So I was using Litchi on a Waypoint mission.  Set the mission to RTH when done.  The drone went out .5 miles and then the Litchi app crashed so I had to reopen.  I could not get a connect back with the P4.  Apparently what happened with my best guess is that even though it was on a Waypoint mission, the drone went to Hover after signal loss.  Not sure why it did, Litchi always worked flawlessly for me.  With that said.  I know where the drone is.  Private property unfortunately and I won't be able to get it until the weekend, because I will have to hike .5 mile through the woods to go around the private property.  My question is if it went to hover at 400ft, do you think it dropped out of the sky or landed when it ran out of battery?  Fortunately i have a Trackimo on it and I know where it is.  

I'm almost sure it auto landed and if I were you I would go get it NOW, private property or not. .5 miles is not that far. You'll be in and out in less than half hour.

R&L Aerial  Posted at 2016-12-28 10:07
I'm almost sure it auto landed and if I were you I would go get it NOW, private property or not. .5 miles is not that far. You'll be in and out in less than half hour.

I did leave a note on the property owners door.  So hopefully they will call me.  Unfortunately I'll have to wait until tomorrow because I am now an hour North of where it is and it will be dark by the time I get back that way.  GPS is showing it in a small patch of trees.  Hoping it isn't stuck in one or I am really in trouble.

Ethanflux Posted at 2016-12-28 11:36
I did leave a note on the property owners door.  So hopefully they will call me.  Unfortunately I'll have to wait until tomorrow because I am now an hour North of where it is and it will be dark by the time I get back that way.  GPS is showing it in a small patch of trees.  Hoping it isn't stuck in one or I am really in trouble.

[view_image]

When you go, take a thick blanket  like a moving blanket if you can along with a short fishing pole with large weight and large hook.
Bring extra weights and hooks with you for multiple tries if you have to cut the line.
Best case scenario is if you can loop line over a branch above the drone and lower the hook to the drone, and if you can hook the drone lower it to the ground. My hook caught the branch the drone was on (probably 35 - 40 feet up) and pulling on the line shook the branch enough the drone jiggled loose and fell onto the blanket below which was draped over thick underbrush/briars which cushioned the fall. (All this was done right at dusk, and just in time because thunderstorms moved in and it stormed all night long!)
Of course all this assumes the drone is in a tree...........

gosh! keep us posted! with pictures! Good luck!

RMD 1960 Posted at 2016-12-28 14:06
When you go, take a thick blanket  like a moving blanket if you can along with a short fishing pole with large weight and large hook.
Bring extra weights and hooks with you for multiple tries if you have to cut the line.
Best case scenario is if you can loop line over a branch above the drone and lower the hook to the drone, and if you can hook the drone lower it to the ground. My hook caught the branch the drone was on (probably 35 - 40 feet up) and pulling on the line shook the branch enough the drone jiggled loose and fell onto the blanket below which was draped over thick underbrush/briars which cushioned the fall. (All this was done right at dusk, and just in time because thunderstorms moved in and it stormed all night long!)

Thank you for that advice.  I'm hoping beyond hope it is on the ground.  Fortunately it landed in the far back of someones property.  My wife is going to go with me so she can watch the 4yr old.  He would slow me down.    She is going to park at the entrance of the property and keep an eye out for me and (that way she can tell anybody that is worried that I am just looking for my drone.    I went ahead and made a route through some other vacant (no house) property.  There is a 4 wheeling trail that connects to a utility pole clearing path.  I'll take that and should only have to go through a small portion of woods.  I should be able to go in and retrieve undetected.  If all goes good and the drone is on the ground.  I should be have it back in 20 - 30 minutes.   I switched the beacon on the Trackimo to every two hours as the battery was at 65% beaconing every 1 minute.  Stay tuned.  Plan on getting it at 9a CST tomorrow.

Good luck and undamaged drone!

I would concur with R&L that the unit would have landed instead of dropping. Best of luck to you getting it back, hopefully it's clear skies until you get it.

Ethanflux Posted at 2016-12-28 12:30
Thank you for that advice.  I'm hoping beyond hope it is on the ground.  Fortunately it landed in the far back of someones property.  My wife is going to go with me so she can watch the 4yr old.  He would slow me down.    She is going to park at the entrance of the property and keep an eye out for me and (that way she can tell anybody that is worried that I am just looking for my drone.    I went ahead and made a route through some other vacant (no house) property.  There is a 4 wheeling trail that connects to a utility pole clearing path.  I'll take that and should only have to go through a small portion of woods.  I should be able to go in and retrieve undetected.  If all goes good and the drone is on the ground.  I should be have it back in 20 - 30 minutes.   I switched the beacon on the Trackimo to every two hours as the battery was at 65% beaconing every 1 minute.  Stay tuned.  Plan on getting it at 9a CST tomorrow.

