My first crash was an interesting one. Help needed.

[BudWalker]

Appreciate the help but you're looking at it wrong.

I am an experienced flier. First, you can't fly a WP in ATTI. The third mission for all intense and purposes began at R where it says "Starting Waypoint Mission" and entered NaviGo. Until the crash, and right before it, the only notice I got was right before the crash where it said "altitude limit mode".

Look from R. That was the third round and it says "Starting waypoint mission". No warning from there. Sometimes I switch to sport mode or atti mode to get it back to the area that is near the first WP mission. Again, 3 WP missions here, not one, for purposes of ease, I've just posted the part where it went from WP mode to the crash.

Thanks for looking into it!

@JohnnyB

EDIT: For reference, look at this. I just copy and pasted but it should show you what I mean. I was in atti and/or sport to return to the WP first point, and then switched to and began the WP mission which it flew correctly two times on this flight before it.

So as you can see, I was most certainly in GPS WP mode when it crashed. I would love to see what I was doing on the sticks at that time but don't know how. I was aware at that moment because it didn't go through the two trees that it did the last two times the something was up. It HAD to be the Altitude Limit Mode or just maybe interference or just a freak out on the board? I have no idea which is why I am so perplexed. If I knew why, I wouldn't post this. So frustrating now knowing why it acted this way.

P 07m 09s 128.6 ft 41 ft Mode Mode changed to GPS_Atti
Q 07m 36s 128.3 ft 41 ft Tip Waypoint Mission Started__Return-to-Home Altitude:492FT
R 07m 36s 128.3 ft 41 ft Mode Mode changed to Waypoint
S 07m 50s 75.8 ft 12 ft Tip Arrived at Start Point. Starting Waypoint Mission
T 09m 39s 132.5 ft 926 ft Warning Warning:Altitude Limited Mode Entered
U 09m 41s 136.2 ft 943 ft Warning Warning:Altitude Limited Mode Entered
V 09m 43s 139.1 ft 958 ft Warning Warning:Altitude Limited Mode Entered
W 10m 00s 169.6 ft 1,078 ft Warning Warning:Altitude Limited Mode Entered
X 10m 46s 134.2 ft 781 ft Warning Warning:Altitude Limited Mode Entered
Y 10m 49s 130.6 ft 761 ft Warning Warning:Motor Obstructed

It began the WP mission at 7m 36s

and first warning was "altitude limit mode entered" which frankly didn't scare me. Thought it was just some safety mode that I was unaware of.

A couple minutes later and less than a minute from the crash I got the first warning. The crash happened at about X and Y. I did' realize it was heading for that tree until W and that 46 seconds wasn't enough time to correct what was wrong although I was calm the whole time. I almost, as evidenced by the video escaped the tree but missed it by a nano inch.

Thanks again

The .txt is what I was needing. The PhantomHelp link will show a page with a link that will allow the original .txt to be downloaded.

This .txt had two WP missions. Possibly the first WP mission is in a separate .txt; a new .txt is created when the P4 is landed. In this .txt it appears that the WP missions are identical, but the first WP mission was aborted and the P4 was brought back to the home point and the second WP mission was initiated.
At time 647.86 it appears that the P4 while still in WP mode stopped and started thrashing around.

The GE image doesn't show anything that it would've hit. Maybe the image is off some.

You asked about the control inputs. Might be a little hard to interpret.

This shows that the throttle had just been pushed all the way forward. The elevator was pushed all the way forward a few seconds later.

It looks to me like the WP mission path took it directly into what ever it hit. The first WP was aborted before it got that far. The flight actually lasted for another 36 seconds. When the RTH button was pressed at 674 secs it couldn't. From your description I'm supposing that it was hung up in the tree.

 

[ftttu]

BudWalker = NTSB Investigator

 

[Jussaguy]

The .txt is what I was needing. The PhantomHelp link will show a page with a link that will allow the original .txt to be downloaded.

