P4P lost today. I'm unclear what happened, need diagnostic help

[paulpoperocks]

Hi gang. Hoped I'd never have to hop on to this part of the forum but unfortunately my first catastrophic event happened to me today. I'm unclear what happened for sure so was hoping logs might tell the story. The only problem is I've lost the aircraft, I think in a dense wooded area. If it fell where I think it did then it landed in the tree canopy and there it'll stay as that terrain is pretty inaccessible. Without the drone are you still able to pull off enough info from controller files to get an idea what's up? Hope so. Here are the details...

I was flying a DroneDeploy automated mission, been doing the same flight 3 times a week for about 8 months. The flight had progressed nicely and I was quite far along. I happened to look away form the controller and the drone in flight for several moments and when my attention came back to it, I noticed that the drone icon was nowhere on screen, and in my panic I let my awareness of the where drone was go. The live view window showed an image there, but the scenery wasn't moving, so it looked like maybe the drone was hovering. (The map height was 390'.)The top left info area in DroneDeploy showed "disconnected". Stick movements did nothing. I tried to get DroneDeploy to reconnect to no avail. I jumped out of that app and went to DJI Go4, it would not establish a connection with the drone. but assumed it was probably hovering over the spot that had showed up in the DroneDeploy live view window so I got in the car and drove to the spot. No drone on the ground, no drone in the air.

I now think that the drone must have suffered a loss of power. I thought the craft was hovering because an image of the terrain that the camera was pointed at was present in the DroneDeploy live view window. But because the DroneDeploy top left info area said "disconnected", plus everything was unresponsive, and Go4 would not connect, leads me to believe it wasn't hovering but had fallen and the live view window image I was seeing was just a frozen-in-time view of what was on the screen before the power problem and app disconnection. With two different apps unable to make a connection, I figure the drone lost power and fell. But I don't know that and was hoping to learn for sure what happened. I'm curious to know if: A)the DroneDeploy app disconnected from the drone and the drone indeed did hover until it landed, perhaps in that tree line, or B)there was a power failure and the drone fell into the trees, or C)was the problem a DroneDeploy disconnect and once it disconnected from the drone, did the drone just fly away? That's not expected behavior so I'm curious.

Without having the drone available, Is there anything I can provide that would help knowledgeable members give me an inkling of what happened? I hate to think it was a hardware problem like a failed board or something, plus I have CareRefresh that I can't use without a drone to send to them unless there is some sort of proof that the drone had a hardware failure or that this was in some way a warranty issue. Thanks!

 

[Pygar70]

Sorry for your loss. I know that sinking feeling.

I've never used DroneDeploy. Their website (Gathering and Reading Flight Logs) shows you how to access the flight log, which you can then post to AirData and provide a link for members here (more knowledgeable than I) to review.

Their website says that if you log out of DroneDeploy before downloading the flight logs, you lose any stored information. If that's true, you may be out of luck...

 

[paulpoperocks]

Sorry for your loss. I know that sinking feeling.

I've never used DroneDeploy. Their website (Gathering and Reading Flight Logs) shows you how to access the flight log, which you can then post to AirData and provide a link for members here (more knowledgeable than I) to review.

Their website says that if you log out of DroneDeploy before downloading the flight logs, you lose any stored information. If that's true, you may be out of luck...

Thanks for the help Pygar70. I gave everything you suggested a try, but ran into a strange problem. I found the logs in DroneDeploy and I see the log dated for the date in question (Sept. 26) but when I download that log and run it through Airmap, the info presented is for the 24th. The name of the log file also has the 24th in it, yet I'm choosing the 26th. Strange. This all may remain a mystery I guess. I have the new drone ordered and hope for the best going forward. Thanks again for your help.

