What do I do in a lost drone situation?

Mavic Pro
1

I was hoping to plan for the unexpected and try and get info from you guys about what to do if i was to lose connection with my mavic pro? we do t normally plan ahead but this thing costs a lot lol!

2

First, make sure you know where and how to retrieve your flight log data. Tracking to a last known GPS location can be extremely valuable. With the logs, you can also do wind calculations for distance and lost signal locations. Second (Optional) You can add a separate tracker to your aircraft, there are numerous ones available.

3

thanks for the reply. can you offer any suggestions on either subject?

tracker devices.

i have downloaded flight data and it is quite a bit of information what should Indonwith this info? Anything to be prepared in case would be nice.

4

With this, you can monitor your battery performance ( Among other things). Generally speaking you won’t need to use the files other than general monitoring, unless you incur specific flight issue’s ( Or a crash ) or in your asking originally, finding a lost aircraft. See this link for Trackers. ( Scroll down to Trackers).Trackers

5

If you’re flying within VLOS, then a lost connection normally isn’t an issue. You’ll be able to see your drone flying back toward the home point or at least see where it started landing.

If you’re flying beyond VLOS or your drone drifts away with the wind (or flies away for some other reason), you’ll need another way to track it down if it does not automatically return to the home point. Here are a few things you could do:

  • If flying with DJI GO, retrieve the TXT flight log from your mobile device and view it with one of these tools. If you know how to read flight logs or can give the flight log to someone else who knows how to read them, that often explains where the drone landed or at least helps to narrow down the search area.

  • Attach a radio tracker (like the Marco Polo) to your drone so you can track it down. This is a good option if you’re flying in a location where you don’t have cellular service or only have a mobile device that is not connected to the Internet. While radio trackers tend to be more expensive than GPS trackers, they are usually less expensive over time since there is no monthly fee to use them.

  • Attach a GPS tracker (like the Trackimo) to your drone to find the exact location on a mobile device map. This will of course only be an option if flying in a location where you have cellular service and you have a mobile device that’s connected to the Internet (like a mobile phone).