Lost my Phantom!

hanztreasure · Aug 15, 2013

Hello guys, this is my 1st post and not a very good start!, last tuesday night i was trying out my new carbon fiber props and it looks ok..i was doing full throttle on all directions to check for fibrations my gopro3black was on it

...it really sucks...somehow i suddenly lost sight of it..after a while i saw it again just the red LED and it's way to far!..i turn the CL on the radio and pull back in a second that i have look at the radio to turn the lever..i lost sight of it again...i panic! and turn off the radio to activate RH....waited but no luck....i think i'am already 8-9mins on flight when i lost sight! plus theres a mild wind at that time, i don't know maybe theres not enough juice to go back home or it has not gotten a good gps signal before...nxt day put up ads on the zone hoping someone might have seen it..no luck until now

..phantom,new props,goproblack gone in a few seconds!..lesson learn should have put my contact no. on the phantom...made sure the phantom has lock on the home position...never panic!!!!!!
So now i ended up with just the radio and the other accessories, search the web i found a dealer that sells only the quad w/o radio,batt etc..contacted them and told me it's better to buy a new one, i think the problem is pairing up the phantom with my old radio...so the best plan of action is to buy a new one?..

Meluk · Aug 15, 2013

Sorry to hear your loss.

I hope you meant HL and not CL? depending on which direction your phantom was facing on take off pulling back in CL mode may of made it fly further away from u!

Roysch1 · Aug 16, 2013

My advice to everyone is to install a Skylark tiny OSD 3 on your Phantom along with an FPV system from ReadyMade rc. It has GPS so if you go down you will have a general idea where it is. The system is very light so do weight issues. I also purchased a cheap Garmin GPS locatitor that I use for Geocaching that will assist in finding your Phantom and expensive GoPro in the event of a control failure. I refused to fly mine untill I had everything installed. Oh another thing it to afix your telephone number to it just in case an honest person finds your quad. But I highly doubt that anywone will be returing your GoPRO camera.

hanztreasure · Aug 16, 2013

Thx for the replys!...i think i have to wait for xmas for nxt phantom!!

..rosch1 i'am a newbee on the skylark that your telling, does it send signals where is it? how do you track it? on an iphone? or a gps unit?..

archersc · Aug 17, 2013

Sorry to hear of your loss! I've had a couple of low voltage landings myself. The first one was very similar to your situation. I was very relieved to find the Phantom sitting in the tall grass. I thought I'd learned my lesson, but no...

http://youtu.be/mziLPKqIsO8

The second one just happened today -- right before me as I was bringing it in for landing. It was especially ugly because it was my first test flight with my new PDB, Zenmuse, and FPV system. Watching that rig drop out of the sky towards the pavement made my heart stop.

http://youtu.be/Q7uHs5QSNNw