P3S Crash on Litchi waypoint mission. Need help

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My P3S crashed yesterday. It was flying a waypoint mission through Litchi it had flown at least a dozen other times. I had recently attached a small gps tracker to it knowing i lose communication given the trees surrounding my home. This proved invaluable. It began the mission normally, flew 1400-1500 feet and lost connection. This is normal. from that point it flies the remaining mission and returns within about 7 minutes. Monday it did not. I was able to recover it. It was within a grassy area several feet from the closed road. Front left arm is severely buckled, front left propeller was not recovered, camera arm broken and wires severed. all other props were present with minor dings. case is separated in several areas. Notable: red clay was found in the top side of the front left motor, including on the threads. I don't see how that could happen if it hit the ground with a propellor attached. Leads me to speculate a propellor was lost in flight. I want to confirm.

I have viewed the txt and csv flight logs. those do not help as they stop when the craft lost signal. I really need the .DAT file. I have been unsuccessful retrieving. I have searched the posts here and have not found troubleshooting for the data download. My pc "acknowledges" when i plug it in after setting flight data mode in DJIGO by making a windows sound. However the drive does not mount anywhere i can see. I have looked in device manager at the USB ports and none reflect they are connected.

Any thoughts on establishing a connections would be helpful. To cover bases I have done the following:
Fresh battery used, craft will turn on and motors will spin. Lights on the arms change color when put in flight data mode, so I know there is communication. When i plug into computer through USB and micro USB the lights extinguish. Craft still seems to be on, battery is definitely on.DJI app definitely in flight data mode.

Thank you
Marshall

 

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I really need the .DAT file.
Yes, I think you do as well, but I do have a question. Although these inputs are minimal, is there some reason you were issuing elevator commands during a mission? Also, are you following the instructions as shown in the link below to retrieve the .dat?

Dat File : ------------>
Retrieve a .dat file

Below are the inputs I am referring to:

1564776098176.png
 
Your are not stating where you are hooking up the USB cable on the Phantom. Its on the front, not on the gimbal.

This my not be the cause, but it is important. You may have needed to do a compass calibration after you added your tracker and if you remove the tracker on another flight.

Rod
 
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Very unusual for RC commands to be issued during a mission. As I mentioned, these are minimal I grant you, but odd none the less. With the only exception being very slight altitude adjustments, which were basically irrelevant here. Unfortunately the P3S does not record motor speed data, so the .dat may not help in that regard, but it will be much more information than the Litchi log provides.

1564777450568.png
 
Yes, I think you do as well, but I do have a question. Although these inputs are minimal, is there some reason you were issuing elevator commands during a mission? Also, are you following the instructions as shown in the link below to retrieve the .dat?

Dat File : ------------>
Retrieve a .dat file
Thanks so much for the reply.
I have followed the instructions exactly for the DAT file. I will try it again. are you aware of cases where the aircraft was so badly damaged they were unable to retrieve the DAT file? Is there a more destructive way to get at the SD card? I am seriously considering trashing this and replacing it or moving up to a Mavic. Good (and Bad) news is the Facebook marketplace is showing the used market for the P3S is holding its value if not increasing form when I bought 2 years ago.

And no, once i engage the mission i only watch the video until it goes away and it flies back in range.
 
Your are not stating where you are hooking up the USB cable on the Phantom. Its on the front, not on the gimbal.

This my not be the cause, but it is important. You may have needed to do a compass calibration after you added your tracker and if you remove the tracker on another flight.

Rod
Definitely on the nose of the craft. The gimbal and camera are damaged and separated from the aircraft
 

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@gmonatl,

"DJI app definitely in flight data mode."
"The gimbal and camera are damaged and separated from the aircraft "

I really stumped on these two statements.

The DJI app needs to have a two way communication to let you know it you can connect to it.
With out a gimbal, the communication would not be confirmed, basically it say Cannot enter flight data mode.

Your Thoughts?

Anybody else have some input?

@gmonatl,

Can you share your mission from the hub?
That would be great!!

Many of us would really like to know what happened..


Rod
 
Thanks so much for the reply.
I have followed the instructions exactly for the DAT file. I will try it again. are you aware of cases where the aircraft was so badly damaged they were unable to retrieve the DAT file? Is there a more destructive way to get at the SD card? I am seriously considering trashing this and replacing it or moving up to a Mavic. Good (and Bad) news is the Facebook marketplace is showing the used market for the P3S is holding its value if not increasing form when I bought 2 years ago.

And no, once i engage the mission i only watch the video until it goes away and it flies back in range.
You can open the case and manually remove the SD card. There is a chance that the SD file system is corrupted and the FLYnnn.DAT you want doesn't appear. To fix that you can use something like the Windows disk repair utility.
 
"DJI app definitely in flight data mode."
"The gimbal and camera are damaged and separated from the aircraft "

@gmonatl,
I really stumped on these two statements.

The DJI app needs to have a two way communication to let you know it you can connect to it.
With out a gimbal, the communication would not be confirmed, basically it say Cannot enter flight data mode.

