Mabou2
First Officer
Flight distance : 811257 ft
United States
Offline
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Hi Guys,
I'm looking for feedback. I had a significant problem losing connection to the drone in several flights today. Often several times in a single flight. (black screen, no control that I was aware of, return to home auto initiated each time).
I had an important aerial shoot for a commercial developer (first shoot for this new client). It was either shoot today or lose the gig and future gigs, so I shot 5 different small to medium sized malls in three different states.
In EVERY flight, I had moments where the bird disconnected, the screen went black and I helplessly (and thankfully) watched as the P4 returned to home. When it got close I was able to regain control. The first two locations I shot had SEVERAL disconnects, one that lasted a mind-numbing two minutes (it was a long ways up and quite a ways away) and I could not see or hear the drone (clouds above and traffic nearby), so for all I knew it powered down and crashed.)
I have never had this happen once before today, and I've flown considerably farther and higher without issue.
I had an open line of sight and I was standing in a wide-open parking lot in all locations. There WERE a lot of cars in a few of the parking lots (though there were no cars around me in two of the locations), and the surrounding area was densely populated with homes and small businesses.
The first location where I lost connection (multiple times), I thought "ok, must be something in the area causing interference".
The second location (in a different state), I thought "Crap, must be something interfering here too".
The third, fourth, and fifth locations (all separated by miles), I thought "Oh man, I am SUCH an idiot for continuing to fly.
(Yes, I know, I WAS being an idiot for continuing to fly once I realized there might be a bigger problem, so don't waste our time reiterating this fact. )
So why do you imagine I would suddenly be losing contact so easily? As soon as the drone was 100 feet +/- away from me, I would see a warning about weak signal then would lose connection all together. Antennas were properly oriented and I have signal amplifiers (little scoops) on each antenna.
I have the latest firmware and software, was flying with unobstructed line of site, using my trusy iPad Mini 4 (that I have used more than 100 flights without incidence).
Thanks for your thoughts (unless you can't help yourself and tell me I'm an idiot :-). I am supposed to shoot five more locations tomorrow so I'm running a bit terrified.
Matt
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