My Mavic 3 flew away - Any Help Please with Location

[wardtom084]

Can one not go to last known location and find the thing...

Last Known Location:

35.304412,-83.811336 at log time of 11m 33s and altitude of 0.0 ft

 

[Meta4]

Can one not go to last known location and find the thing...

Last Known Location:

35.304412,-83.811336 at log time of 11m 33s and altitude of 0.0 ft

That wouldn't help much.
The last location data recorded for the drone was 300 feet up, 430 feet out and flying at 14 mph.
The whole problem is that no-one knows where to search for it and the data doesn't give any clues to help.

Where are you getting that data from?
It's not even in the right hemisphere .. it's about 8000 miles from there.

 

[Wumpus_NJ]

Where are you getting that data from?
It's not even in the right hemisphere .. it's about 8000 miles from there.

LOL.Looks like that is wardtom084's location (note US zip code in his profile location).

 

[EpicFlight]

Because the drone was so close to me I could see it. When it disconnected the drone hovered in place for a few seconds and did nothing then it turned around and flew towards those hills. I had visual site of it when driving hoping it would reconnect but the RC kept flashing and screen was blank. I lost sight of the drone at those hills as I could not proceed any further by car.

Haven't read the entire thread so this has probably been said, but that sounds dead-on like RTH behavior with either a messed up GPS, or a mislocated (somehow) home point.

No theory on how either could happen, but that doesn't change the profile of the behavior – stop, hover for 15 seconds, turn in direction of home, head there.

The automated hover, delay, then yaw is a dead giveaway.

 

[sar104]

Haven't read the entire thread so this has probably been said, but that sounds dead-on like RTH behavior with either a messed up GPS, or a mislocated (somehow) home point.

No theory on how either could happen, but that doesn't change the profile of the behavior – stop, hover for 15 seconds, turn in direction of home, head there.

The automated hover, delay, then yaw is a dead giveaway.

That wasn't what happened. Aircraft positioning was accurate, with over 20 GNSS satellites locked, and the home point was correctly set.

 

[maven4336]

I’m sure there’s people on here that can help you some of them are very smart I’ve been flying for five years I’ve never had this happen this is one reason I have not purchased the Mavic three, I have to ask did you get home point when it took off from your deck that’s one thing I always make sure of if it doesn’t do it automatically I’ll go into settings and make sure the woman’s voice says home point established or whatever she says I think this is a very critical point especially if you’re a new flyer and you’re not used to doing this, and I can’t blame you for being completely astonished and sick to your stomach that’s a lot of money that should never ever happen to such an expensive drone specially the latest I’ve read so many posts like this and it’s just terrible but it makes me wonder if it’s pilot error, not trying to get you more upset just trying to figure out did you get a home point because when it loses connection as my other three Dji Drones I have the Mavic one pro Mavic two pro, and the phantom for pro plus model a few occasions I’ve lost signal and I guess I just got lucky because I seen one of the Mavericks when it lost the signal started trying to go the other way I always turn off the controller all the way and power it back up and try to get to a spot where I establish signal again but most of the time I’ve lost signal the draw and will just come back home by itself and I do a lot of testing when I’m out flying and just hit the home button and see if it’ll come home on its own like it supposed to do I would definitely get with Dji and explain to them that you didn’t spend $4500 to lose a signal and they need to replace your drone and I wouldn’t stop until you get an answer or get a lawyer I’ve read so much like I said of people losing their new drone but you have to make sure to get a home pointBefore it takes off I think that is one of the most critical as things at some new flyers miss doing, i’ll be praying that you find your drone or they replace it

 

[crlmjohnson]

Maybe I am missing something....did your unlock license upload successfully.

my home is in a same type of location as your home. I have notice that when I do not let my Mavic 3 upload the unlock license completely, mean a rebooting the done, and restarting the DJI fly app, after applying the license, my Mavic 3 will sometime, will do some weird things do flight. This way, I make sure that the license is loaded into the aircraft, and drone. and no errors are displayed on the controller.

I am pretty sure you already know most of this, just trying to help a little.

but I also check the setting for loose connecting...return home. I have loss display/camera before on my Mavic 2, and fly the drone back to me, beyond line of sight, by looking on the mini map...at the carrot/triangle position.

also by hitting the return home on the controller, if the home point is located, before the beginning of the actual flight.

