Hi!

I am in need of help! I was flying my drone on the side of a moutnain earlier today and It started flying away from me and I dont know what happened but before I knew it, it was gone, out of my sight and, we went to go look for it, but couldnt find it. I am heartbroken and devistated. Any help would be greatly appriciated!

Follow the instructions:
http://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/upload/
and post the link here.


aside: Have you checked the "find my drone" function in the app?
"equipment"
the 3 stripes in the upper right corner
"find my drone"

S-e-ven Posted at 2018-6-14 18:41
Follow the instructions:
http://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/upload/
and post the link here.

http://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/1QH4XJPQW1AUW89HHYY9/

Let me know if this works! THANK YOU!

Hi fansbe57bb1b,

Had a look at your flight, see my charts.

Your Spark had almost during the flight a NotEnoughPower error, so my advice is to go to DJI support.

When you selected RTH you drone did turn (almost) the correct RTH direction but was moving actually the opposite direction ; meaning fighting against the wind.
You could have notice this in the GoApp, distance to be checked and must decrease and not increase.

In the RTH home your drone looses height, wich is abnormal beacuse it should gain height to the RTH setting, but it went slowly down. Mayby beacuse of the wind (needs lots of power) and the power errror.

Finally it did autoland due too low battery power. (see last LatLon data)

Sorry for your loss, hope DJI can help you out.

cheers
JJB

JJBspark Posted at 2018-6-14 21:45
Hi fansbe57bb1b,

Had a look at your flight, see my charts.

Great job, JJB!
ok, like always. ;-)

S-e-ven Posted at 2018-6-14 23:07
Great job, JJB!
ok, like always. ;-)

Thank you for the compliment!
cheers
JJB

Hi fansbe57bb1b, sorry for your loss however the feedback from JJBspark is very detailed and sums up what happened, Hi Wnd Velocity and not enough power/battery to complete RTH.
@JJBspark excellent analysis and feedback...

Flighty Posted at 2018-6-15 00:01
Hi fansbe57bb1b, sorry for your loss however the feedback from JJBspark is very detailed and sums up what happened, Hi Wnd Velocity and not enough power/battery to complete RTH.
@JJBspark excellent analysis and feedback...

Thanks! and i noticed a minor bug in my program analyzing the flight record. Missed the warning high wind and land ASAP. its now corrected.
And a Polar chart as well, showing the RTH increasing distance.

cheers
JJB

Hi all!

Thanks so much for the help. I am headed out to look for it later today again, any advise on where to search?
The last lat and long were shown before the battery died. Might it have flown further in any direction? If so, where might it be?
How accurate is the Find my Drone? Within how many feet might it be?

Thanks for your help!

fansbe57bb1b Posted at 2018-6-15 07:15
Hi all!

Thanks so much for the help. I am headed out to look for it later today again, any advise on where to search?

What?
Are you using two aliases? :-)

I just did quick analysis for user "62+" on thread https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=152623&extra=page%3D1%26filter%3Dtypeid%26typeid%3D436%26typeid%3D436  with this log. North-West winds with gusts up to 80 km/hour pushing Spark away over a valley to South-East while its tilt was compatible with desperate attempts to fly towards you. See the link above for more info - I pointed out where you can find your drone.

What's more interesting, 62+ describes something completely different in his post while giving link to your log. Hmmm,

Mirek6 Posted at 2018-6-15 07:25
What?
Are you using two aliases? :-)

Hi!

Thanks! I know that the winds weren't nearly as strong as 80 km/h because I was standing in one of the windiest parts of the valley. I looked for the drone yesterday but couldn't find it based on the flight path, I marked the lat and long of where I was which was I bit away from where it looks as though it is. I am headed back today with new eyes to look.

Thanks!

Sorry to hear about your loss. Have you attempted to use Find My Drone via the DJI GO 4 Application?

davidmartingraf Posted at 2018-6-15 08:01
Sorry to hear about your loss. Have you attempted to use Find My Drone via the DJI GO 4 Application?

Yes, It directed me towards the location, but I couldn't find it. Also not sure why, but the sound and lights buttons wouldn't work.

fansbe57bb1b Posted at 2018-6-15 08:02
Yes, It directed me towards the location, but I couldn't find it. Also not sure why, but the sound and lights buttons wouldn't work.

Because it probably turned itself off - dead battery.
It's geo position when landing was 39.66349289N 105.56520043W.

Wind - at your level was not that strong. when you were directing Spark up just after starting, the wobble of Spark and its tilt is consistent with some N-W wind - not much.

However, when it got up and you directed it towards the valley - the wind increased. Check Sparks tilt while hovering in place around the time you got first high speed wind warning (59.6 sec.) - it's tilt is very high but it manages to keep its position. After RTH sequence was triggered at 1m 2.5 sec wind started to push Spark away while it was turning in your direction.

The valley which runs diagonally and in the same direction as the wind - acts as a wind tunnel. This is what you got.

