Can someone help me? I was just flying around had several flight in the area under my belt and all of the sudden lost connection. Drove my golf cart to where it was lost within a minute and couldnt see it in the air or reconnect. Spent several hours searching the field and nearby woods(Thick). What do I do now? I was thinking about returning it to seller but without the drone I doubt they would refund me.
Flight log
This is the second lost Spark this week. I personally do not understand why one would fly these tiny aircraft at 300ft. Irregardless of my opinion, you will have a most difficult time locating this one. Similar to the previous one this week, giving full elevator at loss of signal makes it tough. We do not know if you initiated any additional control inputs, although the last entry in the log and I mean the very last entry you released the elevator. You apparently only lost downlink. If that is the case you still had control and any additional inputs are not recorded. If I had to make a guess without significant data to go by, I would say that this little bird could be most anywhere. Most likely in the tree’s or in the small pond, depending on your control inputs after downlink loss, it could be quite a distance away, assuming of coarse that uplink control remained which we do not know. Your last inputs and location are shown below for what it is worth. Normally we could give you a better location, but I do not think that is possible here.
So is this my fault? I submitted this info to DJI for review. I flew into that area before and didn’t have an issue, and flew further away to other areas. I guess I’ll have to see what they do… Why didn’t it RTH? Also, thanks for checking this out for me.
It most likely did not RTH because you only lost downlink. You still had control of the aircraft if that is the case. RTH only occurs if you command it, or in the event of “Complete” signal loss. No way to know for certain.
Since the Spark was set to RTH on signal loss, it had plenty of battery to return home, and it was high enough to clear any obstacles in the area, I’m assuming the battery disconnected mid-flight and the Spark crashed near the last recorded point in your flight log (41.83407089, -84.95684677).
If we assumed the batter was ejected can anyone predict where it would have landed?
Check near the GPS coordinates I posted above.
I’ve searched the area many times. It was 330’ up and traveling at 30 MPH. Tall grassy area too.
Right – so, it’s not going to be at that exact spot. Start there and walk toward the direction it was flying.
Making a few “assumptions” and calculations, lets “assume” the battery did indeed eject. Your last recorded speed was 30mph. This will gradually decrease over distance and altitude as the aircraft falls from 300ft. Using those numbers and the weight of the very light Spark, would give you a forward distance or ( Very Roughly ) 450-500ft. That combined with an approximate 5 second fall time will put your search area in the area of the red circle below. Again, this is assuming that the aircraft lost power. If that is not the case, all bets are off.
Did you go back to your home point and thoroughly look? I’ve seen people leave the area to look for their bird and discover it did return and was sitting right where it was supposed to be.
Sorry you lost your drone.
Actually that estimate is likely to be a bit off. The Spark only weighs 300 g and is going to be significantly affected by the wind field. If the AirData aerodynamic model is correct, that was around 15 mph @ 300°. I don’t have a calibrated drag model for the Spark but estimating, based on similar geometry to the Mavic gives the following descent track:
