DOOK Loc: Maclean, Australia

My missing Phantom 4 Pro+ developed into quite a saga, but at least it had a happy (& unbelievably lucky) ending. I will try to keep this as short as possible. Seven weeks ago, I was 10 minutes into a flight when I got a 'Lost signal' message. I wasn't looking at the screen for the few seconds before I lost signal because I was distracted by something else. I wasn't worried & waited for RTH to activate. However, after about half a minute, RTH had not activated. I then pressed the RTH button & it still wouldn't activate.

My friends & I searched the area for 2 weeks with no luck. Before I took off, I got the audio message telling me that the home point has been recorded & I also got the 'green light' to take off. As far as I was concerned, I had done everything right & there must have been a firmware malfunction which prevented the RTH function from activating.

A few weeks later, I thought of another possibility. There are two osprey nests in the flight area (which included part of the river) & it was possible that the birds felt threatened & attacked it, putting it into the river. I eventually accepted this.

Last week, I phoned my DJI 'man' to buy another P4 Pro (I could use my old controller--just have to link it). I had to phone him the next day to confirm the sale. You won't believe this, but I was about to phone him when my phone rang & this guy says, "I found a drone with this phone number on it. Would it be yours?". I nearly fainted.

A new highway bypass is about to be built & this guy is a surveyor. He was in some dense scrub off the side of the old highway when he found it. It was lying upside down at the base of an unusually tall tree, with the battery about 10' away. The SD card was missing, so I couldn't see what had happened. The drone had obviously clipped the branches at the top of the tree. Why didn't the forward facing proximity sensors stop it? I had previously done much testing of the sensors & I found that they work well if the drone is heading for a cliff, a wall, or a large tree trunk, but they are not reliable with power lines, small branches, etc.

The drone appeared to be totally undamaged (at least externally) except for a missing tip on one prop. My friend makes his own jerky, so I put it in his jerky drier for 3 days to dry it out. I then charged the battery & carefully took off for a test flight. I flew it for 10 minutes & tried RTH several times. Everything went perfectly with absolutely no issues.

To sum up, I did not intend flying anywhere near that big tree, but I wasn't watching the monitor much & I must have veered off course--my fault. RTH didn't activate because it was lying on the ground with no battery in it, lol. All of this proves that DJI drones are pretty tough....It would have hit the ground pretty hard, then it lay upside down on the ground for 7 weeks, & was soaked by 6" of rain. All I had to do was dry it out & replace one prop, & it was as good as new. I will add that I am one very happy little chappie--I never expected to see it again.

Jackaroo Loc: Canberra Australia

Great result, I had my Mavic pro just dive straight into a tree about half way up a 40 metre cliff, my niece's partner absailed down and retrieved it for me, not so lucky with the damage though.

Jackaroo Loc: Canberra Australia

CathyAnn Loc: Apache Junction, AZ

You're just living right, Earl!

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

Glad you got it back! My Hubsan crashed into the World Trade Center a few days ago - while right here in PA! I was just playing around near a local 9/11 memorial, and I screwed up big time. Bounced off the twin towers, into the side of a building, totally destroying all 4 props... Seems that there was no other damage, since I replaced the props and the motors all spin up correctly.

I do have video of the crash, but it isn't processed yet, and I am not sure how big a video file this site would allow me to upload. Maybe I will make an attempt, once I get the file processed and trimmed down a bit...

Irvingite Charles Loc: Irving, Tx

Very nice Earl. It's nice to hear stories with a happy ending especially considering the $$$ involved.

Charles

DOOK Loc: Maclean, Australia

As long as the video is on a URL/link (such as Vimeo or Youtube), there is no restriction on size. Sorry about your drone--it's easy to do.

Earl.

pounder35 Loc: "Southeast of Disorder"

Great story with a happy ending. I'm wondering what happened to the memory card. I've had my share of crashes with prop damage, battery knocked out, and the camera knocked off but never had the memory card come out. I wish you had it. The time I knocked my camera off was coming low over a tree line. I had just killed the video recording so didn't record clipping the tree. The camera and gimbal had to be replaced. $300USD. Ouch. Fortunately I've been able to do all my repairs myself. The most complicated was replacing the lower shell on my P2V. I had to change out the main circuit, the ESC boards, and the motors. Not that bad if your used to working on small electronics and doing some soldering. Then I lose it in a lake a few months later. Ain't this a fun hobby? But it's still cheaper than photo equipment and golf.

pounder35 Loc: "Southeast of Disorder"

Dropbox is another option. I've used it with some real estate videos. There is a limit with the free version. I can't remember how much but I've posted about five short (5-10 minute) videos at a time before having to delete some to free up space.

pounder35 Loc: "Southeast of Disorder"

Are you sure that wasn't a No Fly Zone? A good app available from the FAA is B4UFly. Free app and the maps will give you NFZ and the diameter of the zone depending on location.

pounder35 Loc: "Southeast of Disorder"

I'd love to see the video. When you post it give us a link.

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

No, it's just a small memorial built at one end of a local park. It's well clear of the local zones... There are pieces from one of the WTC girders, and a piece of concrete/stone from the Pentagon, plus a model of the twin towers that 'jumped out in front of me'.

pounder35 Loc: "Southeast of Disorder"

That's cool. It's easy to be a NFZ and not even know it. That's fly I use the B4U Fly app if I'm going into areas I've never flown before. Not saying I didn't fly anyway but ............................

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

What a recovery Dook. That is some luck. I wonder why the micro SD card was missing. Did it have one in it to begin with? The guy that found it must have taken it before he called you. But they are so cheap these days I would wonder why. Anyway, it probably crashed because when it attempted to RTH, it started to rise to the RTH altitude and hit branches of the tree or some wires or something like that.

I almost lost my Mavic when it did a RTH after losing comms with the controller. I was flying near the old Queen Mary ship in Long Beach when it happened. I was actually on the other side of the ship and I believe that steel ship structure caused it to lose connection. It rose to the RTH altitude of 120 feet and came home. Before it got home I was watching my monitor which was not displaying anything, when suddenly it reconnected to the controller and I could see that I was heading for a tall mast on the ship; so I veered right and up to avoid it. Since I had to increase altitude to get it over the mast, I knew that the mast was more than 120 high. When I got home I checked the video and it used it's collision avoidance twice and rose above the other obstructions twice. I got control and avoided the 3rd collision. I had no idea the masts on the ship were that tall. Lesson learned.

DOOK Loc: Maclean, Australia

RTH did nor activate--there was no visual or audio indication that it had. I was simply distracted & flew it into branches at the top of a huge tree on a hill. There is no mystery about the missing card. The drone hit the ground with enough force to dislodge the battery & throw it some distance, so I assume that the card was also ejected. The guy who found it knew nothing about drones, so would not have known that the card was missing. Therefore, he did not look for it.

Anyway, it suffered no damage & can fly again--the only problem is getting some decent weather to fly it, lol.

Earl.