MPP disappeared in the mountains. Probably located after more than 2 years.

[rwilliam99]

Success – MPP found!

Finally, weather conditions permitted this 3rd recovery attempt.

Equipped with climbing equipment, I went down the steep rocky slopes according to the path, which was selected from the aerial images.

Usually, its easier to climb up than down, because you can see where to go and hold on. In opposite, On the contrary, rope climbing can be tricky in the way that you can rappel down more easily because even if you loose yozr footing you will be secured by the rope. Climbing up however requires a secure step to pull yourself up. Honestly, my biggest worry was getting stuck under a rock face.

And that's what almost happened and why I would not repeat that attempt again. Downwards, I slipped twice, just hanging on the rope until reaching a lower plateau. Next, even with the coordinates of the object, this terrain of rocks, trees, fallen trees and bushes looked very confusing – 3D can be very different compared to a 2D image.

The target was a fallen tree, which should lie next to the suspected MPP, with branches pointing to it. Again, 3D vs. 2D. The tree was huge, its branches were high up in the air, but after climbing over it, after more than two years, the missing MPP came into my view. It lay there, framed by a couple of small rocks and – surprise – had not been smashed into pieces. Midair shutdown altitude was 60m/180ft above HP, but approx. 260m/780ft AGL of the crash site.

View attachment 164642

View attachment 164643

Condition:

Upright position
3 arms were folded, 1 arm broken but still hanging on its cables.
2 props were gone, 1 prop blade and one complete prop in almost perfect shape were still attached.
The gimbal was separated from the body with the camera and ND-Filter still connected. Strange for me, the cable isolation has completely disappeared, only blank wires were left.
The battery has some dents and small holes but is still sitting on the AC.

Reg. folded arms, my assumption would be that during the free fall, it must have crashed against the rock wall. The broken arm probably was in oposite rotation direction and therefore could not fold away.

There was dirt and plants all over and partially inside the AC. See image where AC was already lifted and turned around.

View attachment 164641


Finally, I managed to climb up again with expected big difficulies at spots where I slipped before. (therefore never again – at least without more intensive training).

At home, a functional test showed following results:

Battery sits extremely tight, removed with tool-support
Startup with new battery showed the familiar sound at startup.
No gimbal reaction, no camera life feed
Starting the motors: front left, back right (broken arm) ok
front right, back left dead
Fan started after a while
LED signals not further evaluated

Given the 2 years in the harsh climate of the mountains, this robustness is remarkable.

Last but not least: SD card could not be read at first. Chemical cleaning of connections solved the problem, footage saved!

I do not intend to attempt a repair, but will keep it as is to remember a really weird flight, pushing and thereby exceeding the physical limits of the AC..

Thanks for posting the results of this years long effort, including the photos. You certainly did great detective work!

 

[TonyPHX]

Success – MPP found!

Finally, weather conditions permitted this 3rd recovery attempt.

Equipped with climbing equipment, I went down the steep rocky slopes according to the path, which was selected from the aerial images.

Usually, its easier to climb up than down, because you can see where to go and hold on. In opposite, On the contrary, rope climbing can be tricky in the way that you can rappel down more easily because even if you loose yozr footing you will be secured by the rope. Climbing up however requires a secure step to pull yourself up. Honestly, my biggest worry was getting stuck under a rock face.

And that's what almost happened and why I would not repeat that attempt again. Downwards, I slipped twice, just hanging on the rope until reaching a lower plateau. Next, even with the coordinates of the object, this terrain of rocks, trees, fallen trees and bushes looked very confusing – 3D can be very different compared to a 2D image.

The target was a fallen tree, which should lie next to the suspected MPP, with branches pointing to it. Again, 3D vs. 2D. The tree was huge, its branches were high up in the air, but after climbing over it, after more than two years, the missing MPP came into my view. It lay there, framed by a couple of small rocks and – surprise – had not been smashed into pieces. Midair shutdown altitude was 60m/180ft above HP, but approx. 260m/780ft AGL of the crash site.

View attachment 164642

View attachment 164643

Condition:

Upright position
3 arms were folded, 1 arm broken but still hanging on its cables.
2 props were gone, 1 prop blade and one complete prop in almost perfect shape were still attached.
The gimbal was separated from the body with the camera and ND-Filter still connected. Strange for me, the cable isolation has completely disappeared, only blank wires were left.
The battery has some dents and small holes but is still sitting on the AC.

Reg. folded arms, my assumption would be that during the free fall, it must have crashed against the rock wall. The broken arm probably was in oposite rotation direction and therefore could not fold away.

There was dirt and plants all over and partially inside the AC. See image where AC was already lifted and turned around.

View attachment 164641


Finally, I managed to climb up again with expected big difficulies at spots where I slipped before. (therefore never again – at least without more intensive training).

At home, a functional test showed following results:

Battery sits extremely tight, removed with tool-support
Startup with new battery showed the familiar sound at startup.
No gimbal reaction, no camera life feed
Starting the motors: front left, back right (broken arm) ok
front right, back left dead
Fan started after a while
LED signals not further evaluated

Given the 2 years in the harsh climate of the mountains, this robustness is remarkable.

Last but not least: SD card could not be read at first. Chemical cleaning of connections solved the problem, footage saved!

I do not intend to attempt a repair, but will keep it as is to remember a really weird flight, pushing and thereby exceeding the physical limits of the AC..