This .txt had two WP missions. Possibly the first WP mission is in a separate .txt; a new .txt is created when the P4 is landed. In this .txt it appears that the WP missions are identical, but the first WP mission was aborted and the P4 was brought back to the home point and the second WP mission was initiated.
At time 647.86 it appears that the P4 while still in WP mode stopped and started thrashing around.
View attachment 73762
The GE image doesn't show anything that it would've hit. Maybe the image is off some.
View attachment 73763
You asked about the control inputs. Might be a little hard to interpret.
View attachment 73764
This shows that the throttle had just been pushed all the way forward. The elevator was pushed all the way forward a few seconds later.

It looks to me like the WP mission path took it directly into what ever it hit. The first WP was aborted before it got that far. The flight actually lasted for another 36 seconds. When the RTH button was pressed at 674 secs it couldn't. From your description I'm supposing that it was hung up in the tree.

EXACTLY!!!

You are a stud.

When the first mission was on and everything seemed fine and when it was essentially done, I ended it and brought it back to around where the first WP point was to begin the mission again. When I said three missions, the first was actually just me marking the points. It wasn't really a mission, so you are dead on, it was two missions.

The second WP mission that was "identical" was, as evidenced by the video, NOT identical and I would imagine the thrashing around was the crash in the tree so the question is which is what I have been wondering since the first post is WHAT caused it to not be on the same identical mission when it was the same identical mission?

Or to put in English, what caused the mission to go off course? I have been guessing it was that warning but I would think that would be more of a warning. My only cue was that it didn't go through those two trees that it did the first time on the video.

However, the first WP mission wasn't aborted before that spot. It was aborted when it was generally close to the final point. But even if, why would it hit something that it wasn't marked? Obviously if the WP mission was set without coming close to hitting any trees, it shouldn't hit a tree, right?

And YES, I hit RTH once it hit the tree. I was trying everything once I was in the tree. I felt pretty safe up until seconds before it hit the tree as if you watch the video, it shows how hard it is to even see on a monitor, let alone on an iPad in very bright SoCal sun. I left it on after the "tree landing" for quite a little bit.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

EDIT: When I get a moment, which I don't currently have, I will upload the records for the flight before it and see what you can make of that because I do believe I landed once. I did a flight around the other side of the valley first and ran out that battery down to 20% and did have to make a landing and maybe that was the flight that I set the waypoints on.

I'll do it tonight. Thank you so much again for your help. It is appreciated!

Also, so much for OA! Lol.

I wonder if the Altitude Limited Mode Entered warning had anything to do with the class B airspace warning? Maybe it was trying to keep it lower. Just an idea, I've never flow in class b airspace or seen either warning.

This is what I am thinking as well. I was thinking it was because of the valley though, not the Class B, but maybe you're right. I have flown here so many times, and I have never once seen that warning though.

 

[BudWalker]

EXACTLY!!!

You are a stud.

When the first mission was on and everything seemed fine and when it was essentially done, I ended it and brought it back to around where the first WP point was to begin the mission again. When I said three missions, the first was actually just me marking the points. It wasn't really a mission, so you are dead on, it was two missions.

The second WP mission that was "identical" was, as evidenced by the video, NOT identical and I would imagine the thrashing around was the crash in the tree so the question is which is what I have been wondering since the first post is WHAT caused it to not be on the same identical mission when it was the same identical mission?

Or to put in English, what caused the mission to go off course? I have been guessing it was that warning but I would think that would be more of a warning. My only cue was that it didn't go through those two trees that it did the first time on the video.

However, the first WP mission wasn't aborted before that spot. It was aborted when it was generally close to the final point. But even if, why would it hit something that it wasn't marked? Obviously if the WP mission was set without coming close to hitting any trees, it shouldn't hit a tree, right?

