SESKStuff Everyone Should Know
SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/drone-lost-link-return-home

If an automated drone loses its control link, what is it typically programmed to do?

Continue its mission or return home to land.

  1. Shut its motors off immediately
  2. Continue its mission or return home to land ✔
  3. Climb to its highest altitude and wait

Why: In automated flight, the drone's onboard autopilot flies the plan. If the link drops, it keeps flying the programmed mission or returns home, so know your lost-link settings before launch.

Huh, didn't know that: The FAA's sample risk table says to try to reestablish the link, then start lost-link contingency procedures if you can't.

The dad joke
What do you call a boomerang that won't come back? A stick.
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Sources

  1. AC 107-2A, Section 5.2.3 https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_107-2A.pdf

Test yourself in the game

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That's stuff everyone should know.