When Drones Go Rogue

[JRowlette]

Lake Michigan is notorious for wind and waves. But flying a drone when the wind is so strong it blows the drone sideways into the life preserver, waves so high they splash over the sides of the boat, having to dive over the side of the boat to keep the drone from sinking, etc… You were sailing under one Luck Star.

You also need to post this in "Ripley's Believe it or Not and I Survived…"

You have some good writing skills. Can I borrow you for my next book? "When Drones Go Rogue"

My drone did go rogue about a week after this incident. However, I had control of it, but I had no idea where on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, it was. It's a big lake. The battery was getting down to 8%, so I put her down in someone's backyard. It was either that or have it try and return home which was miles away from where I took off from the bow of the boat. It took me about 1.5 hours to find her in someones mansion of a house on Lake Geneva. I approached the drone on foot and a woman chanted out, "I figured you would eventually come and get it, those things aren't cheap". She further stated her mother, who was in her 80's told her to go outside and bring it in the house. She laughed at her Mom.

Has anyone had a drone go rogue? I think perhaps the term is flyaway. I am seriously considering an air tag for the drone. But, 90% of my flying is over water. I did lose one that is referenced above by @LoudThunder.

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[Rexton Ash]

Got be vigilant about the battery, and RTH when it tells you to. Also DJI has find my drone for locating you drone, it will show the last updated location. Side tip, never fly in the rain, I accidentally got caught in rain over a lake and my M4P dropped like a rock. Lets just say I had to go for a swim.

 

[JRowlette]

Got be vigilant about the battery, and RTH when it tells you to. Also DJI has find my drone for locating you drone, it will show the last updated location. Side tip, never fly in the rain, I accidentally got caught in rain over a lake and my M4P dropped like a rock. Lets just say I had to go for a swim.

I am pretty good about the battery. I had no choice but to set her down. I used that find my drone, its kind hard to use. You get an idea of where, but it does not tell you to walk to the left or right. When I was walking it wasn't even moving. Have you used yours? Your MP4 dropped like a rock? did it get totally soaked? Or a light drizzle? I have flown the Mav 3 Classic in a mist, but not for long. The biggest reason I have the Mavic's is because of weight and power. It's windy around here and Lake Michigan and Superior. Last week I had to take pictures of cottages on Superior and the wind was blowing 20-25 mph. How much did it cost to fix your drone? Its not cheap with water damage.

 

[MS Coast]

Does a drone really "go rogue" when it responds normally to commands but the pilot loses track of it's location and allows the battery to be depleted?

 

[Droning on and on...]

Does a drone really "go rogue" when it responds normally to commands but the pilot loses track of it's location and allows the battery to be depleted?

And how do you lose track of it's location if you're connected? Switch to map display in Fly, and there it is... and you too!

 

[Meta4]

My drone did go rogue about a week after this incident. However, I had control of it, but I had no idea where on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, it was. It's a big lake. The battery was getting down to 8%,...

Has anyone had a drone go rogue?

Why do you say that your drone went rogue?
So far nothing in your tale points to any problem with the drone.
It sounds like just another story of pilot error.

 

[JRowlette]

Does a drone really "go rogue" when it responds normally to commands but the pilot loses track of it's location and allows the battery to be depleted?

I was having compass calibration issues with it. It wasn't the first time. It would act up after being on the boat for a few hours with me. The only thing I can think of is that I normally jump over a ton of waves and I think it got affected by the the jolts from the waves. Even though I kept it in a drone luggage case. So I would calibrate the drone on the boat to fly.
Certainly when you lose total sight of it and its not showing up on the map you have problems.

 

[Meta4]

I was having compass calibration issues with it. It wasn't the first time. It would act up after being on the boat for a few hours with me. The only thing I can think of is that I normally jump over a ton of waves and I think it got affected by the the jolts from the waves. Even though I kept it in a drone luggage case. So I would calibrate the drone on the boat to fly.

It's not normal to ever have to calibrate the compass and your comment might be a clue related to the incident.
A little more information about what happened and your flight data might help to find an explanation.

To post your flight data there are a couple of options ...

1. Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
That will give you a detailed report on the flight data.
Come back and post a link to the report it provides and someone might be able to analyse it and give you an understanding of the cause of the incident.
or
2. Just post the .txt file here
or
3. If you use Airdata, you can view the flight data on Airdata and post a link for the Airdata report

If you are using one of the controllers with an integrated screen, the txt files are to be found here:
Android\data\dji.go.v5\files\FlightRecord

 

[GFields]

Sounds like you may have launched the drone before you got a good GPS lock.

 

[MS Coast]

Certainly when you lose total sight of it and its not showing up on the map you have problems.

If your drone isn't showing up on the map view, just zoom out until you see the drone symbol. If you zoom in to far or scroll the view, the drone will no longer be visible in the viewer.

There's always a line on the screen connecting the home point to the drone, so it's easy to know what direction the drone is in.

