Depressing first post.

[WV. Rootman]

WV Rootman........very well said....I agree 100%......Thanks for the above..

It's the plague of our society; instant gratification. People want something, without putting in the effort.

That's why people can be manipulated by politicians. "I'll give it to you" Freedom for the everybody. Come on in, it's free. There is no cost.
SAD!

 

[J4Berg]

Thanks for all the feedback. I may push the search a little further from the last point of contact. I had a year warranty that came with it. I contacted the company who services the warranty and told them it was lost. They told me to file the claim and they would make an assessment and see if it would be covered for the depreciated value.

I also have seen posts around that some homeowners insurances may cover the lost drone in some cases so I may just give my insurance company a call as well and see if they may cover some of it.

Anyone have any feedback about maybe posting a ad in paper for lost drone or maybe craigslist and see if anyone responds? I think after I can save some money and hopefully get a new one I will be much better informed. Address labels, being more in control of flying conditions and not being so eager to get a shot that might cost me my drone. I’ve seen videos about cellular trackers or the Marco Polo tracker. If anyone has experience with those I’d like to hear how you like them.

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

Thanks for all the feedback. I may push the search a little further from the last point of contact. I had a year warranty that came with it. I contacted the company who services the warranty and told them it was lost. They told me to file the claim and they would make an assessment and see if it would be covered for the depreciated value.

I also have seen posts around that some homeowners insurances may cover the lost drone in some cases so I may just give my insurance company a call as well and see if they may cover some of it.

Anyone have any feedback about maybe posting a ad in paper for lost drone or maybe craigslist and see if anyone responds? I think after I can save some money and hopefully get a new one I will be much better informed. Address labels, being more in control of flying conditions and not being so eager to get a shot that might cost me my drone. I’ve seen videos about cellular trackers or the Marco Polo tracker. If anyone has experience with those I’d like to hear how you like them.

J4berg....Some very good Thinking Above ^......I hope that you come out of this very good...and the address labels is a Great Idea and
I'm happy that YOU Liked My Idea....And i do hope it was a Great idea to for others that fly with "No Owner" information
On the Drone or even inside the drone ...Good Luck and let US all know how you come out.

 

[Meta4]

Thanks for all the feedback. I may push the search a little further from the last point of contact.

It's nowhere near the last point of contact - there's no point searching near there.
When signal was lost, it was 470 ft up and going backwards at 8 mph despite you having the right stick pushed forward.
After signal was lost it will have been blown even faster all the way until the battery got low.
It's a long way from where signal was lost.

I had a year warranty that came with it. I contacted the company who services the warranty and told them it was lost. They told me to file the claim and they would make an assessment and see if it would be covered for the depreciated value.

Check the terms and conditions on the warranty.
Usually warranty is to cover you for faulty equipment rather than loss due to the way it was operated.

 

[ShaunMac]

Go to last place was recorded and start walking in the direction the wind was blowing.

 

[Matchlock]

What exactly do you mean by "Rain probably blocked your insignia." What does rain have to do with a logo?

Bud

You have more power in you controlling it than in RTH. You also had a better chance at lowering it before you tried to return home. Rain probably blocked your insignia. Of course that is past. Your phantom can handle wet fairly well. If you find it soon, it could come out OK minus the battery. don't give up. Also the crash?

 

[Matchlock]

When you hit "Return Home" your Quadcopter would have increased its altitude, which would have put it in even greater jeopardy of high winds and perhaps even a lightning strike. You should have brought it home at the first sign of bad weather or high winds.

If you find your Quad, or purchase another, I would recommend that you spend a lot more time with the flight manual.

Bud

Yeah but general panic set it and I was not thinking clearly at all so I was trying everything in order to get it to possibly return home. If I don’t retrieve the drone it will probably be a very expensive lesson learned.

 

[Tagmaster]

I bought a phantom 4 pro a few months back and it really rekindled my love for photography. I love flying it and taking pictures from an all new perspective.

A couple days ago I saw some dark clouds off to the north and I wanted to quickly fly up and snap a couple pics of what was coming and shortly after getting up in the air it’s like the Zeus decided to unleash his fury. Winds picked up fast and started pushing my drone away from me. I started to panic and tried to get it back over towards me in attempt to land it but the wind gusts were too much and kept pushing it further away and that’s when the a downpour started and I was still trying to push the drone back towards me.

I had hit return to home while signal was in and out. And shortly thereafter it disconnected. In hindsight I should have never even attempted to send it up. When it started to fly away I should have cut the motors off while it was over an area where it would have fell in a non populated area.

Needless to say I looked in the area of last known location. It was last connected over a neighborhood. I looked in the area where the signal was last connected but I couldn’t see anything and I didn’t want to rummage around peoples yards and get in trouble for trespassing.

