I lost my drone (P3 standard) tonight

CharlieU · Dec 3, 2017

dalbrich said:
OK, updated this post since yesterday with more data. I sincerely appreciate the help understanding where I went wrong. This is a good and supportive community. -Dan (updated post from 11/26 -- now 11/27 6:25pm pacific)

View attachment 91428 View attachment 91426 Hello folks-

Sad day for me. I live in a natural oak forest in Oregon. I've been flying for about 2 weeks in the DJI go app. All fine and very much enjoyed it. Tried my first couple of missions in litchi. Went fine. Thought I knew what I was doing. Did a mission hub for a 7 minute mission around my home and the drone lost signal and never came back.

So for the practical stuff:
- Is there any way to determine my drone's last position so I might be able to collect it?

In case curious: my mission had 9 waypoints all at 400'. My idea was to avoid hitting any obstacles of unknown height-- there are definitely trees nearby at 250'. My home has a large enough open area for take-off and landing. The mission was a loop ending right above where I started.

My theory of where I went wrong (just a guess). First my mission had do-nothing (must be default because I didn't assign it) at end of mission. This likely not a problem on its own because mission end was over my home location. I had a good home point and good GPS 11+ satelites at launch. My controller said disconnected after a minute or so of 7 minute flight (expected). My thought is I must of accidentally tapped a up/down/right/left stick near the time the drone lost signal-- causing it to hover (don't know). Since RTH wasn't selected (error on my part) in the mission, it likely hovered until emergency landling.

I don't really know what happened. I normally do lose video and later controller signal in my home area even in .5 mile area because of the tree canopy and terrain. Litchi shows a position for my drone. i tried to hike there tonight- very rough mountain terrain. Didn't make it.

So thoughts:
- Is it likely last position Litchi had is accurate given that it lost signal? i.e. If I really hike/climb to that location do I have any reason to believe it accurate? My concern is that this may be last position it had signal and not real location.
- In general is here any methods to find? My mission had 9 waypoints forming a circle with the last point where I started (also the H - home position.) I thought when battery got low RTH would happen but it did not.

Anyway, thoughts/advice welcome.

-Dan

PS: I'm running latest Litchi bought for black friday sale this weekend. Drone running one back firmware from 1.9. I had been alerted to 1.9 but was waiting a bit to see how people like.

CharlieU · Dec 3, 2017

Fly Dawg said:
First point and this is neither here nor there really, but there is no RTH selection in a Litchi mission. End of mission is either, land or hover, that's it. There is really no way to know why the mission did not complete as programmed without taking a look at the flight logs as @Meta4 mentioned above. At the very least, you would be able to follow the flight profile to the last known location. You would also need to fully review your mission profile for any errors. Sorry for the loss.

End of Mission for Android Litchi Mission is called Finish Action and options are None, Go Home, Land, Back To First Waypoint or Reverse. The Go Home is basically RTH. Those settings are only for when the mission is completed at the last waypoint.

dalbrich said:
I updated my original post from yesterday with requested data. The mission was a loop-- but my mission final action was set incorrectly to "None" -- I'd of preferred RTH. If the loop had completed the final waypoint was very close to starting point.

I believe None was the correct setting. When None is set the aircraft will hover at the last waypoint until you take manual control or it runs out of battery and lands. Go Home will cause the aircraft to return to the Home Point after it reaches the last waypoint. On waypoint missions RTH will only initiate when the battery reaches 30%. This has nothing to do with Litchi Waypoint missions. I know this from experience.

sar104 · Dec 3, 2017

CharlieU said:
End of Mission for Android Litchi Mission is called Finish Action and options are None, Go Home, Land, Back To First Waypoint or Reverse. The Go Home is basically RTH. Those settings are only for when the mission is completed.at the last waypoint. I noticed on the flight log at 1m 38.5s Downlink Restored. You possibly could have caused an error when you momentarily regained RC.

I believe None was the correct setting. When None is set the aircraft will hover at the last waypoint until you take manual control or it runs out of battery and lands. Go Home will cause the aircraft to return to the Home Point after it reaches the last waypoint. On waypoint missions RTH will only initiate when the battery reaches 30%. This has nothing to do with Litchi Waypoint missions. I know this from experience.

You apparently haven't read through this thread. The problem with this flight is completely obvious.

CharlieU · Dec 4, 2017

sar104 said:
You apparently haven't read through this thread. The problem with this flight is completely obvious.

Yes I read through the posts. Apparently you had a problem reading my post. I was stating correct information on end of mission settings. You picked a short sentence at the first of my post to discredit the poster. What was the purpose of your post being so quick to pick apart? To degrade? Your language implies a person does not read or understand. I did over reacted. And yes, I redacted this post to keep from flooding this board with stuff nobody wants to read. I know you feel feel compelled to have the last word, have at it!

sar104 · Dec 4, 2017

CharlieU said:
Yes I read through the posts. Apparently you have a problem reading. My post was correcting false information.
There seems to be one rude, smart *** punk on every thread. You little dude are the one.

