Worse case scenario

[Mavic19963]

Worst case scenario...your Go 4 app crashes; you've lost signal from your RC to AC and loss of gps which, of course, means no RTH. What now? You don't know your AC's position/orientation. Get some binoculars! They may help you find your AC as well as recognizing the drone's orientation. I ran numerous controlled field 'what if's' and found the binoculars very helpful. Found a pair at Wally World for $19.97. Now should I lose VLOS of my drone, I have one more piece of equipment that may stave off my MP's demise. Cheers Mavic pilots!

 

[Callum]

Would it really matter working out orientation if you have disconnected from RC? There's not a thing you can do about it and it will drift off in ATTI mode.

Less extreme scenario if your app crashes, no VLOS and enter atti mode as long as your controller is connected you can gain altitude and use the telemetry to find your orientation and return.

Binoculars would be handy though and may add a pair to kit bag.

 

[SunnyD]

I’ve had this happen a few times and having Litchi on the device bailed me out. For whatever reason DJI wouldn’t reconnect but Litchi would, and then I used RTH until I was close enough to regain control.
In one case, video never came back, even when landing.

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

Good idea! Personally, I dislike binoculars because inexpensive, light binoculars have small exit pupil (main objective diameter divided by magnification) and even small movement destroys the illusion of having one field of view, instead it's like looking through two pinholes. A monocular is much better in this regard (besides, you can use the other eye to aim); also, half the weight and bulk. I have an 8x Bushnell one, cost me something like 10 bucks. But recently, my favorite viewing tool is a long-range laser rangefinder with angle, horiz. and vert. distance measurements, I have this one with 1-mile range and Bluetooth for under $200 (these things used to cost about $1K just several years ago!). Will try to laser my Mavic on the next flight... should be interesting, hope it survives the laser attack! LOL

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

Tried lasering my Mavic today - the problem is that at long distances, the target is too small for the rangefinder to get enough reflection back. At 70m distance, 10m up, the success rate was about 50%, although the measurements were right on the money with what the app shows. Beyond ~100m, it's probably futile due to both handshake and tiny target size. But still, with 8x magnification, I was able to locate my Mavic when I couldn't see it with the naked eye. My rangefinder is always with me when I'm hiking, since it's quite useful to know distances and heights to various places up to a mile away, and it doubles as a scope; now it will triple as a Mavic Finder, or VLOS Enhancer. Should be interesting to control Mavic while looking through the scope!

 

[dewster]

Worse case scenario: you're flying your Mavic and without warning It just drops out of the sky like someone pulled the plug.

 

[Hollow Dog]

Worse case scenario: you're flying your Mavic and without warning It just drops out of the sky like someone pulled the plug.

And you never find it.

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

And you never find it.

Worse case scenario: brain surgeons find Mavic pieces in your scull.

 

[Mossiback]

I’ve had this happen a few times and having Litchi on the device bailed me out. For whatever reason DJI wouldn’t reconnect but Litchi would, and then I used RTH until I was close enough to regain control.

You could use the RTH button on the RC. That is why it is so important to insure the home point and RTH altitude is set correctly when you take off. Just hit the RTH button and cancel it when you can take over manually.

 

[Cymruflyer]

Xtreme drone pilot wrote: Worse case scenario: brain surgeons find Mavic pieces in your scull.

Worse case scenario: brain surgeons find Mavic pieces in Xtreme drone pilot's skull and that's why he can't correctly spell the word skull (scull). Just having some fun with you Xdp.

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

Here's another wild idea for worse case scenario: polyester Size 15 thread is extremely lightweight (4oz for 7500 yards) and has the breaking strength of 1.5lbs (so Mavic should be able to break it if it somehow got restricted), attach a freely rotating spool to Mavic, walk the thread to find it.

 

[Cymruflyer]

Then your drone would be a tethered aircraft and no FAA rules would apply to you, the sky is the limit!

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

Then your drone would be a tethered aircraft and no FAA rules would apply to you, the sky is the limit!

Isn't there a very specific 500ft limit for tethered balloons, kites, etc.?

 

[Mavic19963]

Good idea! Personally, I dislike binoculars because inexpensive, light binoculars have small exit pupil (main objective diameter divided by magnification) and even small movement destroys the illusion of having one field of view, instead it's like looking through two pinholes. A monocular is much better in this regard (besides, you can use the other eye to aim); also, half the weight and bulk. I have an 8x Bushnell one, cost me something like 10 bucks. But recently, my favorite viewing tool is a long-range laser rangefinder with angle, horiz. and vert. distance measurements, I have this one with 1-mile range and Bluetooth for under $200 (these things used to cost about $1K just several years ago!). Will try to laser my Mavic on the next flight... should be interesting, hope it survives the laser attack! LOL

Monoculars...YES! Great idea. One eye monitoring the AC at a distance, while the other is free to scope the general environment.