Had a crash tonight...and the Solo is lost

brandonlach · May 16, 2016

Well tonight I took my Solo out for a nice flight to capture a great looking sunset. I was flying around this old trestle train bridge(it crosses a river) which looked great with the sun shining through. About mid flight I decided to fly through the bridge a little bit. Shortly after this the Solo lost connection and flew immediately to its right and crashed into the bridge, falling into the water. I was on shore only about 200ft away or so. The bridge has some bars that surround it but it was still mostly in the open so I am thinking it shouldn't have lost connection. I got a kayak right away but it was too late and the drone is lost in the river. Any tips for what to do next? I submitted a support ticket obviously but I'm not sure what else to do at this point. Does anyone think 3DR will replace the drone/GoPro, or am I out of luck? Hard to believe I actually lost it, it's a sad day thats for sure.

Chuck · May 16, 2016

Sorry to hear. It sounds like you were flying in GPS or Fly mode. If it was an old trestle bridge it probably has a lot of metal in it. Sounds like trying to fly through it may have created a combination of being close to metal, and losing satellite acquisition at the same time. Seems like it should have triggered a Return to Home, but if you were inside or under the trestle, that probably wouldn't have helped. I would wait to see what 3DR says, and just hope for the best. Maybe someone else can comment with their thoughts on what may have happened. I wish you luck.

SPP · May 16, 2016

Do not under estimate metal structure for both GPS signal loss and extreme magnetic inteference, if in FLY/AUTO mode.
Use MANUAL when doing flying to that advance level.
Any overhead environment and lots of metal is "advance" flying.
Solo wont even take off from my home concrete floor due to re-bar on the floor, Magnetic inteference warning pops out.
A steel bridge is a lot of steel and that is strong magnetic field even from 0.5 meter away.

This example shows how to do "advance" flying in MANUAL mode.
Solo flies in tunnel

Sorryf or your loss, but its part of the learning curve..

SPP · May 16, 2016

Steel vs compass

Watch from 1:10

I myself done some installation digital compass sensor for boats autopilot, lucky the boat was all fiberglass and boats do not use steel, all brass or alu or stainless steel. However if the boat uses inboard engine, and surely boat has some sort of pump, be it toilet/head pump or freshwater pump, these engines & pumps give magnetic inteference and we always place digital compass sensor as low as possible to reduce effect of boat's roll and pumps are there low in the bilge ( boat's under floor ).

In steel ship, compass sensors can be installed all the way very very high up the mast to avoid ships steel structure magnetic field and magnetic correction are done.

Safe flying....

pyrate · May 16, 2016

it is worth sending in the ticket but this sounds like possible pilot error
the only way to attempt that kind of shot would be in Manual and even then you would need be ready to react to controller loss

brandonlach · May 17, 2016

Thanks for the replies...it turns out this happened:

I FOUND IT! Only missing the battery and the GoPro

SPP · May 17, 2016

Awesome Brandon !! Nice to hear that.

If you never been underwater in that river and seen its underwater topography, or you can not see underwater pass 10 feet due to murky water, may I suggest this :

Never never jump head in first into a water, near an abandoned structure or even from a river bank.
There maybe some underwater object or fallen structure which due to poor water visibility, you can't see it, but its shallow enough to hit your face when you jumped in. I am a diver and I keep this safety SOP in mind at all times, albeit I do not dive in less than 6 feet visibility unless I have to salvage something. I fear entanglement ( ropes and cables ) underwater and accidental hit to my face or throat.

Stay safe on next jump yah

brandonlach · May 17, 2016

SPP said:
Awesome Brandon !! Nice to hear that.

If you never been underwater in that river and seen its underwater topography, or you can not see underwater pass 10 feet due to murky water, may I suggest this :

Never never jump head in first into a water, near an abandoned structure or even from a river bank.
There maybe some underwater object or fallen structure which due to poor water visibility, you can't see it, but its shallow enough to hit your face when you jumped in. I am a diver and I keep this safety SOP in mind at all times, albeit I do not dive in less than 6 feet visibility unless I have to salvage something. I fear entanglement ( ropes and cables ) underwater and accidental hit to my face or throat.

