thanks DJI.
Shame to lose the sd card, and the ND filter. It's nice to hear singram got his back.

 

[Carsco]

And here a view to depict the out of line of sight... showing the sudden height change just before the red cross.

Hello slup.
How can we get this visualization in Google Maps?

 

[slup]

Hello slup.
How can we get this visualization in Google Maps?

Download the .KML file from PhantomHelp logviewer & open it in Google Earth... position the view as you want it there by holding Shift key+hold left mouse button & drag around with the mouse.

 

[Carsco]

Many thanks!

 

[lewisrassee]

If you had an outright GPS hardware failure, it would not be able to return home automatically.

Showbox jiofi.local.html tplinklogin​