The worst has happened - battery died mid-air, Solo plummeted into the ocean

[andrew.baker.142]

Great! I Moved to Nova Scotia from Vancouver. There's more than a hundred and fifty lighthouses here and we have one at the end of the road where I was flying and that's where I lost my drone to the water. Too bad I didn't know about this or I'd definitely have at least one.

I shot video with my Solo at Hunt's Point, Summerville Beach, Carter's Beach and White Point (all on the South Shore). The folks at White Point Lodge chased me away after one battery and claimed that a Photographer got too close to a Bride last year flying a drone so they had to "Outlaw" the use of them on the property ( even though I was staying in a rental house in the property and waaaay far away from any people). Sad thing is I got some great video which would look great on their website and I would have been happy to give it to them otherwise. I'm not feeling so neighborly now.

 

[Travelfox]

One of the first few tlog files.

Is that a bad thing?

 

[pious_greek]

That said, it is the most likely culprit given the video and telemetry seem to have stopped abruptly as pictured. I'd rather a log or description of what the telemetry was showing just before though.

brown out maybe?

 

[jimloss]

Is that a bad thing?

P2P is saying that you need to post the tlog for it to be analyzed. You only posted a listing of the logs. Download these two logs and attach them to a post in this thread so that we can access them:
solo.tlog
solo.tlog.1

 

[Travelfox]

P2P is saying that you need to post the tlog for it to be analyzed. You only posted a listing of the logs. Download these two logs and attach them to a post in this thread so that we can access them:
solo.tlog
solo.tlog.1

Let me look up how to actually do that. Unless someone here knows how to do it on a mac or can direct me to the proper link with steps, I'd appreciate it.

 

[Travelfox]

P2P is saying that you need to post the tlog for it to be analyzed. You only posted a listing of the logs. Download these two logs and attach them to a post in this thread so that we can access them:
solo.tlog
solo.tlog.1

Ok so when I copied the listing that I accessed by using Terminal, I did not know that those files were actually downloaded into my computer. Anyway, made a search for them in my computer and attaching them here. Thanks in advance.

EDIT: tried attaching the solo.tlog and solo.tlog.1 files and I get this error:

The uploaded file does not have an allowed extension.​

 

[RichWest]

EDIT: tried attaching the solo.tlog and solo.tlog.1 files and I get this error:
The uploaded file does not have an allowed extension.

Change the file extension to .txt

 

[Travelfox]

Change the file extension to .txt

Thank you. Here they are.
Thanks again.

 

[jimloss]

I PM'd you coordinates from time of fall. Maybe it's recoverable?

Took a quick look and nothing jumps out as happening before the sudden loss of communications. Need someone else to review log to see if they spot anything that I may have missed.

 

[gotholic]

How unfortunate.

 

[Solo_Maverick]

This is the thing that worries me most when I fly because it appears to be completely out of our control, as if we were rolling the dice when taking off.
Any checklist we can use to verify the batteries health?
I'm thinking about getting that gig that connects directly to the battery and reads all the info from it. How good is it and any other steps besides controlling how much we drain them and storage charge?

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

If the battery or BMS croaks in flight, there isn't much you can do to detect that in advance. Just take comfort in it being exceedingly rare.

 

[jerryn]

Do you have a friend with a boat equipped with sonar ?
The only way to know what happened for sure until you look at the logs. One hazard for all of us that fly over marshes, estuaries and the ocean is large insects. Do you know about the posting of a dragonfly taking out a DJI phantom 4? Google for the article.
A hummingbird can take it out too.

I fly at a high altitude for a this reason. My RTL entry point is at 400ft.

I think it's highly likely a large horsefly or dragonfly took out your drone by getting wedged in the motor.

It happens !

 

[User Name]

Do you know about the posting of a dragonfly taking out a DJI phantom 4? Google for the article.

I heard about that, and read the report. Personally, I find it hard to believe on any number of levels - that an insect could fly up through the prop wash, the likelihood that it would just happen to get into the small openings on the top of the motor housing - while the motor is spinning at upwards of 160 revolutions per second (10,000 rpm), that even if it got in there, it would jam up the motor, and that all this could happen with no remains of the dragon found inside the motor afterwards, as is stated.

Occam's razor would suggest that it's more likely that the motor simply jammed from a bearing or other failure, and that it was just a coincidence that a dragon fly was seen flying towards the drone preceding the failure.

