I am the luckiest/stupidest Inspire pilot in the world! Last evening under nearly windless conditions, I decided to go flying. I launched my bird from a mountain lake in Central Montana and took great photos, and flying over a ridge saw more beautiful scenery. I made the stupid decision, 1.2 miles away, to fly further for some great shots, but having ascended 360 feet to clear the ridge, I ridiculously descended 120 feet to get better shots. At that point I lost line of sight AND SIGNAL. Hoping against hope, I applied Up stick for 30 seconds and waited. No return of signal. Restarted controller and Pilot app (1.0.2) NO RECONNECTION. I waited 5 minutes praying the bird would fly back over that ridge, but no luck. Since it was less than an hour until sunset, I returned to my house, devastated. How could I be so careless! I fired up the Marco Polo RC tracking unit at the house and got 45% signal strength from what turns out to be 4.77 MILES away. I use Marco Polo because there is no cell reception here. I did have line of sight to the crash site, and my House in on top of a 200' hill also.  This morning I got on my ATV and headed for the crash site expecting the worst. The Marco Polo led me to it immediately and I found my bird only 20 feet from the crest of the ridge, with one broken prop, one cracked prop tip, battery popped loose but still in the chassis, the gimbal, camera. and gimbal plate stripped from the chassis, ND8 filter gone and one gimbal mount cushion 6 feet away. The 2 ribbon cables separated cleanly and appeared undamaged. The bird hit some sage brush instead of the rock face, and was on a path that RTH would have taken it back towards the home point. 20 more feet elevation and the bird would have made it back...
I packed it up on the ATV, took it back to the house, reassembled the gimbal plate and cables, replaced the 2 props, checked the prop locks and frame. I then powered up. The gimbal was calibrated, I recalibrated my compass and IMU and cautiously took it up 15 feet, shot photos and video, flew 100 yards can back and landed. So far so good, but I will fly cautiously until I am certain all functions are proper.
          The video of the crash was pretty cool, I just dont know how to upload and/or post the link! The bird was probaly going 20MPH at impact, which is in keeping with what I have observed using RTH before.

Great story. I'm always telling customers to get to the highest ground they can overlooking the likely crash area, good for you that your house is on top of a hill!

Would love to include your story on our website for others to read.

Tim Crabtree, president, Eureka Technology

I fly in area's with no cell coverage also.....thanks for the heads up on the marco polo....... I am going to try and buy one soon as I can.
I wonder if you were to strap the receiver to another drone and fly it up high to get a better signal would it help if the lost drone is a long way away ?I have done that with my cell phone a few times to send and recieve text messages....

Dude that is amazing.  I can't believe you found it and that sucks about your return if you only had just a few more feet!  that's why set mine  to maximum height .  Congratulations though that's sweet!!!!

I did exactly the same thing last week with my P3P, I feel your pain!

You can't make that up... Lol... Great story... Thanks for sharing

tcrabtree Posted at 2016-3-21 18:48
Great story. I'm always telling customers to get to the highest ground they can overlooking the like ...

Tim - Can you please tell me if your product is available in the UK?

If so where?

Thanks

Tim,

Ignore my one above - you have responded to me.

Many Thanks

tcrabtree Posted at 2016-3-21 14:48
Great story. I'm always telling customers to get to the highest ground they can overlooking the like ...

feel free to include it

Rbimd Posted at 2016-4-11 20:15
feel free to include it

Great that you found it lad. My question is, shouldn't the bird have RTH if there was a lose of signal. Clearly it didn't happen in your case.

It did, unfortunately my RTH was set for 60 feet, which since my house is upon a 200 foot hill, is sufficient to clear the structure IF i took off from upon that hill. Unfortunately, I took off from a lakeshore, flew over a ridge and dropped more than 60 feet  (probably 80 feet). When RTH engaged, it rose only 60 feet from my NEW  HOME POINT it was insufficient to clear the ridge on the return flight. So i made multiple errors. I didn't set my RTH for my surroundings, and I lost line of sight with my bird, flying FPV.

Rbimd Posted at 2016-4-12 08:37
It did, unfortunately my RTH was set for 60 feet, which since my house is upon a 200 foot hill, is s ...

I have to say that it's refreshing to hear someone actually taking responsibility for their own error. I see people HUNTING for things to criticize and fault-find quite often on here. I enjoy reading your story and, written from a responsible viewpoint, learning from your mistake! Thanks!

How much did you pay for "Marco Polo"?
Do you know if  the Marco Polo tag works with other tablets applications ?
Or it only works with the Marco Polo hand tracker ?
Thank you

II bought the unit to keep track of my dog, and of course  it had the pet module which is much larger, owing to a larger battery. I liked it so much, I bought the RC transmitter for my Inspire; which cost around $80 US, as a stand-alone. The tracker and the dog module were around $200 US. I think you can get the RC module/tracker combo for about $200US also.
As far as I know, it only works with the hand held tracker, not with any phone or tablet app. It transmits on a 900 MHz band which does not interfere with the Inspire's video or control frequencies, HOWEVER, it is not allowed for use in certain non-US countries owing to their cellular phone band assignments. Please check your laws, as you are from Spain. The RC battery lasts 30 days on a charge; the dog module lasts 90days,
but is larger and weighs more. In my opinion, the longer battery life is unnecessary  since if you lose your bird and cannot find it within 30 days,  you probably will not recover it. There are posts on this forum with pictures of users mounting both kinds of transmitters to their birds; the RC model is more elegant though, and fits nicely behind the battery compartment.

