the more I think about this story the more questions I have,,,flying at night, over ocean, 7.7 KM away,,,,was alcohol involved at all in this flight or its planning?
Phantom 3 crashed into the ocean
- Thread starter DjiAdam
- Start date
Well he posted his story yesterday, Switzerland I guess, so time change...after the story a thank you. Now see if he comes back with more for the other question's I guess.
It was a nice story...
Furthest I've flown had involved me having a few beers and showing off in front of friends. Now all of the above that this kid did? I would have to be completely toast.
If it's any consolation you might be able to sell the controller to help fund a replacement. DJI is selling them for $590. If you got $500 out of it that would be half the cost of an Advanced. I dropped and nearly broke mine the other day so I am sure there are people out there who need one.
Yeah if I’m not misremembering I didn’t lose signal at any point on the way out from the start off point. However, I think I got the weak transmission signal at maybe three occasions starting as already on the 2 km mark. But as far as I remember the signal wasn’t completely broken at any point.
I probably looked at the distance at some points but what I meant with looking at the flight logs afterwards was that I didn’t realize that I actually where about 7,7 km away from the transmitter when deciding to return, I mean, on the videos I have seen on YouTube people have reached about 7,5 km and that´s like record distances. Of course I knew that I was somewhere around that mark but for me I think was more like a adrenalin kick to keep pushing further, maybe without constantly watching the distance from the transmitter.
I´m not totally sure when the return to home warning kicked in but I guess it was at around the 5 km mark. If I´m going to be honest, at this time I can’t remember the time it estimated for the return. The reason I ignored was that I had done the same thing many times before, of course it had been on occasions where I was closer to the transmitter but still I didn’t think it estimated a reasonable time to return to home in all situations. Especially because of its lack of not knowing the wind where you fly, which I believe is the biggest outside factor that´s affects your flying (I know, coming from the right person huh J).
I might have misunderstood you question but on the way back I constantly did check the range of it while getting back, I did this along with checking the battery level degrading while I in this highly stressed situation tried think if it would make It back.
Now afterwards I know I could have tried to land it on a more suitable place, actually on the way back (at around 20 % battery level) I crossed a little island which I probably could have managed to land it on. However, that’s very easy to say now afterwards, at this tense moment all I could think about was to reach the nearest shore of the mainland, an attempt which I tried but failed with..Regarding switching to Atti mode I can say that this was my first ever phantom and after just having it for two weeks I hadn’t yet had time to try it out. In this situation this could possibly have saved the phantom and now afterwards I must say that along with many others thing this grieves me.
I don’t really remember what I did when the app crashed, I probably kept full throttle forward but I might nevertheless stopped and tried to figure out what happened with the ipad. I was in gps mode the whole flight.
On the last 10 % I also got a little surprised when it started to push downwards but If I’m going to be honest this has happened on at least one occasion before. While just having the focus to reach the shore I at the same as pulling forward pulled the left stick constantly up to not make it land in the water. In the end, at the time of the crash I think it had reached my maximum altitude of 120 m.
Anyway, here is the flight path, for some reason it´s split in two but I believe it´s because of the broken signal at some point on the way back.
Attachments
![IMG_0049[1].PNG](/data/attachments/21/21458-f9aa9977a08cd8b8c009fb087e406d3f.jpg?hash=-aqZd6CM2L)
![IMG_0050[1].PNG](/data/attachments/21/21460-3a11e310a24a56a08f6d10e1ada2d020.jpg?hash=OhHjEKJKVq)
Hopefully you can believe it more now
Regarding the discount I actually got a similar offer. Just the day after the incident I wrote a email about my story to the dji Europe support. The day after I got a friendly response saying that I could get a 25 % discount on a new unit. However, the financial situation is still is the same as I wrote in my first post because at that time I knew I could get that discount and therefore the dilemma is the same. If I buy a new unit I won’t be able to have all the handy accessories as planned. Anyway I see that you got a 30 % off so that extra 5 % is maybe something I can push on
. But of course the same goes for me, in that case I would have to send them the remote and charger.Btw shouldn’t you be able to recover it, 6 feet deep is well as deeply as 2 meter so there should me some hope left Good luck!
Hopefully you can believe it more now
Regarding the discount I actually got a similar offer. Just the day after the incident I wrote a email about my story to the dji Europe support. The day after I got a friendly response saying that I could get a 25 % discount on a new unit. However, the financial situation is still is the same as I wrote in my first post because at that time I knew I could get that discount and therefore the dilemma is the same. If I buy a new unit I won’t be able to have all the handy accessories as planned. Anyway I see that you got a 30 % off so that extra 5 % is maybe something I can push on
Btw shouldn’t you be able to recover it, 6 feet deep is well as deeply as 2 meter so there should me some hope left Good luck!
