Lost P3P in WPB due to RTH

[fenix6]

Very sad news... Rushed to put her in the sky and lost signal only 1 minute and 400-600 feet away into flying somehow. For some reason the home point hadn't updated from the day before some 10 miles away. The path was blocked by a large international airport so I assume the 1.5 mile grounding took effect.

My question is - how is the 1.5 mile zone calculated? Is it from the perimeter or the center of the airport? Also, has anyone ever experienced this before? What is my recourse with DJI? Am I screwed?

I saw a replacement is $999. Hardly worth it when you can get a second charger and battery AND remote AND back pack for 1259. I wish I had bought mine on Black Friday. That deal with the extra battery.... Wow. I'm so sad. My pet is gone. I'm going to put reward posters in the region 1.5 miles from the perimeter of the airport.

The thing that sucks is WPB Florida is heavily populated and has many many waterways and bodies of water. I suppose the silver lining may be that I did write my cell phone number on the feet with the promise of a reward if found. Happy New Year's Eve...:-/

 

[847guy]

when mines warm up, it's says (the home point been updated , please check it on the map) I never fly if it doesn't say that. Obviously I check the map to see if my location is current 1st.

 

[fenix6]

Yeah I know. I assumed it would update. I was trying to catch sunset... I'm pulling my hair out.

 

[Adil J]

Always make sure that you have the Safe to Fly GPS at the top before taking off.

 

[Reed L]

Did you have the 1.6 update on it?

 

[phantom13flyer]

1.5 mile grounding ??? And what is that ???? Smh

 

[Ken Hanks]

fenix6 you'll find your info here
Phantom 3 Professional- Flight Limits and No-Fly Zones - DJI Wiki

Why can't you backtrack the P3 from your launch area back to your previous RTH location. The P3 will fly straight back unless it hits something in its path

 

[Roly]

That is a sad story, there is a saying my dad taught me that says "visteme despacio, que voy de prisa" -- it translates to "dress me up slowly, because I'm in a hurry". There are so many things to remember with these birds that in a hurry you can totally lose it. Especially around tall buildings and places with close objects, I adjust home point altitude and fly to a RTH location and update my location there.

 

[jingthing]

I remember my third flight with the p3, the day before i had eyed a football field fenced on 3 sides and tree lined where the access was from the main road, long grass and looking unused i decided it would be a good place to learn control and modes, next day late afternoon i went there looking for a suitable take off and landing area devoid of long grass,
I found a car tire filled with concrete and a hole in the middle i guess for the use of a a sunshade, did a compass calibration and set the phantom on the tire, i flew 2 batteries going through all the modes,
Considering bkk has an estimated population of 12 million i felt confident i had found a perfect place to learn with no people around apart from a flow of taxi drivers stopping to pee in the trees, the tire filled with concrete was easy to land on and i felt confident,
Next day i returned to exactly the same spot did all the checks and home point updated, some 30 seconds after take off at 5 meters and around 10 meters distance gps or compass was lost and i got warnings about magnetic interference and moving to another area,
I had,nt tried atti mode and vps was turned off as i had no intention to fly indoors, the phantom was a different beast once its brains no longer worked, it took me some minutes to feel i had enough control to land back on the tire, lucky i had not pushed it to an altitude above the surrounding high buildings as i had the day before, no idea what had changed in the area since the day before but i never went back,

Was this similar to flying atti mode?

 

[robsquad]

the only thing got in a rush is kids.
sorry for your loss

 

[RoyVa]

Did to try the "Find my Phantom" in the app. Should give you the last known location and that would at least give you a line to search. And if you had a full battery you could pretty much calculate the distance she could travel in that line. Should get you pretty much to a search area.

But yes you have no recourse with DJI, as this would be considered pilot error. Failed to do the preflight check list before take off. Tough lesson to learn. Sorry for your loss. A lot of us know that pain.

 

[fenix6]

Great news! I was called by a 12 year old that found it in his yard where it auto landed safely! I had written my number and the promise of a reward if found. I gave him $100! Praise God my life can return to normal! Thanks for all the kind posts. I've been a total wreck.

 

[RVD98072]

wow, congrats!

i also have my email address on my phantom as well as a sticker saying "reward if found" so hopefully i'll have some good karma if i ever happen to lose mine.

i know that many people purposely don't put their contact info on theirs because there's up to no good (flying too high, too far, etc.) so they don't want to be held responsible if it falls on a person, damages property, etc. but i try to be good when i fly...

 

[Meta4]

Great news! I was called by a 12 year old that found it in his yard where it auto landed safely! I had written my number and the promise of a reward if found. I gave him $100! Praise God my life can return to normal! Thanks for all the kind posts. I've been a total wreck.

Lucky break! You've had a reprieve.
It's always good to analyse any problems to learn what caused them and be able to avoid in future.
Reading your initial post, there are some assumptions in it that may not be correct.
If you upload your flight log to HealthyDrones.com (find instructions there) we can get a better idea of what really happened.
If you can download the flight log from the Phantom, that will have more information than the copy in your app.

 

[fenix6]

I will try to figure the flight log out soon. On a cross country trip now. From now on I will manually setting home point before takeoff no matter what!

 

[fordruid]

Is the birds name Phoenix? Congrats on your luck.

 

[Richard W]

Wow ... congratulations!

Memo to self ... forget FAA number (well, not really), plaster the telephone number and reward promise on the craft instead.

 

[Meta4]

I will try to figure the flight log out soon. On a cross country trip now. From now on I will manually setting home point before takeoff no matter what!

No need to do this really.
(I'm not convinced that was your problem anyway)
You'll hear Lady DJI tell you: The home point has been recorded.
Just wait for the green message on top of the screen.

 

[RoyVa]

Good save! Numbers work some times if the other party is a good guy!

 

[yawnalot29]

Any happy ending is a good ending