How to find a quadcopter if it flew away? Periodically, such an issue is visited by any external pilot, since drones fly away not only from beginners, but also from the pros. Loss of control signal, malfunctioning of on-board software and weather conditions – these are the main causes of such situations.
Why can your drone fly away?
The main reasons that lead to the loss of the drone:
- the RTH button does not work;
- strong gusts of wind;
- problems with the battery;
- loss of communication due to the large distance between the transmitter and receiver;
- errors during piloting (including in FPV mode).
The RTH button is the remote control of almost all modern UAVs. Pressing it starts the automatic return to the starting point. The reasons for its failure are always the same – wire breakage, corrosion of the solder, etc. This can happen with any drone, but most often such cases occur with budget-class models from little-known manufacturers.
Since the weather does not always favor the launch of UAVs, it is worthwhile to familiarize yourself with the meteorological forecast for the expected day of flights in advance. Although most modern models have decent durability, but their engines (especially collector ones) most often cannot oppose anything even the gusts of medium wind. Such impulses can not only take the aircraft out of the range controlled by the control equipment, but also hit it on a tree, throw it in bushes, tall grass, snow.
Problems with battery are not very organized pilots. The UAV will inform about the low charge of the onboard battery by flickering of the route lights and the alarm signal issued by the remote control speaker. The operator has a few minutes left to return and land his car. If the pilot does not respond to the signals, the drone will try to fly to the launch site on its own or land at the point where the problems appear. The latter case can lead to the loss of the copter.
Some operators too trust their reactions. They expect to dodge the obstacle that suddenly arose in the path of the aircraft controlled by them, do not have time and drop the car to the ground. This accident is most dangerous, as it can occur at a considerable distance, which will complicate the search for a fallen device.
How to search for a drone?
First of all, during the flight it is worth following the indications of the OSD system (if any) on the screen of the remote control or smartphone best drones with obstacle avoidance. From them you can find out the last coordinates of the aircraft, the direction of its movement, the distance traveled by it and other relevant information about the flight. These data are very important and can significantly help in conducting a search operation.
The following is a list of ideas that will help you answer the main question: “How to find a drone?”.
- Firstly, you can use another UAV to search. Such a search engine should have a simple camera on board and be cheaper than a temporarily lost drone.
- Secondly, you should carefully check the crowns of the surrounding trees and bushes. The span of the blades and the bright color of the hull give good chances to find a lost car.
- If the battery of the crashed car is not completely discharged, the pilot can search for lights present in the flight zone. A fallen car is able to report itself by on-board lighting signals.
- Another idea is to use the RTH button on the remote control. The pilot takes the remote control and goes to the estimated area of incidence, periodically pressing this button. If the aircraft simply lost contact with the operator, then these steps should help.
- And the last one. Never turn off your controller. As soon as you get close to the UAV, the remote control will try to independently reconnect with it. This method is the most effective and repeatedly tested.
Conclusion
Regardless of the purpose for which you use your drone, any flights are always associated with some risk. We believe that it is worth paying a few tens of dollars, buying a tracker and flying calmly. Naturally, this consideration does not apply to budget class cars.