 

[jerryn]

I heard about that, and read the report. Personally, I find it hard to believe on any number of levels - that an insect could fly up through the prop wash, the likelihood that it would just happen to get into the small openings on the top of the motor housing - while the motor is spinning at upwards of 160 revolutions per second (10,000 rpm), that even if it got in there, it would jam up the motor, and that all this could happen with no remains of the dragon found inside the motor afterwards, as is stated.

Occam's razor would suggest that it's more likely that the motor simply jammed from a bearing or other failure, and that it was just a coincidence that a dragon fly was seen flying towards the drone preceding the failure.

You didn't read the same article I did. The drone was flying over a Marsh and suddenly crashed. When the DJI was recovered , it had a dragonfly embedded in one of the motors. O Razor does not have to suggest anything. The dragonfly was sucked into the motor resulting in a crash. It does not matter how fast the prop is spinning.
No need to get snooty.

 

[jerryn]

I heard about that, and read the report. Personally, I find it hard to believe on any number of levels - that an insect could fly up through the prop wash, the likelihood that it would just happen to get into the small openings on the top of the motor housing - while the motor is spinning at upwards of 160 revolutions per second (10,000 rpm), that even if it got in there, it would jam up the motor, and that all this could happen with no remains of the dragon found inside the motor afterwards, as is stated.

Occam's razor would suggest that it's more likely that the motor simply jammed from a bearing or other failure, and that it was just a coincidence that a dragon fly was seen flying towards the drone preceding the failure.

Here's the posting:
https://3drpilots.com/threads/dragonfly-takes-down-drone.11218/

I believe it because at the field where I fly you will see huge dragonflies. Anywhere there's a lot of mosquitoes there will be large dragonflies. They feast on mosquitoes.

 

[User Name]

You didn't read the same article I did.

That appears to be the case, because neither in the post you link to, or the same user's post on Phantom Pilots, mentions finding a dragonfly in the motor. He was asked specifically about that and replied "No evidence of any remains of the dragonfly, though it could have blown out and it was a hard crash".

Was there another incident you read about where a dragonfly was found in the motor?

And I didn't mean to come across as snooty. I simply listed the number of ways that the theorized cause of the crash seems unlikely. I'll add that the "it could have blown out" is unlikely, given how hard it is to get insect guts off windshields. I just think if a dragonfly did get into a motor, there would be plenty of evidence.

 

[jerryn]

That appears to be the case, because neither in the post you link to, or the same user's post on Phantom Pilots, mentions finding a dragonfly in the motor. He was asked specifically about that and replied "No evidence of any remains of the dragonfly, though it could have blown out and it was a hard crash".

Was there another incident you read about where a dragonfly was found in the motor?

And I didn't mean to come across as snooty. I simply listed the number of ways that the theorized cause of the crash seems unlikely. I'll add that the "it could have blown out" is unlikely, given how hard it is to get insect guts off windshields. I just think if a dragonfly did get into a motor, there would be plenty of evidence.

I am done here. The person that posted this wasnt the only individual that saw a dragonfly fly into the DJI.

Contact the individual that posted the story.



I also fly out of a field teaming with wildlife.

 

[User Name]

I am done here. The person that posted this wasnt the only individual that saw a dragonfly fly into the DJI.
Contact the individual that posted the story.

Dude, lighten up. None of us were there, so we're all just speculating. You stated that remains of the dragonfly were found in the motor, while the guy himself states the opposite. I'm honestly interested if there's another incident here in so far as it might corroborate that a large insect could be a hazard to these things.

 

[Travelfox]

Do you have a friend with a boat equipped with sonar ?
The only way to know what happened for sure until you look at the logs. One hazard for all of us that fly over marshes, estuaries and the ocean is large insects. Do you know about the posting of a dragonfly taking out a DJI phantom 4? Google for the article.
A hummingbird can take it out too.

I fly at a high altitude for a this reason. My RTL entry point is at 400ft.

I think it's highly likely a large horsefly or dragonfly took out your drone by getting wedged in the motor.

It happens !

Lots of fishermen in this area, its worth asking the neighbors, but I'm sure the tide has moved it God knows where by now. The tide was rushing out that time it fell on the water. And yeah, I've head of that dragonfly taking the Phantom down!