Lost P4 Pro - disconnected during flight and battery died. Any hope?

[thefalloftroy]

Hi everyone, I have a very unfortunate situation with my Phantom 4 Pro. This evening I was flying it about 1000m (distance) and 300m (altitude) over a forest when it lost the connection to my remote and iPad (I had previously flown it much further without any connection issues). At the time, the battery was at about 20% which would have been more than enough to make it back if it hadn't lost its connection. I tried the Return To Home function but after waiting 15-20 minutes, it never appeared, so I can only assume it crashed somewhere along its way.

My question is: is there ANY hope of finding it? Because of where I was flying it, I don't expect I could find it on my own because it was quite far away when it disconnected and I'm not sure where it would have been when the battery died. Even if it's broken and smashed to bits, I would still love to retrieve it somehow to at least see if anything is salvageable, especially the contents of the memory card.

I know there probably isn't much hope for me in this situation, but is there some sort of GPS location log or ANYTHING that would have recorded its last known location, or anything along those lines? Is there anything anyone can suggest in terms of me being able to find it? I still have the remote controller and all accessories, it was just the drone, battery and memory card that I lost.

Is there even any way for me to find what the serial number of the drone was if I no longer physically have the drone? Can I find that in the app somewhere?

Thanks very much in advance for any help or suggestions that anyone can provide!

 

[Fly Dawg]

I know there probably isn't much hope for me in this situation, but is there some sort of GPS location log or ANYTHING that would have recorded its last known location, or anything along those lines? Is there anything anyone can suggest in terms of me being able to find it?

You can upload your device flight log to the link below. There are many of us here, even with a complete disconect can give you a rough search area. You may have only lost downlink, but we won't know without seeing the log file. When you upload, place a link back here to that for others to take a look.

DJI Flight Log Viewer - Phantom Help

 

[thefalloftroy]

Hi Fly Dawg, thank you so much for your speedy reply! I am and would be SO grateful for any guidance you can give me!

I had two flight records from my flight today. I used two different batteries - it lost connection around 18% of the second battery.

I was able to gather the coordinates from its last location as far as I could tell, anyways...this is honestly the first time I've ever looked at one of these records! When I punched these into google maps and switched to satellite view, this does seem accurate in terms of where I saw it was last on the screen. Once it had lost connection, I pressed the RTH button on the controller which continued to blink and beep for 15-20 minutes but I knew that at the time it lost connection it would have only had about 5-6 minutes of flight time probably.

Any suggestions or ideas? Thank you again so much! I really appreciate it!

 

[Meta4]

I was able to gather 46.342996, -79.510234 as the coordinates from its last location...as far as I could tell, anyways...this is honestly the first time I've ever looked at one of these records! When I punched these into google maps and switched to satellite view, this does seem accurate in terms of where I saw it was last on the screen. Once it had lost connection, I pressed the RTH button on the controller which continued to blink and beep for 15-20 minutes but I knew that at the time it lost connection it would have only had about 5-6 minutes of flight time probably.

You have the coordinates for the point where the Phantom was autolanding due to low voltage and being too far from home (and too high) to get back.
The Phantom will have taken another 1.5 minutes to descend but should be close to that point.
It looks like thick forest cover so it could be caught up in a tree.
Once you lose connection, pressing the RTH button won't initiate RTH (because there's no connection).
But losing signal initiates RTH after three seconds.
However a low battery overrides RTH because the Phantom is programmed to autoland to prevent crashing rather than attempt an RTH which would result in a crash.

 

[Oso]

Hi Fly Dawg, thank you so much for your speedy reply! I am and would be SO grateful for any guidance you can give me!

I had two flight records from my flight today. I used two different batteries - it lost connection around 18% of the second battery.

Here is the first record: DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com
And here is the second (where I lost it): DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

I was able to gather 46.342996, -79.510234 as the coordinates from its last location...as far as I could tell, anyways...this is honestly the first time I've ever looked at one of these records! When I punched these into google maps and switched to satellite view, this does seem accurate in terms of where I saw it was last on the screen. Once it had lost connection, I pressed the RTH button on the controller which continued to blink and beep for 15-20 minutes but I knew that at the time it lost connection it would have only had about 5-6 minutes of flight time probably.

Any suggestions or ideas? Thank you again so much! I really appreciate it!

I must be reading the log incorrectly. It shows you flying at about 1500 feet for several minutes while about 1.5 miles away and directly in line with the runways at Jack Garland Airport. Did I see that correctly?

 

[tevek]

I must be reading the log incorrectly. It shows you flying at about 1500 feet for several minutes while about 1.5 miles away and directly in line with the runways at Jack Garland Airport. Did I see that correctly?

