Close call over water after disconnecting in flight

[PascalG]

Had a close call today... after 12 minutes flying and about 500m out Anafi disconnected while switching from Photo to Video

So I waited and waited at the bow of the boat where I had launched and after about 5 or 6 minutes I thought it was done. Walking back along the sidedeck, swearing I was done with drones... I finally spotted it hovering 3’ over the water about a 100’ from the stern!

I just had time to jump in the dinghy, rush over and grab it. Wasn’t an elegant grab... i got a finger nicked but I got it back

No idea what happened. I had gotten a couple of interference warnings earlier in the flight. I have a feeling it was a glitch while switching between photo and video.

 

[Skydreamer]

Dont forget to fill up our own incident log so we can have it on file
Incident Log

 

[AugerIn]

Using the controller or just wifi from phone? You still have controller control when the app crashes, and stronger signal too.

 

[PascalG]

I always use the controller. I doubt the phone will get 500m range. Controller disconnected while the app stayed running with blank screen and disconnected message.

First serious glitch in 30 flights

 

[ufosaboveus]

glad you saved it! Was there good GPS before the start? In about 20 flights now... the only temporary glitch I've seen is one flight that the GPS didn't get good lock. I was in back yard so figured I'd give it a go anyway. Controls were kinda glitchy so I came back down and landed without incident but I wont be trying that one again... Good GPS lock or I pass on flying.

 

[PascalG]

I have to admit I forgot to check for GPS signal which would explain why It returned about 180’ feet away from where it had lifted off

Doesn’t explain the sudden disconnect with the remote though.

Interestingly the flight wasn’t recorded in the app

 

[AugerIn]

I think the log should be stored on the Anafi, you might just need to reconnect to it for a minute so it can grab the data and then it’ll upload.

All kinds of weird things can interfere with wifi, 2.5Ghz is wide open, microwaves and budget radio transmitters are superb sources of noise. Any other boats in the area? Any chance that it could be equipment you have on board, like a laptop used for gps or a mobile internet router?

5Ghz is probably less likely to get interfered with, less range more available channels.

Interference of course shouldn’t crash the app, but I guess it’s hard to make it crash proof. Could you have drifted that far from the takeoff site or were you moored there?

Seems weird gps would be off by that much, even a few seconds between turning on and taking off should get you a few nearby sats, enough to get it down to less than a hundred feet off; If it was gps lock that corrected itself you should see in the map plot where it started in one spot for takeoff then it quickly jumps to the actual area when it narrows down the real location. If you can get the data off it that is.

 

[Dirk_ANAFI]

Had a close call today... after 12 minutes flying and about 500m out Anafi disconnected while switching from Photo to Video

So I waited and waited at the bow of the boat where I had launched and after about 5 or 6 minutes I thought it was done. Walking back along the sidedeck, swearing I was done with drones... I finally spotted it hovering 3’ over the water about a 100’ from the stern!

I just had time to jump in the dinghy, rush over and grab it. Wasn’t an elegant grab... i got a finger nicked but I got it back

No idea what happened. I had gotten a couple of interference warnings earlier in the flight. I have a feeling it was a glitch while switching between photo and video.

What do you mean with "disconnected"? If the app crashes while switching from photo to video, you should have been able to pilot the drone with SC3!?

 

[zandoli]

Was the WiFi on your phone/device on? May be what triggered the interference warnings.

 

[PascalG]

iPhone in airplane mode as usual. As soon as I switched from photo to Movie, app showed red disconnected warning and the remote started flashing red/blue.

We do have a fair amount of stuff on the boat (tri band router, cell modem, cell booster, etc), AIS transmitter), but it has never been an issue before. There were no other boats close by and nothing on land.

The only time I get a yellow poor connection warning is if I m on the opposite side of the boat from the drone and as soon as I restore LOS the warning goes away

 

[zandoli]

Any of that equipment uses the 5GHz. If not, probably use 5GHz when launching from your boat.