I will always let it hover a bit, before going into the master shots, or any of the smart shots. I have made this a habit, with all of the unlocking license's. I started doing this on my Mavic 2. But I have notice that the Mavic 3 is a little more sensitive when it comes to these flight restrictions.

I am sorry if you already know this, just trying to help.

 

[sar104]

I’m sure there’s people on here that can help you some of them are very smart I’ve been flying for five years I’ve never had this happen this is one reason I have not purchased the Mavic three, I have to ask did you get home point when it took off from your deck that’s one thing I always make sure of if it doesn’t do it automatically I’ll go into settings and make sure the woman’s voice says home point established or whatever she says I think this is a very critical point especially if you’re a new flyer and you’re not used to doing this, and I can’t blame you for being completely astonished and sick to your stomach that’s a lot of money that should never ever happen to such an expensive drone specially the latest I’ve read so many posts like this and it’s just terrible but it makes me wonder if it’s pilot error, not trying to get you more upset just trying to figure out did you get a home point because when it loses connection as my other three Dji Drones I have the Mavic one pro Mavic two pro, and the phantom for pro plus model a few occasions I’ve lost signal and I guess I just got lucky because I seen one of the Mavericks when it lost the signal started trying to go the other way I always turn off the controller all the way and power it back up and try to get to a spot where I establish signal again but most of the time I’ve lost signal the draw and will just come back home by itself and I do a lot of testing when I’m out flying and just hit the home button and see if it’ll come home on its own like it supposed to do I would definitely get with Dji and explain to them that you didn’t spend $4500 to lose a signal and they need to replace your drone and I wouldn’t stop until you get an answer or get a lawyer I’ve read so much like I said of people losing their new drone but you have to make sure to get a home pointBefore it takes off I think that is one of the most critical as things at some new flyers miss doing, i’ll be praying that you find your drone or they replace it

The home point was correctly set.

 

[sar104]

Maybe I am missing something....did your unlock license upload successfully.

my home is in a same type of location as your home. I have notice that when I do not let my Mavic 3 upload the unlock license completely, mean a rebooting the done, and restarting the DJI fly app, after applying the license, my Mavic 3 will sometime, will do some weird things do flight. This way, I make sure that the license is loaded into the aircraft, and drone. and no errors are displayed on the controller.

I am pretty sure you already know most of this, just trying to help a little.

but I also check the setting for loose connecting...return home. I have loss display/camera before on my Mavic 2, and fly the drone back to me, beyond line of sight, by looking on the mini map...at the carrot/triangle position.

also by hitting the return home on the controller, if the home point is located, before the beginning of the actual flight.

I will always let it hover a bit, before going into the master shots, or any of the smart shots. I have made this a habit, with all of the unlocking license's. I started doing this on my Mavic 2. But I have notice that the Mavic 3 is a little more sensitive when it comes to these flight restrictions.

I am sorry if you already know this, just trying to help.

Just for clarification, the home point and the entire flight were outside the authorization zone and altitude zone:

 

[EpicFlight]

That wasn't what happened. Aircraft positioning was accurate, with over 20 GNSS satellites locked, and the home point was correctly set.

I thought you said you were watching it, it stopped and hovered for a short time about 300 feet away, then turned and headed away.

Correct what I got wrong, please.

 

[sar104]

I thought you said you were watching it, it stopped and hovered for a short time about 300 feet away, then turned and headed away.

Correct what I got wrong, please.

Firstly - I'm not the OP - I simply examined the logs as you would have noticed if you had read the thread. The logs clearly show that the aircraft positioning was working fine, and that the home point was correctly set. The reported behavior is as you described, but the cause was not what you speculated.

 

[Suren]

The drone may have disconnected from the controller after the phone/App disconnected from the controller but only you will have seen that.
The log only shows what happened up until the phone/App disconnected from the controller and the video shows that the phone/App disconnected from the controller. We do not see anything that happened AFTER the phone/App disconnected from the controller.
Saying this is not arguing with you, it's just that we have no evidence either way from the video or log.

I understand mate, my apologies if my reply came out different.