Rod-

I attached a screenshot showing the flight data mode in the upper title bar. It's definitely entering FDM but it's definitely not mounting its internal HD on my pc in windows explorer
 

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While watching a video of the exact same mission flown a few days before I noticed something i wouldn't normally notice. The AC did this weird hitch. The coincidence is it happened exactly where the ac likely lost its blade and arced down to the crash site. I don't know if they are related. Still trying to get DAT file. Video link attached

 
Also found why the data download would not work....see pic. Several components are knocked loose from circuit board. Bummer
IMG_1564884939.280674.jpg
 
Are there any telephone wires near where you do your waypoint mission? Because a waypoint mission uses GPS, and can be accurate to plus or minus 5 ft usually, so if there were telephone wires in the area it could have missed them the first few times and then you had the unlucky hit this last time.
 
Are there any telephone wires near where you do your waypoint mission? Because a waypoint mission uses GPS, and can be accurate to plus or minus 5 ft usually, so if there were telephone wires in the area it could have missed them the first few times and then you had the unlucky hit this last time.
 
There are but I’m well above. If you watch the video clip I attached a link for above, you’ll see the crash area. I have decent obstacle clearance. I’m almost certain the propeller on the front left departed the aircraft for some reason. I have accessed my DAT files by taking the SD card out of the aircraft and I’m afraid that will provide no answers. I guess I tried to download too many times and created a bunch of new DAT files that must have crowded out the accident dat file. That is disappointing as I’ll never know for sure why it crashed.
 
@gmonatl,

Do you have video from the crash Flight?

Every time you power on the Phantom it creates a new .dat file and the size of the file varies because of the powered up time.

If you fly 3 times a week, you should have at least 2 months back. look close to file size and time structure.
If you think you got it put on your one drive.

You got @Fly Dawg and @BudWalker waiting to analyze your files. ;)

I want to see your mission, and the recorded video.;)

Rod
 
There are but I’m well above. If you watch the video clip I attached a link for above, you’ll see the crash area. I have decent obstacle clearance. I’m almost certain the propeller on the front left departed the aircraft for some reason. I have accessed my DAT files by taking the SD card out of the aircraft and I’m afraid that will provide no answers. I guess I tried to download too many times and created a bunch of new DAT files that must have crowded out the accident dat file. That is disappointing as I’ll never know for sure why it crashed.
Have you tried the Windows Disk Repair tool? When my flying buddy crashed his P3 we removed the SD card and the .DAT didn't appear. Normally, the FC will close a .DAT as the AC powers down but was unable to do so because of the abrupt power loss. After the SD card is mounted right mouse click the SD disk, select Tools then Error Checking, then Check Now and, finally, select the Automatically fix file system errors.
1564935960696.png
 
Have you tried the Windows Disk Repair tool? When my flying buddy crashed his P3 we removed the SD card and the .DAT didn't appear. Normally, the FC will close a .DAT as the AC powers down but was unable to do so because of the abrupt power loss. After the SD card is mounted right mouse click the SD disk, select Tools then Error Checking, then Check Now and, finally, select the Automatically fix file system errors.View attachment 113527

Bud thank you. Will try that. I only have about 8 .dat files on the SD card. The oldest started the day after the crash and the rest very obviously are reflecting each time I powered on trying to download through the disconnected micro USB port.
In retrospect I should have opened the shell and retrieved the SD the first time the download failed. But, I figured I was doing something wrong being new to the analysis side of the ac.

Hope this works, will let you know either way. Any thoughts on what it was doing in the video I attached on 8/3? Definitely unusual behavior.
 
@gmonatl,

Do you have video from the crash Flight?

Every time you power on the Phantom it creates a new .dat file and the size of the file varies because of the powered up time.

If you fly 3 times a week, you should have at least 2 months back. look close to file size and time structure.
If you think you got it put on your one drive.

You got @Fly Dawg and @BudWalker waiting to analyze your files. ;)

I want to see your mission, and the recorded video.;)

Rod

I’m am trying what Bud suggested. I definitely want flydawg and budwalkers analysis. Have respected and been impressed with their feedback given to others for the entire time I’ve been here. I will try to attach the litchi mission and the corrupted video I’ve been unable to recover. I welcome any additional resources to solve this crash mystery. Not sure how to link you to the litchi mission. If you know how let me know and I will attach.
 
@gmonatl,

Do you have video from the crash Flight?

Every time you power on the Phantom it creates a new .dat file and the size of the file varies because of the powered up time.

If you fly 3 times a week, you should have at least 2 months back. look close to file size and time structure.
If you think you got it put on your one drive.

You got @Fly Dawg and @BudWalker waiting to analyze your files. ;)

I want to see your mission, and the recorded video.;)

Rod

I have created a one drive folder with everything in it. litchi mission corrupted video of crash flight and the full contents of the sd card taken from the craft. hopefully there is an answer in there from people who know a lot more than me about this stuff. I just loaded all the files so they may need time to populate the drive (if you see this post right after i made it)
 
I guess your file system got damaged and only the new .dat files are being saved. You did try the check disk utility on the SD card as Bud suggested?

What I would do, is look at the properties on the SD card so you can see what the total space and how much is left. If you add up the files that are displayed, is all the space counted for?

The easiest way to share your mission
Private has to be unchecked..
Mission Hub - Litchi

Rod
 

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