Stay safe on next jump yah

Thank you for the advice! That is definitely something I will keep in mind. We knew the water was deep but also should have considered the possible consequences. I think the excitement just got to us in the moment. Thanks again!!

SPP · May 17, 2016

As long as you are safe...that is good

Chuck · May 18, 2016

Glad you found your Solo. You are one of the fortunate ones who can make a mistake and not pay the ultimate price by having to buy another Solo. Sometimes the worst experiences can be the best learning experiences. Good luck, and safe flying.

junmar · May 20, 2016

I've encountered same experience also, and my drone was completely lost so i need to buy a new one. And then i went to the store and bought DJI Phantom 3 Standard Drone, i shared my story about my lost drone to the sales agent and he suggested that i should attach a GPS tracking device so that i will be able to locate my drones. So there, i ordered online, by the way the device is Trackimo, it is tiny device that allows you to find and track your precious things, see exactly where they are. And then there, my DJI Phantom 3 Standard Drone has tracker now. No more worries, and also, It will automatically alerting when sensing distress signals through app. Anyway you can search on google for more information about the device. Hope this can help.

Burkeam · May 21, 2016

I know the feeling of getting in cold water for drone recovery. I went into a river one week after the ice flow broke to recover one of mine. I couldn't bear enjoying the riverside summers looking at that drones resting place without trying. what did I learn? Cheap insurance I install on all of my sUAV..

Home or Amazon.com : GetterBack Rod Recovery System with Black Velcro Strap, Yellow : Fishing Reel Care Accessories : Sports & Outdoors

It does a lot for confidence building when playing over the water. Now I understand yours never entered the water.

Cosber · May 21, 2016

SPP said:
Sorryf or your loss, but its part of the learning curve..

That's a pretty expensive curve.

frases · May 21, 2016

Brandon,
Nice save! I know you lost the GoPro, but do you have the video feed from the WiFi connection during the flight showing the crash? It would be interesting to see.
frases

EDIT
Nevermind..saw from your other post that you do not have the "save to camera roll" feature enabled and thus, don't have the feed saved.

Satmandanny · May 21, 2016

SPP said:
Do not under estimate metal structure for both GPS signal loss and extreme magnetic inteference, if in FLY/AUTO mode.
Use MANUAL when doing flying to that advance level.
Any overhead environment and lots of metal is "advance" flying.
Solo wont even take off from my home concrete floor due to re-bar on the floor, Magnetic inteference warning pops out.
A steel bridge is a lot of steel and that is strong magnetic field even from 0.5 meter away.

This example shows how to do "advance" flying in MANUAL mode.
Solo flies in tunnel

Sorryf or your loss, but its part of the learning curve..

I agree. Losing a Solo due to not having it in the correct mode, perfect environment and holding your mouth just right is indeed part of the costly 3DR Solo learning mode. They should have a selector switch on the radio marked Learning Mode because it's not if but when you are going to lose signal and the vehicle takes on a mind of it's own. Sorry it was over water. Total loss. I wish there was better support but there is no 3D Robotics consumer phone support. Send them an email. See if you can generate a ticket on your tablet and then Good luck.

Cynthia Farr · May 22, 2016

brandonlach said:
Thanks for the replies...it turns out this happened:

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I FOUND IT! Only missing the battery and the GoPro

Satmandanny said:
I agree. Losing a Solo due to not having it in the correct mode, perfect environment and holding your mouth just right is indeed part of the costly 3DR Solo learning mode. They should have a selector switch on the radio marked Learning Mode because it's not if but when you are going to lose signal and the vehicle takes on a mind of it's own. Sorry it was over water. Total loss. I wish there was better support but there is no 3D Robotics consumer phone support. Send them an email. See if you can generate a ticket on your tablet and then Good luck.

Yay that's great news

SPP · May 23, 2016

Satmandanny said:
They should have a selector switch on the radio marked Learning Mode because it's not if but when you are going to lose signal and the vehicle takes on a mind of it's own.

That switch exist, it is called MANUAL mode.