THIS is the best post I have ever read. Congratulations on the recovery and reunion!

 

[PeRo]

Just realized the issue and would like to correct one statement in my thread:
I used CsvView for the Log analysis of this flight. Creator of the tool is @BudWalker. So, credits to him for this and many other contributions. Thanks Bud, I have learned a lot!

 

[JimJ]

Just realized the issue and would like to correct one statement in my thread:
I used CsvView for the Log analysis of this flight. Creator of the tool is @BudWalker. So, credits to him for this and many other contributions. Thanks Bud, I have learned a lot!

Great experience. In my opinion, this story is priceless. Best of luck to you.

 

[thomasthomas]

Just realized the issue and would like to correct one statement in my thread:
I used CsvView for the Log analysis of this flight. Creator of the tool is @BudWalker. So, credits to him for this and many other contributions. Thanks Bud, I have learned a lot!

Any photos or videos of the recovery? Sounds epic.

 

[Mycamblur]

Success – MPP found!

Finally, weather conditions permitted this 3rd recovery attempt.

Equipped with climbing equipment, I went down the steep rocky slopes according to the path, which was selected from the aerial images.

Usually, its easier to climb up than down, because you can see where to go and hold on. In opposite, On the contrary, rope climbing can be tricky in the way that you can rappel down more easily because even if you loose yozr footing you will be secured by the rope. Climbing up however requires a secure step to pull yourself up. Honestly, my biggest worry was getting stuck under a rock face.

And that's what almost happened and why I would not repeat that attempt again. Downwards, I slipped twice, just hanging on the rope until reaching a lower plateau. Next, even with the coordinates of the object, this terrain of rocks, trees, fallen trees and bushes looked very confusing – 3D can be very different compared to a 2D image.

The target was a fallen tree, which should lie next to the suspected MPP, with branches pointing to it. Again, 3D vs. 2D. The tree was huge, its branches were high up in the air, but after climbing over it, after more than two years, the missing MPP came into my view. It lay there, framed by a couple of small rocks and – surprise – had not been smashed into pieces. Midair shutdown altitude was 60m/180ft above HP, but approx. 260m/780ft AGL of the crash site.

View attachment 164642

View attachment 164643

Condition:

Upright position
3 arms were folded, 1 arm broken but still hanging on its cables.
2 props were gone, 1 prop blade and one complete prop in almost perfect shape were still attached.
The gimbal was separated from the body with the camera and ND-Filter still connected. Strange for me, the cable isolation has completely disappeared, only blank wires were left.
The battery has some dents and small holes but is still sitting on the AC.

Reg. folded arms, my assumption would be that during the free fall, it must have crashed against the rock wall. The broken arm probably was in oposite rotation direction and therefore could not fold away.

There was dirt and plants all over and partially inside the AC. See image where AC was already lifted and turned around.

View attachment 164641


Finally, I managed to climb up again with expected big difficulies at spots where I slipped before. (therefore never again – at least without more intensive training).

At home, a functional test showed following results:

Battery sits extremely tight, removed with tool-support
Startup with new battery showed the familiar sound at startup.
No gimbal reaction, no camera life feed
Starting the motors: front left, back right (broken arm) ok
front right, back left dead
Fan started after a while
LED signals not further evaluated

Given the 2 years in the harsh climate of the mountains, this robustness is remarkable.

Last but not least: SD card could not be read at first. Chemical cleaning of connections solved the problem, footage saved!

I do not intend to attempt a repair, but will keep it as is to remember a really weird flight, pushing and thereby exceeding the physical limits of the AC..

Whatr an incredible story! Thanks for sharing it.

 

[PeRo]

Whatr an incredible story! Thanks for sharing it.

Thanks Mycamblur!

Our both cases may or may not be a sign of increased risks of non DJI batteries. Statistics welcome!

So far, I have used a bunch of DJI ACs, from Phantom 3, Mavic Pro, Mavic 2, Mini 3, Mavic 3. All batteries are OEM – with exception of the one which caused the 'interesting' thread by desparately failing due to a collapsing cell.
Around 15 DJI batteries in use, one non-DJI battery - failed. However, the respective battery was pre-owned, with only 8 charging cycles, but with unknown history.

This highlights the dilemma in case of replacements.
Preference would be to use an OEM product. Can be achieved by always using actual equipment.

If one is still interested to keep 'Legacy' Drones alive, the choice is limited to either get:

• Potentially new batteries from 3rd party manufacturers and retailers like Aliexpress
  Risk: Usually no sufficient rating or track record of 3rd party manufacturers available, wide range of quality.

• Pre-owned and probably used OEM batteries from i.e. Ebay
  Risk: Usually no history available about correct storage and utilization. Health status unknown

Question to All: What is your experience and replacement strategy?

 

[Feek]

I do not intend to attempt a repair

Bit of t-cut and it'll be as good as new

 

[dave canada]

t-cut ?:?? something i never heard

 

[PeRo]

Bit of t-cut and it'll be as good as new

Yeah, preferable option to reuse the AC as a kite
Gluing broken parts might be good for the look, but probably will not solve the interior issues caused by long term influence of vegetation (moss on the motherboard, rotten cables) and rain / melting snow.
However, incredible resilience, as several parts are still working after this unplanned 2 year break in the Alps.