How Many Lives Does This Bird Have?

[Dirty Bird]

This afternoon I took my freshly repaired Vision+ to Ft. Armistead Park for a few flights. Temps in the 50s, a little breezy but nothing she can't handle. Away I go! About 5 minutes into the flight I am heading towards Ft. Carroll about 4000'+ out @ 200' altitude. I'm almost to the island fort when all of a sudden the battery klaxon sounds. Look down & the battery is @ 68%. I was only at about half forward throttle but I let off the stick thinking it will settle down under reduced load at hover. No dice & now I notice the battery is showing 0%! Uh oh!

I know I will never make it back to shore so instead I head straight for the fort, panning down to make sure I am over the island. I centered up as best I could and watched the FPV feed as she began auto-landing. As altitude drops my FPV & telemetry eventually drop out. I'm thinking "Please do NOT attempt a RTH now!" I pop open the Flytrex app & am relieved to see she is coming straight down with no forward speed. At least I know she settled on land instead of getting lost forever in the Bay. Unfortunately she is on a deserted island fortress 4500' out in the middle of the Bay, its getting late, & I don't have a boat!

I noticed a pickup with an empty boat trailer in the lot and waited around hoping for a miracle. I kept checking the Flytrex feed. She was **** near dead-center on the fort & she remained powered on for almost an hour with the Flytrex dutifully reporting her status. Battery was @ 9.07 volts last time I noticed. Not too long thereafter a small boat came in towards the launch piloted by a chap named John. I explained what had happened and asked if I could trouble him for a ferry to the Fort. He invited me on board & away we went. Once at the fort I just followed the Flytrex "Last Seen" straight to the bird. She had settled down in some vines & landed on her top. No damage....whew!

I tried to offer John money for his trouble but he would have none of it so I left him with a huge "Thank you!" I think I'll take this opportunity to replace my P2 batteries as they are around 20 months old & seriously cutting up! I can hardly believe my good fortune in having the sense to head for the island and managing to recover the aircraft. I never want to have one of these things without a Flytrex installed! It's money well-spent!

 

[Dirty Bird]

Video recorded for over an hour....5 gigs worth!

 

[gegetrane]

I would suggest you offer him a few aerial pictures of his house, or kid's house.

 

[RoyVa]

Dirty bird, I too have had an issue with a battery getting to 65% then dropping fast causing my Phantom to also auto land. Did it the first time and landed 3-4 blocks away in a neighbors yard. At that time I didn't realize it was a battery issue. Recharged and went out the next day was over a large wooded area and all of a sudden it showed 8% battery automlanding... Not good heaven thick forest. Like yours battery stayed on and was able to use the "find my Phantom" in the app and walk right up to her. Couple of props and one ESC damaged. Now I religiously watch those battery's and replace at any signs of voltage drop. Most are always over 20 cycles.
Nice feature having the autolanding but can be hazardous to your Phantom (over water).

 

[Mark The Droner]

Wow -what a story. You're batteries were fully charged, right? But they also had been sitting around for a while, right? What charge were they as they were in storage?

I see you are in Glen Burnie. That's not too far from me. I'm near Olney.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Dirty Bird]

The battery (#3) was fully charged previous evening. It had been flown the day before & performed normally. In the months while the Phantom was sitting all the packs were around 40-50%. The only real difference from the previous day was the temperature was about 15 degrees colder (around 50 at ground level). One of my packs (#1) has a known issue of giving the low battery alert under full load. I don't use that pack for long distance & backing off the power stops the alarm. Despite #1's shortcoming, it actually flies for over 20 minutes as long as you don't apply max power.

I haven't connected to the Assistant to determine how many cycles are on my batteries but at 20 months old replacing them is to be expected. I ordered two new LimeFuel 6000 packs yesterday. Normally I would prefer paying the full price for factory batteries & ordering from DJI directly for freshness, but thought I'd try the LimeFuels because they are $30 cheaper per cell & offer a 12 month warranty compared to DJI's 90 days. If they work well I will order 2 more, otherwise I will order a pair of packs from DJI to so all 4 are new.

 

[dirtybum]

every flight i take has 2 emergency landing zones planned out! Smart piloting DB, glad your reflexes r still honed!

 

[dirtybum]

Also, i'm glad to hear a praise for flytrex! They got a bad rap from the p3 only crowd that complains they had to wait to long, they dont record everything they promised, only works for a tracker all other data is useless, etc! All that stuff is somewhat true from my own experience! But you cant put a pricetag on a device that has an app where your signal cuts out on go/vision app you can switch over in seconds an see your bird safely on its way home! Or like dirtybird exampled and ive used a few time your bird autolands and your app takes you straight to it without going home and looking up gps coordinates on your pc wasting valuable mins or hrs. I simply dont fly without it. Lost birds ive never found when i did without.

 

[Dirty Bird]

Video of the event...

 

[Dirty Bird]

Not sure why they would complain about the Flytrex not recording data? It just relays the Phantom's GPS data back to your Flytrex account via the cellular data connection. I will be ordering two new Flytrex Live units, P3 adapters, & P3 mounts for my new P3 Advanced & Pro units. Its convenient that you don't have to open the P3 to install. Personally I wouldn't mind opening, tapping into the GPS connector, & soldering to the main power leads for a cleaner install. I do like their P3 mounting bracket since the Vision Positioning Sensor takes up the old mounting spot. Nice design. I'll have to Dremel a slot in the mount to swap out the SIM as needed. Not going to get two more data accounts...will just pop the SIM in the bird I am flying.

Also, i'm glad to hear a praise for flytrex! They got a bad rap from the p3 only crowd that complains they had to wait to long, they dont record everything they promised, only works for a tracker all other data is useless, etc! All that stuff is somewhat true from my own experience! But you cant put a pricetag on a device that has an app where your signal cuts out on go/vision app you can switch over in seconds an see your bird safely on its way home! Or like dirtybird exampled and ive used a few time your bird autolands and your app takes you straight to it without going home and looking up gps coordinates on your pc wasting valuable mins or hrs. I simply dont fly without it. Lost birds ive never found when i did without.

 

[dirtybum]

Yeah its a pain to get the p3 cradle open and closed! A little cutout works. I swap sims out

 

[wreckless]

I am new to all this but that video gave me anxiety! You guys have huge balls flying them over large bodies of water that far out! Love the story!

 

[Dirty Bird]

Thanks! Dodged a real bullet on this one. Thank goodness I was close to the Fort! As far as flying far out, even over water, my Vision+ aircraft has always proven herself 100% reliable. 3 of 4 close calls were due to batteries acting up or shutting down earlier than normal. The other was my run in with Night Fury or whatever the critter was that brought her down!

Now that I have some new battery packs I have to do some flight time tests. Coupled with a few new flight programs I hope to be doing some exciting new autonomous missions soon. I've always dreamed of doing a Bay Bridge run from the Western shore to the Eastern shore. 46,000' across & back. 8.7 miles is cutting it close! Perhaps early am with no wind on a warm day...

I am new to all this but that video gave me anxiety! You guys have huge balls flying them over large bodies of water that far out! Love the story!

 

[dgd3]

Since DJI v3.14 update I'm scared as h to fly very far or on waypoints. 20%, battery RTH is just not at my comfort level.

 

[Gary Beamon]

I'm like that mate, I'm scared to fly far out or high up I can't explain it I know it can do it but in my mind I'm thinking what if !!!


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