Days like these make me want to stop flying...

bsartist · Feb 17, 2017

Not sure if this belongs here or another forum. Hopefully you guys can help troubleshoot. But not sure what I have to upload.

Summary: lost connection partway through an automated Litchi flight. Mission finished but never reconnected. Hovered then eventually landed on my very high roof.

Detail: flying my property line Litchi mission as I have four or five times before. (I just updated litchi on my iphone but doubt it's related). About a third of the way through and with 44% signal showing on the screen I got disconnected. I calmly waited till it came back in earshot. Still dot nt reconnect. Flew all the way around and to the last waypoint right over my house (yeah, yeah. Lesson learned) and hovered as intended. But I was still disconnected. How to take control and landed safely? I killed Litchi app and restarted. No luck. I kill it and bring up DJI go. Still won't reconnect. I check the wifi network. Still connected to the drone network. Out of desperation I turn the controller off and back on. Then it starts beeping initiating RTH. Since it's less than 30 feet from home point, it starts landing straight down toward my roof. I reestablished the wifi link. Bring up DJI go but it's too late. It had landed I. 6-8" of snow on my very high and not very accessible roof. Camera still on. I was able to climb on my garage roof and barely reach it on the hIph roof with a roof rake. It got snow all over it but the lights were still blinking and camera on.

In hindsight I guess the RC must have been connected even though the app said no. Or turning it off wouldn't have initiated RTH. (I must have flicked the switch out of P mode by then. I probably could have taken control but I guess I focused on the wrong thing - trying to get connected. I just wouldn't think that the RC would be connected if the apps said no.

The healthy drones log ends at the disconnect point so I doubt that will be useful. Any words of wisdom on what I might upload to discern what happened here after it dries out? Or can someone hazard a guess based on what I've written?

Edit: I looked at Healthy Drones and only minor signal errors were reported. And they were a couple hundred feet before the disconnect.

HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

Ozz · Feb 17, 2017

Same happened to me with my Phantom 3S. Put me off using Litchi totally. Mine crashed like this using the tracking feature.
I also had to power down the controller to reconnect and regain control.

I think the flaw is issue is only with Litchi with certain Phantom 3 drones.

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

bsartist · Feb 17, 2017

Ozz said:
Same happened to me with my Phantom 3S. Put me off using Litchi totally. Mine crashed like this using the tracking feature.
I also had to power down the controller to reconnect and regain control.

I think the flaw is issue is only with Litchi with certain Phantom 3 drones.

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

But I tried to bring up DJI Go and it didn't connect either till after I restarted the RC.

At least I'm pretty sure I did. But maybe I didn't allow enough time.

tevek · Feb 17, 2017

From reading about your mishap, and hindsight is a wonderful thing, if you had a green light on your controller during the app disconnect, you could have either ended the mission by toggling from P on your controller and back again to return it manually or toggle from P and back during RTH and done the same thing. Funnily enough, I was flying Litchi FPV yesterday and it disconnected, I hit RTH and it came back but the app never reconnected. I flew exactly the same route with dji app4 and it never disconnected so that was a first for me. Latest versions for both apps.

bsartist · Feb 17, 2017

tevek said:
From reading about your mishap, and hindsight is a wonderful thing, if you had a green light on your controller during the app disconnect, you could have either ended the mission by toggling from P on your controller and back again to return it manually or toggle from P and back during RTH and done the same thing. Funnily enough, I was flying Litchi FPV yesterday and it disconnected, I hit RTH and it came back but the app never reconnected. I flew exactly the same route with dji app4 and it never disconnected so that was a first for me. Latest versions for both apps.

Hmm I wonder if a bug has been introduced. I waited a few days before updating but I thought it was safe by now.

Yeah I need more practice in my decision tree when things like this happen.

. It is comforting to know that it looks like an adjustment in my own actions can avert disaster if this happens again. But it's more than a little annoying that things got this flakey in the first place.

aermale · Feb 17, 2017

Mine did this once. It came back, but the app didn't reconnect. I could see the rc had a green light, so i landed it blind, at night. I usually land looking at the compass at night, so this was a bit harder. After hand catching it, the app connected and I was able to stop the recording before powering down. Scary stuff..

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

tevek · Feb 17, 2017

bsartist said:
Hmm I wonder if a bug has been introduced. I waited a few days before updating but I thought it was safe by now.

Yeah I need more practice in my decision tree when things like this happen. . It is comforting to know that it looks like an adjustment in my own actions can avert disaster if this happens again. But it's more than a little annoying that things got this flakey in the first place.

There was an interesting thread earlier this week regarding the use of RTH and a number of people reckoned it was unnecessary, unreliable etc and no need for it. I mentioned that I practice the function by either disconnecting the controller, manually initiating it or disabling it during the drones return and the responses were 'interesting'. I still get anxious when it is activated by either low battery or a distant disconnect, but it always comes back. As for the litchi disconnect yesterday in FPV, first time that has happened and I'll have another go at it today.

bsartist · Feb 17, 2017

tevek said:
There was an interesting thread earlier this week regarding the use of RTH and a number of people reckoned it was unnecessary, unreliable etc and no need for it. I mentioned that I practice the function by either disconnecting the controller, manually initiating it or disabling it during the drones return and the responses were 'interesting'. I still get anxious when it is activated by either low battery or a distant disconnect, but it always comes back. As for the litchi disconnect yesterday in FPV, first time that has happened and I'll have another go at it today.

RTH seems like a good thing. RTH and LAND? Hmm. That's another matter.

