Last flight before crash :(

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Video from my last flight with my Phantom 3 Professional before I lost all signal and it didn't return home
 
Video from my last flight with my Phantom 3 Professional before I lost all signal and it didn't return home
Go to HealthyDrones.com and follow the instructions to upload your flight record.
Post the link here and we'll try our best to work out what went wrong and who knows ... maybe point you in the right direction to look for it.
 
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Its on Manana island (also known as Rabbit island) on Hawaii. Here's another link.
OK ... Here's my analysis.
First ... you flew almost 2 kilometres out to sea with a tailwind of perhaps 5 m/sec.
i-95gsB2q-L.jpg

I thought this might lead to the problem and it's not good practice to fly away with a tailwind for distance flights because this means a long, hard slog home with a headwind.
But this isn't the cause of the problem for this flight.
You cleared the high point of Manana Island easily at a height of about 200 metres when above the high point of about 110 m in the southeast of Manana and went on to the North side of the island, descending all the way.
When you reached an altitude of 72 metres you lost control signal.
This is because although your Phantom was well above the land below it, the line of sight was blocked by the ridge on the southern side of Manana Island and signal was lost.
i-PSsTkf5-XL.jpg

This happened while descending and the Phantom would have continued to descend for about 3 seconds before it stopped because of the loss of signal and Failsafe RTH would have initiated.
Being above your 30 m RTH height, the Phantom would have attempted to fly straight home.
As contact was not recovered, it is likely that the Phantom descended to a level just below the high point on the elevation plot shown above.
RTH would have crashed into the either of the high points shown (remember the numbers are approximate only).

Descending to a point where signal was blocked was a mistake.
If RTH had been set to a level higher than 72 metres, the Phantom on losing control signal, would have climbed and signal would have been restored or RTH would have proceeded normally.
 
OK ... Here's my analysis.
First ... you flew almost 2 kilometres out to sea with a tailwind of perhaps 5 m/sec.
i-95gsB2q-L.jpg

I thought this might lead to the problem and it's not good practice to fly away with a tailwind for distance flights because this means a long, hard slog home with a headwind.
But this isn't the cause of the problem for this flight.
You cleared the high point of Manana Is easily at a height of about 200 metres over the high point of about 110 m in the southeast of Manana and went to the North side of the island, descending all the way.
When you reached an altitude of 72 metres you lost control signal.
This is because although your Phantom was well above the land below it, it dipped below the ridge on the southern side of Manana Island blocking signal.
i-PSsTkf5-XL.jpg

This happened while descending and the Phantom would have continued to descend for about 3 seconds before it stopped because of the loss of signal and Failsafe RTH would have initiated.
Being above your 30 m RTH height, the Phantom would have attempted to fly straight home.
As contact was not recovered, it is likely that the Phantom descended to a level just below the high point on the elevation plot shown above.
RTH would have crashed into the either of the high points shown (remember the numbers are approximate only).

Descending to a point where signal was blocked was a mistake.
If RTH had been set to a level higher than 72 metres, the Phantom on losing control signal, would have climbed and signal would have been restored or RTH would have proceeded normally.

Very very detailed . Thanks n keep up the good work
 
Geez. The battery info for that log states it was charged only twice. I'm guessing there wasn't much practice done prior to the flight either.
 
OK ... Here's my analysis.
First ... you flew almost 2 kilometres out to sea with a tailwind of perhaps 5 m/sec.
i-95gsB2q-L.jpg

I thought this might lead to the problem and it's not good practice to fly away with a tailwind for distance flights because this means a long, hard slog home with a headwind.
But this isn't the cause of the problem for this flight.
You cleared the high point of Manana Island easily at a height of about 200 metres when above the high point of about 110 m in the southeast of Manana and went on to the North side of the island, descending all the way.
When you reached an altitude of 72 metres you lost control signal.
This is because although your Phantom was well above the land below it, the line of sight was blocked by the ridge on the southern side of Manana Island and signal was lost.
i-PSsTkf5-XL.jpg

This happened while descending and the Phantom would have continued to descend for about 3 seconds before it stopped because of the loss of signal and Failsafe RTH would have initiated.
Being above your 30 m RTH height, the Phantom would have attempted to fly straight home.
As contact was not recovered, it is likely that the Phantom descended to a level just below the high point on the elevation plot shown above.
RTH would have crashed into the either of the high points shown (remember the numbers are approximate only).

Descending to a point where signal was blocked was a mistake.
If RTH had been set to a level higher than 72 metres, the Phantom on losing control signal, would have climbed and signal would have been restored or RTH would have proceeded normally.
Great analysis of the data!
 
OK ... Here's my analysis.
First ... you flew almost 2 kilometres out to sea with a tailwind of perhaps 5 m/sec.
i-95gsB2q-L.jpg

I thought this might lead to the problem and it's not good practice to fly away with a tailwind for distance flights because this means a long, hard slog home with a headwind.
But this isn't the cause of the problem for this flight.
You cleared the high point of Manana Island easily at a height of about 200 metres when above the high point of about 110 m in the southeast of Manana and went on to the North side of the island, descending all the way.
When you reached an altitude of 72 metres you lost control signal.
This is because although your Phantom was well above the land below it, the line of sight was blocked by the ridge on the southern side of Manana Island and signal was lost.
i-PSsTkf5-XL.jpg

This happened while descending and the Phantom would have continued to descend for about 3 seconds before it stopped because of the loss of signal and Failsafe RTH would have initiated.
Being above your 30 m RTH height, the Phantom would have attempted to fly straight home.
As contact was not recovered, it is likely that the Phantom descended to a level just below the high point on the elevation plot shown above.
RTH would have crashed into the either of the high points shown (remember the numbers are approximate only).

Descending to a point where signal was blocked was a mistake.
If RTH had been set to a level higher than 72 metres, the Phantom on losing control signal, would have climbed and signal would have been restored or RTH would have proceeded normally.

Thanks for this very detailed analysis. really appreciate it
 
Geez. The battery info for that log states it was charged only twice. I'm guessing there wasn't much practice done prior to the flight either.

Actually, this is my 2nd battery which I had just bought and used twice. I had logged 19 flights by this time on the other battery
 
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Actually, this is my 2nd battery which I had just bought and used twice. I had logged 19 flights by this time on the other battery
Either way sorry for the loss. You should go find it assuming the island isn't private.
 
Are you going out there to retrieve your P3P?
Seems like that would be an awesome adventure all in itself.

I would have gone already had the island not been a bird sanctuary. Basically, its illegal to get on it so i'm liaising with the relevant department to see if i can hop on one of their trips, or be given legal authorization to retrieve it myself. Fingers crossed
 
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Man, what you need right now is a large size octo-copter with a 10,000mAh battery pack and a lifting claw
 
That's nice....but you need more than a Phantom.....to recover a Phantom

Just sayin

Well....a Phantom 3 could recover a Phantom 1 but more people are flying the P3 now
 

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