I would get another for the 30% off and consider yourself very lucky because it has totally your fault...
This machine is amazing, 7km of range with HD video is simply mind blowing for a 1000$ machine...
Get an advanced and be happy, 1080p is fine to record amazing videos and all the rest is the same, only the charger takes a little more.
I saved up for it. My first plans of getting one started late past summer and at that time I was craving for a phantom 2 with a gopro as the camera. Anyway the ability which I really wanted to have was the live hd view, the Lightbridge. Of course I didn’t have the money to buy the separate system so instead I decided to wait for the next upcoming phantom. It probably went half a year and at that time I didn’t really have cared about drones at all for the past months. By a chance I somehow got the information about dji having an event in early April and that time many rumors about a sequel to the phantom 2 also flourished. I watched the live event and was totally blown away with all the specs at that price tag, not to mention that they had included the Lightbridge. I decided that as soon as I get the summer break I must have this machine.
Under the last weeks of school filled with stress I, along with the work in school spent a lot of time reading the major forum regarding the phantom 3, such as this and rcgroup but also the dji forum. My parents where gentle enough to buy a new ipad, as the current model didn’t match the required specs. My intention was to buy the drone with my summer job salary and until I would receive it my parents lend me the money. Just this week I actually got it and at this point I must admit that it feels a bit hardened to pay a drone which no longer exists. Of course that’s something I have to do and if I account all of my other economic assets I might just be able to purchase a new unit with the 25 % discount. As I already have mentioned, this would then basically be by all of my currents economical assets.
Yeah, that turned out to be a complete story
No, actually not. If so was the case I might would have had something to blame on.
Yeah it was actually an advanced I had, I bought that version since I have no point in filming 4 k, no 4k tv or computer which would be able to handle the files so for me that would just be a waist. To be serious I don’t really either care about the charger, 66 vs 96 min no big difference to me, the most time consuming is anyway in my opinion to keep the batteries cool before charging.
Don't beat yourself up for not switching to ATTI mode--it wouldn't have helped you anyway... it doesn't let you fly faster, nor more efficiently--at least in cruise.
The only thing that could have potentially "helped" (once you realized you were in trouble--besides landing on the island you mentioned earlier); would have been to fly as low as possible to face potentially slower head winds. (Of course setting one's RTH altitude to 3m, [assuming calm seas] and engaging the RTH feature would have negated worries about losing reception at low altitude).
Last edited:
Wow, I'm nervous as hell only 100 yards offshore! Though I'm 44 now, and I guess my balls have shrunk a lot since I was 18.
Thanks for sharing the story, definitely a good reminder to stay within the limits of your drone if you don't want to go for a swim.
Thanks for sharing the story, definitely a good reminder to stay within the limits of your drone if you don't want to go for a swim.
I think you should get another one. You only need to buy the drone not the controller and charger so its not as bad as buying the full kit.
Plus like you said, it wasn't the phantoms fault and I'm sure you won't do it again and you loved it.
Your young and its a new field. If your motivated you will find ways to make the Phantom pay for itself and before you know it have a fleet all blinking away and ready to work
Plus like you said, it wasn't the phantoms fault and I'm sure you won't do it again and you loved it.
Your young and its a new field. If your motivated you will find ways to make the Phantom pay for itself and before you know it have a fleet all blinking away and ready to work
Sorry for your loss but my saying once again wins" what goes up must come down.. Somewhere" and that's the part we can't control. I've had the same type happen to me twice in a few years via autoland on critical battery. I guess we'll both learn sometimes. I was lucky and retrieved mine.. Having to repair it. Sorry for your loss and I know that feeling when you see she's not going to make it.
Another day, another dollar. Could turn into a rich mans sport with to many losses.
Another day, another dollar. Could turn into a rich mans sport with to many losses.
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2014
- Messages
- 289
- Reaction score
- 104
This made me chuckle
With this logic, just think of it as losing a helicopter... but at 1/100000 of the cost! Boy, you saved a lot of money
Always..Always fly into the wind whenever possible. The wind will be in your face departing, but "the wind beneath your wings" coming home. It is exactly like a running boat in a current. As for your bird drowning, it wasn't necessary. People laugh at this, but it has saved 2 drones for a couple of friends: http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/phantom-emergency-flotation-for-a-dime-redux.48125/ I don't fly over water without them. I always have a "plan B" as well. buy a buddy a 6 pack to have him stand by with his R.I.B. in the event she splashes down. Learn and move on. Don't let this stop you. ;-)
"Gravity isn't just a good idea. It's the Law."
"Gravity isn't just a good idea. It's the Law."
Similar threads