 

[AMann]

You have some good writing skills. Can I borrow you for my next book? "When Drones Go Rogue"

My drone did go rogue about a week after this incident. However, I had control of it, but I had no idea where on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, it was. It's a big lake. The battery was getting down to 8%, so I put her down in someone's backyard. It was either that or have it try and return home which was miles away from where I took off from the bow of the boat. It took me about 1.5 hours to find her in someones mansion of a house on Lake Geneva. I approached the drone on foot and a woman chanted out, "I figured you would eventually come and get it, those things aren't cheap". She further stated her mother, who was in her 80's told her to go outside and bring it in the house. She laughed at her Mom.

Has anyone had a drone go rogue? I think perhaps the term is flyaway. I am seriously considering an air tag for the drone. But, 90% of my flying is over water. I did lose one that is referenced above by @LoudThunder.

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Sounds like it was trying to return to home at the location your boat was when you launched it due to a low battery when you “lost control” of it. I did the same thing having my drone follow my truck while driving through the desert (before anyone mentions this, I was driving and my brother passenger was the pilot). There came a point when the drones’ battery level either dropped below 20%, which is my return to home setting, or we had driven far enough away from the home point and the battery level dropped to a level where a automatic safe flight back to home point was only possible. It left us and wanted to go back from where it started a mile or so away. It would not land where we were until finally we did a full shut down. I would be scared doing this in a boat, especially when it wants to return home to the initial takeoff point which happened to be where the boat used to be.

A good safety measure would be to have the Home point setting be from where it takes off and have it take off from a safe location on a nearby beach, that way you know it will go back safely to land instead of in the water somewhere where your boat used to be when it took off if RTH is initiated.

 

[AMann]

Sounds like you may have launched the drone before you got a good GPS lock.

He mentioned he took off from the bow of his boat, he probably had a perfect GPS lock on where his boat was when he took off. I think it’s a common mistake people make when they’re on a drifting object. It happened to me also while driving my truck, I explained it in the post above.

 

[JRowlette]

I appreciate all the comments and willingness to help me get to the bottom of the rogue drone. After this incident, it never flew the same. I would be out on Lake Michigan, or Lake Geneva trying to take off and it would not allow me to because I had to recalibrate the compass. So I would proceed to and usually it would allow me to. Sometimes I would get frustrated after several attempts and close my bag. Even though the drone was kept very secure in the foam hard case Lekufee carrier I use, it was still getting bumps. There were days when the boat came out of the water. I would take her out of the case and even the gimbal acted like she broke her neck. You are looking at the drone and it would move around like it was in pain. But these are drones, right? I could go on and on but I am happy to report that I received a brand new drone today. In a matter of minutes, I will not subject the new drone to the fury that Lake Michigan offers, sometimes in a matter of minutes. I was able to gather a few tidbits from the the DJI website below:

If the drone experiences a hard landing or bump, it could affect the alignment of the internal sensors, including the compass, necessitating recalibration.

The compass on a drone is used to determine the drone's orientation and heading. If the compass is not calibrated correctly, the drone's flight controls may become erratic or unstable.Apr 12, 2023

Thanks again..

 

[JRowlette]

And how do you lose track of it's location if you're connected? Switch to map display in Fly, and there it is... and you too!

We had major problems Houston. It was not in my flight manual.

 

[JRowlette]

Sounds like it was trying to return to home at the location your boat was when you launched it due to a low battery when you “lost control” of it. I did the same thing having my drone follow my truck while driving through the desert (before anyone mentions this, I was driving and my brother passenger was the pilot). There came a point when the drones’ battery level either dropped below 20%, which is my return to home setting, or we had driven far enough away from the home point and the battery level dropped to a level where a automatic safe flight back to home point was only possible. It left us and wanted to go back from where it started a mile or so away. It would not land where we were until finally we did a full shut down. I would be scared doing this in a boat, especially when it wants to return home to the initial takeoff point which happened to be where the boat used to be.

A good safety measure would be to have the Home point setting be from where it takes off and have it take off from a safe location on a nearby beach, that way you know it will go back safely to land instead of in the water somewhere where your boat used to be when it took off if RTH is initiated.

100% you nailed it.

 

[Meta4]

I would be out on Lake Michigan, or Lake Geneva trying to take off and it would not allow me to because I had to recalibrate the compass. So I would proceed to and usually it would allow me to. Sometimes I would get frustrated after several attempts and close my bag.

Your ideas about the drone's compass are incorrect.
Bumps could affect the IMU but won't have any effect on compass calibration.
But your comments suggest a different problem.
The request to recalibrate the compass and failure to recalibrate are clues that you were trying to launch and calibrate where magnetic interference was causing the problem.

100% you nailed it.

That might have been a factor but it's a simple rookie mistake which had nothing to do with the compass warnings.
Without recorded flight data, people can only make guesses and guessing without facts rarely solves flight incident mysteries.

See post #8

 

[sawman]

Anyone else wondering why someone would even attempt to fly in such conditions? Especially if the task was taking photos.

 

[Meta4]

Last week I had to take pictures of cottages on Superior and the wind was blowing 20-25 mph.

Anyone else wondering why someone would even attempt to fly in such conditions? Especially if the task was taking photos.

The Mavic 3 series will handle 20-25 mph winds with ease and photography is no harder with that wind strength (or more).