Blasted at the river

[shiftomoto]

So I was flying my solo at the colorado river today and everything was going as expected when I noticed a police boat arrive. I just kept flying over the river and back for a couple minutes at a altitude of about 100 feet. The police boat watched and then repositioned down river by a couple hundred feet. I continued flying for a couple more minutes and then all of a sudden my solo just quit midair and dropped out of the sky into the river at which time the police boat just left. I don't want to sound like a Idiot so I'm not going too say I think they did something to my drone. But I have never had so much as a glitch with this drone it was well within range had 65% battery and gave no warning or acted out of the norm before just dropping out of the sky. So anyway I just wanted to get someone else's take on the. situation. So Let know what you think thanks Shift

 

[Kennamer]

By Laughlin or Topock?

 

[shiftomoto]

By Laughlin or Topock?

No hidden beaches a hundred miles from the boat crash if that is what you were thinking

 

[just_bruce]

Sounds like an unfortunate incidence of either Motor Pod failure, an unlatching battery, or a battery failure.

None of the drone control technologies I'm aware of are authorized to EMP or otherwise damage the flight systems of a craft. Most of them simply interfere with control signals causing the bird to either return to home or land immediately [at least until signal is reacquired] depending on settings and model. OR do nothing if the bird has an autonomous flight path programmed.

I think you are a bit excited. Losing your bird sucks, I get it. You're out a bird and the fun you could have with it. But I doubt sincerely if there was any ill intent that caused the problems.

 

[Kennamer]

.

 

[LuvMyTJ]

You posted the same story in PhantomPilots. What gives?

 

[shiftomoto]

Sounds like an unfortunate incidence of either Motor Pod failure, an unlatching battery, or a battery failure.

None of the drone control technologies I'm aware of are authorized to EMP or otherwise damage the flight systems of a craft. Most of them simply interfere with control signals causing the bird to either return to home or land immediately [at least until signal is reacquired] depending on settings and model. OR do nothing if the bird has an autonomous flight path programmed.

I think you are a bit excited. Losing your bird sucks, I get it. You're out a bird and the fun you could have with it. But I doubt sincerely if there was any ill intent that caused the problems.

Yes I'm in agreement with all the same logical possibilities I just wanted to see if anyone else had any similar occurrences. I have another solo and go pro and I will just file it under shit happens. Just my luck I had a good number of totally uneventful. Hours on that bird and as soon as I fly over water catastrophic failure.

 

[shiftomoto]

You posted the same story in PhantomPilots. What gives?

Is that a problem ?

 

[dirkclod]

Is that a problem ?

Could be if you are just cross posting to stir up a mess but post your logs as you were asked and it isn't .
Also you might get by with

shit happens.

here but would not advise it in PP.
Yes I am in all 11 of our forums .

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Did it drop out of the sky like it just shut off? Or did it slowly descend like it was landing? Two very different things very different possibilities leading to them.

 

[shiftomoto]

Could be if you are just cross posting to stir up a mess but post your logs as you were asked and it isn't .
Also you might get by with here but would not advise it in PP.
Yes I am in all 11 of our forums .

Hey not trying to stir anything was just curious to know if anyone else has had or heard of a similar incident and sorry about the language not intentional. Thanks Shift

 

[shiftomoto]

Did it drop out of the sky like it just shut off? Or did it slowly descend like it was landing? Two very different things very different possibilities leading to them.

Dropped made big noise when it hit the water. I'm not a conspiracy theorists and not trying to get everybody worked up but the whole incident was very strange. The fact that I was told by many bystanders ( given there not experts ) that they where sure the police boat took down my drone. Myself I think it was probably one of many logical possibilities. Just something to think about maybe down the road it won't seem so outlandish

 

[IrishmanPDX]

Co-incidence. If there were police out on the river and they saw your drone... they probably just stopped to watch it flying about. Heck, if I saw someone flying their drone I'd probably stop to watch them too, who doesn't like drones? IF the police took out your drone (illegally) then they would have gone up to you to fine you for illegal dumping in the river too once your drone went in there. After all, why do things by halves?

More than likely they were watching, probably saw your drone go in the river and took off before you (or a concerned citizen) asked them to retrieve it from the river. After all, why do extra work? Sorry for your loss, but be glad it didn't quit flying over people or someone's property.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Dropped made big noise when it hit the water.

