I am devasted. The quickest £1k I have ever lost. It's rediculous

So, I was flying my Phantom 4 yesterday evening, everything was great until I randomly lost signal with the Drone.

Just before the signal was lost, I had set the home location to the the little man with a location symbol via the DJI Go App. This was on the advice of a friend who was with me which also has a DJI Mavic.

So I when I lost signal, I attempted to regain signal by running and putting the controller in the air. I looked like an idiot, and I managed to regain signal for a few seconds, then the gutting message of "Aircraft disconnected" just remained. I distinctly remember it was flying home, but I thought the home would be my location? My mate shouted while I was running "LOOK ON THE MAP" so I looked on the map and it looked like it was heading toward where I had taken off from, I saw a line which i assume is the flight path it was taken, and the home marker which was green and set to the taking off location. So I sprinted, their and I was devasted that my drone wasn't there. I had also spoken to people nearby to see if they had seen the drone or heard anything and they looked at me like i had gone mad.... aka, they had not seen a drone, so I doubt it had landed and it got picked up.

The thing what does my head in, I set the home location specifically to avoid this problem, yet it seemed it wen't back to it's original position (according to the map) - I don't believe it got their. I have been looking all day and appealing for anyone who may have seen it on facebook and I have had no luck what so ever.

I bought the Drone on 8th, I have flown it twice (the second time being when this incident taken place).

I am devasted and hope that someone will assist me in translating my flight log as I don't really understand whats good and bad or if someone can point towards where the drone is likely to have landed, i can contact our local authority to inspect CCTV images in attempt of recovering the drone or seeing if someone had picked it up.

I really feel it had failed me, you pay a lot of money for this kit, and the thing which had meant to save the drone, had done the opposite...

Appreciate any advice on this.

http://healthydrones.com/main?fl ... 04b13fb42229484367a

Sorry for your loss.

Please upload your flight log here, copy and paste the link, and we'll try to help you out:  http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

site credit:  msinger

From the line on the map, it looks like it possibly got stuck in a tree where the line ends. Did you check up in the trees?

Looks like manual set of homepoint failed thru lack of GPS? Yes the tree is where I'd suggest looking. Definitely upload to phantomhelp log viewer as suggested. Good luck dude, something similar happened for me last year. Was beginner mode enabled as that's what caused mine.

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/G8JAD1RWBJC0CRBMXG0E/

Also, I already checked that area and in the surrounding trees but there's no sign of the drone what so ever. Looking at the flight data isn't the drone too high for it to hit the tree?

I'm sorry for your loss. If you haven't already, I would recommend getting in contact with Support to have your Go app logs evaluated to see if there is any assistance available with recovering the loss of the unit?

Is the home point the same thing as return to home?  When I look at my logs I see the following "Home Point Set; Home Point Recorded. RTH Altitude:  120m."  With the OPs record it just says "Home Point Set"

JVI Posted at 2017-4-11 15:59
http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/G8JAD1RWBJC0CRBMXG0E/

I don't see any reason why it wouldn't have landed back at the take off location.  It appears to have been heading in that direction at an illegally high altitude so wouldn't have hit anything.

The only potential issue I can see is that it may have been flying into a sunset?  If it was blinded by the sun then it may have stopped somewhere along the line and then landed short when it ran out of battery.

The change of Home point apparently didn't work due to insufficient GPS accuracy on the mobile device.

Note that flying over residential areas is illegal in the UK, this was not a legal flight.

ibuyufo Posted at 2017-4-11 20:56
Is the home point the same thing as return to home?  When I look at my logs I see the following "Home Point Set; Home Point Recorded. RTH Altitude:  120m."  With the OPs record it just says "Home Point Set"

It appears to have been left at the default 30m, maybe unwise for the location, however it was already above the 400ft legal limit when the signal was lost and would have returned home at the current altitude.

Looks like it was trying head back to take off point, check roofs within 20 metres if there are no obstacles on route. I'd check logs more but only phone available at this moment.

Nigel_ Posted at 2017-4-12 00:33
I don't see any reason why it wouldn't have landed back at the take off location.  It appears to have been heading in that direction at an illegally high altitude so wouldn't have hit anything.

The only potential issue I can see is that it may have been flying into a sunset?  If it was blinded by the sun then it may have stopped somewhere along the line and then landed short when it ran out of battery.

Hi Nigel,

I tried to gain signal by increasing altitude, it was an emergency situation and at the time, it was the safest thing I could do in attempt to regain control of the aircraft.
As you will observe, for the actual flight until the signal became a problem, I actually was well below 400ft.

Please don't publically suggest I was committing an illegal offence without knowing all of the circumstances. Also, it isn't actually illegal in the UK to fly over residential areas. It is advised that you don't as it COULD lead to a criminal offence being committed.

I fly with caution at all times, and have safety of the general public in mind at all times. I also relied on the safety mechanisms built into the Drone which clearly failed.