I guess what I am looking for is any ideas. What should I do? With return the home hit would the drone possibly come back towards me at all? Could it have been pushed further away from last known location? Would the rain fried it and killed it sending it plummeting to the ground in that general area? I have sort of come to the conclusion that it’s never coming back or will be found.

I have this pit in my stomach because I saved forever to buy this thing and now it’s like I just threw the $1500 out the window. A real crap lesson to learn. So much that could have been done in hindsight. Thanks for any help or ideas and sorry for the long winded post.

I dont think searching someones yard is trespassing unless its posted. Here in Oklahoma a no trespassing sign has to be posted near the main entrance or it is legal to enter and that applies to flying over it as well.
If in fact it were illegal to search a property on foot it would have also been unlawful to fly over it

 

[Matchlock]

Forget all that stuff. Here's some good advice. If you purchase another drone, spend a great deal of time with the flight manual BEFORE you ever charge the battery and put it in the air.

Bud

Thanks for all the feedback. I may push the search a little further from the last point of contact. I had a year warranty that came with it. I contacted the company who services the warranty and told them it was lost. They told me to file the claim and they would make an assessment and see if it would be covered for the depreciated value.

I also have seen posts around that some homeowners insurances may cover the lost drone in some cases so I may just give my insurance company a call as well and see if they may cover some of it.

Anyone have any feedback about maybe posting a ad in paper for lost drone or maybe craigslist and see if anyone responds? I think after I can save some money and hopefully get a new one I will be much better informed. Address labels, being more in control of flying conditions and not being so eager to get a shot that might cost me my drone. I’ve seen videos about cellular trackers or the Marco Polo tracker. If anyone has experience with those I’d like to hear how you like them.

 

[Melvoid]

I've only had one high wind episode where I was downwind when it got really strong and I had trouble returning. But somehow, instinctively, I though it best to get down to about 5' above the ground and head back from there... and it worked. Luckily, I was in an open area where I could get low.

 

[bsartist]

Also, I find that sport mode can give an extra boost which may have given enough to overcome the headwind. It could possible give another 9 mph.

Obstacle avoidance can also reduce speed. I'm not sure if it just clips max speed on the high end or if it limits thrust. If it's the former then it wouldn't have kicked in at 8mph. If it's the latter then disabling it could give you a boost too. But I think sport mode overrides that anyway. In which case sport mode gives you a two-fer.

Reading the manual (and watching YouTube vids) are a must to be sure. At the same time, they don't necessarily address the in flight thought processes that lead to panic. For that I've found there is no substitute for practice and experience which lead to the confidence that can help rein in panic.

I read the manual more than once and watched plenty of vids but still had a mishap due to loss of situational awareness and panic. Taking pics over a river I inadvertently backed too far over the opposite bank. Didn't know till I saw a branch (no leaves at the time) appear in my camera view. I was IN the tree but still hovering. Panicked that it could clip a branch any second I reacted that it was better to do ANYTHING than NOTHING. Wrong! Assuming incorrectly I was at the top of the tree and ascended - right into the branch above. Had I taken a few seconds to look across the river I should have been able to see I wasn't near the top of the tree. So the drone got stuck in the tree 75 feet above the river bank.

Fast forward a year. I'm flying the P4P near my house. It drifted into a tree between limbs. But this time was different. The blades were chopping up leaves but I didn't panic. I looked up at it, determined it's attitude and THOUGHT about the CORRECT stick movement to extricate it.

No guarantees. Could stil have drifted into a limb while I was assssing. But acting in haste increases your chances of doing the wrong thing.

P.S. That first drone was rescued by a tree climber. I have a great video of that:

 

[patsphantom4]

Wow! kinda reminds me of the movie "final destination" first it was real windy with black clouds, then you took off without letting RTH and GPS lock, (i didnt review the flight log but i read the comments) then you went up hundreds of feet, now that your up in the highest wind you switch to atti mode which makes it drift off its path so when you try to race back in a max of about 24mph with probable a 32mph wind it is not able to even go directly toward home as it is drifting somewhat sideways unless you were exactly downwind, then to put the fork in it, instead of switching to sport and pointing the pointer at home and going straight home while getting lower and out of the wind you pushed RTH which in most cases stops the drone (drifting down wind in ATTI mode) then raises it up to your preset RTH altitude which was probably lower than you were anyway and then proceeds to head home at RTH speed in a stiff wind while still in ATTI mode i assume. So to find it get your last known location and calculate where it would could have traveled given the wind direction affecting it in ATTI while its trying to come home at RTH speed. walk that path or get a buddy with a drone and fly the possible while taking hi res pics of the ground and search the pictures on your laptop where you can zoom in. good luck if. if it was in fresno i would give you a hand

 

[Matchlock]

Not necessarily

Under Oklahoma Law, some property does not have to be posted for a person to be trespassing.