 

[alsobrook4336]

Hate to hear that a fly my phantom 4 pro every day after work I have 3 Dji Drones, The phantom is the only one that I’ve had to continuously replace shells after four years yesterday another new crack I’ve learned to start using Apoxsee but as the other members said I don’t trust drone deploy I’ve used it a few times but something told me to stop so I did it’s not worth the risk, do you have another drone that you can fly above the treetops and look for your phantom, if you had a good home point when you took off I’m sure by experience that it would’ve came back and landed but it’s hard to say because you were using DroneDeploy on return to home mode that happens when you’re using DJI GO 4 I wish you the best of luck I know it’s going to hurt really bad I worry about my phantom every time I fly I still like the camera almost better than all the other top-of-the-line DJI drones and I wish they would come out with a better shell or just come out with a fan and five it’s a totally different software than the Mavic series and I just like the way the videos look very smooth and colorful, good luck next time I would not use DroneDeploy anymore

 

[JeffreyS]

I know it may sound silly or too simple, but even as an experienced drone operator and mechanic, I lost a drone or two from what I believe was battery pop-out. We always have to remember to push that battery in hard and then try pulling it without pressing the release tabs to make sure it's clicked in.

 

[Meta4]

A)the DroneDeploy app disconnected from the drone and the drone indeed did hover until it landed, perhaps in that tree line, or B)there was a power failure and the drone fell into the trees, or C)was the problem a DroneDeploy disconnect and once it disconnected from the drone, did the drone just fly away?

B is the most likely cause of the incident.
If A, the drone would have returned home on reaching low battery failsafe level.
If C the drone would hovered witing for control input and returned home on reaching low battery failsafe level.

 

[paulpoperocks]

I know it may sound silly or too simple, but even as an experienced drone operator and mechanic, I lost a drone or two from what I believe was battery pop-out. We always have to remember to push that battery in hard and then try pulling it without pressing the release tabs to make sure it's clicked in.

Good advice of course. I'll never know for sure but all signs point to power disconnect. I guarantee I'll never not have a battery seated fully in the future!

 

[paulpoperocks]

B is the most likely cause of the incident.
If A, the drone would have returned home on reaching low battery failsafe level.
If C the drone would hovered witing for control input and returned home on reaching low battery failsafe level.

What you surmise is certainly one of the most logical conclusions to draw. I was hoping logs would confirm it and perhaps even have a lat/long so that I could attempt to recover the drone, but alas the DroneDeploy log isn't there. It's got the log I need in the list but when clicking on it to download it, it downloads the log from two days prior. The day I need is listed in the list (the date of the 26th) but clicking on it and downloading it for some reason downloads the 24th. Frustrating.

 

[Phantom51]

I lost a drone in the woods due to power failure. Even though I could see a picture it was a hopeless situation. I lost it due to a new range extender I was trying that was more 1 direction than Omni direction. I will never trust range extenders again.

 

[ArnoldLeVine]

I had basically the same thing happen to me. Same description of events. I found the separated battery, and then the drone. In my case, it was right after I changed batteries during a mission. Did your event happen after changing the battery in the midst of a mission?
I will never fly again without triple checking the battery seating.

 

[Bone4Drone]

What you surmise is certainly one of the most logical conclusions to draw. I was hoping logs would confirm it and perhaps even have a lat/long so that I could attempt to recover the drone, but alas the DroneDeploy log isn't there. It's got the log I need in the list but when clicking on it to download it, it downloads the log from two days prior. The day I need is listed in the list (the date of the 26th) but clicking on it and downloading it for some reason downloads the 24th. Frustrating.

Just an idea here born of ignorance but, since the log you want is the 26th but the 24th comes up instead, have you tried clicking on all of your logs to see if the one you want comes up? Longshot but since the logs appear to be mysteriously scrambled, I'd try it. What the heck....

