My crash. Cherry Hill, NJ scouting mission?

[witold]

In general, I fly low and fast in ATTI. But a few days ago I was flying FPV. For me, this means going slow in GPS mode and looking around. Nothing special.

But all the sudden I see that the P2 is tilted at a very steep angle. I try to correct but I don't think it did anything. It happened quick and then all I saw was leaves/branches.

After the crash, I was still getting video signal. I know my Phantom is 205 meters away and 10 meters up on a tree and I have the azimuth angle. I have it all plotted out on a map giving me 2 potential crash sites. Both of the sites are where the grass field turns into forest. The problem is that 33 feet up is really hard to scout...

Anyone near Cherry Hill, NJ willing to fly up to see what is out there? :?:

PS. Upon every start up, I calibrate (even though I usually fly at the same field) and I run the motors on the ground to spot any potential problems. After take off, I observe how it hovers and how it handles before going anywhere and check the OSD to make sure everything looks normal. (no weird distance/elevation readings, satellites, etc)

On this day, everything looked fine when I took off. I had 13 satellites and this is a wide open area. This was a new battery with <5 flights on it and problem occurred when Iosd was showing 55% or so... I don't know what happened, but the SD card might solve this question...

 

[ProfessorStein]

Any chance that it was less a mechanical failure and more that you just ran into a branch? That would certainly explain the tilting.

 

[witold]

Any chance that it was less a mechanical failure and more that you just ran into a branch? That would certainly explain the tilting.

It's very possible, if not probable. I would really love to find it and see the video to see what happened. I really wish Black Pearl monitor had DVR...

 

[ProfessorStein]

Problem is, if it runs out of battery (which it will) without you stopping the recording, the video is likely going to be corrupt and unplayable.

 

[sidebox]

Problem is, if it runs out of battery (which it will) without you stopping the recording, the video is likely going to be corrupt and unplayable.

You can finalize a corrupt file by powering it up again for 30 seconds with the card inserted, then powering off. Per: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPi_zsQveSI

 

[witold]

Not sure why any of this matters. People know when they're running low on battery and if in doubt, they can just stop and restart dvr to get most of the footage...

 

[ProfessorStein]

It's a recovery issue, witold. Unless you're psychic, you don't really know when you're going to crash or experience a flyaway. If, while you're recording, you crash and the battery pops out, you'll need to go back and finalize the file before it will play. If, while you're recording, you have a flyaway (or faraway crash), your Phantom could be sitting somewhere, in parts unknown, until it's battery runs out. This is what I thought happened to you, that's why I mentioned it. In which case you would need to finalize the file before it would play.

Of course, the finalizing proceedure doesn't ALWAYS work... in which case your video would be lost.

But, if you were smart enough to stop your video in the midst of your crash, as you say, then I guess you're good.

 

[witold]

If, while you're recording, you have a flyaway (or faraway crash), your Phantom could be sitting somewhere, in parts unknown, until it's battery runs out. This is what I thought happened to you, that's why I mentioned it. In which case you would need to finalize the file before it would play.

But, if you were smart enough to stop your video in the midst of your crash, as you say, then I guess you're good.

When the video transmission dies, the screen still records what's on the screen; static. Right? Why would you need to stop the video recording in the midst of the crash?

So even if phantom falls into the lake and all you get is static, you can just stop the DVR recording and you're good... ... and you can restart the DVR to keep recording just in case signal picks up again... I presume that's how DVRs on these monitors work...

After the crash, I was still getting FPV for a good 10 minutes and was looking at leaves and branches and the non-moving iOSD stats...

 

[ProfessorStein]

But you were talking about recovering the video FROM YOUR PHANTOM... not a DVR. That's what I'm saying. The onboard video on your SD card will not open/play, after a power loss, unless you are able to finalize it.

You said you didn't even HAVE a DVR... so I'm not sure how that even came into play.

 

[witold]

You said you didn't even HAVE a DVR... so I'm not sure how that even came into play.

Any chance that it was less a mechanical failure and more that you just ran into a branch? That would certainly explain the tilting.

It's very possible, if not probable. I would really love to find it and see the video to see what happened. I really wish Black Pearl monitor had DVR...

I wish BP had DVR so it would help in recovery, and I wish GP saved the footage so I could see what happened. At the very least, if it hits 4 gigs it will save it... I think camera was charged so it should have that footage...

 

[ProfessorStein]

I think you're missing it. If the main system loses power - either the battery pops out or runs down (which it will, if your Phantom is just sitting in that tree all night waiting for you to find it) - the onboard camera will be unable to finalize any video that happens to be recording at the time. You will need to try to finalize it before it will play.

Nuff' said.

Hope you find someone near Jersey that's able to help you find and recover.

 

[phantom7]

Witold. .. Any luck in recovery efforts? I'm just south of Philly
45 mins from you

 

[samd012]

Hammonton (work Lindenwold) here, let me know!!

 

[witold]

UPDATE:

Today I went to the field for the last time. The plan was to ignore my search map based on OSD stats (distance/height/azimuth) and just do one last loop around the whole RC field and say goodbye.

But things turned out differently.

Literally _minutes_ into my walk, the Phantom appeared. It was on the ground, presumably falling from the tree over night. Easiest search ever. Aside from bent landing gear and props, it appears to be in good shape.

The big problem is that there was heavy rain the night prior. :?

The Phantom and gopro are now sitting in a plastic bag with some rice in it to help absorb any moisture. Once I take it out, I will open up the shell and inspect... Do you guys recommend I do anything else?

The battery has 1 blinking bar, as expected. Can I consider this my 8% discharge - as recommended by DJI for every 20 flights - and put it on the charger?

 

[witold]

phantom7 and samd012,

Thank you guys for jumping into this thread. Seemingly not a lot of people flying quads in this region...

 

[phantom7]

That's great news on your find. Now to pull all the unfortunate moisture and get back to flying.
I personally would probably open up the shell now to inspect and help in releasing any trapped water/moisture. Unplug everything possible including gps, compass, osd, zenmuse etc..
Best of luck! Let us know how it turns out.

 

[Madwak]

Glad you found it, was it where you thought it was from all you're detective work?

 

[syotr]

Glad you found it. I would recommend opening it up, unbolting all of the boards and blowing out underneath all with warm air. Pack everything in instant rice (better than just dry rice) and let it sit for several days before applying power. I would dry the battery the same way before attempting to charge it.
Good luck.

 

[witold]

Glad you found it, was it where you thought it was from all you're detective work?

Azimuth angle was a little off (even after adjusting for declination) which put it a little further into the woods. But basically, yeah... it was where it was supposed to be.

I think you guys are right... I will open up the shell right now and unplug things and continue drying in rice. That seems better than waiting and then opening up the shell...