After all of the success stories of people finding their drone after posting, thanks to the experts who have provided valuable information, I figured I would try my luck.
I unfortunately lost my drone after a critical/low battery level status and a connection error.
I check the flight record and was able to retrieve the coordinates of its last known location. I inputted them into google maps and searched for 2 hours but I could not find it.
I then tried to calculate specific trajectory paths/scenarios in order to try and limit the areas where the drone may have landed/fallen. I then went out to search for it but to no avail.
I would appreciate any kind of information, specific strategies to go with next as I am running out of ideas.
If the remote controller disconnected at the end of your flight log, then the Mavic would have continued landing while it was coasting to a stop. That should have placed it somewhere within this yellow box:
Allow me to clarify, the low battery came on and the automatic RTH. I canceled it and continued another 20 seconds before returning home manually. Sometime upon my return, the RC got disconnected. However, I continued to manually control the drone (without connection nor visual) but after about 30 seconds or so I decided to stop. (I presume that the drone will automatically come back Home once I stop my manual intervention, correct?)
With that said, would you still predict its location within the yellow box?
Just as a note, the large area of greenery in front of the yellow box, between the 2 roads, is where I also search for over 2 hours. I also searched around the last known point re my flight record (to the left part of the yellow box). I did not however search the building that the yellow box encompasses, nor did I search to the right of that building.
I did search the roof of the building that the box is pointing at (between the box and the home point)
According to this data there was no RTH, nor a cancellation. The aircraft went straight to auto land. You were applying full throttle ( with no response from the AC ) and full elevator until you lost signal. The aircraft appeared to be fighting the wind attempting to land. It may be very difficult to locate.
@bentbrent All that accomplishes is to give you the last known co-ordinance. Once signal is lost it is a guessing game or manual calculations involving altitude, direction, speed, wind velocity…etc…etc…
Thanks Fly_Dawg.
Very strange - there was definitely a RTH indication, and I did cancel it (I typically always do and then fly manually.
I was as you said applying full throttle and climbing.
Also wind was minimal…
Yes of course… the link shows my flight record. The same flight record on the app. Entered the last coordinates on gooogle maps and searched for 2 hours around the area.
That was what I was afraid of… I do not believe the drone landed at the last known location. I figured it was trying to RTH… and perhaps ran out of batteries and did an emergency landing somewhere. But again, I was sooo close to home with about 14% battery remaining so I am a little bit in doubt that it could not make it home.
That’s the issue, as I mentioned there was no RTH situation per the data. The aircraft went straight to autoland. When the battery and FC calculates that there is not enough battery for RTH from it’s location, it will not attempt an RTH and will autoland where it is. It was attempting to do so, and either it made it to the ground or the FC shut the battery down. There is really no way to know for certain from this data. In this situation the autoland cannot be overridden by the RC. That is why it continued to decend.
@Wah, can you upload the DAT flight log from your mobile device? See these instructions for retrieving it. If you cannot attach it here, upload it to a file sharing site like dropbox and post the download link here.
There were no wind issues on this flight - the aircraft was making good progress home until the connection was lost, even though it was in autoland mode due to low battery. As a result, on lost connection, it will have descended vertically and should have ended up landing nearly directly below the last recorded point. Looks like a lot of trees just there.
Any thoughts on the OP’s claim that he continued to fly for 30 seconds after that point? If that’s true, it’s likely not directly below the last recorded point.
Well he said that he continued to control the drone “without connection nor visual”. I take that to mean that he kept applying stick inputs, but the aircraft will not have received them.
Yes, I guess he did say that. If that’s really the case, then I guess the DAT file isn’t going to provide anything useful. He should re-check the last known location.