At some point Spark was being pushed back with speed of 30 km/h while strongly tilting the other direction trying desperately to go home. With Spark's top speed in RTH of 50 km/hour, the gusts must have been close to 80 km/h. This is presuming that Spark employed full speed ahead - and I believe it did. At some point you were trying to give it an additional thrust full forward (1 minute 22 sec.)  while it was facing your direction and against the wind. This additional thrust did not change its tilt or speed a bit. Which means that its motors were already going at highest capacity fighting the wind.

Be careful flying in mountains - what you feel at ground level may be totally different than 30 metres up.

Good luck and let us know results of your search!

fansbe57bb1b Posted at 2018-6-15 07:15
Hi all!

Thanks so much for the help. I am headed out to look for it later today again, any advise on where to search?

Hi,

When autolanding starts home distance was 900 meter, after 3 seconds it was 879 meters.
Don`t know how high the hill was, height at point minus 220 meters.

So search in the last lat lon position and closing in towards homepoint.Good luck with your search and hope you will find your Spark.

cheers
JJB

Good point JJB,

Autolanding is the last sequence - usually when Spark hovers close to the ground (about 30 cm). Difference in altitude between starting the sequence and when logs end is just 60 cm (2 feet) with Spark moving up relative to home point. At the same time Spark traveled 3 metres in the direction of the home point which is consistent with slope rising up. Which means that the slope rose about meter in the span of 3 metres.

This calculations work under assumption that Spark telemetry is very accurate (it may or may not be). In any case - JJB is right. Start from 39.66349289N 105.56520043W and move north west and up. Your Spark cannot be far away (unless it is hanging in the trees). Best luck!

Thanks for all  of your help again! Looked yesterday but couldn't find it. I came back home and looked at my data again. The data indicates that it was 724 feet below me, because I was on the top of a mountain, but when I look at a topographic map, the terrain of its last known location was actually 1,000 feet below me, could that mean that the last known ping the aircraft is 300 feet above the ground, and it fell out of the sky?

When it looses its juice does it just fall out of the sky? or does it stop communicating with me and try to find a safe landing? because the aircraft still had 9% battery.

Thanks!

fansbe57bb1b Posted at 2018-6-16 04:56
Thanks for all  of your help again! Looked yesterday but couldn't find it. I came back home and looked at my data again. The data indicates that it was 724 feet below me, because I was on the top of a mountain, but when I look at a topographic map, the terrain of its last known location was actually 1,000 feet below me, could that mean that the last known ping the aircraft is 300 feet above the ground, and it fell out of the sky?

When it looses its juice does it just fall out of the sky? or does it stop communicating with me and try to find a safe landing? because the aircraft still had 9% battery.

When the Spark has less than 10% Battery it will warn you with - CRITICAL BATTERY

It will Stop and Start the Autolanding.

It must be somewhere out there. I wish you all the Luck in the World to find it !

But the last known altitude is 300 feet above the altitude of where the mountain is? Does that mean that it would have just fallen out of the air or could it have flown further?

In normal conditions Spark keeps connection with RC until battery dies completely. Your log is consistent with either AC landing or AC losing wifi contact with RC, possibly because it flew behind some rocks or trees and was no longer in direct sight contact with your RC. 900 metres is a distance where wifi connection can be easily interrupted by terrain features.

From what you say we can not trust Sparks altitude measurements in this case. Spark measures altitude based on barometric pressure. In conditions like this (mountains, wind) it may not be accurate. GPS coordinates are always accurate (unless you have h/w malfunction).

So what we know for sure? Spark was directly over a GPS coordinates we have given in the posts above when it lost communication. It was also traveling with a speed of roughly 1 metre per second in the direction of home point. It may have been on the ground when communication cut off (although you did look and did not find it there) or it may have been high above this point with altimeter showing wrong altitude.

You have little choice but to search around last known point and than move in the direction of home point. Spark lands with speed of 3m/s so, if it was 100m up, it would hit the ground or trees in about 20 seconds given that it was also flying in the direction of raising elevation with raise of 1 metre per each 3 horizontal metres.

I would also look for any terrain features which would have caused lost line of sight between Spark and RC. If you find a rock face like this in the vicinity, you can roughly calculate how high the Spark was when it lost contact.

I would expand the search area around last position, I would look high into the trees and I would walk in the direction of HP for at least 50-100 metres.

When I get home in the evening I will try to look closer at the final several seconds. Perhaps we missed something.

Sorry for the trouble. I understand that your DJI Spark flew away. This is not the experience we want you to have at DJI. Let me help you with this. Please try to sync your DJI Spark's flight record using your DJI GO 4 application so that we will be able to see what really happened to your Drone.  

Mirek6 Posted at 2018-6-16 07:08
In normal conditions Spark keeps connection with RC until battery dies completely. Your log is consistent with either AC landing or AC losing wifi contact with RC, possibly because it flew behind some rocks or trees and was no longer in direct sight contact with your RC. 900 metres is a distance where wifi connection can be easily interrupted by terrain features.

