I've lost my P3 ADV and I don't know why

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Hi all, 3 days ago I've lost my drone a P3 ADV and really don't know what happened. I was flying from a boat on a lake, the sky was completely clear and I was in direct LOS with no obstacles at all, 70 meters high and 1.7 km away (some of the previous flights had been 2 to 3 times further on the sea). I was about to get it back when I got the Signal Lost message from Litchi. I was using Litchi 3.6.8. The RTH function kicked in automatically, but my drone didn't came back. I was at 76% battery 4' and 27" after take off and I had the dynamic home point feature active, even if the boat was not moving from the Take Off point. After a couple of minutes with no signal we went with the boat directly to the last position we had on the map, but we couldn't see the drone in the air, nor in the water. On the tablet I had no warnings of any problem, simply the last frame freezed and the signal lost message. The image didn't show any fall and the flight was going well till that moment. It seemed a complete electric/electronic failure from the battery or from the core of the drone. Can anyone help me to understand ? I've done more than 500 flights with this and another P3 STD drone for more than 60 hours in flight and more than 1000 km of total distance in about 9 months, and I had no issues like this.My P3 ADV was around 700 km of total flights. Everytime I happened to loose signal the RTH function bringed my drones back, but not this time :( The only two differences were the dynamic home point feature that was active even if we where not moving, and the Take Off from the boat. I remained about 30 second up in the air over the boat before flying away to ensure there were no issues with props or compass and everything was fine.
Here is the link of the flight and the status of my drone from healty drones: HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters
I will really appreciate if anyone can help me to understand. Please help me.
I've posted this message also on the litchi group on Google.
 
Hi all, 3 days ago I've lost my drone a P3 ADV and really don't know what happened. I was flying from a boat on a lake, the sky was completely clear and I was in direct LOS with no obstacles at all, 70 meters high and 1.7 km away (some of the previous flights had been 2 to 3 times further on the sea). I was about to get it back when I got the Signal Lost message from Litchi. I was using Litchi 3.6.8. The RTH function kicked in automatically, but my drone didn't came back. I was at 76% battery 4' and 27" after take off and I had the dynamic home point feature active, even if the boat was not moving from the Take Off point. After a couple of minutes with no signal we went with the boat directly to the last position we had on the map, but we couldn't see the drone in the air, nor in the water. On the tablet I had no warnings of any problem, simply the last frame freezed and the signal lost message. The image didn't show any fall and the flight was going well till that moment. It seemed a complete electric/electronic failure from the battery or from the core of the drone. Can anyone help me to understand ? I've done more than 500 flights with this and another P3 STD drone for more than 60 hours in flight and more than 1000 km of total distance in about 9 months, and I had no issues like this.My P3 ADV was around 700 km of total flights. Everytime I happened to loose signal the RTH function bringed my drones back, but not this time :( The only two differences were the dynamic home point feature that was active even if we where not moving, and the Take Off from the boat. I remained about 30 second up in the air over the boat before flying away to ensure there were no issues with props or compass and everything was fine.
Here is the link of the flight and the status of my drone from healty drones: HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters
I will really appreciate if anyone can help me to understand. Please help me.
I've posted this message also on the litchi group on Google.
Were you recording at the time? If so, check the recording on your device for any additional clues such as possible bird strike.
 
Doesn't the dynamic home point need to have internet? were you tethered? or using a phone?

Something could have hit it, a bird possibly or lost a prop and it would just sink right into the water.
not saying this is what happened but I would assume you'd have the same results if this did happen.
how long after you realized it wasn't coming back till the time you got to the last known location? still in time for the battery to hold out?
 
also, looking at the healthydrones log, it looks like you had signal the entire time.
 
