P3P flies gently into oblivion

M

meteoricide

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I was flying my P3P on my birthday, the 14th, in an unfamiliar area. Using Autopilot, I laid out a waypoint mission for it. Launched drone to 220 feet and hovered while I climbed to the third floor landing of our apt building. Ran checklists, engaged, mission uploaded, drone set off on mission. Easy line of sight to drone ... tracking straight ... instant LOS @ ~900 ft. Still in easy sight, I pull out binoculars to help. I hit RTH beeping commences. Drone never returns. NEVER reeshablishes telemetry. Telemetry normally out to 4300 feet ... as much as 7500. HELP! Drone never recovered.
 
post .csv flight log
 
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Not familiar with autopilot, but any logs flight plan should help.
 
(Imagines sickening feeling watching drone glide into sunset)
 
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Looking at autopilot web page:
10. Flight Recorder
If data or audio recording is enabled, Autopilot will create files in the app's documents directory, which can be accessed as follows:

10.1 File Access
  1. Connect your iOS device to your computer or other device and open iTunes.
  2. Find the Settings pane for your device and click the Apps category.
  3. Scroll down to the File Sharing section and select Autopilot from the list of Apps.
  4. Select the flights, engagements, and airspaces directories in the list of documents to the right
  5. Click Save to... and choose a location to save the directories.
 
To share a Flight Plan, either swipe to the left on the Flight Plan in the Flight Plan Manager, or tap the Flight Plan button in the bottom right toolbar on the Mode Controls screen. In either case, tap the Share option, and you will be prompted to either Allow Collaboration or Send a Copy.

Allow Collaboration Autopilot will create a unique link with a sharing token that can be claimed once. The first person to open the link will be granted access to view and update the shared Flight Plan in your account.
 
meteoricide said:
I was flying my P3P on my birthday, the 14th, in an unfamiliar area. Using Autopilot, I laid out a waypoint mission for it. Launched drone to 220 feet and hovered while I climbed to the third floor landing of our apt building. Ran checklists, engaged, mission uploaded, drone set off on mission. Easy line of sight to drone ... tracking straight ... instant LOS @ ~900 ft. Still in easy sight, I pull out binoculars to help. I hit RTH beeping commences. Drone never returns. NEVER reeshablishes telemetry. Telemetry normally out to 4300 feet ... as much as 7500. HELP! Drone never recovered.
Click to expand...
M
Check out this Autopilot Flight Plan (utility):
Flight Plan - Autoflight Logic
 
Did you try to flick the 3 position switch back from "F" position to the "P" position to cancel Autopilot and return manual control ?
 
Did you search last know position? Did it land there?
Last position.png
 
Where was last way point spose'd to be at?
 
Just noticed... It's 2 houses... Might be worth knocking on the door, could be a telephone poll or wire around there

Neon Euc
 
The entire flight plan has been searched exhaustively. The flight occurred right at dusk. We drove back and forth the length of the flight plan hoping to reestablish telemetry. My iPhone was setup to hotspot internet to the iPad mini 3 while searching. Airspace, the networking companion app for Autopilot, was run on the iPhone in hopes it may pick up the aircraft somehow. No signals were ever detected. The following morning we used daylight to search visually. My understanding is that if the aircraft decides it has to land, it will make that decision at a waypoint (before proceeding to the next one). The way the flight plan is constructed, the aircraft will not RTH until the mission is complete- since the last waypoint is home point RTH is removed from the aircraft's decision loop. Flying home is instead - part of the mission. The RTH button is part of my decision loop - much like a NASA range safety officer. If things go awry I use it. The RTH signal reaches far past the uplink signal and has never failed to pull the aircraft back - until now. My RTH altitude is 122 meters (402 feet). I have no evidence whether the drone executed that climb.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
Also, the home point is 120 feet above the mid point area of the flight plan - So when the flight plan calls for 75 feet in this area, the net altitude is 195 feet. Accordingly 220 feet is 340 feet (below the FAA hard ceiling) ... all part of the plan. Tallest structures are 75 foot power line towers running N - S on east side of Washington Street.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
If anyone disagrees with my actions, feel free to add to this discussion.

If my aircraft is not executing an expected flight maneuver, whether it be working a Litchi flight plan or I'm just manually flying, I put it in Atti mode. My expectation is that this cancels out all outside influences (GPS, interference in navigation, etc). Executing RTH does not do this. I will then take manual control and land it (either in place or RTB depending on circumstances.

Question becomes - Is any part of my logic erroneous? If my bird were disappearing into the sunset, and it HAS tried, Atti mode has always allowed me to bring it back. What is a weakness to this plan?
 

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