From what you say we can not trust Sparks altitude measurements in this case. Spark measures altitude based on barometric pressure. In conditions like this (mountains, wind) it may not be accurate. GPS coordinates are always accurate (unless you have h/w malfunction).

Thanks! Where I was there weren't many geographic features to get in the way. I have looked around where it says it should be twice now (Mind you it is about an hour hike from the closest road) and haven't been able to find it.

DJI Stephen Posted at 2018-6-16 07:15
Sorry for the trouble. I understand that your DJI Spark flew away. This is not the experience we want you to have at DJI. Let me help you with this. Please try to sync your DJI Spark's flight record using your DJI GO 4 application so that we will be able to see what really happened to your Drone.

I was on a chat with someone yesterday and was able to sync my flight records already. I got an email and they said it would take 24-48 hours to process and 3-5 business days to get back to me, yet I am leaving the country soon and would love to have this figured out. Thanks!

Thank you for that information. Rest assured our DJI Repair team is now taking a look at the flight records that you have sent and one the test has concluded we will send the result to you as soon as possible.

DJI Stephen Posted at 2018-6-16 08:08
Thank you for that information. Rest assured our DJI Repair team is now taking a look at the flight records that you have sent and one the test has concluded we will send the result to you as soon as possible.

How long do the results take?

The official timetable for this issue will take 24 to 48 hours.

Fansbe,

One more thing. Do you happen to have video in your mobile cashe from this event? Since logs in the last moments if registered fought are not consistent with topography it would help to see what Spark saw during the flight and compare this with log data.

I meant "of registered flight" not "if registered fought"

Mirek6 Posted at 2018-6-16 10:13
Fansbe,

One more thing. Do you happen to have video in your mobile cashe from this event? Since logs in the last moments if registered fought are not consistent with topography it would help to see what Spark saw during the flight and compare this with log data.

I don't. It was recording on the SD card. Is there a way to see it even if it hasn't been recorded on my phone?

fansbe57bb1b Posted at 2018-6-16 10:43
I don't. It was recording on the SD card. Is there a way to see it even if it hasn't been recorded on my phone?

Apart from the REAL Footage on the SD Card -

If you didn't turn Video Cache off from the DJI GO4 App, a Lower Bitrate Video will be stored on your Phone.

As Mirek said, you may see the last moments of the Spark before auto-landing / crashing.

Good pointing that out Mirek.

DMX_MT Posted at 2018-6-16 11:20
Apart from the REAL Footage on the SD Card -

If you didn't turn Video Cache off from the DJI GO4 App, a Lower Bitrate Video will be stored on your Phone.

How do I access the lower bitrate video?

On Android:

Internal storage / DJI / dji.go.v4 / DJI_RECORD.

You will see all your MP4 video files there. They are low resolution but good enough.

I don't know on iPhone.

To see video on your phone. Open DJI GO. Choose Editor at the bottom. Choose Album and Video. You cached videos will be there.

Mirek6 Posted at 2018-6-16 13:20
On Android:

Internal storage / DJI / dji.go.v4 / DJI_RECORD.

Thank you Mirek for answering the comment for me.

DMX_MT Posted at 2018-6-17 05:39
Thank you Mirek for answering the comment for me.

Yeah - I would be really interested in seeing this video.
Even though we know what was the culprit of this flyaway (too strong wind), the altitude data is still puzzling. Analysis like that could really help other pilots and could help us to better understand Spark behaviour in less common situations. Unfortunately DJI is not willing to share their secrets so we are on our own :-).

JJBspark Posted at 2018-6-15 00:57
Thanks! and i noticed a minor bug in my program analyzing the flight record. Missed the warning high wind and land ASAP. its now corrected.
And a Polar chart as well, showing the RTH increasing distance.

[Image]

Hi JJBSpark,

I lost my drone today as well. I was flying it and it when very very high and the return to home command didn’t work. I then lost the gps signal. Are you able to help? Thanks!

Hi there!

I too recently lost my spark. It went very high all the sudden. For anyone know why this could be? And it would not return to home. Is anyone able to help figure out where it may be?

Thanks!!!

fans5d5a6fa0 Posted at 8-6 18:49
Hi JJBSpark,

I lost my drone today as well. I was flying it and it when very very high and the return to home command didn’t work. I then lost the gps signal. Are you able to help? Thanks!

HIya,

Ofcourse, if you upload your flightlog i will have a look.

cheers
JJB

JJB* Posted at 8-7 00:30
HIya,

Ofcourse, if you upload your flightlog i will have a look.

How do I do that?

fans5d5a6fa0 Posted at 8-7 02:54
How do I do that?

Is it one of these?

fans5d5a6fa0 Posted at 8-7 03:15
Is it one of these?