When Trump Comes To Town

[Papa72]

I flew today. Got in the air and a little ways away when the little screen turned a blue shading. I saw that I was in a NFZ after I landed and looked at my flight. The only thing I could figure is Trump was coming to town so they must have made the whole Atlanta Metro area a NFZ. I accept that. During that flight, I could still see through the camera. All of a sudden, I got an error message saying that the RC had disconnected and the screen on my phone froze. I could see my Mavic, so I flew it over to me and landed. My question is, had I been out of sight and that happened, how would one decide which way to go to get back home? I know, VLOS. But it could happen. Just pretend.

 

[Mossiback]

... All of a sudden, I got an error message saying that the RC had disconnected and the screen on my phone froze. I could see my Mavic, so I flew it over to me and landed.

If the RC were truly disconnected you could not fly using it. More likely your phone or Go 4 disconnected from the RC. If that is the case, you can try restarting Go 4 or unplug and replug the connection cord.

...My question is, had I been out of sight and that happened, how would one decide which way to go to get back home? ...

If your RC is still connected to your Mavic, press and hold the RTH button (provided you have RTH set properly) to initiate RTH, wait a minute for it to start flying back to the homepoint. If you want you can then cancel RTH and apply forward stick to manually fly it back until you can see or hear it. If your RC has a display you should see the distance being reduced if it is on the right course.

 

[Papa72]

Thanks for replying. My phone view was frozen. Will flying/being in a NFZ cause problems with the RC connection? I was already in the air when the little screen went light blue, but I lost no functionality, for a while.

I'd still like someone to weigh in on if the Mavic is out of sight and the screen is frozen, it seems like I'm left to just guess which way I'm pointed. Guess wrong and I'll run out of battery before I can figure it out. I guess I could have rebooted the controller. That was my next step, but since I could see it, I just landed.

 

[Mossiback]

Thanks for replying. My phone view was frozen. Will flying/being in a NFZ cause problems with the RC connection? I was already in the air when the little screen went light blue, but I lost no functionality, for a while...

Suddenly flying in a NFZ might cause it to land where it is at, but not cause the phone view to freeze.

...I'd still like someone to weigh in on if the Mavic is out of sight and the screen is frozen, it seems like I'm left to just guess which way I'm pointed. Guess wrong and I'll run out of battery before I can figure it out. I guess I could have rebooted the controller. That was my next step, but since I could see it, I just landed.

I did address that scenario in my post above. Which Mavic are you flying?

 

[RayOZ]

Why is it that if something goes wrong, some people think it’s Trump’s fault? ?

 

[AMann]

Why is it that if something goes wrong, some people think it’s Trump’s fault? ?

?Hmmm. I never thought about it but wow, it would be kinda sad trying to fly a DJI drone with your kid if you had your own permanent NFZ bubble around you like a president does wherever you went... ?

But OP- yeah, I think you would have heard and seen a warning that your drone was autolanding as you were in a NFZ and you’d be scrambling to get it to touch down on a good location below it.

 

[RayOZ]

I think he and his son might be a bit too old to fly drones together. Besides, I highly doubt he’ll be using any DJI product.

 

[AMann]

I think he and his son might be a bit too old to fly drones together. Besides, I highly doubt he’ll be using any DJI product.

Dude, you have to be kidding! I’d fly remote control gliders with my old man until he was too old to walk on unlevel ground! Yeah, you are probably right, he gets to fly predator drones if he wants, even if there’s a NFZ present.

 

[Papa72]

I was flying a Mavic Pro. I just checked. Trump left and no NFZ. I'm attaching a screen shot from earlier today.

 

[sar104]

I was flying a Mavic Pro. I just checked. Trump left and no NFZ. I'm attaching a screen shot from earlier today.

Various restrictions were implemented, starting at 1115.