When I set the home location, it did say Home point set on the screen. It also displayed the pin on the map to reflect the new location? In addition, it was merely 30 seconds after, I loose complete signal, regaining for a few seconds and the permanently losing signal and the Drone flying off towards its original take off point, but never actually gets there?

JVI Posted at 2017-4-13 00:22
Hi Nigel,

I tried to gain signal by increasing altitude, it was an emergency situation and at the time, it was the safest thing I could do in attempt to regain control of the aircraft.

Did you try to set the home point twice?  Unlikely, but possibly we are not seeing a second attempt in the log files...    Setting the home point from a device without GPS is very risky since the it's location information will be very inaccurate, but without evidence in the log that the home point was changed I don't think that was the problem.

You could ask DJI support to take a look at the log files, see if there is evidence of something going wrong with the aircraft, but I wouldn't be too hopeful since it appears to be working normally for all the log I can see.

You didn't go far above our legal maximum so I wouldn't worry too much about that, I was more making the point that it was more than high enough not to hit anything.

However there is no way that the flight was legal, you could not have maintained visual line of sight over the full flight, probably very little of it, if you had then you would know where the aircraft landed!  It also appears that the battery was on it's first charge so this was a test flight made at speeds of up to 47.4mph with obstacle avoidance turned off over peoples homes and along streets with people and  traffic on them - not exactly "flying with caution at all times"!

Please read the Civil Aviation Authorities Drone Code and fly appropriately to help us all maintain reasonable access to our airspace.  http://dronesafe.uk/drone-code/


I still think that the sunset is the most likely cause of a problem.

Those guidelines apply to the pilot of the drone, I WAS NOT piloting the drone when it flew away by itself. Up until it lost signal, the Drone then flew itself. Guidelines is not the law either.

I am well aware of the rules and actually had permission from Humberside Police to fly the drone in the area as i had a genuine reason to which I haven't and won't disclose on a public forum.

The reason i happened to be defensive in my response in my last post was because you stated multiple times that I had committed an illegal offence, when in fact I hadn't.

On a general note, if DJI doesn't cover me directly (although I feel that they have morale obligations to as it is their product which failed), but general consumer law also states that when you buy an electronic, and it malfunctions or is not fit for purpose, then you are entitled for a full refund or replacement at the cost of the dealer.

JVI Posted at 2017-4-13 02:40
Those guidelines apply to the pilot of the drone, I WAS NOT piloting the drone when it flew away by itself. Up until it lost signal, the Drone then flew itself. Guidelines is not the law either.

I am well aware of the rules and actually had permission from Humberside Police to fly the drone in the area as i had a genuine reason to which I haven't and won't disclose on a public forum.

With regard to your last paragraph, if it malfunctions and you can prove that it has malfunctioned then you can return it.   However without evidence and without the aircraft to return, your only hope is that someone does find good evidence that there was a fault, and since nobody here has succeeded you will need to talk nicely to DJI.  Threatening them will get you nowhere.  My guess is that the best you will get is a discount on a replacement aircraft.

Humberside Police have no right to give you permission for that flight, whatever they said would not stand up in court.  If they thought that a drone was appropriate for the task then they should have sent their own Drone Squad to do the task since they do have permission from the CAA and suitable training to fly in residential areas, although I don't believe they can have permission fly their drones beyond visual line of sight so the flight still would not have been legal.   The CAA set our rules and their rules do include staying in visual line of sight all times.

This is never going to go to court since nobody got injured so there is no reason to worry, but stick to the rules in future, we don't want our drones banned from the sky!

Check this out.   http://forum.dji.com/thread-92291-1-1.html

JVI Posted at 2017-4-13 02:40
Those guidelines apply to the pilot of the drone, I WAS NOT piloting the drone when it flew away by itself. Up until it lost signal, the Drone then flew itself. Guidelines is not the law either.

I am well aware of the rules and actually had permission from Humberside Police to fly the drone in the area as i had a genuine reason to which I haven't and won't disclose on a public forum.

As Nigel states the police do not have the power to give permissions to fly over suburban areas.In fact they don't have any powers to give permission for any type of aerial work.

The BMFA explains things well on their website regarding what is law

BMFA

Nigel_ Posted at 2017-4-12 00:33
I don't see any reason why it wouldn't have landed back at the take off location.  It appears to have been heading in that direction at an illegally high altitude so wouldn't have hit anything.

The only potential issue I can see is that it may have been flying into a sunset?  If it was blinded by the sun then it may have stopped somewhere along the line and then landed short when it ran out of battery.

Nigel

In the event of a loss of signal where the pilot no longer has control of the aircraft would be considered an emergency. Here in the US (This pilot is in the UK) all measures can be taken to recover control of the UAS to avoid collisions and regain control.

Thus flying up to and over 400 feet would be permissible in this situation.