Aloha Ethan,

     Good luck!  When all is said and done, hopefully with your Phantom still working, I think you need to set both Litchi and DJI GO or DJI GO 4 to the same settings to avoid this type of scenario.  Always check the DJI app before using the Litchi app.  This may explain your mishap.

     Hope this helps and good luck!

Aloha and Drone On!

Cetacean Posted at 2016-12-29 01:28
Aloha Ethan,

     Good luck!  When all is said and done, hopefully with your Phantom still working, I think you need to set both Litchi and DJI GO or DJI GO 4 to the same settings to avoid this type of scenario.  Always check the DJI app before using the Litchi app.  This may explain your mishap.

Thank you all!  I should have the drone in the next hour if all goes well.  I think maybe settings got wiped out in Litchi when it did an app update.  But still should have completed the mission and RTH as programmed instead of hovering when losing signal from remote.  Oh well.  Cross your fingers.

DRONE FOUND!!!  Woohoo!  Battery ejected (why do they always eject on a crash?).  Could not find the battery.    Did however find the Trackimo a few inches frome the drone.  Surprisingly the drone was intact.  Just a broken prop and one of the leg clips popped out.  Fortunately it landed in a light tree/brushy area that was swampy so it had a somewhat nice landing.  I will upload photos and a test flight later tonight.  Thank you all for your support and glad I had a Trackimo!!  Tried to watch the video of the crash, but it must have gotten corrupted because it will not open in any of my media players.

Ethanflux Posted at 2016-12-29 07:24
DRONE FOUND!!!  Woohoo!  Battery ejected (why do they always eject on a crash?).  Could not find the battery.    Did however find the Trackimo a few inches frome the drone.  Surprisingly the drone was intact.  Just a broken prop and one of the leg clips popped out.  Fortunately it landed in a light tree/brushy area that was swampy so it had a somewhat nice landing.  I will upload photos and a test flight later tonight.  Thank you all for your support and glad I had a Trackimo!!  Tried to watch the video of the crash, but it must have gotten corrupted because it will not open in any of my media players.

put the sd card back into drone and record a short 20-30 second video .

that should fix the end of the previous video for you.
then you may be able to view it..

good luck and have fun flying!

Good to hear that you recovered it!

Tested the drone and it was A OK!  Only loss I had was the Trackimo mount broke (I have a replacement one already), and I lost the battery.  It was really marshy where the drone landed, I was almost calf deep in mud and I didn't want to loose my shoes so I couldn't look too hard for it.  

even if you found the battery it probably would not be useable, according to dji, they say don't use a battery involved in a crash., so not a big loss there.  happy flying !

Grizz 1 Posted at 2016-12-29 12:02
even if you found the battery it probably would not be useable, according to dji, they say don't use a battery involved in a crash., so not a big loss there.  happy flying !

Didn't know that.  Good thing I have a few extras.    Going to fly it for a bit this weekend.  Was so worried about getting it back.  Had a hard time sleeping the past 2 nights knowing that it was out there all alone.  LOL.  Like it was my little baby.  

Glad you found your drone again, did you see litchi app new update "fix crash when using any settings menu" sounds like what happened to you and your drone

Did your Trackimo come with a lanyard?  If so, use it.  That way you know it will stay with the bird.

Ethanflux Posted at 2016-12-29 12:12
Didn't know that.  Good thing I have a few extras.    Going to fly it for a bit this weekend.  Was so worried about getting it back.  Had a hard time sleeping the past 2 nights knowing that it was out there all alone.  LOL.  Like it was my little baby.

How do you fix trackimo to the drone?
Whole story of saving mission of lost baby))

Ethanflux Posted at 2016-12-29 12:12
Didn't know that.  Good thing I have a few extras.    Going to fly it for a bit this weekend.  Was so worried about getting it back.  Had a hard time sleeping the past 2 nights knowing that it was out there all alone.  LOL.  Like it was my little baby.

yes, I feel that way too !  lol

Well done on getting it back - enough for me to consider looking at buying tracking device.

Sky Mike Posted at 2016-12-29 13:09
Glad you found your drone again, did you see litchi app new update "fix crash when using any settings menu" sounds like what happened to you and your drone

Well I'll make sure I update the app and will run close and low range mission a few times before I sent it out again.  I was very upset that Litchi had a bug and it did not come back.

timmer1 Posted at 2016-12-29 13:56
Did your Trackimo come with a lanyard?  If so, use it.  That way you know it will stay with the bird.

[view_image]

I don't think that it did.  But that is a good idea.  I'll have to do that.

Question for the OP:  What device were you using when it broke connection?  Android or iOS?

Dare I guess Android?

fansa84fe8a4 Posted at 2016-12-30 06:56
Question for the OP:  What device were you using when it broke connection?  Android or iOS?

Dare I guess Android?

Yes, It was a Samsung Galaxy S7.