WilliamM · Feb 17, 2017

bsartist said:
RTH seems like a good thing. RTH and LAND? Hmm. That's another matter.

I like to use the RTH as the last action in a waypoint mission, this way it does a RTH and lands where told, no RC control needed.

bsartist · Feb 17, 2017

WilliamM said:
I like to use the RTH as the last action in a waypoint mission, this way it does a RTH and lands where told, no RC control needed.

Yeah except I got skewered on the punji stick of the 30 ft radius around home point. If the end of mission is within 30 ft of the home point it just lands straight down. In my case on my house. Also, when I take off by my house there are a lot of trees around and I don't trust the accuracy of the gps to not be off enough to nick a tree on the way down.

tevek · Feb 17, 2017

bsartist said:
Yeah except I got skewered on the punji stick of the 30 ft radius around home point. If the end of mission is within 30 ft of the home point it just lands straight down. In my case on my house. Also, when I take off by my house there are a lot of trees around and I don't trust the accuracy of the gps to not be off enough to nick a tree on the way down.

I live in a forest and take off and land manually in P mode, at the end of a RTH I take over control and hand catch due to the nature of the ground. Not sure what you mean about not trusting the GPS, it's the only thing saving me, along with the barometer of course. Do you land in atti mode?

bsartist · Feb 17, 2017

I don't land in ATTI mode. I wasn't clear about my GPS comment. I don't trust the gps to bring her down exactly on the takeoff point. I think I've seen tests where it can land six feet away; maybe more. It's just a function of how accurate the gps is. It's not down to the foot as far as I understand.

tevek · Feb 17, 2017

bsartist said:
I don't land in ATTI mode. I wasn't clear about my GPS comment. I don't trust the gps to bring her down exactly on the takeoff point. I think I've seen tests where it can land six feet away; maybe more. It's just a function of how accurate the gps is. It's not down to the foot as far as I understand.

I thought that sounded a bit adventurous! If I let mine land on RTH, I would be fairly close in saying that it consistently would end up within a 4 foot radius. Even in the forest where I live I have at least 6 of either GPS systems and it works fine. My VPS and barometer height readings are another story at times which is another reason I hand catch.

WilliamM · Feb 17, 2017

bsartist said:
I don't land in ATTI mode. I wasn't clear about my GPS comment. I don't trust the gps to bring her down exactly on the takeoff point. I think I've seen tests where it can land six feet away; maybe more. It's just a function of how accurate the gps is. It's not down to the foot as far as I understand.

Yes you are correct, on the P3S it could be off by 6' sometimes. But than your location your taking off from is far from ideal if a mere six feet is all that stands between you and a near disaster. I would never was a area as a home point were you could not get further than 30' from any object. Just because of that 30' radius issue.

tevek · Feb 17, 2017

WilliamM said:
Yes you are correct, on the P3S it could be off by 6' sometimes. But than your location your taking off from is far from ideal if a mere six feet is all that stands between you and a near disaster. I would never was a area as a home point were you could not get further than 30' from any object. Just because of that 30' radius issue.

I have roughly a ten metre vertical window to fly through to clear the canopy which is more than enough even in fairly strong winds, but if I hit RTH within 20 mtrs I'm going to be in strife as it will land where it is and not come back to me.

bsartist · Feb 17, 2017

WilliamM said:
Yes you are correct, on the P3S it could be off by 6' sometimes. But than your location your taking off from is far from ideal if a mere six feet is all that stands between you and a near disaster. I would never was a area as a home point were you could not get further than 30' from any object. Just because of that 30' radius issue.

Hey. I want to fly from my front yard. It makes my investment worthwhile for me. So I'm going to do it and manage my risk as I see fit.

). It requires a little attention to land it. And the ability to take control when RTH -which I've done numerous times. In this case i actually could have but failed to recognize what state I was in with respect to RC connectivity. So I bungled it. Panic comes in different forms LOL. I was very focused. But I was focused on the wrong thought process. LOL.

Anyhow, I'd rather focus on the skill in landing in my front yard than take my property off the table. Ok. Truth be told, my margin for error is a bit bigger than 6 ft. But I still trust myself guiding it down. I should also point out that in the warmer weather when my yard isn't covered in snow I'll have more leeway. Right now I'm limited to my paved driveway. Here is a flavor:

WilliamM · Feb 17, 2017

bsartist said:
Hey. I want to fly from my front yard. It makes my investment worthwhile for me. So I'm going to do it and manage my risk as I see fit. ). It requires a little attention to land it. And the ability to take control when RTH -which I've done numerous times. In this case i actually could have but failed to recognize what state I was in with respect to RC connectivity. So I bungled it. Panic comes in different forms LOL. I was very focused. But I was focused on the wrong thought process. LOL.

Anyhow, I'd rather focus on the skill in landing in my front yard than take my property off the table. Ok. Truth be told, my margin for error is a bit bigger than 6 ft. But I still trust myself guiding it down. I should also point out that in the warmer weather when my yard isn't covered in snow I'll have more leeway. Right now I'm limited to my paved driveway. Here is a flavor:

Didn't want to come across as don't do it, just to be careful. But now that you posted that clip, you have way more than 6'. It looks more like 50' of space on the ground, which is more than enough. Poor dog.

bsartist · Feb 17, 2017

WilliamM said:
Didn't want to come across as don't do it, just to be careful. But now that you posted that clip, you have way more than 6'. It looks more like 50' of space on the ground, which is more than enough. Poor dog.

Thanks

. Yeah but most of it is presently off limits because there is over a foot of snow on the lawn.

The dog loves a challenge.

. Jumps up at birds flying overhead.