And YES, I hit RTH once it hit the tree. I was trying everything once I was in the tree. I felt pretty safe up until seconds before it hit the tree as if you watch the video, it shows how hard it is to even see on a monitor, let alone on an iPad in very bright SoCal sun. I left it on after the "tree landing" for quite a little bit.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

EDIT: When I get a moment, which I don't currently have, I will upload the records for the flight before it and see what you can make of that because I do believe I landed once. I did a flight around the other side of the valley first and ran out that battery down to 20% and did have to make a landing and maybe that was the flight that I set the waypoints on.

I'll do it tonight. Thank you so much again for your help. It is appreciated!

Also, so much for OA! Lol.


This is what I am thinking as well. I was thinking it was because of the valley though, not the Class B, but maybe you're right. I have flown here so many times, and I have never once seen that warning though.

Another possibility to consider is that the WP mission actually includes hitting the tree. The first time it was aborted when you thought it was close to being done but it actually had a lot more to go.

The A symbol marks the spot where it was aborted the first time.

I'm not familiar with the DJI Go App WP planner. Is it possible that the mission actually includes the segment outlined in yellow?

 

[Mike_in_Letcombe]

Tell George he's breaking your Human Rights and you'll hire his wife (Human Rights lawyer) to sue him....
[emoji41][emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[Jussaguy]

I wonder if the Altitude Limited Mode Entered warning had anything to do with the class B airspace warning? Maybe it was trying to keep it lower. Just an idea, I've never flow in class b airspace or seen either warning.

This is what I am thinking as well. I was thinking it was because of the valley though, not the Class B.

Another possibility to consider is that the WP mission actually includes hitting the tree. The first time it was aborted when you thought it was close to being done but it actually had a lot more to go.
View attachment 73807
The A symbol marks the spot where it was aborted the first time.

I'm not familiar with the DJI Go App WP planner. Is it possible that the mission actually includes the segment outlined in yellow?

Thanka for all this recon for me brother!

I don't know the answer. I thought I was past the part that I aborted the first round because I usually do when it's pretty close to me.

It definitely didn't hit the tree when I was setting the points obviously so at best, it didn't follow the points.

I'm actually just going to bed but I will look at this more when I rise.

I can't thank you enough. You're a real gentleman and I appreciate it.

I will go back out there and run the same mission. It's still saved and see what happens. It was definitely off course. Don't know why.

You have to run the mission in the GoApp for the very reason that you don't hit something so my only conclusion is that the warning that I don't understand threw it off as it didn't go through the trees and apparently I aborted it before that point on the first round.

I would love to know how to get the mission out of the app. Is it possible?

 

[BudWalker]

This is what I am thinking as well. I was thinking it was because of the valley though, not the Class B.

Thanka for all this recon for me brother!

I don't know the answer. I thought I was past the part that I aborted the first round because I usually do when it's pretty close to me.

It definitely didn't hit the tree when I was setting the points obviously so at best, it didn't follow the points.

I'm actual just going to bed but I will look at this more when I rise.

I can't thank you enough. You're a real gentleman and I appreciate it.

With the WP mission planner I use there are a couple of options for what to do after the mission is complete. One is to just hover, the other is to RTH. I suspect your mission uses the RTH option which resulted in the slow right turn and then a straight line towards home.

 

[Jussaguy]

With the WP mission planner I use there are a couple of options for what to do after the mission is complete. One is to just hover, the other is to RTH. I suspect your mission uses the RTH option which resulted in the slow right turn and then a straight line towards home.

I am still just half awake but I always make my last WP very close to the starting one. So close that I don't even remember if it's set to RTH or Hover after. It does always tell me my RTH hight at the beginning of every WP but like I said, I always abort when it's done what I want and that turn home after going through the two trees is a planned turn.

Either way, if RTH was actually initiated, wouldn't it say so in the logs. It was still on the WP mission mode on the way back and also my RTH height was set very high as usual because I only use it when I am being lazy or lose sight of the bird, of which neither standard was met.

At this point, I'm more curious than anything.

Thanks for your help!

Truly.

 

[Easy-V]

So, do you always plan WP missions to do racetracks around and above other people's houses? Seems odd to me when there is open land to the NW of the home Point.

I'm not judging, nor accusing, just wondering why...