 

[Suren]

Good luck, buddy

Thanks

 

[Suren]

I think the only thing I might be tempted to do , is try is to get another drone up in the Air and simply fly the tree line near those hills. This is where it would really be nice if the M3 had a nice bright color on it that Might pop on the camera.

Something to consider if DJI blesses you with a new drone or someone is willing to search for you.
Dont be surprised if your case gets escalated as that is a good thing but will take more time.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your M3 in the Rain. and stand out in a Search and Recovery.

I am heading that way again this morning, still on annual leave so will make the best to try and find it.

 

[Suren]

If DJI does indeed replace the drone I’d be concerned if you are still using the original controller.

I have never had this type of issue before, only yesterday. My current issues that I had with the drone was the OA stopping the drone when it is in RTH.

 

[EpicFlight]

The home point was correctly set.

Sorry if I wasn't clear.

I'm not addressing what was observed regarding settings, or anything else. I'm talking about the behavior of the aircraft and how the FC was controlling it, as programmed in the aircraft firmware.

The behavior is pretty clearly the RTH algorithm. The fact that the GPS system appeared via telemetry to be functional, and the home point from all available data seemed to be correctly set are simply evidence of the problem.

As an engineer, I tend to look at this from the standpoint of what behavior the software is programmed to exhibit. The aircraft can't behave in a purposeful, complex way it has no code for.

I haven't looked at the scant data available in this case, so I may be chasing phantoms. However, assuming the RTH algorithm, maybe something can be deducted about a suddenly erroneous HP, and better narrow the search area.

Or not. Just trying to help.

 

[EpicFlight]

Just for clarification, the home point and the entire flight were outside the authorization zone and altitude zone:

View attachment 141600

I'll point out that we only know this for the period of flight you have logs for.

We have no idea what happened to the stored HP while it was disconnected and flying away. The stored value could have been corrupted by a buffer index overrun in the firmware, one of the more common coding oversights, particularly when modifying existing code.

Not saying this is what happened, just citing a real reason, not uncommon as a software bug, that could corrupt the saved HP data.

Fact: It was going in a fixed direction, under control (i.e. not just maintaining altitude, but following a "plan"), being flown by the FC. The software doesn't have a mind of its own... Where was it headed, and why?

 

[sar104]

Sorry if I wasn't clear.

I'm not addressing what was observed regarding settings, or anything else. I'm talking about the behavior of the aircraft and how the FC was controlling it, as programmed in the aircraft firmware.

The behavior is pretty clearly the RTH algorithm. The fact that the GPS system appeared via telemetry to be functional, and the home point from all available data seemed to be correctly set are simply evidence of the problem.

As an engineer, I tend to look at this from the standpoint of what behavior the software is programmed to exhibit. The aircraft can't behave in a purposeful, complex way it has no code for.

I haven't looked at the scant data available in this case, so I may be chasing phantoms. However, assuming the RTH algorithm, maybe something can be deducted about a suddenly erroneous HP, and better narrow the search area.

Or not. Just trying to help.

I disagree that it is likely to be the RTH function causing this. I have never seen a sudden, erroneous change in HP on any DJI platform cause a flyaway, and that's having looked at hundreds of such events. I'd put that very low on my list of possible scenarios here.

 

[sar104]

I'll point out that we only know this for the period of flight you have logs for.

We have no idea what happened to the stored HP while it was disconnected and flying away. The stored value could have been corrupted by a buffer index overrun in the firmware, one of the more common coding oversights, particularly when modifying existing code.

Not saying this is what happened, just citing a real reason, not uncommon as a software bug, that could corrupt the saved HP data.

Fact: It was going in a fixed direction, under control, being flown by the FC. The software doesn't have a mind of its own... Where was it headed, and why?

We do, however, have a vast number of previous events to use as indicators of what may have happened.

 

[wardtom084]

That wouldn't help much.
The last location data recorded for the drone was 300 feet up, 430 feet out and flying at 14 mph.
The whole problem is that no-one knows where to search for it and the data doesn't give any clues to help.

Where are you getting that data from?
It's not even in the right hemisphere .. it's about 8000 miles from there.

That is my data that is on airdata, it would show YOUR information.