In your first paragraph you appear to be suggesting that the problem could have been due to the reconnect at 98.5 s, which it clearly wasn't - hence my comment.

Ironic that you found my observation "rude" and then replied with your own comment that actually required redaction to avoid being offensive and seemed more accurately to describe yourself.

CharlieU · Dec 4, 2017

sar104 said:
In your first paragraph you appear to be suggesting that the problem could have been due to the reconnect at 98.5 s, which it clearly wasn't - hence my comment.

Ironic that you found my observation "rude" and then replied with your own comment that actually required redaction to avoid being offensive and seemed more accurately to describe yourself.

After looking at the mission I realized I was wrong on the reconnect comment. Sometimes a reconnect can cause a pilot error. That clearly was not the case here or the place of the crash. I thought I corrected that comment. You could have just pointed that out instead you chose the be.....

dirkclod · Dec 4, 2017

Charlie we do not call others here names . So please don't .
Everyone carry on but let's please

sar104 · Dec 4, 2017

CharlieU said:
After looking at the mission I realized I was wrong on the reconnect comment. Sometimes a reconnect can cause a pilot error. That clearly was not the case here or the place of the crash. I thought I corrected that comment. You could have just pointed that out instead you chose the be a small minded rude jerk.

I have no idea how you managed to get that offended by my original observation, or quite how you rationalized responding, twice, with such a tirade of insults. I had been going to say that had you pointed out that I really had misunderstood your post I'd happily have apologized, but apparently I did not misunderstand it at all.

Fly Dawg · Dec 4, 2017

Confucius say " Man who open mouth too wide, have plenty of room for foot" Be calm take a deep breath and be appreciative for the assistance provided.

CharlieU · Dec 4, 2017

sar104 said:
I have no idea how you managed to get that offended by my original observation

That's your problem. You have no idea. I can believe that.

Fly Dawg · Dec 4, 2017

CharlieU said:
Sorry, my apologies.

That should be directed @sar104 ...........

dirkclod · Dec 4, 2017

Fly Dawg said:
That should be directed @sar104 ...........

Then to Everyone involved .

LuvMyTJ · Dec 4, 2017

Lets please get back on topic.

offroadpyro · Dec 5, 2017

For anyone who doesn't know After you make you waypoints, click the wrench.Then you can select all, and change alt.from home to ground...Then on your waypoints you will see them change altitude.Make sure you see gold star before you click save..

madmaximum · Dec 5, 2017

Was the Phantom ever found?

dalbrich · Dec 7, 2017

Just adding a bit: I wrote my cell # with permanent ink on Drone before flight. I also wrote "Reward" under it.

I'm convinced now I hit a tree or land as 400' absolute wasn't enough for my loop to complete as others have shown me.

I've hiked for miles and not found the drone. I wish I had put a 'tile' or similar on it. Lots of high grass, and brush where I live. i.e. I may of been within 20 feet of it and not known it-- just comes with the terrain.

I'm not agry at anyone (including DJI or Litchi), this was pilot error. Hard lesson to learn I admit. I also very much appreciate the support in these forums!

-Dan

Craig Willes · Dec 11, 2017

I keep seeing TV commercials for a product called "Tile" that appears to be a GPS locator tag you attach to an object so it can be found if lost. It may be a good item to attach to our birds.

sar104 · Dec 11, 2017

Craig Willes said:
I keep seeing TV commercials for a product called "Tile" that appears to be a GPS locator tag you attach to an object so it can be found if lost. It may be a good item to attach to our birds.

It's not a GPS device - it's a low power Bluetooth device that pairs to your phone. If you designate one as lost then other Tile users act as unknowing proxy searchers but, unless it is in range of a Tile user then it cannot determine or broadcast its position.

dalbrich · Dec 12, 2017

Craig Willes said:
I keep seeing TV commercials for a product called "Tile" that appears to be a GPS locator tag you attach to an object so it can be found if lost. It may be a good item to attach to our birds.

Yes, I am a "drone" addict. Went out and bought a Phantom 3 standard again from Walmart of all places. Anyway, one of my buddies gave me an XY 'tile' -- same idea, different brand. I plan to attach to my Phantom 3.

For my own reasons I've decided to forgo Litchi, as cool as that program can be. I need to become a true expert with DJI first. I'd also like to get my own flying ability up to a high level (manual flying with DJI) before attempting Litchi again.

-Dan

PS regarding Litchi- it would also be super cool if that program allowed one to 'lock out changes' at a certain point. Not that it happened to me, but from reading the forum, folks sometimes accidentally add a waypoint when they open a mission and just want to run it without changes.