=)

ems12a@gmail.co Posted at 2017-4-13 06:39
Nigel

In the event of a loss of signal where the pilot no longer has control of the aircraft would be considered an emergency. Here in the US (This pilot is in the UK) all measures can be taken to recover control of the UAS to avoid collisions and regain control.

Of course safety comes first, and I can see your point, but the reason for the 400ft limit is to avoid hitting aeroplanes, helicopters etc. that do fly a little above that limit.   If you are not in control then maybe it is best to stay out of the aeroplane zone?   Plus, if you are not in control then how can you command it to fly higher anyway?

The main issue here is that in the UK we are not allowed to fly out of visual line of sight under any circumstances, and if you maintain visual line of sight then there should be no need to increase height to regain the control signal.  Having an aeroplane or helicopter pass over head in the UK is not unusual, I can hear a Cessna or something similar approaching right now and I had the police helicopter land about 400m away yesterday having passed directly over my house at about 500ft.

Had the pilot in this case been in the USA then I would not have raised the issue.

In the US the 400' altitude is a guideline not law, unless you have the part 107 license.

Nigel_ Posted at 2017-4-13 07:05
Of course safety comes first, and I can see your point, but the reason for the 400ft limit is to avoid hitting aeroplanes, helicopters etc. that do fly a little above that limit.   If you are not in control then maybe it is best to stay out of the aeroplane zone?   Plus, if you are not in control then how can you command it to fly higher anyway?

The main issue here is that in the UK we are not allowed to fly out of visual line of sight under any circumstances, and if you maintain visual line of sight then there should be no need to increase height to regain the control signal.  Having an aeroplane or helicopter pass over head in the UK is not unusual, I can hear a Cessna or something similar approaching right now and I had the police helicopter land about 400m away yesterday having passed directly over my house at about 500ft.

I have ears and eyes. planes and helicopters flying that slow is not a normal thing in the UK, in fact it's actually illegal for any aircraft (except UAVs) to go below 500ft in any built up area.

Spoken to the Airpox team at the CAA and they have confirmed that it would be acceptable to raise altitude in an emergency, and if it could minimise damage and injury.

Again, I will say it all one more time because I don't think you understand... I wasn't flying outside my line of sight... the drone, not me, not my controller decided to return home due to loss but of downlink and RC signal.

Bare in mind that I had set my home location to a complete different place, be it failed, it never told me it had failed to set it. The home location even displayed at the same location I was stood. Warnings in the app usually stay in the top left until acknowledged, I know for an absolute fact I hadn't seen such warning, I also know for a fact that it had confirmed my new home location.

One food for thought... how was I able to gain altitude when I had a red light on the remote and disconnected on the app? If you look at the logs I had lost control a long time before It had climed above 400ft.

DJI have contacted me and they are investigating.

Consumer law would also protect me. The Drone flew away itself, how in any way would a drone flying off by itself be my fault?? I didn't command it to fly off into the abyss so in my eyes why should I have to pay for it.

JVI Posted at 2017-4-13 02:40
Those guidelines apply to the pilot of the drone, I WAS NOT piloting the drone when it flew away by itself. Up until it lost signal, the Drone then flew itself. Guidelines is not the law either.

I am well aware of the rules and actually had permission from Humberside Police to fly the drone in the area as i had a genuine reason to which I haven't and won't disclose on a public forum.

If I were you I would go back to the police station and ask if they've seen it. The last known position was it flying between the police station and courthouse. Perhaps it landed close to these ?

How come you lost the downlink if you were in visual range of the aircraft at all times?  
You would have to be quite close to it given all those buildings blocking the view to any distance and the Phantom 4 has a range of a couple of Km in decent conditions.

If you lost signal at only 100ft or so then that would indicate a fault in the aircraft...

Like I said, I saw a helicopter come down to 0ft yesterday just 400m from my house, landed in the school playing field.  OK, that is not normal but without visual on the your drone's location you can't give way when it does happen and it is your responsibility to give way to all manned aircraft.

In the link Aardvark gave you, which gives the actual law, the item which prevents you flying over residential areas is Article 95.(2)(a) "over or within 150 metres of any congested area;", and like it says in 95.(1), you need permission from the CAA, not the police or Airprox.

  

"I WAS NOT piloting the drone when it flew away"

So the guy is telling us the drone switched itself into Sports mode, decided to fly up to 42mph
and 1600ft away just for the heck of it. If my drone would do that I would seriously consider it doesn't like me ;-)

  

Legal situation/possible permission don't matter: He broke about every rule of common sense.  

Flying in the center of a city implicates possible signal issues due to buildings.
Having a device with no 5.8 GHz capability adds up to that.

  

Irresponsible actions like his will eventually lead to harsh rules in the UK. We just had them introduced in Germany a week ago.  

Media are on top of this – they just wait for the idiots posting their fly-aways or records in forums or on YT.
Now they got another one.  

Having lost the AC which was probably happily found by a kid is the minimum penalty he deserves.

  

If it was not found within 20 ft of where you launched it, someone picked it up.   Live and learn.