 

[paulpoperocks]

So if anyone cares, here's an update: the drone was found by a member of the work crew a couple days after I put up this post. INTACT, battery there, all looking normal. The drone apparently KEPT FLYING, even with no flight programs on or connected. The drone was found about 1/8 mile from where the disconnection occurred. You'll remember that I was flying DroneDeploy so it was automatically flying the map route and collecting images; looking at the images on the card shows that it kept flying and snapping pics. Must have landed when the battery drained. After much testing and flying with the drone to try and flush out any problems, I finally put it back in service. All was well until yesterday when IT HAPPENED AGAIN. This time it seems the drone crashed, because I saw the radar at the bottom going haywire during the falling and tumbling. It fell in dense, heavy overgrown wilderness and not likely to be found. Now I'm hoping logs can tell me what's going on with the aircraft disconnects it kept having, but I'll need help with that. I'll be starting a new post, watch for that if you are curious.

 

[paulpoperocks]

I know it may sound silly or too simple, but even as an experienced drone operator and mechanic, I lost a drone or two from what I believe was battery pop-out. We always have to remember to push that battery in hard and then try pulling it without pressing the release tabs to make sure it's clicked in.

JeffreyS, good advice for sure. I am confident in my double-check of the batteries when I load them; I always give them a tug to make sure they are seated and aren't going to pop out. Maybe I didn't insert well this particular time, but I ended up losing the drone yesterday for the exact same problem, and I'm not inclined to think I had a bad insert twice in that short of a time.

 

[paulpoperocks]

I lost a drone in the woods due to power failure. Even though I could see a picture it was a hopeless situation. I lost it due to a new range extender I was trying that was more 1 direction than Omni direction. I will never trust range extenders again.

Phantom51, I've always wondered if those were any good or not.

 

[ArnoldLeVine]

Paul, where are you located? I am inAustin TX and have a P4P I am going to sell. It's my backup to my P4P
V2, and I just don't fly it often enough to keep it.
btw, is it possible that you just had too much thick tree growth between you and the drone?

 

[paulpoperocks]

Paul, where are you located? I am inAustin TX and have a P4P I am going to sell. It's my backup to my P4P
V2, and I just don't fly it often enough to keep it.
btw, is it possible that you just had too much thick tree growth between you and the drone?

Thanks Arnold, but I actually had 3 on had, now down to 2. I don't really need a third...unless I have a bad week! I try to keep 2 on hand so I have a backup. But yeah for now I'm all set.

 

[Bernie C]

So if anyone cares, here's an update: the drone was found by a member of the work crew a couple days after I put up this post. INTACT, battery there, all looking normal. The drone apparently KEPT FLYING, even with no flight programs on or connected. The drone was found about 1/8 mile from where the disconnection occurred. You'll remember that I was flying DroneDeploy so it was automatically flying the map route and collecting images; looking at the images on the card shows that it kept flying and snapping pics. Must have landed when the battery drained. After much testing and flying with the drone to try and flush out any problems, I finally put it back in service. All was well until yesterday when IT HAPPENED AGAIN. This time it seems the drone crashed, because I saw the radar at the bottom going haywire during the falling and tumbling. It fell in dense, heavy overgrown wilderness and not likely to be found. Now I'm hoping logs can tell me what's going on with the aircraft disconnects it kept having, but I'll need help with that. I'll be starting a new post, watch for that if you are curious.

Even months later, someone will read your thread, like myself, and learn something from a shared experience. Thanks

 

[ArnoldLeVine]

Did drone deploy have an automatic update recently? I've now had two weird things happen while flying DD with my P4PV2. (Free DD version). But I also just got a Tripltek, so I haven't narrowed it down yet, so I'm trying to do trouble shooting sequences.

 

[Meta4]

Did drone deploy have an automatic update recently?

Updates aren't automatic, unless you have automatic updates enabled in your phone/tablet settings.

I've now had two weird things happen while flying DD with my P4PV2. (Free DD version). But I also just got a Tripltek, so I haven't narrowed it down yet, so I'm trying to do trouble shooting sequences.

The tablet you use shouldn't make any difference

 

[ArnoldLeVine]

I agree, just trying to do elimination series. Going to reinstall DD as one step.