Oklahoma Trespass Laws
Trespassing on Un-Posted Property
Some areas are particularly considered off limits even without "no trespassing" signs. Likewise, engaging in certain activities on private property even if it is not posted can be considered trespassing. Pecan groves, for example, are set aside under Oklahoma trespassing law.

Also........
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) relaxed rules on privately operated drones last year, although some restrictions remain. However, flying a drone over private property isn't illegal under CASA rules, nor is filming someone from it. Apr 25, 2017

Bud

I dont think searching someones yard is trespassing unless its posted. Here in Oklahoma a no trespassing sign has to be posted near the main entrance or it is legal to enter and that applies to flying over it as well.
If in fact it were illegal to search a property on foot it would have also been unlawful to fly over it

 

[Keith Mitchell]

Sorry you lost your a/c, sir! I can empathize because I lost my P4 due to (stoopid) pilot error about a 18 months ago. It was a very painful but valuable learning experience. I decided to replace it with a P4P because this was the hobby I had chosen and I wanted to turn it into a business (which I have done). I was shocked that my wife didn't say anything (months later she admitted that she had to exercise a lot of self-control!). I say this to hopefully encourage you that, if this is really what you want to do, let this be a good lesson but don't let it stop you.

 

[Travels with Yoly]

State Farm Insurance. Same policy as cameras and other valuables. $60 a year with no deductible. Covers theft, damage and loss from stupidity

 

[Tagmaster]

Forget all that stuff. Here's some good advice. If you purchase another drone, spend a great deal of time with the flight manual BEFORE you ever charge the battery and put it in the air.

Bud

Forget all of what stuff. Are you referring to you 2 post prior to this?

 

[Steve Bynum]

I bought a phantom 4 pro a few months back and it really rekindled my love for photography. I love flying it and taking pictures from an all new perspective.

A couple days ago I saw some dark clouds off to the north and I wanted to quickly fly up and snap a couple pics of what was coming and shortly after getting up in the air it’s like the Zeus decided to unleash his fury. Winds picked up fast and started pushing my drone away from me. I started to panic and tried to get it back over towards me in attempt to land it but the wind gusts were too much and kept pushing it further away and that’s when the a downpour started and I was still trying to push the drone back towards me.

I had hit return to home while signal was in and out. And shortly thereafter it disconnected. In hindsight I should have never even attempted to send it up. When it started to fly away I should have cut the motors off while it was over an area where it would have fell in a non populated area.

Needless to say I looked in the area of last known location. It was last connected over a neighborhood. I looked in the area where the signal was last connected but I couldn’t see anything and I didn’t want to rummage around peoples yards and get in trouble for trespassing.

I guess what I am looking for is any ideas. What should I do? With return the home hit would the drone possibly come back towards me at all? Could it have been pushed further away from last known location? Would the rain fried it and killed it sending it plummeting to the ground in that general area? I have sort of come to the conclusion that it’s never coming back or will be found.

I have this pit in my stomach because I saved forever to buy this thing and now it’s like I just threw the $1500 out the window. A real crap lesson to learn. So much that could have been done in hindsight. Thanks for any help or ideas and sorry for the long winded post.

I would highly suggest going to StateFarm Insurance and getting personal property insurance for your next one. Inexpensive for up to $3K of no fault coverage. Lose it, crash it, get it stolen, it is covered.

 

[Tagmaster]

True for hobbyist

 

[Pilot Ann]

So sorry about your loss! This is what all of us fear.
I just passed my 107 knowledge test and had to learn a lot to do it, including getting the METARS before a flight.
If you had known how to do this you would have known about the unstable air approaching and high winds.
I hope you find your bird.

 

[Tagmaster]

Not necessarily

Under Oklahoma Law, some property does not have to be posted for a person to be trespassing.

Oklahoma Trespass Laws
Trespassing on Un-Posted Property
Some areas are particularly considered off limits even without "no trespassing" signs. Likewise, engaging in certain activities on private property even if it is not posted can be considered trespassing. Pecan groves, for example, are set aside under Oklahoma trespassing law.

Also........
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) relaxed rules on privately operated drones last year, although some restrictions remain. However, flying a drone over private property isn't illegal under CASA rules, nor is filming someone from it. Apr 25, 2017

Bud

Thanks for clarifying. I do remember something about the pecan groves and agriculture being a trespass but what you posted about being allowed to fly over posted areas is contrary to something I'd previously read. Good to know since. Its funny but more people than most would realize hire drone operators for spy missions. Eg. A lady broke up with boyfriend after loaning cash and was trying to see if toys were on property. Another had sold property and still had mineral rights so he wanted to see what was taking place on the land. PAL