P3Adv blown away .. due to pilot fault

stilz · Mar 27, 2016

So i have a P3A that gave me the scare of my life just a couple of weeks ago. I did my regular calibration and took of to film a subject. Now for some strange reason, i noticed the aircraft kept drifting away from me, both in altitude and distance away from me. So i attempted to initiate the RTH but i noticed that the return flight was extremely slow. In a bid to help it come home, i cancelled the RTH and took control using the joysticks. however, i realized that the aircraft will respond only s l o w l y the heading towards me but extremely fast and away from me when i left the controls. Eventually i lost complete control, aircraft flew away and after a long drive i managed to locate it. I'm just wondering what could have gone wrong. I have uploaded the flight records on health drones and shared a link to the info in hopes that someone can help m spin point where i went wrong or what the issue was. Any help provided will be greatly appreciated.

HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

msinger · Mar 27, 2016

It sounds like it was pretty windy.

DroneDestination · Mar 27, 2016

msinger said:
It sounds like it was pretty windy.

That's what it seems like to me...

stilz · Mar 27, 2016

msinger said:
It sounds like it was pretty windy.

Yh, it was close to the beach so quite windy..

msinger · Mar 27, 2016

That would explain it then. Your Phantom was fighting the wind on its journey home.

stilz · Mar 27, 2016

msinger said:
That would explain it then. Your Phantom was fighting the wind on its journey home.

Ok then.. i guess that would explain why it seemed to be eager to get away from me (and from the beach). Did you see anything irregular with the sensors or compass??

alokbhargava · Mar 27, 2016

Why didn't OP give the full details of the run away. It seems he knew the cause. Correct?

msinger · Mar 27, 2016

No. You'll be able to see more details if you upload your flight log here.

stilz · Mar 27, 2016

alokbhargava said:
Why didn't OP give the full details of the run away. It seems he knew the cause. Correct?

OP? as in operator ?

DroneDestination · Mar 27, 2016

stilz said:
OP? as in operator ?

Yup. (You)

stilz · Mar 27, 2016

msinger said:
No. You'll be able to see more details if you upload your flight log here.

Okay this is what i got..

Phantom 3 Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

stilz · Mar 27, 2016

DroneDestination said:
Yup. (You)

It wasn't that windy on the ground so i didn't think think it would be too windy at a higher altitude.

msinger · Mar 27, 2016

stilz said:
OP? as in operator ?

OP = Original Poster

stilz · Mar 27, 2016

alokbhargava said:
Why didn't OP give the full details of the run away. It seems he knew the cause. Correct?

This is a genuine enquiry by the way.. no mischief intended

Meta4 · Mar 27, 2016

stilz said:
So i have a P3A that gave me the scare of my life just a couple of weeks ago. I did my regular calibration and took of to film a subject. Now for some strange reason, i noticed the aircraft kept drifting away from me, both in altitude and distance away from me. So i attempted to initiate the RTH but i noticed that the return flight was extremely slow. In a bid to help it come home, i cancelled the RTH and took control using the joysticks. however, i realized that the aircraft will respond only s l o w l y the heading towards me but extremely fast and away from me when i left the controls. Eventually i lost complete control, aircraft flew away and after a long drive i managed to locate it. I'm just wondering what could have gone wrong. I have uploaded the flight records on health drones and shared a link to the info in hopes that someone can help m spin point where i went wrong or what the issue was. Any help provided will be greatly appreciated.

HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

stilz said:
It wasn't that windy on the ground so i didn't think think it would be too windy at a higher altitude.

100% pilot error - you sent your Phantom out on a one-way mission.
The data clearly shows that it was quite windy up at nearly 500 feet and even lower altitudes later in the flight.
If you couldn't tell that you shouldn't be flying.
The Phantom 3 can do about 35 mph in still air and if you let RTH do the driving it will cruise at 20 mph.
Your Phantom was trying to RTH for much of the flight and going backwards at up to 10 mph.
You sent it downwind in a wind it would have trouble flying against on the home flight.
Up until the battery was down to 23% it was still going backwards fighting the headwind.
The battle was lost long before then.

Your Phantom didn't fly away - you did.
The Phantom was trying to come home but had no chance in those conditions and the way you piloted it.

Meta4 · Mar 27, 2016

If you want to find the Phantom, get a GPS and go looking close to 5.56891E 0.13546S
**edit** as the incident was a couple of weeks ago, it's probably too late now.

stilz · Mar 27, 2016

Meta4 said:
100% pilot error - you sent your Phantom out on a one-way mission.
The data clearly shows that it was quite windy up at nearly 500 feet and even lower altitudes later in the flight.
If you couldn't tell that you shouldn't be flying.
The Phantom 3 can do about 35 mph in still air and if you let RTH do the driving it will cruise at 20 mph.
Your Phantom was trying to RTH for much of the flight and going backwards at up to 10 mph.
You sent it downwind in a wind it would have trouble flying against on the home flight.
Up until the battery was down to 23% it was still going backwards fighting the headwind.
The battle was lost long before then.

Your Phantom didn't fly away - you did.
The Phantom was trying to come home but had no chance in those conditions and the way you piloted it.

Thanks for the feedback. It's good to know that the aircraft itself isn't faulty. I guess i'll have a checklist ready for subsequent flights (and this would include figuring out how windy it is)... I overestimated the the strength and performance of the phantom in a windy environment and almost paid the price for it. The experience has made me better.

Thanks again

stilz · Mar 27, 2016

Meta4 said:
If you want to find the Phantom, get a GPS and go looking close to 5.56891E 0.13546S
**edit** as the incident was a couple of weeks ago, it's probably too late now.

I located it on the same day after a bit of a hustle [emoji4]. Thanks tho.

ChristopherGlenn · Mar 27, 2016

When I fly I take off in GPS mode, then shift to attitude for the accent. If there is wind at altitude (and there usually is) the phantom will drift. Watching the telemetry I can see its speed, knowing I am just going straight up - the speed is wind speed. If it is more then ~25 I abort and land. FYI it flys faster is atti mode then gps.

shorttimer · Mar 28, 2016

Meta4 said:
If you want to find the Phantom, get a GPS and go looking close to 5.56891E 0.13546S
**edit** as the incident was a couple of weeks ago, it's probably too late now.

Meta4, may I ask you where you came up with those GPS coordinates from the log? Thanks