Lost P3 100% gone

Pata Sweden · Sep 24, 2016

I've lost my P3 on high altitude. It's gone and I don't feel well. Not because of the money. I'm worried about what it could have caused to people. But, I'm living in a small town so I had probably heard it, if anyone get hurted because of me and my droner. I lost control on the altitude of 300 meters and it didn't return to home (which I always set at take off). I also tried RTH-comand on the screen and with S1. I'm not in need of moral speeks or trackers, please. But, is there anything in the Go-App that can give me any clues?
(Posted this in the wrong forum earlier, thats why I post it again, sorry).

Meta4 · Sep 24, 2016

Pata Sweden said:
I've lost my P3 on high altitude. It's gone and I don't feel well. Not because of the money. I'm worried about what it could have caused to people. But, I'm living in a small town so I had probably heard it, if anyone get hurted because of me and my droner. I lost control on the altitude of 300 meters and it didn't return to home (which I always set at take off). I also tried RTH-comand on the screen and with S1. I'm not in need of moral speeks or trackers, please. But, is there anything in the Go-App that can give me any clues?
(Posted this in the wrong forum earlier, thats why I post it again, sorry).

There's not much in the DJI app to help but HealthyDrones.com can read your flight record.
It doesn't give as much detail as PhantomHelp.com but it's a start.
Go to HealthyDrones.com and upload your flight record and come back with a link.

msinger · Sep 24, 2016

Pata Sweden, per our discussion in your original thread, we're waiting for you to upload your TXT flight log. Please attach that file here.

Kwaka Pants · Sep 24, 2016

May also help if you don't get any results to try the DJI forum, as the admins on there will be able to read your log files. Hope you find it and no damage caused.

Steves23 · Sep 24, 2016

Hey Pata, I would do as they ask. They helped me with some great info in those files. Those files tell you alot of info on what may have happened and the health of certain aspects of UAV and Battery. Do not just pass this up. These guys take time out of their life to help out as much as possible and ask nothing in return. Good Luck Pata. I hope you find it and no one was injured

Karanba · Sep 25, 2016

Still no flight records, amazing. Im guessing he is waiting for the rain :-/

Pata Sweden · Sep 25, 2016

Sorry for waiting, folks. Weekend and no time for this very important issue. But, now I'm in[emoji3]

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Pata Sweden · Sep 25, 2016

I´m in a bit of a stress but I think I´ve done everething correkt

Thanks all you good people!!!

Pata Sweden · Sep 26, 2016

I see that this file is the largest in my record. It´s 1451 kb. The second largest is 768 kb. Should be some information in it

Steves23 · Sep 26, 2016

Last transmission shows you're in a body of water but that doesn't necessarily mean that's where it is. You may have done what I did and still tried to fly it but you had many compass errors as.well. did.you calibrate it for this spot you took off from? Usually it will set.the home point when you start the props. You'll have a ton more info when Frank and Singer get ahold of the file. Good luck

BudWalker · Sep 26, 2016

Pata Sweden said:
I´m in a bit of a stress but I think I´ve done everething correkt Thanks all you good people!!!

I looked at this flight some by using djilogs.com to get your .txt converted to a .csv. This was the previewd version of the .csv showing the first, middle, and lat 50 lines of the .csv. I also submitted the .txt to HealthyDrones. With regard to locating your P3 there are three different answers. HealthyDrones shows that it is in the lake.
The .csv shows this location

The KML produced by djilogs.com shows a slightly different location.

I think your best bet to find your P3 is to look at the GoApp playback.

HealthyDrones shows multiple compass errors starting immediately after launch. This can sometimes mean that the launch site was geomagnetically distorted.The cause can certainly be different though. It's impossible to know anything definitive without the .DAT file from the flight. Unfortunately the .DAT is on the P3 itself and is unavailable.

