Island Beach State Park Phantom3 Pro Flyaway August 18, 2017

[Retired Trooper]

I took an old friend and his wife out on my buddies boat, anchored up at Tice's Shoal, then got
my Phantom 3 Pro ready to video everyone on the boat, etc.
calibrated as usual, everything was good to take off.
As soon as I took off, so did the drone. I could not control it. I hit the RTH, tried cutting the engines, nothing.
I had no idea was was happening. I've been flying a long time, and never has this happened.
By the way, I had my Fat Shark FPV goggles on, so i could see where the drone was going, yet couldn't do a
dam thing about it. As the battery ran out, the only view I had started tiling The last image I saw was very close to the beach and dune area, back side of the maintenance yard, which is on the left hand side just after you enter through the pay booth entrance.
It was pitch dark by the time I got back home, so Decided to comb the beach the following morning. It was like trying to find a needle in a hay stack.
Anyway, if by some miracle, someone found it, please call me at 609-820-1296. I'll compensate him/her some sort of finders fee.

Many thanks

 

[Bakersfield Quad]

You need another drone to search with, anyone near by you can contact?

 

[Retired Trooper]

You need another drone to search with, anyone near by you can contact?

Hey,
Many thanks for the reply. I have a practically brand new (49Minutes flight time) Mavic Pro,
of which I currently am selling the combo package along with case, etc. etc. The controller is to small
for my hands.lol
I was reluctant to fly it in that general area, in case some other interference may have caused the "fly away".
I picked up another Phantom 3 Pro last week. Maybe I'll give it a shot and take it up, see what happens.
I looked at a few You Tube video's of guys videoing the island. If you know any of these guy, please ask them to keep an eye out for mine the next time they go up.
Anyway, many thanks once again.

 

[Bakersfield Quad]

Hey,
Many thanks for the reply. I have a practically brand new (49Minutes flight time) Mavic Pro,
of which I currently am selling the combo package along with case, etc. etc. The controller is to small
for my hands.lol
I was reluctant to fly it in that general area, in case some other interference may have caused the "fly away".
I picked up another Phantom 3 Pro last week. Maybe I'll give it a shot and take it up, see what happens.
I looked at a few You Tube video's of guys videoing the island. If you know any of these guy, please ask them to keep an eye out for mine the next time they go up.
Anyway, many thanks once again.

I am not in that area, but maybe some one there will read the thread and take a look. Searching for downed RC craft is tough, without the help of a drone. You can walk right by them, in high brush or even grass. But from above, they show up only too well.
One thing that you always have to think about at the beach and places where winds are common. It could be a pleasant 5-10 at the beach on the ground, but above, it could be much high, fast enough that the Phantom, in P mode, can't fly against it. Under these conditions, it can looks as if the thing just flew away!
Best thing to do is check your flight log, see if it can help locate the last position. Then you could just fly a circle over that area and look.

 

[Retired Trooper]

Ironically, That night, I was trying out a brand new et of Maverio BT-300, which has it's own unit, in place of my normally used, iPad Mini 3. Moverio's control unit has a touch system to activate different things on the Phantom. It's very sensitive, not my cup of tea.
It was repacked the next day and sent back for a refund. Had I used my iPad mini, I could retrieve the lat and long where the thing went down.
By the way, that night there wasn't a stitch of air movement.
I've flown that thing in high winds, and it stays relatively still..