Had a very hectic afternoon; the blimp was flying over my house, so stupid me grabbed the drone for some sick Aerial shots, rushed her up in the air without calibrating the gps or the compass and sent her up, before I knew it the wind had took her and she was gone, I tried to bring her home but no chance I shut the remote off hoping it will come back (fail safe) but it kept going I'm guessing this is because the gps wasn't set??. So the $1500 drone hunt had begun, I walked trespassing kilometres looking before my mate joined the chase, long grass snakes kangaroos and rabbits making it extremely difficult. It's getting darker, will the lights still be on to make it easy to find at night. I've synced my phone up with the wifi extender but all I'm getting is vision lost and when I try to find it all it tells me is where I launched it at my house. Please help there is miles to search. What happens when it loses signal of remote without gps lock on??? Is it close or gone forever ??
My Drone Flew Away, there goes over $1000
- Thread starter Str8rippin
- Start date
I think it's lost for good unless you put your name and number on it and someone contacts you. Even with the correct last known location, finding a lost phantom can be hard.
It probably did eventually get GPS lock while in the air. Depending on how it was configured and whether you left it in GPS or manual mode before shutting off the TX would have a big impact on where it landed.
If you can estimate how high it was when you lost control, as well as average speed and direction of the prevailing winds, then you can start to calculate a range of possible landing sites and start your search there. Start by assuming it continued to descend at the maximum rate the phantom will allow (which I don't know off the top of my head - very slow).
It probably did eventually get GPS lock while in the air. Depending on how it was configured and whether you left it in GPS or manual mode before shutting off the TX would have a big impact on where it landed.
If you can estimate how high it was when you lost control, as well as average speed and direction of the prevailing winds, then you can start to calculate a range of possible landing sites and start your search there. Start by assuming it continued to descend at the maximum rate the phantom will allow (which I don't know off the top of my head - very slow).
Meta4
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Sorry to hear your story.
"rushed her up in the air without calibrating the gps or the compass and sent her up, before I knew it the wind had took her and she was gone"
You can't calibrate the GPS and there is no need to calibrate the compass each flight.
If you find it or buy another, it is essential that you get sat lock and properly record your home point before flying off.
Without GPS your bird will drift on the wind unless you pilot it.
Sounds like a needle/haystack operation to find it.
What part of Australia are you in?
"rushed her up in the air without calibrating the gps or the compass and sent her up, before I knew it the wind had took her and she was gone"
You can't calibrate the GPS and there is no need to calibrate the compass each flight.
If you find it or buy another, it is essential that you get sat lock and properly record your home point before flying off.
Without GPS your bird will drift on the wind unless you pilot it.
Sounds like a needle/haystack operation to find it.
What part of Australia are you in?
N017RW
Premium Pilot
Have you looked at the Find my Phantom section in the app?
It should show where it was when last in contact or last turned off.
It mat be somewhat helpful even if only to estimate which way it was going.
It should show where it was when last in contact or last turned off.
It mat be somewhat helpful even if only to estimate which way it was going.
First off, sorry for your loss. From your verbage it is clear you didn't have a good understanding of how your aircraft operates before you flew this mission. Like Meta4 said, there is no such thing as calibrating the GPS. Because you were flying in ATTI mode (you may not know what that is), and shut off the controller, it may have begun landing at that point, still drifting with the wind mind you. If it acquired sat lock BEFORE you turned off the controller, it may have stored a home point, but that home point would be likely far from where you were. If after that the aircraft lost control signal, it would return to the unknown home point. I think you see where all this is going. There are many different scenarios that could have occured, we are only mentioning a few.
Good luck finding it, and I mean that.
Good luck finding it, and I mean that.
EVERYBODY, WE FOUND HER SAFE AND SOUND, 4h later after in pitch darkness scould see the flashing lights about 1 mile from takeoff point, so I'm assuming it slowly decended when i turned off the controller and made an acceptable Landing in grassland. I have learnt 2 things from this, 1. Wait for gps lock before ascending, and 2 don't use in high winds.
Thanks for replies im so happy now.
Thanks for replies im so happy now.
msinger
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Awesome 
If you're planning on taking more adventurous flights like this, you might want to invest in a tracker. There is a good list of trackers in the "Accessories" section at https://www.phantomhelp.com.
If you're planning on taking more adventurous flights like this, you might want to invest in a tracker. There is a good list of trackers in the "Accessories" section at https://www.phantomhelp.com.
Str8rippin said:
When there is strong winds, stay out of atti mode except when you are flying into the wind. In that case it might be the one and only way to get your quad back home safe. Other then that use gps mode.
Btw, if you can not get a 6 satellite lock while staged on the launch pad, you can go up to a higher altitude to get that lock. I start at around 60ft then I try 80ft and so on. I have also found that if you run the prop speed up to the point of not lifting off the launch pad, you can get the gps number to increase.
You should ground yourself for a while and spend some more time reading and youtubing. It will save you $$$$$ and time looking for her or sending her away for repairs.
I spent 2 weeks waiting for delivery. In those 2 weeks i researched everything about the normal vision.
I spent 2 weeks waiting for delivery. In those 2 weeks i researched everything about the normal vision.
First off .... Congrats on the find ....... I know you will sleep better and thanks for the Lesson hopefully we all have learned .....
I'm brand new at this but I would think this could be the number one no no ...... Taking Flight without GPS Lock ..... But just for the sake of a solution .... Could have Str8rippin switched to Atti and gained control? .... otf
I'm brand new at this but I would think this could be the number one no no ...... Taking Flight without GPS Lock ..... But just for the sake of a solution .... Could have Str8rippin switched to Atti and gained control? .... otf
Meta4
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[quote="offthefront"Taking Flight without GPS Lock ..... But just for the sake of a solution .... Could have Str8rippin switched to Atti and gained control? .... otf[/quote]
If he has no GPS lock, he's automatically in atti anyway. No need to switch.
If he has no GPS lock, he's automatically in atti anyway. No need to switch.
If he has no GPS lock, he's automatically in atti anyway. No need to switch.[/quote]Meta4 said:
So ......there was another issue? Or maybe some panic thrown in with a windy day .....
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