If you want to know more about what happened you will need to submit the .txt to djilogs.com and get full conversion to the .csv. To do this you'll need to register with that site and pay $1. You can then post that .csv here by either 1) placing it in a .zip and posting that .zip, or 2) change the file extension from .csv to .txt and posting that .txt.

Pata Sweden · Sep 26, 2016

BudWalker said:
I looked at this flight some by using djilogs.com to get your .txt converted to a .csv. This was the previewd version of the .csv showing the first, middle, and lat 50 lines of the .csv. I also submitted the .txt to HealthyDrones. With regard to locating your P3 there are three different answers. HealthyDrones shows that it is in the lake.
The .csv shows this location
View attachment 65653
The KML produced by djilogs.com shows a slightly different location.

I think your best bet to find your P3 is to look at the GoApp playback.

HealthyDrones shows multiple compass errors starting immediately after launch. This can sometimes mean that the launch site was geomagnetically distorted.The cause can certainly be different though. It's impossible to know anything definitive without the .DAT file from the flight. Unfortunately the .DAT is on the P3 itself and is unavailable.

If you want to know more about what happened you will need to submit the .txt to djilogs.com and get full conversion to the .csv. To do this you'll need to register with that site and pay $1. You can then post that .csv here by either 1) placing it in a .zip and posting that .zip, or 2) change the file extension from .csv to .txt and posting that .txt.

Thanks a lot, very kind of you. When I look at the flight on DJI Go-App I see the first 4.42 min of the flight then I lose videocontact. According to the last seconds of the video the direction on the maps is the same as I can see on the video.

Pata Sweden · Sep 26, 2016

Steves23 said:
Last transmission shows you're in a body of water but that doesn't necessarily mean that's where it is. You may have done what I did and still tried to fly it but you had many compass errors as.well. did.you calibrate it for this spot you took off from? Usually it will set.the home point when you start the props. You'll have a ton more info when Frank and Singer get ahold of the file. Good luck

Thanks, I realy appreciate your help. Yes, my "home point have been changed" was activated at start. I did calibrate the compass at the same spot where I started. Thanks again!!!

RodPad · Sep 26, 2016

Wow, So to all, 1:58 he was 300', 2:21 he was at 6', at 7:21 he was over 2000',
What? Unless the second file he uploaded is different.
@Pata Sweden, when you play back your flight in the app, you can turn on / view what your remote control sticks were doing. Do you see those movments on your log?

Rod

Pata Sweden · Sep 27, 2016

No, RodPad! I can't[emoji58]

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

RodPad · Sep 27, 2016

Pata Sweden said:
No, RodPad! I can't[emoji58]

No you can't?
Play back the flight with the app and your mobile device?
or
You don't know how to view what the remote sticks?

The file you uploaded is the file from your mobile device. Playing back the flight with your mobile could give you lot more information of what happened and where it could have gone.

Rod

Pata Sweden · Sep 28, 2016

Sorry for late answer and for beeing inexplicit, Rod. I've play back the file but that gives me nothing about where to search because the playback stops before it fly away[emoji20] Anyway, thanks a lot for support and undestandings. I uploaded all data on the DJI App to DJI support. But, it's time for me to move on and I will be more respectful when flying the new P3 I've ordered. I've learned a lot during this accident and I will not let it happen again. I'll be back if I get any new information about this flight. And, I will of course still use this wonderful forum in future droner issues[emoji3] Big thanks to you Rod and others that "pushed me" through this sad history[emoji106]

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

RodPad · Sep 29, 2016

Thanks,
I have a P2V+ lost in the woods,
Yes, I have been there.
any way of tracking a lost phantom? or stolen....

I have seen @Meta4 help find a few.

Rod

Meta4 · Sep 29, 2016

Pata Sweden said:
I´m in a bit of a stress but I think I´ve done everething correkt Thanks all you good people!!!