I1ADDICT Posted at 2016-3-22 01:35
Dude that is amazing.  I can't believe you found it and that sucks about your return if you only ha ...

IA, I am not sure I agree with the max height for the RTH setting.  If you live in Mountain are than go for it. But I find that when I need the RTH I am usually low on battery,  I don't want the battery consumed trying to reach 1800 feet and then come home , I take the tallest object in my environment and add 15 feet, I figure this will get me over the obstacle and safely home with some power to spare.  

what do you think?

cheers -donnie

Morrisson Posted at 2016-4-12 10:32
I have to say that it's refreshing to hear someone actually taking responsibility for their own er ...

Morrisson , could not agree more, everyone blames,  ducks, dives, weaves, evade - instead of just Owning it.  Refreshing Indeed !

Donnie

Rbimd Posted at 2016-4-19 05:16
II bought the unit to keep track of my dog, and of course  it had the pet module which is much large ...

     Rbimd, anyone ever tell you  that you look like Sean Astin?  you know Rudy........  ( The Movie )

Whenever I see your Avatar, I say there's  RUDY ??

Great story by the way, glad you owned it instead of saying , "DJI sucks Blah , blah, blah....  Not my fault ,'"

Cheers- donnie

Donnie Posted at 2016-4-19 12:42
Morrisson , could not agree more, everyone blames,  ducks, dives, weaves, evade - instead of just O ...

Hi Donnie,

Where did you mount your tracker?

How much did you put in to the full system? And are you paying a monthly fee?

Best,
Gavin

Morrisson Posted at 2016-4-19 12:59
Hi Donnie,

Where did you mount your tracker?

     I paid @130.00 for my Trackimo device and I love it.  That price Included 1 year of service as well after that it is  $60.00 a year. or $5.00 a month.   I have had NO interference with it and there is a perfect spot on the back of the Inspire for it.  I actually clean off the area with Alcohol wipes and Then put electrical tape down first then with heavy duty two way tape I mount the Trackimo to the Electrical tape.  This way when I remove it , it peels off  off easily and then I simply remove the electrical tape off the aircraft.
You only have to charge maybe once a week if that, you can add the app to your phone  as well.

So the layers are like this  Aircraft -electrical tape- heavy duty two way tape-  electrical tape- Trackimo .  Just make sure your hands are wiped with Denatred alcohol , if yu keep everything super clean and wipe down with the alcohol pads the tape sticks really well.  I learned this trick when mounting servos to  epoxy coated surfsaces, mkaes it much easier to remove and sticks GREAT.

Thanks for the share.  It helps us all keep honest in our pre-flight checklist etc.  We all have our moments, best to learn from each other and take note.  I've found myself flying with a Trackimo in area's that are NOT covered by cell service.  Time to look in to an additional Marco Polo unit.  Thanks!

Donnie Posted at 2016-4-19 16:37
I paid @130.00 for my Trackimo device and I love it.  That price Included 1 year of service as ...

Wow. That's pretty incredible. I'm impressed with the Trackimo. But you don't have to have cell phone service to use it, right? Like you can log on to the Trackimo website...?

Thanks for the explanation on how you secured it to the Inspire. I think I will do the same if I end up getting one.

Donnie Posted at 2016-4-19 09:39
IA, I am not sure I agree with the max height for the RTH setting.  If you live in Mountain are t ...

Yeah...sorry.  I meant the max height for your area.  And yeah, I wouldn't want it burning extra batteries either.  

I1ADDICT Posted at 2016-4-20 18:38
Yeah...sorry.  I meant the max height for your area.  And yeah, I wouldn't want it burning extra b ...

No please, dont be sorry.  I was just curious as to your thinking.  Believe Me, I far from know it all brother.

Cheers, donnie

Morrisson Posted at 2016-4-19 20:49
Wow. That's pretty incredible. I'm impressed with the Trackimo. But you don't have to have cell ph ...

No , it does use a cell signal, kind of like a pager system.

donnie

Donnie Posted at 2016-4-21 05:55
No , it does use a cell signal, kind of like a pager system.

donnie

Sorry, I think I was not being clear. You don't need to connect it to your cellphone, right? It connects directly to whatever system it uses?

Morrisson Posted at 2016-4-21 10:15
Sorry, I think I was not being clear. You don't need to connect it to your cellphone, right? It co ...

Yes, that is correct.  I feel so much better knowing it is on my aircraft, I am one who likes to fly far  away.  

donnie