PURSUANT TO TITLE 14, SECTION 91.141 OF THE CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS, ACFT FLIGHT OPS ARE PROHIBITED WI AN AREA DEFINED AS 30NM RADIUS OF 335456N0843058W (PDK287011.1) SFC-17999FT MSL EFFECTIVE 1911081615 UTC (1115 LOCAL 11/08/19) UNTIL 1911081715 UTC (1215 LOCAL 11/08/19). WI AN AREA DEFINED AS 10NM RADIUS OF 335456N0843058W (PDK287011.1) SFC-17999FT MSL EFFECTIVE 1911081615 UTC (1115 LOCAL 11/08/19) UNTIL 1911081715 UTC (1215 LOCAL 11/08/19). WI AN AREA DEFINED AS 30NM RADIUS OF 334145N0842151W (ATL047005.4) SFC-17999FT MSL EFFECTIVE 1911081645 UTC (1145 LOCAL 11/08/19) UNTIL 1911082115 UTC (1615 LOCAL 11/08/19). WI AN AREA DEFINED AS 11NM RADIUS OF 334807N0842247W (PDK228006.0) SFC-17999FT MSL EFFECTIVE 1911081645 UTC (1145 LOCAL 11/08/19) UNTIL 1911082115 UTC 1911081615-1911082330 END PART 2 OF 6 !FDC 9/9945 ZTL PART 3 OF 6 GA..AIRSPACE ATLANTA, GEORGIA..TEMPORARY FLIGHT (1615 LOCAL 11/08/19). WI AN AREA DEFINED AS 30NM RADIUS OF 335456N0843058W (PDK287011.1) SFC-17999FT MSL EFFECTIVE 1911082045 UTC (1545 LOCAL 11/08/19) UNTIL 1911082330 UTC (1830 LOCAL 11/08/19). WI AN AREA DEFINED AS 10NM RADIUS OF 335456N0843058W (PDK287011.1) SFC-17999FT MSL EFFECTIVE 1911082045 UTC (1545 LOCAL 11/08/19) UNTIL 1911082330 UTC (1830 LOCAL 11/08/19).

 

[Dashing Chris]

I flew today. Got in the air and a little ways away when the little screen turned a blue shading. I saw that I was in a NFZ after I landed and looked at my flight. The only thing I could figure is Trump was coming to town so they must have made the whole Atlanta Metro area a NFZ. I accept that. During that flight, I could still see through the camera. All of a sudden, I got an error message saying that the RC had disconnected and the screen on my phone froze. I could see my Mavic, so I flew it over to me and landed. My question is, had I been out of sight and that happened, how would one decide which way to go to get back home? I know, VLOS. But it could happen. Just pretend.

Its indeed the experience, something that surely happened rarely

 

[Paul2660]

If you were flying a Mavic Pro then the small screen on the controller should still have shown your distance. So if you happened to get beyond VLOS and have no DJIGO4 you could watch your distance read out to see if you are gaining or losing distance. Not a perfect solution but still nice to have the option. And of course you have the RTH button.

Paul C

 

[jagraphics]

Why is it that if something goes wrong, some people think it’s Trump’s fault? ?

Because it usually is?
(note I am in the UK so I am not in a position to cast aspersions given the state of UK politics )

Seriously it should be "When The Head of State Comes To Town"
it is not just Trump, or the US President but these days I think you will find there will be a NFZ around any Head of State at home or when visitng another country.

OTOH There was some work done in London a couple of years ago looking for Free public Wifi and how prevalent it was. They discovered there seemed to be a lot of intermittent dead spots. More study indicated that there were a lot of "limo's with black windows" that seemed to have a bubble of EMC around them. Not legal (for civilians) but happening.

It seems some of the rich and powerful legitimate businessmen, not just presidents, in cities do have EMC or tempest type screening around their vehicles and in some cases offices/houses. These may or many not be officially sanctioned but it is happening.

 

[Redleg]

I have had Go 4 completely freeze multiple times while flying a Phantom 4 Pro but never with my Mavic Pro. I fly both with the same iPad. Disconnecting and then reconnecting the lightning cable between the RC and iPad restores video and telemetry on the P4P. I don’t know if anyone else has experienced this or if there’s a proper fix. I stopped looking for a solution when I stopped flying the Phantom.

 

[sar104]

I have had Go 4 completely freeze multiple times while flying a Phantom 4 Pro but never with my Mavic Pro. I fly both with the same iPad. Disconnecting and then reconnecting the lightning cable between the RC and iPad restores video and telemetry on the P4P. I don’t know if anyone else has experienced this or if there’s a proper fix. I stopped looking for a solution when I stopped flying the Phantom.

Were you using the same lightning cable with both RCs?

 

[bob8755]

I don’t have anything constructive to add. But, this post made me stop a think.

I’m brand new to the adventure of being a drone pilot. I think about this too. My drone is a Mavic Pro. The concept of flying into a NFZ is something I’m not experienced enough to even have thought about yet. So, I need to learn more about what happens when I stumble into one.

But, there are so many links in the chain between my drone and me that could produce a disconnect that I read all these posts with great interest. I am very reluctant to let the drone out of sight for fear of losing it. The Return To Home feature was one of the selling points when I was doing initial research.

 

[spamgnome]

Why is it that if something goes wrong, some people think it’s Trump’s fault? ?

Because: Occam's Razor.

 

[sar104]

Because: Occam's Razor.

And one of those rare cases where both of Hanlon's options apply.

 

[offshorecl1]

I think he and his son might be a bit too old to fly drones together. Besides, I highly doubt he’ll be using any DJI product.

I am 4 years older than @ papa72, so 76. At the Air Force I have flown F-104 and then F16 all my life! Fly now with Apache helicopter. Fly with the Inspire and the Mavic 2 Pro, what now???