 

[Jussaguy]

So, do you always plan WP missions to do racetracks around and above other people's houses? Seems odd to me when there is open land to the NW of the home Point.

I'm not judging, nor accusing, just wondering why...

On the WP mission, I was over nobody's house until it went off course and anyway, I don't always do anything but if I wanted to fly over someone's house in an open area to record a backplate like I was, I would but that wasn't the situation here.

Contrary to popular belief, you can't spy on anyone with a UAS. It's a myth.

If you wanted to spy on someone you would need a much more telephoto and quiter camera.

And anyhow, I very rarely do waypoint missions and when I do, it's not usually with the GoApp unless I'm in a rush.

I'm beginning to feel like a broken record. I've said this in some form or another about 20x in this thread.

I'm just trying to figure out what happened to my P4 and why and at least 50% of the people want to talk about things that don't matter at all.

I've got the information from BudWalker that I think I need. This has been a painful thread defending nothing after nothing and I think it's time for this thread to be deleted.

It appears that conclusion has been met. The "altitude limit mode" obviously had some effect on the waypoints and the only thing I don't know at this point is why it was in that mode and I'll have to ask DJI that question because nobody, including myself, seems to know. I should have aborted when I got that warning. Learned the hard way. Oh well.

I really do appreciate everyone's help!

Thank you.

 

[Slackware]

This is the most bizarre thing I have read here... You landed a drone on George Clooneys tree and now he has stolen it


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

"The China Job". Maybe he is immersing himself into the part.
Or still mad about Trump who will NEVER be president. LOL.

 

[Slackware]

IF it was still up the tree, I'd show the property owner the waypoint mission on your device and offer to show and/or release the SD card's footage, showing them it was a technical malfunction. I completely understand these people's constant fight with paparazzi/privacy issues.

Dirty Bird - the Litchi waypoint mission KING, has that video on his YouTube channel where a Mavic Pro failed more than once on a mission through downtown Baltimore. It was a miracle it was recovered.

Since the mission is uploaded to the bird, I can only think that strong interference to the bird's sensors/navigation, is at fault. Otherwise, it could be a hardware/software fault caused by a power fluctuation. Who knows, but I hope you find out since I don't want to suffer the same fate since I'm flying so many Litchi missions. Good luck!

Wouldn't surprise me they broadcast white noise and rf to keep out parabolic mics and disrupt communication from the press.

 

[Slackware]

Thanks FT. Really appreciate it.



This was right before it hit and it was trying not to:

Is that Chevy Chase as the invisible man in the upper left of pool, it is about the right size for a person?

 

[Jussaguy]

I posted a thread with a tutorial, a review and some beautiful aerial shots of Southern California and my crash thread has turned into a Trump political threads while that doesn't even get a response?

I want to obliterate this thread but I also want to leave it for people that search "altitude limit mode".

Can we let this thread die now please so I don't have to delete it, if I even can?

 

[Jussaguy]

Is that Chevy Chase as the invisible man in the upper left of pool, it is about the right size for a person?

You do realize how high that is. That's not even a small pool. Forced perspective is a photography term ya know?

To say this thread has gone off topic and unfunny would be an understatement. Let's not make me delete it please. If these jokes were funny, would be one thing but well...

And by the way, that small pool and house is probably in the range of 2-3 million dollars.

Here is a much more interesting video showing off the PolarPro filters. There is also a tutorial I posted for them. Why don't you guys post in there?

 

[Jussaguy]

So I finally spoke to DJI after I had my ducks in a row on what I wanted to say to then and they told me (from Carson) that they have been getting a lot on issues with this exact thing happening on WP missions since the latest firmware and they are aware of it and they sent me a label and she told me that I probably based on what was described that it will be covered over warranty.

So after all, it was just a malfunction of the WP mode. I would beware of using GoApp for WPs or at least pay close attention and if you get a "altitude limit mode entered" warning, abort immediately.

I've had several successful missions on this firmware and I'm on old firmware. I haven't updated since everything had been working great for me.