I saw the same thing also coupled with air space warnings and could see the tragedy unfolding. If the OP is fortunate to get the quad back, there are probably some learnings to be had.

 

[GrammatonxXXxCleric]

I'll check my Lear jet intakes for it....

 

[captainmilehigh]

I saw the same thing also coupled with air space warnings and could see the tragedy unfolding. If the OP is fortunate to get the quad back, there are probably some learnings to be had.

Yikes.

 

[LarBear360]

I saw the same thing also coupled with air space warnings and could see the tragedy unfolding. If the OP is fortunate to get the quad back, there are probably some learnings to be had.

This is a first for me: 879 feet altitude?

 

[captainmilehigh]

This is a first for me: 879 feet altitude?

Look at the flight logs. He was much higher. Yikes again.

 

[Fly Dawg]

I have seen 1500 before, but that is absolute max altitude and the result of a stuck throttle on the RC. But this was 483m....Basically the same thing. Saw that and said......Hmmmmm......What? Really? Yea, it happens with a stuck throttle. But not in this case....

 

[LarBear360]

Look at the flight logs. He was much higher. Yikes again.

I saw 879 and it started going down, so I paged a little further. Yes, YIKES!

 

[Chrislaf]

Sorry about your Phantom.
Duchesnay Falls, the launch point is quite far from Jack Garland Airport and is outside the airport airspace according to UAV forcast. The flight was within the hospital heliport zone.

I grew up in North Bay and if I remember correctly there are trails at the top of the falls. Maybe you will be able to get up there and look around there. Can't remember if any of Nipissing University trails go that far, but may be worth a try.

Will be heading up to North Bay this weekend to spend Thanksgiving with my family and am looking forward to the fall colours - hopefully they are further ahead than they are here in Barrie.

Anyway, good luck in locating your P4. Sorry, I can't be of more help but there are many experts on here that would probably be able to pinpoint where to look.

Chris

 

[thefalloftroy]

Hi everyone, thank you so much for all of your help and responses. And YIKES IS RIGHT. I had no idea how dangerous this was. I am so sorry and lucky that nothing terrible happened. I think losing the drone may have been well-deserved karma. Can someone please help my ignorance - I thought this drone had a capped altitude above which you cannot ascend for safety reasons, particularly in specific airspace?

Also as far as I know I don't have any stuck throttles, but I have had situations where the drone does not seem to be responding to my throttle controls...I have always assumed that it has been lag between the display/controller and the drone, but is this a common thing?

 

[Meta4]

Can someone please help my ignorance - I thought this drone had a capped altitude above which you cannot ascend for safety reasons, particularly in specific airspace?

The drone has a hard limit of 500 metres and a user configurable limit as well.

Also as far as I know I don't have any stuck throttles, but I have had situations where the drone does not seem to be responding to my throttle controls...I have always assumed that it has been lag between the display/controller and the drone, but is this a common thing?

You took it up to 461 metres (1515 ft) and the altitude perfectly matches the joystick control inputs.
If you have some lag in your video display, this is down to having a slow tablet and is not what's happening with the drone.

 

[Chrislaf]

If you were up around 450m (~1500ft) then you were definitely too high. Transport Canada rules stipulate below 90m AGL for drones. Here's the link to the Transport Canada website that gives you all the regulations. As Meta4 says you can set the user configurable limit so it won't go above a certain height. I have mine set so that it won't go above the 90m and stays within the regulations.

 

[thefalloftroy]

If you were up around 450m (~1500ft) then you were definitely too high. Transport Canada rules stipulate below 90m AGL for drones. Here's the link to the Transport Canada website that gives you all the regulations. As Meta4 says you can set the user configurable limit so it won't go above a certain height. I have mine set so that it won't go above the 90m and stays within the regulations.

Phew, good to know! Thank you so much! I have quite some learning to do!

 

[Chrislaf]

Regardless, use the GPS coordinates you have and see if you can get close to the location by using the trails behind the university or at the falls. As was mentioned earlier, it likely auto landed hopefully in a clearing but likely in a tree. If you had your name and contact info on it someone might find it as that area is quite a popular spot especially at this time of year.

 

[captainmilehigh]

Phew, good to know! Thank you so much! I have quite some learning to do!

Yep, live and learn. We were all new to this hobby at one point or another. Many of us learned what ‘not’ to do........sometimes the hard way, but lesson learned.

Good luck finding your wayward bird. You may want to consider attaching a tracker to your Phantom in the future. I never fly without mine. There are numerous models and features out there to suit your needs and location. Makes finding a lost bird much easier.

Again, good luck finding your bird.

 

[GrammatonxXXxCleric]

Most likely at the remaining battery levels at that height and prevailing winds aloft.. it fell to the ground or tree top in dead motor status. Phantoms are magical, but not "that" magical...