I lost my drone 5 days ago in the mountains. Been searching each day ever since but nothing. Can anyone help me locate it? Here's what happened. Temp was about 0 C. I was flying above the mountains when suddenly screen went dark, status bar showed me "disconnected", RC light switched to red. Been pressing RTH but nothing happened. The craft did not return. I didn't do any movement with the sticks after I lost signal. Battery was at 30 percent when this happened. Here's the flight log http://healthydrones.com/main?fl ... f85&page_id=GENERAL The drone is not at last shown location or homepoint. I believe it started autolanding when battery reached 10%. This was right before sundown,wind was not that strong, probably blew it away somewhere. I've been searching the area for 5 days now. No drone or piece of drone found.Been looking in a 5-600m radius. Any idea where wind might have pushed it or atleast guide me where to search? There are some houses 400 meters away from last known location, some of them uninhabited. Think it might be there somewhere or stuck in a tree?
Can anyone help me locate lost phantom 3?
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msinger
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DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com Same thing. Last known location before disconnected message. After that who knows where it went.
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Not much there to go on, you took off with a low battery, but you seemed to have plenty to come back. There is nothing there to show it RTH. However, the 50m height for RTH may not have been high enough to come home, not sure about that. But that looks like thick woods, might be in a tree, high up.
Woods are thick there but trees are 10-15 meter high not more. Are you sure it is where it was last located or it might have moved away from last location?
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Hey! That's south-west of Sofia, Bulgaria! ...and my side of town too - I live in C. Studena.
After the uploaded flight log has been analysed by the experts, feel free to give me a shout if you want a hand.
Oso
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I don't claim to be an expert with analyzing flight data, but my initial take is that it could potentially be battery related. You were already half way up a mountain so I'd assume it was cold - perhaps less than 0 C. Not awesome for batteries, especially since you took off at only 52%. Then you went up over 1000 feet in altitude above the home point. Certainly no trees in that area and it looks like you had good line of sight. I'm guessing there was a lot of wind at that altitude which could have been another factor with regards to battery power.
Perhaps the battery shut off abruptly with no low power warning? That used to happen a while back with FW 1.5, but it was fixed with 1.6 and I see you have 1.11 so maybe not.
Maybe some type of bird strike or prop loss? The thing with that is I would expect see some indication of a falling AC in the flight data.
Hopefully the talented flight log analysts will see your post soon.
Also, how did you fix your recent MC Data Error and your IMU and barometer errors? Do you think it could be related to a sudden loss like this?
Perhaps the battery shut off abruptly with no low power warning? That used to happen a while back with FW 1.5, but it was fixed with 1.6 and I see you have 1.11 so maybe not.
Maybe some type of bird strike or prop loss? The thing with that is I would expect see some indication of a falling AC in the flight data.
Hopefully the talented flight log analysts will see your post soon.
Also, how did you fix your recent MC Data Error and your IMU and barometer errors? Do you think it could be related to a sudden loss like this?
Where I was standing there was wind but was not that strong. Signal was 5 bars, green, no problems there. No props warning, never had any. The loss of signal was sudden. There was no image on screen, status disconnected and that's all.
If battery had stopped I would have found the thing in pieces by now.
I have two crafts. The one with the Imu error I gave for diagnostics.
What I think happened is the craft kept floating until battery reached 10%, after that started autolanding. If so my question is where do you think wind might have taken it?
Meta4
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Launching with a partially discharged battery is always a bad idea and even more so in cold conditions.
The % indicator is not accurate and the voltage will drop much faster than with a fully charged battery.
You were given warnings at 0:38, 1:29 and 3:23 that the battery was having difficulty delivering enough voltage.
But the recorded flight was short and the battery had not failed when the data ends at 3:26.2 with your Phantom 600 metres from home and 1065 feet above launch point.
I see a bigger problem that the battery in the flight data.
Your Phantom was 1065 ft above launch point but the Phantom was over a valley about 900 feet lower than home so it was approx 2000 ft above ground level.
