My DJI P3A Flew away just now :( what to do?

[SenginUK]

I researched the weather history for this day of the loss.
In the thumbnail below I used google earth and a red line arrow to show the exact direction of wind, plus wind speed at the time you your aircraft was lost. The Red Line is not to be confused as a suggested flight path. The line only displays the direction the wind was blowing.
- A huge factor is the wind speed for that day was constantly between 13.8-15mph! That does not include any wind gust.
In your video you mentioned the aircraft drifting away towards the North. If it was in deed drifting, I would have to say as soon a it reached the clearing the aircraft would change it's direction and follow the direction the red arrow points towards. With 15mph wind take the aircraft quickly.



View attachment 61012

Thanks for the research.
I can tell that the wind speed was 6 mph to 7 mph in Enfield-London location.
It can be 8-9 mph at 50 meters altitude.
You can find it from WindGURU: United States - Maui (north shore) and the exact location is United Kingdom - King George's Reservoir (London)

 

[SenginUK]

Every time DJI comes out with a new model, I keep hoping they will include a tracker in it. Why not do this? Because I am always amazed at how few people go to the trouble and expense of adding a tracker. This OP said he "trusted DJI", so he didn't add one. If it were me, I would blame myself for not adding a tracker.

Agree with you. It was an bad experience for me. I will add tracker next time. Hope it will not interfere.

 

[SenginUK]

I'm sorry about ur bird but I hope u had registration on it and that no one was hurt or no property damage that's what to worry about that bird at thirty meters in a flyaway it's probly wasted man when they go down they go hard now it might land when the battery goes low but again anywhere is possible if it had numbers you'll get a.call

I did not have my contact number on it, I posted signs around the incident area.

 

[SenginUK]

I feel like it is in or around the trees the red arrow is pointing towards in the image I uploaded the other day(upper right hand corner of image).

Unfortunately, it was 2,5 kms far away from that trees what I saw from my screen last (12%) when the video tramission lost.

 

[SenginUK]

I feel like it is in or around the trees the red arrow is pointing towards in the image I uploaded the other day(upper right hand corner of image).

Do you think it came back to that trees from 12% to 10%?

 

[SenginUK]

when gps is lost it is in A mode ATTI so at that point your on your own.. meaning it is drifting with the wind and you have to fly it back manualy.
go home has no affect as it does not know where it is so it could fly anywhere it thinks home is..
Im not saying the phantom was not at fault, im just saying next time be ready for this next time as you have more chance of saving it.
Hope you find it or dji cough up for you.. all the best

There was no control on horizontal, otherwise I could bring it back to me for sure.

 

[SenginUK]

Guys I've got to be honest. This really scares the crap out of me. I haven'tbought one yet, I've been doing research on them. But how can I make this so I don't have $1500 fly away from me.

We are playing with a dangerous toy for sure, it we lose the control, it can damage anything.

 

[SenginUK]

If you don't find it, people in the UK are going to be eating Phantom 3 in their bread. MmmmmMMmmm TASTY! HAHA!

That's great that DJI is admitting their fault and are going to do the replacement. I wonder what the failure rate is of the GPS modules?

I agree, you're not going to find it just walking around out there in those wheat fields, nearly impossible. In addition to looking via another flying camera, perhaps you might get some help from a crop duster or helicopter pilot. Or maybe see what an aerial photography firm would charge to go out and take some high-resolution imagery of that wheat field. Even from the air though, you're going to need some luck to find it because you're going to need to be looking nearly straight down on it.

Someone ought to offer a drone recovery service! That might be a good business to get into given how popular drones are becoming. I just saw an ad on Craigslist the other day from someone in my area that lost an Inspire 1.

One of a friend from this forum will help me tomorrow with his P3. We will try to find it from air, we will check the trees and edges.

 

[SenginUK]

I've never seen anything like this flyaway before. I'd say the chances of anything like this happening to someone else are pretty low. The only thing the OP could have done better was install a GPS tracker on his Phantom. While that would not have prevented this incident, it would have at least allowed him to recover his Phantom.

I bought TK102B, If I use it, do you think it can interfere with the drone?
this is the gps tracker:
VEHICLE GSM GPRS GPS TRACKER CAR TRACKING LOCATOR TK102B DEVICE FADDISH

 

[SenginUK]

Flyaway Phantoms are very rare.
Most users have a trouble free experience.
The things you can do to ensure you do too include reading the manual, understanding how the Phantom works, not being too adventurous when you are starting out and flying in a large open area clear of obstructions.
Here's a well written piece that might help you: Fear of Flying 2016 - The Last Word on Drone Flyaways! - Drone Flyers

To put things in perspective, here are some annual numbers for causes of accidental death in the USA:

Drowning 4000
Falls 30000
Motor vehicles 33000
Pedestrian 5000​

But you still swim, use stairs and ladders, drive to the shops and walk across the street?

very nice article

 

[msinger]

I bought TK102B, If I use it, do you think it can interfere with the drone?

It should be fine. That's a commonly used tracker.

