Saga of stupidity

[hiflyer201]

Tons of situational awareness info on the controller. Plan ahead and don't go anywhere where a climb is not possible if there is the slightest chance you might lose sight of the drone. Personally, I don't see how you can frame a shot, verify the exposure and keep your eye on the drone at the same time. Others seem to be able to.

 

[RickinWaST]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Hope first time drone owner review the feedback.

 

[Peio64270]

For my purposes, cinematic drone footage necessitates risk. Flying close to land features, trees, water, cliffs, using both joysticks and gimbal simultaneously is risky, but higher quality footage. Flying high over a distant landscape is interesting for about 5 seconds. Photos are fine, but to a videographer, movement is the magic.

Yes. Thats why waypoint missions are so useful. Specially when carefully prepared at home with the help of the Litchi's hub and VLM+Google Earth.

 

[EricJT]

Exactly - I have had the same issue this guy did where I lost orientation of where my drone was but looking down at the radar and steering it back to me was all I needed to do . . . except raise it up a bit to make sure it didn't hit something on the way back.

I have found many times after yawing at a distance, I cannot figure out where my M2P is pointed. A quick glance at the radar display in the bottom left corner of the SC lets me reacquire which way the AC is facing and proceed to fly where I want to.

Also, when at a distance and my M2P has something other than open sky as a backdrop, if I glance at my SC and then look back to the AC, I may not reacquire it. The solution, gain some altitude and it becomes visible again....the first time this happened to me I paused and thought through my options realizing it should be hovering where I left off. Rather than panicking and possibly giving wrong joystick commands, regaining visibility above the backdrop made it simpler....I always fly in rural areas where altitude is available still within the regulations.

 

[KennyJr]

The bottom line is that the app gives you tools to keep track of the drone .. but you have to know they are there.

But if your tablet or phone disconnects, freezes, crashes or my case self destructs because the battery swelled the app is useless. This is why it is always a good idea to maintain line of sight.

 

[BradinLae]

When I was flying my MP I had an incident, after an update where by my tablet that had always been 100% reliable before, started glitching and then disconnected. the distance away on the controller screen was the only way to guide the bird home. I try and use a spotter now but anyone that states they always have line of sight and can take good video and pictures are stretching the truth a bit. Regulations are different here. There is one guy here in town that takes fantastic footage but framing is everything, and a knowledge of lightroom ;-) . Pony up some more bucks, climb back on the horse and remember the first thing to do when something goes wrong usually is to gain altitude, then calm yourself down. A few seconds doing nothing is better than those seconds spent making panic decisions.

 

[Smokieflies]

It happens, especially when we do not get to fly as often as we want or take long rests in-between, flights, we have to re-learn everything we knew before. I did that once with a little better outcome, flew my drone behind a tree, lost sight of it, tried to lift it up did not see it.
I did hit return to home, and after a couple of minutes heard it, coming from behind me.

 

[DanMan32]

But if your tablet or phone disconnects, freezes, crashes or my case self destructs because the battery swelled the app is useless. This is why it is always a good idea to maintain line of sight.

That's where RTH can help.

 

[Endeavor]

This is exactly why I prefer Litchi over the go app. In Litchi there is a location map which shows the orientation and line of sight to the drone at all times and it's golden for locating that drone when you need to. Also you have all the constant voice info on battery levels and distance etc.

 

[Classic flyer]

Wouldn't the root cause of the "incident" be:

A) Flying beyond the operator's abilities
and
B) Flying BVLOS

It sucks you lost/crashed your aircraft but it could be a valuable learning moment for you and others who happen to read this. Thanks for sharing and good luck

Allen

Nicely worded...point well made w/o being mean spirited...be smart fly safe

 

[theDRONEranger]

Using your radar feature, fly to a safe/authorized altitude and bring SPARKY home safely. ... or land SPARKY, and you walk to it! Either way the radar is your best friend!

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

The best tool for that is the radar display.

Whenever I find that I'm not exactly sure where the craft is, the Radar is the first thing I look at, followed closely by the map (with the green line to home).

 

[Meta4]

This is exactly why I prefer Litchi over the go app. In Litchi there is a location map which shows the orientation and line of sight to the drone at all times and it's golden for locating that drone when you need to.

That feature is in DJI Go 4 too.

 

[DanMan32]

Some called that line the "stick" or "wand"

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Some called that line the "stick" or "wand"

I still call it the line. So when I use it to take out craft back to home, I can call it "Walk the Line"? The Man in Black would be pleased.

Eh?