There is evidence that the wind the Phantom experienced was much stronger than you guessed and there were indications that would have shown this at the time.
Looking at the data, you left the right stick centred from 3:13.6 - 3:21.6 and just used the left stick to climb higher.
But the VelocityX (horizontal velocity increased over that time to 6 metres/sec despite no right stick input.
The strongest evidence is at 2:21.5 - 2:35.6 when you pulled the right stick full back.
The speed of the Phantom increased to as high as 23 m/s at 2:34.6.
In still air the Phantom has a full speed of 16 m/s so this is strong evidence that you had a screaming wind possibly from the south or SE that your Phantom would have not been able to fight in RTH (RTH speed = 10 m/s)
Any time you see your Phantom flying faster than its normal still air speed, you can be sure there is a strong wind doing it.
Likewise if you have the right stick full forward and the Phantom is flying slower than the still air full speed, you know it's pushing into a headwind.
It could easily have been blown a further kilometre toward the north or northwest before it landed (if it didn't crash before that).
The % indicator is not accurate and the voltage will drop much faster than with a fully charged battery.
You were given warnings at 0:38, 1:29 and 3:23 that the battery was having difficulty delivering enough voltage.
But the recorded flight was short and the battery had not failed when the data ends at 3:26.2 with your Phantom 600 metres from home and 1065 feet above launch point.
I see a bigger problem that the battery in the flight data.
The wind is always stronger up high than the wind down low.
Your Phantom was 1065 ft above launch point but the Phantom was over a valley about 900 feet lower than home so it was approx 2000 ft above ground level.
There is evidence that the wind the Phantom experienced was much stronger than you guessed and there were indications that would have shown this at the time.
Looking at the data, you left the right stick centred from 3:13.6 - 3:21.6 and just used the left stick to climb higher.
But the VelocityX (horizontal velocity increased over that time to 6 metres/sec despite no right stick input.
The strongest evidence is at 2:21.5 - 2:35.6 when you pulled the right stick full back.
The speed of the Phantom increased to as high as 23 m/s at 2:34.6.
In still air the Phantom has a full speed of 16 m/s so this is strong evidence that you had a screaming wind possibly from the south or SE that your Phantom would have not been able to fight in RTH (RTH speed = 10 m/s)
Any time you see your Phantom flying faster than its normal still air speed, you can be sure there is a strong wind doing it.
Likewise if you have the right stick full forward and the Phantom is flying slower than the still air full speed, you know it's pushing into a headwind.
If the battery didn't suddenly give up, the Phantom was 2000 ft above the ground and would have needed more than 3 minutes to descend when it reached critical low battery level.
It could easily have been blown a further kilometre toward the north or northwest before it landed (if it didn't crash before that).
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Low battery, low voltage and strong winds indicate it was a risky flight. Really hope you find it
Meta4
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There is some uncertainty but given that the wind was a lot stronger than the low number shown by Airdata and a wind at right angles wouldn't have given your Phantom anywhere near the speed boost it got, I don't think the direction given by Airdata is accurate either.
Your Phantom had a mighty wind boost to get to 23 m/s.
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You posted a very deep analysis Meta4, which all helps, so thanks - and your reasoning all largely seems to stack up sensibly. I've been on PM with the OP, and he says he will still be out searching on the ground for a bit longer and will no doubt report back here with any news if he has any.
Being nearby in Bulgaria I know the loss location quite well and the general wind patterns too, but still the main problem is that if the wind did take it and then it landed/crashed due to a low battery, then in which d*mn direction did it go?
But isn't that always the way?....
@Neon Euc
Also yep - lots of negative indicators on the battery, = not good, of course.
Did another walk again today. Walked over 15 kilometers, maybe more. Nothing. I'm uploading an image of the map.
