My first (huge) panic story and mistake plus app crashing phone mid flight.

I am a new-b and got my P3P only a month ago. In my first handful of flights I was using my Galaxy Edge 6+ and the app crashed on my as well. Luckily I still had visual on it and I could land it but after I started flying it with my son's iPad and it worked well. I recently bought an Nvidida Shield K1 and leave it only for flying as one of the tips is to close all other apps. It works really well and it's 10x faster than an iPad, seems to be the inspire tablet of choice. The only thing that sucks its that you have to use a hood for a a normal size iPad because the 8 inch won't fit it.

btw. I felt like I was reading a thriller. Glad you were able to get your aircraft back safely.
I am a new p3p owner also(12/24). I started with a Samsung S5(my current phone), and it worked ok and it never crashed. It was just too small though, so after many hours of reading I also chose the NVIDIA Shield K-1. It works REALLY well as the many other pilots before said. No need for a cell signal as it has Wi-Fi and GPS/GLONASS. Here in northern Indiana the temp hasn't been above freezing but for one day. All of my 12 hours are in these frigid conditions. UPDATE, I am flying in conditions that I shouldn't be!? 10F to 30F(-2C through -12C) My battery voltage is displayed on my main flight screen so I have a constant monitor I can view. CALIBRATE every flight! Even if you are flying from the exact same point. I have witnessed discrepancies in the altitutde. I'll come in and hover at 4 feet or so and it will say I'm at 0.0ft in elevation and when landing continued to go 4 feet underground. Mind you, I calibated the bird before I took off. The extreme cold effects EVERY system from what I can tell. Battery life(of course), is barely over 15 minutes, although I am conservative and prolly hover for the last 4 -5 minutes after the low battery warning(30%). The batteries (I have 2 extras) are kept on my defrost vent in my running vehicle to stay warm.The cold will kill this thing quickly and I am probably over protective. Even if it doesn't seem necessary, or is overkill. I will do it based on my 50 or so flights. Just my 2 cents. I believe there is a definite advantage to running the tablet as a dedicated monitor(I put it in airplane mode, and close all screens then open DJI) and leaving your cell phone out of the equation! I mean others must say it for a reason. Had I seen a thread about the sunshade, that would've never been an issue. The sunshade issue kind of sucks, as I bought one that said an 8" tablet would fit, alas it did not. I was glued to the screen reading your story waiting to read the worst words," My bird crashed hard, total loss.", and was overjoyed that you got your bird back!!

I am curious if I can get a map on my cell and bluetooth it to the p3p?(Found that answer in a post above) I am lost on caching maps. Can I do it through wifi? My phone isn't a hotspot, but will have access to wifi before hand Any help would be appreciated! Thanks in advance! Or do I just need to google it? LOL!
 
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Thats an experience that will leave permanent skid marks! Sorry to hear about your underwear.
 
Jdel2005 just connect to WiFi and open dji app and go to the area you are flying in and zoom in. That will cache the maps. You can also go to Google maps and do the same.
 
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Thanks for the tips. I just ordered the hood and the Anti-Glare Screen Protectors. Let me know how it goes with the magnifier.
Yeah, sorry, just found out the 8" hood won't fit the Shield. I have to send it back and ordered the 9.7" version instead.
 
So yesterday it happened for the first time as I'm doing a range test from a mountain top over looking a plain field, I make a terrible mistake...
I fly out to 18k feet and still have full RC and video feed signal. I see the battery meter for rth is getting close. So I decide to turn back home, here's the mistake... Forgot to take into account tail wind on the way out. Now my rth requires more battery than I have left and I'm in controlled panic mode... To make things worse now my phone turns off at 80% battery life. Now I'm in full panic mode. I try to restart it and every time I open the DJI go app it crashes my phone again. After a few tries it works and I have visual feed again (by the way it only turns on while plugged into a charger as if something is tricking it into thinking its out of battery but it's not, not even close). I try a few things in hopes of saving some battery vs flight time, from flying at 50% throttle to Atti mode hoping the extra speed can make up the time gap vs battery life to get home but nothing. Thinking that I might not make it home and still about 4000 feet out and nearing critical battery levels, I decide to search for a safe place to land. I see a nice flat place and screen shot my map so I know where to go find my phantom after. I cancel rth and start descending... Well as I'm about 100 ft from landing my phone crashes again. Now I'm in huge panic mode and really pissed off. Thinking I can't do a blind landing I initiate rth again from the RC, there goes some more battery while it ascends to the 200 ft I have it set to. Again the phone restarts but crashes everytime I open the app. The longest 2 min of my life go by but now I can hear it somewhere in the distance... Finally I spot it as it flies over me and starts descending to its home point, and in huge relief I take back control and bring it down as fast as it will let me. As soon as it lands I power down, and once I'm able to reboot the phone and successfully open the app I check the flight log recording on the app and see its landed with 4% battery. I'm hoping the battery hasn't suffered terminal damage here. I've recharged and checked it volatage and capacity and it all seems ok...

So what I've learned on this flight and experience is, #1 fantastic range! #2 never do that again, #3 leave plenty on margin on battery level when flying out with a tail wind. #4 what the heck is causing my phone to crash mid flight!!?

Anyone have the same issue of phone/tablet crashing mid flight?
The suspense brought on by a pilot struggling with the last minute landing of a plane which is tasting its last drop of fuel is the theme of many a good fingernail-biting movie. But it occurs to me that similar accounts we read here are equally gripping because, while we can't empathize with passenger jet pilots in the action movies we certainly can empathize with the P3 and Inspire pilots' experiences we read about here. Because every bit of the tension is real to us, not imagined.
 
Jdel2005 just connect to WiFi and open dji app and go to the area you are flying in and zoom in. That will cache the maps. You can also go to Google maps and do the same.
Will the maps stay cached even if the tablet and bird are turned off after zooming in and finding my area?
 
I get out in the cold a lot, miles away from a car and cold battery's will shut down the p3 and 5 different apple products I have had out in the below 32, all will shut down. I use mine a lot in 10 - 30 degres

Hand warmers on the phone or tablet ( phone can be kept in an inside pocket for body heating) and the phantom batteries, a couple at a time in a heated glove for me.

If they are good and warm and you just step out of the pickup or house for a quick flight I have not had a problem with shut downs

What out for icing on the phantom as the battery warms it up you can collect ice. Several posts of pilots that went down due to ice.

Get out and have fun
 
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I didn't think the temp could crash the phone but that could be the culprit as it was about 25 degrees. I'm using an IPhone 6s Plus. I was using app version 2.5.0 and now updated to latest update hoping that would fix the issue, but haven't tried since.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
Strongly recommend you don't fly below freezing .. so does DJI.
 

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