After 2 years of enjoyment, Sparky went missing in flight today

[Chuck c]

Such a downer! It was a beautiful day and place to take photo/video, but unfortunately my final flight only lasted shy of 8 minutes.. Synopsis:

1. Took off from wooden deck in GPS mode (but didn't get "homepoint updated" voice call - perhaps mistake #1).
2. Home point finally recorded 46 seconds into the flight. It wasn't someplace I would want to land (lake), but at least I felt confident I had full GPS signal at that point (probably mistake #2).
3. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I had multiple "GPS Position NoMatch" recorded during the flight. I found this out after reviewing my flight log downloaded from my phone. I have no idea what it means or if I've had it before, as this is the first time I've downloaded and viewed a flight log in this manner. Here it is: DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com
4. I started losing video link to my phone intermittently approaching the 7 minute mark, just over 1000' away.
5. Spark initiated RTH at 7:31, and climbed from 130' to 165'. I briefly lost sight of the drone itself at this point, but I saw video on my phone that indicated it was coming back in the proper direction and had a clear line to fly (no trees).
6. During RTH, suddenly I got "Weak GPS Signal" displayed on my phone, along with "Compass Error, Exit P-GPS Mode". Also verbal "Atti Mode". This occurred at 7:43.
7. That was the last communication from Sparky. I waited around for 5 minutes or so, looking and listening, but didn't see or hear it again. The last time logged was 7:44.7

I walked around for awhile using "find my drone" on the GO4 app, but didn't see anything in the tall grass of the farm field in the vicinity of it's last known location (the trees visible in the satellite shot have been cut down). More searching tomorrow.

I assume, given the errors in the compass, the Spark probably went spiraling off somewhere and may be nowhere close to it's last recorded position?

What "should" the Spark normally do in ATTI mode with no stick inputs? I believe simply hover, but subject to being pushed by the wind, correct? Will it do this until the battery is exhausted, then land, or something else?

Any other ideas to find Sparky are much appreciated!

 

[twickers14]

So sorry to hear about this. There are many really brilliant members who will no doubt give you lots of help. Good luck.

 

[Rendlesham UAP]

Wishing you success in search. Thinking of you.

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

The wind will take it wherever it wants in Atti mode if you do not take over and manually fly. Sorry for your loss, but it could have been recovered if you had simply pushed forward on the right stick once in Atti mode. If there was absolutely no wind, which is unlikely, it would hover in place and eventually land in place.

I am guessing that the wooden deck had some metal hiding in or around it which might have messed with the compass before you took off.

Keeping it in line of sight at all times is also a good way to avoid the mystery somewhat.

Looking at your log now.

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

I would not take off with only 9 satelites, but thats just me. My first thought about compas interference at point of take off is likely what messed up your experience, as it seems to have show that starting at 21 seconds into the flight. Did you check the sensor state before you took off?

 

[Tentoes]

Ow.

Unable to see, you kinda left yourself without a backup if GPS went out.

In ATTI mode, you have to fly yourself. You're in complete manual mode and have to actively fly.

Any time we fly, there's a risk. Two years is pretty good!

 

[Spark 317]

Such a downer! It was a beautiful day and place to take photo/video, but unfortunately my final flight only lasted shy of 8 minutes.. Synopsis:

1. Took off from wooden deck in GPS mode (but didn't get "homepoint updated" voice call - perhaps mistake #1).
2. Home point finally recorded 46 seconds into the flight. It wasn't someplace I would want to land (lake), but at least I felt confident I had full GPS signal at that point (probably mistake #2).
3. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I had multiple "GPS Position NoMatch" recorded during the flight. I found this out after reviewing my flight log downloaded from my phone. I have no idea what it means or if I've had it before, as this is the first time I've downloaded and viewed a flight log in this manner. Here it is: DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com
4. I started losing video link to my phone intermittently approaching the 7 minute mark, just over 1000' away.
5. Spark initiated RTH at 7:31, and climbed from 130' to 165'. I briefly lost sight of the drone itself at this point, but I saw video on my phone that indicated it was coming back in the proper direction and had a clear line to fly (no trees).
6. During RTH, suddenly I got "Weak GPS Signal" displayed on my phone, along with "Compass Error, Exit P-GPS Mode". Also verbal "Atti Mode". This occurred at 7:43.
7. That was the last communication from Sparky. I waited around for 5 minutes or so, looking and listening, but didn't see or hear it again. The last time logged was 7:44.7

I walked around for awhile using "find my drone" on the GO4 app, but didn't see anything in the tall grass of the farm field in the vicinity of it's last known location (the trees visible in the satellite shot have been cut down). More searching tomorrow.

I assume, given the errors in the compass, the Spark probably went spiraling off somewhere and may be nowhere close to it's last recorded position?

What "should" the Spark normally do in ATTI mode with no stick inputs? I believe simply hover, but subject to being pushed by the wind, correct? Will it do this until the battery is exhausted, then land, or something else?

Any other ideas to find Sparky are much appreciated!

What day did you fly and the time of flight?

This information may help in the recovery of the Spark.