Were you recording at the time? If so, check the recording on your device for any additional clues such as possible bird strike.
No litchi does not record the screen during the flight as djigo does. But I was constantly looking at it and the image did not show any kind of instability or fall. It was flying fine and then suddenly the signal lost message and the image freeze still in flight.
 
also, looking at the healthydrones log, it looks like you had signal the entire time.
The sudden absence of all data mid-flight might also suggest a dead/dislodged battery. (There also appears to be a prolonged amperage change in HD.)
 
also, looking at the healthydrones log, it looks like you had signal the entire time.
Hello fastfed, yes i had strong and stable internet connection from a portable 4g router.
If something hit it, a bird or lost a prop this should have not stop the image feed and I should have seen the fall. It seemed to me a complete hardware failure that stopped the transmission instantly. Also we started to go to the last known location in straight line in about two minutes from the lost signal, and I had 76% of battery when it happened, so about 15 minutes of flight time left. We got there in less than five minutes. So if still flying there we should have been still on time to see it. I have two thoughts: a complete fly away, or a sudden electric failure from the battery or the drone core
 
The sudden absence of all data mid-flight might also suggest a dead/dislodged battery. (There also appears to be a prolonged amperage change in HD.)
Well i was flying forward full throttle, this could be the prolonged amperage change in HD, also the battery was 85% healty according to HD, so it was not an exhausted one.
 
fly away you would have seen it, from what you're saying you were looking at the image the entire time, unless you looked away for a little? I do that sometimes so that's why I mentioned it.
It does sound like a complete shutdown, if it went from super strong signal, perfect image to NOTHING. and that totally sucks!!! unlike a fly away with compass issues that you could show DJI, there is nothing to show in this case :(
 
If you were flying away from you for 4:27 faster than 10ms (the RTH speed) you probably should have waited longer than 2 minutes before you headed off to search. Chances are the AC landed near where you took off from.
 
fly away you would have seen it, from what you're saying you were looking at the image the entire time, unless you looked away for a little? I do that sometimes so that's why I mentioned it.
It does sound like a complete shutdown, if it went from super strong signal, perfect image to NOTHING. and that totally sucks!!! unlike a fly away with compass issues that you could show DJI, there is nothing to show in this case :(
No I was all the time on the screen as two friends of mine where looking directly at it till they could, about 1km far so then I was looking at it on the tablet continuously.
Or maybe, after loosing signal, as the RTH function kicked in it turned back to home and at that point hitted a bird, before restoring communications and so sinked. Who knows :(:(:(. For my consolation I think i can say that it had not been a pilot error, but unfortunately the result it's the same :(:(:(
 
If you were flying away from you for 4:27 faster than 10ms (the RTH speed) you probably should have waited longer than 2 minutes before you headed off to search. Chances are the AC landed near where you took off from.
You are right but as we were going there in straight line, like the RTH brings it back we should have seen it coming to us and also the signal should have been restored as always did all the other times I losted in previous flights. Unfortunately this was not the case :(.
 
Last edited:
R.I.P. AldoBaby New Generation, you have been a great flight companion, and I'm really sorry for your premature loss :(:(:(
 
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I heard P3As didn't have dynamic home point. Is this a Litchi thing?

You launched with less than a full charge. That's generally not advisable although, apparently, you might be okay if you have the correct firmware.

How do you know "RTH kicked in" when you had a lost signal?

Sorry for your loss.
 
Aldo962, please attach your Litchi log here.
 
Hi StevenQX, if you mean the take off point the answer is yes, is the one marked on the map, I was on my friend's 5 meter boat.
No i mean last recorded because you, imo wrongly, decided to use dynamic home point and my opinion is that the phantom could have come back to the wrong place...that is a possibility
 
I heard P3As didn't have dynamic home point. Is this a Litchi thing?

You launched with less than a full charge. That's generally not advisable although, apparently, you might be okay if you have the correct firmware.

How do you know "RTH kicked in" when you had a lost signal?

Sorry for your loss.

Yes Marknmd the dynamic home point feature is a Litchi feature, it sets the home point where the controller is, therefore we had not moved from the take off point till we went for rescue. Also the takeoff battery was not at full charge as per the HealtyDrones report because It lasted some minutes from when I switched on the copter and the moment it took of, I full charged it the night before. The firmware was the latest on the controller, the copter and the battery,
I always update them as soon as DJI GO asks for it. I use DJI GO after every flight session to download the FLYXXX.DAT files from the internal microsd, and the last time has been August 29, and there were no firmware update requests.
I know about RTH Kicked in as the RC started beeping and also, just in case, after about a minute I stopped and restarted it by clicking the RTH button myself.
Thank you for your comprehension
 
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Aldo962, please attach your Litchi log here.
Hello msinger, please find attached my Litchi log.
Thank you in advance for your attention.
 

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