DJI Phantom 4 Pro
Flight Crew Remote Pilot (UAS)
Troubleshooting; Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence; Inflight Event / Encounter Fly Away (UAS); Inflight Event / Encounter Object
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged
Aircraft; Weather
I; RPIC; was tasked with conducting cell tower inspections in the greater pacific northwest area for the drone company. I was using a drone that had known issues with camera gimbal yet with no other options or support from the company; I had to continue to fly with this drone. This drone was known for its gimbal locking and or becoming unresponsive to the drone's heading when flown. Problems with this drone were brought to my attention by my flight trainer prior to me taking over the drone; and I had also informed my mission coordinator of the problems with the gimbal after I had taken over the drone to continue the operation. Upon take off; I encountered the gimbal lock again. Before I could land and calibrate the gimbal; a substantial gust overcame my area of operation from the West/Southwest. As a reactionary response; I pushed the right stick forward (into the Southern Direction) to send the drone away from the traffic behind me; to the North. The gusts appeared to be above the operational limits of the drone and I adjusted the right and left stick to aim into the wind. I looked back up in the air to find the drone to evaluate if it was safe to do an emergency landing into the grand land; or to find a safe descend path. With the gimbal unresponsive to the drone's heading; I was unable to correctly judge the drone's flight path which was directly into an oncoming tree. This tree was outside my operational area; and therefore was above my MOCA (Minimum Obstacle Clearance Avoidance). It was not my intent to fly beyond my operational area; but as an inadvertent contingency for safety of those on the road; the safest area for an emergency landing was beyond the grounds of the tower. My thought was that the grass seed would have been a suitable/softer area to land; versus the hard gravel of the maintenance road; or induce the hazardous possibility of a highway incursion with highway traffic. The justification for my flight response is that by flying towards the grass seed land; I would have absolutely mitigated the risk of causing serious injury or death; and or substantial damage by causing an aviation accident with the highway or any case that could have been defined by the 49 CFR 830. By the time I reacted to the tree being in frame of my camera; my counter maneuvers did not prevent the drone from colliding with the tree. The anti-collision sensors of the drone also did not prevent the drone from colliding with the tree. The drone has and always was in Position Hold mode and was not deviated from. Even with the wind gusts pushing the drone to its limit; the anti-collision sensors should have detected the tree and stopped the aircraft from colliding with the tree or at least assisted my counter maneuvers in preventing the accident. In response to the weather; my anemometer was reading 2-9 mph on the ground. This wave of gusts was unexpected and arbitrary to the regular wind speeds I had been enduring for the entire site audit. To the Southwest; I did notice very dark cumulonimbus clouds which may have been a severe thunderstorm forming; which may have caused instability upwind. I was able to find the drone near the tree in the grass seed bush. The camera has completely broken off; the landing gear had sustained fractures; the main profile has been disconnected; and one propeller was broken. This drone is not safe to fly in its current state and will need repair from manufacturer. In this flyaway accident; there was no serious injury; death; or substantial damage that occurred beyond the aircraft and the surrounding environment. I wanted to bring this accident to light because of the post crash situation. The drone was lost in grass seed bushes that were at least 4-5ft tall. I had to walk through the bush with my best guesses to where the drone was actually at. Since the drone battery had disconnected with the drone; I was not able to use the GPS homing software on the tablet to find where the drone was. After some timesearching; I eventually found the drone and the camera. But I have yet to find the battery. From my understanding of the DJI drones; if the battery is disconnected while it is in the 'on' mode; the battery will continue to discharge. After some time; the LiPO battery will eventual become depleted and not pose as a threat to the grass seed bushes. However; in any case that the battery should still pose a threat to the grass seed bushes; I think a contingency should be put in place with modern commercial drones that would benefit and promote safety in post crash events. My thought is that audible micro speakers could be places with the intelligent flight batteries that will sound an alarm if the battery is armed and not in a fixed / connected position with the aircraft. It is the same principles as black boxes for manned aviation. In this scenario; this battery is lost in some field of very high and very dense bush that does not allow me to find the battery without extra aid from more people; metal detectors; or other mechanical means of detection. But; that some chime or sound be presented by an improperly disengaged 'on' battery; I would have been able to find and locate nearly all components of the air craft swiftly and with haste. The fact that even with me scanning a 50ft radius of the crash site and I could not find the most critical and unsafe component to the drone raises the question of 'how can we improve post commercial drone crashes.' I think by having some alarm attached to the battery would aid in the post crash finding time and recovery. Even with the battery discharged; it may still pose a threat to the field; making it unsafe for its presence to be there. In theory; by attaching a speaker to the battery; you would add a safety system is another line of defense in protecting the crash scene environment from future substantial damages.  Contributing factors are company's lack of critical response for repairs or replacements of a commercial aircraft; extreme weather phenomena changes; hardware failure in the anti collision sensors; and hardware failure in the main visual optical sensor.
UAS pilot was unable to maintain control of the UAS due to equipment malfunctions and gusty winds. The UAS crashed in an area of dry grass where the Pilot was able to recover the UAS with exception of the battery.