 

[SenginUK]

At least you can use the new Phantom to search the fields in a more effective way to find the lost one.

one of a friend from this forum will help me tomorrow with his P3. we will check the trees and edges from the air.

 

[SenginUK]

Kinda the same thing happened to me... Like a typical newbie... I went down to Kalapana - by the ocean - Made sure the winds where I was launching from were not going out to sea, then launched... but the winds immediately carried it FAST away from me... panicking I hit RTH... but forgot to change the RTH altitude to something reasonable - had it set to 180 ft after flying around my property which has some high trees... Up up and away she went... galant gal turned and tried to head back to me, but the winds were stronger up there and just like a sailboat... she was edging towards me against the wind, but was slipping rapidly out over the ocean... then signals started to get weak... I panicked and pulled left stick down hard... she came down - I took a bead on her general direction then me and Jax (my dog) took off to find her. Sure enough she was laying upside down props grinding into the lava... but apart from props she is fine... HARD lesson to learn...

Hope your experience turns out as well... good luck...

Aloha

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[SenginUK]

WOW!! I just want to say, I've been keeping an eye on this post as its something we all fear happening, first and most important thing I'd like to say, this community is awesome, the amount of help and replies you got helping you is mind blowing! Makes me feel so much better about my choice. The only real complaint I researched when it came to my choice of drone, the Chroma or Phantom 3, was DJI had the worst customer support and Chroma, Horizon Hobby had the best. Since I've been on these forums I haven't really read anything that terrible from DJI, if anything its the opposite and this post proves that, I mean they are giving you a brand spankin new drone! I'm not sure if other companies do that but that is HUGE.I'm in the process of RMA'ing my P3P as we speak, so far I received emails from DJI walking me through the process more so then other companies (Corsair,NZXT,MSI) which get great reviews.

OP I'm so happy DJI is taking care of you!
now someone show me where this terrible customer support from DJI is (crosses finger, don't jinx me, don't jinx me)

it is good that DJI is taking care of me but ths incident scared me.
It could hurt someone, damage something, it could go to the highway, dont know, could be anything whoch we cannot control.
When I think of this, I think twice where to fly. Even flying far from buildings, people, highways etc. if something happens like mine, it can damage something.
Dont know what to say.

 

[flyNfrank]

Do you think it came back to that trees from 12% to 10%?

The Red Line with arrows I put on the image shows the Exact Direction of Wind Travel at the time data stopped. This is no guess, it is fact. I wanted this to be exact so I installed a compass on google earth so I could give you the best details under the circumstances.
To come up with the exact direction I use the Flight Pitch, Roll, and Yaw data. I first discovered the flight log data consisted of "good" and "corrupt" data. I then searched for "good" Roll data with long periods of flight. Once I found the formula I was after I recorded this and saved it for the final analysis.

So regardless of Wind Speed or any other data, you now have what I would refer to as the holy grail in what should be the most important detail in terms of searching for your aircraft.

I can also share from personal experience if the aircraft is in a tree, it will be better searched for by use of another aircraft. The reason for this is mostly due to the tree's now being covered with their leaves. If there was no leaves to block visibility, then the best process I found was by using binoculars and standing a short distance away.

I went through doing this two different times before the P3 came out. After the last time I painted my next aircraft with Neon "Day-Glo" Red paint that looked like a fireball. I went to a craft store and bought small 1 inch round mirrors and attached them on parts of the aircraft using velcro. I also attached a small crystal prism. After doing these very light weight and very reflective items, I had absolutely no problem seeing my aircraft from a far distance. I had a friend hide the aircraft on a 15 acre wooded lot away from the city. I then used his aircraft and flew around while recording video. I wasn't able to see it while in flight due to poor resolution, but after coming home and looking over the video I spotted it in a short time.

I hope some of this helps you locate your aircraft as well as anyone else that might read and remember parts of it.

 

[SenginUK]

My DJI Box delivered to DJI EU office by today. Lets see what will they say.
I will update you.

BTW, Thanks to razzyh , he came to Enfield to meet me and we checked the top of the edge trees of the first field with his P3, then rain started and could not continue for the other fields.
It is really hard to see something on the tress bcs of the leaves.

 

[chris digata]

There was no control on horizontal, otherwise I could bring it back to me for sure.

no control because it was in RTH at that point and you had smart rth on so can move it a tad but it is still trying to workout where home is.. never have it in RTH when no gps or if not doing what asked

 

[John Henry]

Sorry you got in this mess. Here is some info that may be helpful for you: What To Do In Case of a DJI Phantom Flyaway? - Dronethusiast

 

[SenginUK]

Hi Guys,
Long time could not log in here.
I want to inform you about the result.
DJI technicians decided that it is the quadcopter's fault and they sent me RMA which I fullfilled then they picked up via UPS company, after 2 weeks result came and they sent me a new P3 Advanced.
I am very happy that I bought the DJI as their customer service is working perfectly.
I went to Maldives after receiving the P3A.
You may see my video;