I've looked at what info we have (HealthyDrones and Google Earth), there's a lot of information missing so I'm making assumptions to fill gaps.
The first thing I note is the number of warnings, especially compass errors right at the start of the flight.
Because of the compass errors, the Phantom switches to atti mode and will drift with the wind unless you control it..
The Phantom was attempting to RTH from 1:55 but only went further away.
Because of the compass error causing the Phantom to use atti mode, RTH probably wouldn't work and the Phantom would have just hovered?
Much of the flight was up around 2-300 metres where wind is stronger than at surface level.
We can't tell what control input you were giving it but most of the flight is a straight line heading 260°.
It seems most likely that this is because the wind was coming from 80°.
All of this strongly suggests that the Phantom was being blown away in atti mode.

The speed that the Phantom was being blown away varied from 3-6 m/sec, probably because of gusting winds.
The altitude is descending from 310m - 160m during the blow-away at an average descent rate of 1.8 m/s.
I'm not sure why. Perhaps the Phantom was attempting to land as it couldn't RTH?
I'm not sure what the auto descend speed is for the Phantom but if it's 2 m/s, this might be the cause?

The flight record ends at 7:16 with the Phantom 158m altitude, 660 m from home.
If it started with a full battery it probably had approx 13 minutes more flight time left.
If it continued to be blown along at 3 m/s and descending at 2 m/s, it would have come down to approx ground level in 80 seconds which would put the Phantom in the middle of the lake at (very approximately) 62.6326°N 17.8992°E

This flight appears to have been doomed by a combination of factors.
1. Compass errors from the start and continuing through the flight

Probably caused by calibrating the compass close to steel or reinforced concrete and the compass was unable to compensate when it left the area influenced by the steel (or electrical cables?)

2. Continuing to fly with many warnings
3. Signal interference over an urban area
3. Not flying the Phantom back to home and allowing it to drift in atti, unable to RTH because of the compass errors.

Manual control and flying the Phantom home should have been possible for much of the time if corrective action was taken.

RodPad · Sep 30, 2016

Meta4 said:
I've looked at what info we have (HealthyDrones and Google Earth), there's a lot of information missing so I'm making assumptions to fill gaps.
The first thing I note is the number of warnings, especially compass errors right at the start of the flight.
Because of the compass errors, the Phantom switches to atti mode and will drift with the wind unless you control it..
The Phantom was attempting to RTH from 1:55 but only went further away.
Because of the compass error causing the Phantom to use atti mode, RTH probably wouldn't work and the Phantom would have just hovered?
Much of the flight was up around 2-300 metres where wind is stronger than at surface level.
We can't tell what control input you were giving it but most of the flight is a straight line heading 260°.
It seems most likely that this is because the wind was coming from 80°.
All of this strongly suggests that the Phantom was being blown away in atti mode.

The speed that the Phantom was being blown away varied from 3-6 m/sec, probably because of gusting winds.
The altitude is descending from 310m - 160m during the blow-away at an average descent rate of 1.8 m/s.
I'm not sure why. Perhaps the Phantom was attempting to land as it couldn't RTH?
I'm not sure what the auto descend speed is for the Phantom but if it's 2 m/s, this might be the cause?

The flight record ends at 7:16 with the Phantom 158m altitude, 660 m from home.
If it started with a full battery it probably had approx 13 minutes more flight time left.
If it continued to be blown along at 3 m/s and descending at 2 m/s, it would have come down to approx ground level in 80 seconds which would put the Phantom in the middle of the lake at (very approximately) 62.6326°N 17.8992°E

This flight appears to have been doomed by a combination of factors.
1. Compass errors from the start and continuing through the flight

Probably caused by calibrating the compass close to steel or reinforced concrete and the compass was unable to compensate when it left the area influenced by the steel (or electrical cables?)
2. Continuing to fly with many warnings
3. Signal interference over an urban area
3. Not flying the Phantom back to home and allowing it to drift in atti, unable to RTH because of the compass errors.

Manual control and flying the Phantom home should have been possible for much of the time if corrective action was taken.