Thanks for your help guys.

 

[John Locke]

I'm glad the call to DJI worked out for you. I was wondering, when you saw the craft take off on it's own random mission, did you try the pause button, or try pushing the RTH button before it hit the tree? Was it unresponsive, or did this just happen so fast you didn't get a chance to try those abort tactics?

 

[Jussaguy]

I'm glad the call to DJI worked out for you. I was wondering, when you saw the craft take off on it's own random mission, did you try the pause button, or try pushing the RTH button before it hit the tree? Was it unresponsive, or did this just happen so fast you didn't get a chance to try those abort tactics?

I should have realized it was off course and aborted when it didn't go straight through those two trees in the video. I chalked it up to wind or maybe me accidentally doing something. The dumbest thing I did was not abort at THAT point.

I had 36 seconds from when I made the turn and had the tree in my view and probably about 15 seconds to react but to be honest, I didn't think I was going to hit that tree until just a second before I did.

For sure, a more cautious flight (and I wasn't being uncautious) could have saved it (that and someone willing to let me get it before it fell out)

Yeah, even in non-pilot error deemed casualties, there are things that could have been done to avoid it but hindsight is 20/20.

I'll certainly try and be more cautious in the future which is probably overboard. My friends make fun of me for how cautious I fly but that's because I like to fly dangerous type flights. Like the day I was comfortable enough to run low orbitals around surfers in Malibu was a great day for me.

But now that I've had my first real accident, I'll be much more humble about my invincibility that I thought I had. (Not really but you know)

Didn't want you to think it was someone else posting so I made it too long. But yeah, the last one. Along with it going off course because of that warning that the DJI rep didn't know what it meant either, I let myself get in a position that it was too late to respond.

The biggest lesson I've learned though is DONT bring your issue to the DJI forums (at least me). I got zero help unlike here where everyone was awesome. The forum there were loaded with people that thought I was working am angle to lay blame rather than what I was actually trying to do and that is just find out how or why it happened. So thanks to all and especially Bud!

 

[Jussaguy]

Hey guys.

Just because I know you were waiting on pins and needles, I thought I would post the end result of my interaction with DJI on this crash

First I wanted to say (as I did in the DJI forum) that support was EXCELLENT. They were very responsive and quite nice.

The first quote I was actually pretty happy with, but the flight record hadn't been uploaded as there was a problem syncing the crashed flight but once I sent it to them, they actually took what was already a pretty low quote of $360 and removed the labor to bring it to a measly $231 total and that included the parts, labor and shipping both ways. CANNOT complain about that at all.

The only expensive damaged part was the 3 in 1 component board and other than that, I sort of got lucky.

Here is the final

FINAL RESULT:

I am pleased! Thank you DJI.



This was the final e-mail I got, and that was after they called me directly. Their support was top notch. I cannot complain about a thing.
_________________________________

Dear Customer,

You repair service of Phantom 4 has been quoted by our repair team. Please refer to the invoice below and complete your payment via Paypal.

Invoice

Customer:
Case No:
DJI Care Balance：
Quote Date: 02-08-17
Remarks: Activating at customer request.

Item Quantity Unit Price（USD） Total Price（USD）
Phantom 4 Roll-shaft bracket V03 1 6.00 6.00
Phantom4 central cover component 1 8.00 8.00
Yaw-axis Motor 1 12.00 12.00
Phantom4 top cover 1 6.00 6.00
Phantom 4 3-in-1 board component 1 189.00 189.00
Phantom4 right landing gear component 1 10.00 10.00
Service Charge 2 65.00/H 130.00
Freight: 0.00
Total Amount: 361.00
Discount: -130.00
DJI Care deduction： 0.00
Total Payment: 231.00

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[Slackware]

They need to work on their email forms.
When I first glanced I read $265/hr labor, and wow, they replaced all that in 20 minutes.
To bad they didn't send back shells. Might have had clooney's fingerprints on them from when he climbed the tree to get it down. LOL