IMO this basically eliminates hostile action from the police boat. The only anti-drone weapons out ther fore this kind of use just jam the controller WiFi and GPS signals. If the solo lost it's controller and GPS, it would have switched to land mode and gently descended into the river. It doesn't sound like that's what happened. And that kind of "weapon" is simply not used by the police anywhere, nor are they generally even legal if the police wanted to use them. The only way the police could have taken your drone down is to actually shoot it down with a rifle. I'm assuming you didn't forget to mention the sound of machine gun or anti-aircraft artillery fire here. So I think the presence of the police boat is simply coincidence. The bystanders saying the cops shot it down are saying so anecdotally and have no means to make such a statement. Typical.

Making a "big noise" when it hit the water sounds to me like at least 1 or more motors were were still running. That makes all kinds of noise hitting water. So if it dropped with the motors running, that leasts to either a mechanical failure of a motor/prop, or a battery failing prematurely causing it to lose altitude rapidly.

If you can upload the logs from the controller, that would tell us a lot more. If you recovered the drone, the dataflash logs would be even better.

 

[shiftomoto]

IMO this basically eliminates hostile action from the police boat. The only anti-drone weapons out ther fore this kind of use just jam the controller WiFi and GPS signals. If the solo lost it's controller and GPS, it would have switched to land mode and gently descended into the river. It doesn't sound like that's what happened. And that kind of "weapon" is simply not used by the police anywhere, nor are they generally even legal if the police wanted to use them. The only way the police could have taken your drone down is to actually shoot it down with a rifle. I'm assuming you didn't forget to mention the sound of machine gun or anti-aircraft artillery fire here. So I think the presence of the police boat is simply coincidence. The bystanders saying the cops shot it down are saying so anecdotally and have no means to make such a statement. Typical.

Making a "big noise" when it hit the water sounds to me like at least 1 or more motors were were still running. That makes all kinds of noise hitting water. So if it dropped with the motors running, that leasts to either a mechanical failure of a motor/prop, or a battery failing prematurely causing it to lose altitude rapidly.

If you can upload the logs from the controller, that would tell us a lot more. If you recovered the drone, the dataflash logs would be even better.

didn't recover the drone and could you point me to the info on how to download the data from the controller thanks shift

 

[Saijin_Naib]

didn't recover the drone and could you point me to the info on how to download the data from the controller thanks shift

System Logs | 3DR Solo Development Guide

I like the instructions here. Follow the "For Users" instructions for the operating system you use (Win, Mac, Linux).

 

[blahdc]

IMO this basically eliminates hostile action from the police boat. The only anti-drone weapons out ther fore this kind of use just jam the controller WiFi and GPS signals. If the solo lost it's controller and GPS, it would have switched to land mode and gently descended into the river. It doesn't sound like that's what happened. And that kind of "weapon" is simply not used by the police anywhere, nor are they generally even legal if the police wanted to use them. The only way the police could have taken your drone down is to actually shoot it down with a rifle. I'm assuming you didn't forget to mention the sound of machine gun or anti-aircraft artillery fire here. So I think the presence of the police boat is simply coincidence. The bystanders saying the cops shot it down are saying so anecdotally and have no means to make such a statement. Typical.

Making a "big noise" when it hit the water sounds to me like at least 1 or more motors were were still running. That makes all kinds of noise hitting water. So if it dropped with the motors running, that leasts to either a mechanical failure of a motor/prop, or a battery failing prematurely causing it to lose altitude rapidly.

If you can upload the logs from the controller, that would tell us a lot more. If you recovered the drone, the dataflash logs would be even better.

This brings up an interesting point. Are there any health indicators that we can look at in the log to determine if a motor pod is potentially on the verge of failing? I was thinking RPM's or Voltage but not sure if there is any correlation there.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Are there any health indicators that we can look at in the log to determine if a motor pod is potentially on the verge of failing?

Depends on what is about to fail . If you see one motor getting abnormally higher throttle output compared to the other 3, that could indicate something is going wrong. Unfortunately, there is really no other per-motor data that would help.

 

[shiftomoto]

ok I was able to download the logs from my controller now how do I post them when I try to attach them it says not allowable file ext.

 

[just_bruce]

ok I was able to download the logs from my controller now how do I post them when I try to attach them it says not allowable file ext.

Zip them up.