The zone I painted red is where I thought it might be. I've searched it atleast 3 times and I no longer intend to go there. Those in blue I've checked once or twice, did not find anything and there's most likely nothing there. I don't think it went any further than that with 30% battery remaining. I haven't checked the hill northwest right before the houses. I made some images of the terrain where last known location was. They're on my phone, I'll upload them later tonight as well. Usually when I climb the mountain I do not use any paths. I go 30 meters up straight trough the woods, after that 300m left or right, another 30 up, 300 in the opposite direction.
The zone I painted red is where I thought it might be. I've searched it atleast 3 times and I no longer intend to go there. Those in blue I've checked once or twice, did not find anything and there's most likely nothing there. I don't think it went any further than that with 30% battery remaining. I haven't checked the hill northwest right before the houses. I made some images of the terrain where last known location was. They're on my phone, I'll upload them later tonight as well. Usually when I climb the mountain I do not use any paths. I go 30 meters up straight trough the woods, after that 300m left or right, another 30 up, 300 in the opposite direction.
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Is there any drone flyers near you at all that could sweep the area. It may have landed on top of the tree where you may not be able to see it as the branches and leaves are hiding it from seeing it from the ground. Best thing is to go on Facebook and search for any drone groups/drone pages that are listed in or near your area. Hopefully someone local may be around. Also don't give up just yet.... Bit cheeky but can you buy another one, use that to look for your one and then return it to the shop under the 30 day guarantee?
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I'm nearby, @Neon Euc and would willingly do so - but I can tell you from previous experience of searching for a neighbour's lost dogs that hunting for a drone in that sort of terrain is fairly pointless and quite risky. There's not really a high enough resolution in the camera to check everything out successfully and you also can't see clearly below the trees. The leaves from deciduous trees fell off some time ago.
Besides which, the snow is back with us today..... We've had about 15cm here so far and I guess that it's the same where the drone was lost, which is about 15 km from my place.
Besides which, the snow is back with us today..... We've had about 15cm here so far and I guess that it's the same where the drone was lost, which is about 15 km from my place.
Meta4
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This is why I suggested NW to N as the blow-away direction.
If the wind was from the SW as shown by Airdata,
I'll see whats the weather going to be next week. Unfortunately snow is back like Steve wrote and it is not making search easier. It's not much in the city but it probably starts from 5cm up the mountains and it is a bit wet and slushy right now. Temps are going to go down again tonight. If not that wet and if is sunny I might give it a try. The NW hill is where I'd like to check. I've lost and found my own stuff in Vitosha before but floating aircraft with wind in unknown direction is on another level. I wish I had view from the camera. That would have made things much easier.
I went for a walk again today but there's snow now and it's like I'm in a whole new world. There's 2-3cm where the houses are but it's ankle deep up the main road. Probably more where the tower is. I think I'm going to cancel my search for now. Everything is so white the only way to find the bird in that snow is if it's standing 2 meters in front of me or if I kick it by accident. I wanted to cover more of that NW part of the hill but snow is a bit slippy, there are no paths there and it's a bit dangerous to walk straight trough the woods in these conditions. Thanks for all the support. If it's still in the woods I'm sure I'll find it one day. Two months ago my camera fell from my pocket. It stayed in the woods for a week till I found it.
This is why I suggested NW to N as the blow-away direction.
If the wind was from the SW as shown by Airdata,
The wind was blowing over 20 mph from the south at the 1000 ft level, so that's quite possible. Looking at two periods in the flight when the aircraft was stationary, or nearly stationary, show below:
(1) At 110 s at an altitude of 200 m, speed 0 m/s, heading 264° (W), sticks centered, the aircraft was using 17° left roll to hold against the wind.
(2) At 196 s at an altitude of 320 m, speed < 1 m/s, heading 0° (N), sticks centered, the aircraft was at 20° backwards pitch and not quite holding position.
If it lost signal and initiated RTH it would not have made it home against the wind at that altitude. None of which explains why it lost signal, however, since the connection was fine up to the point of disconnect. The only significant notifications related to propulsion limits due to battery performance related to low voltage.
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