Slim chance, but you never know.

 

[Flash]

get into AirData app it is free, load the flight details & it will give a running report of what actually happened, it may even give u a better chance of finding it as it seems to show more than what DJI "find my drone" can ? I have had great success using AirData app !

 

[Chuck c]

Thanks all for the responses. Two more hours walking around today, no Spark unfortunately. I think Northwood has it - I crawled underneath the wooden deck of the place I'm staying and what did I see? A GIANT STEEL CROSSMEMBER! Presumably it's there to provide torsional stability to the deck, and goes right underneath my launch point. Ugh. Oddly, I got no warnings before takeoff and both compass and IMU showed green (though the compass bar was very small). It's also strange to me that I flew for 7 1/2 minutes before the compass error showed up, but what do I know.

Lessons learned:
1. Wait for "home point updated" before taking off (I knew this already, but didn't abide by it). It probably wouldn't have mattered in the case of compass error, but who knows.
2. Keep the drone in sight. This one is much harder to do. I had the drone in sight (a very small speck) all the way up until auto RTH, at which point I looked at my phone and saw the video feed spin my direction and accelerate back towards me. Right afterwards, I heard "atti mode" and looked at my phone again. When I looked back up, I wasn't able to spot the drone. Under "normal" circumstances (i.e. no compass error) the drone should have hovered and drifted slightly with the light wind. I think if this were the case I would have picked it up visually again and been able to fly manually. With the compass error however, I think it probably went "wonky" and moved from it's previous position quickly and I couldn't see where it went. Remote contact was lost about a second later, in which case whatever control inputs I made would not have mattered anyway.
3. Consider one of those little stick-on GPS tracking devices. I may have found Sparky by now with one of those. Maybe.

An alternate theory - I have been reading and watching YouTube videos about the new Mavic Mini recently. Maybe Sparky found out, got jealous, and decided to leave me?

 

[Flatland flyer]

Thanks all for the responses. Two more hours walking around today, no Spark unfortunately. I think Northwood has it - I crawled underneath the wooden deck of the place I'm staying and what did I see? A GIANT STEEL CROSSMEMBER! Presumably it's there to provide torsional stability to the deck, and goes right underneath my launch point. Ugh. Oddly, I got no warnings before takeoff and both compass and IMU showed green (though the compass bar was very small). It's also strange to me that I flew for 7 1/2 minutes before the compass error showed up, but what do I know.

Lessons learned:
1. Wait for "home point updated" before taking off (I knew this already, but didn't abide by it). It probably wouldn't have mattered in the case of compass error, but who knows.
2. Keep the drone in sight. This one is much harder to do. I had the drone in sight (a very small speck) all the way up until auto RTH, at which point I looked at my phone and saw the video feed spin my direction and accelerate back towards me. Right afterwards, I heard "atti mode" and looked at my phone again. When I looked back up, I wasn't able to spot the drone. Under "normal" circumstances (i.e. no compass error) the drone should have hovered and drifted slightly with the light wind. I think if this were the case I would have picked it up visually again and been able to fly manually. With the compass error however, I think it probably went "wonky" and moved from it's previous position quickly and I couldn't see where it went. Remote contact was lost about a second later, in which case whatever control inputs I made would not have mattered anyway.
3. Consider one of those little stick-on GPS tracking devices. I may have found Sparky by now with one of those. Maybe.

An alternate theory - I have been reading and watching YouTube videos about the new Mavic Mini recently. Maybe Sparky found out, got jealous, and decided to leave me?

So sorry for your loss. I guess you've seen

Or have you uploaded flight log etc? Don't give up, you never know!!

 

[Spark 317]

Two more hours walking around today, no Spark unfortunately. I think Northwood has it -

Depending on which day you flew, the wind was blowing in different directions and speed.

43% of battery equals about 7 minutes of flight time.

In Atti-mode, the Spark will hover at the same height, but flow with the wind.

The weather for Christchurch NZ on Monday November 11, 12:00 noon, the wind was to the North at 16 mph or 3.75 minutes / mile with 7 minutes of battery left means that the Spark could have flown almost 2 miles from the last reported location before it ran out of power and landed.

Thursday November 14, 12:00 noon, the wind was to the South West at 12 mph or 5 minutes a mile with 7 minutes of battery, the Spark could almost be a mile and a half away.

A search area could be established with enough information given for the day and time of flight.

Consider one of those little stick-on GPS tracking devices. I may have found Sparky by now with one of those. Maybe.

I have the loc8tor transmitter that is good for about 400 feet to help find my Spark.
The Tile Pro is also a popular tile and I heard that anybody with a cell phone can download the app and help you find it.

The GPS transmitter is the best but may require a monthly fee for use.

Good Luck.

 

[GeoM1]

Sorry to hear your story. I had a similar experience that ended differently. The bottom line is, I was a tad impatient to get GPS and “just went up to look around”.... the 3 min video tells the story (I totally lost contact and video is from SD from found Spark).

 

[Barbara]

SOrry to hear about the loss of Sparkie. Keep searching, may yet get lucky.