Phantom 3 drone down

[rickatom]

Im in Clayton.
I may be able to roll out this weekend. Hover and seek near 16

Yes sir, that would be great if you could come by. Your not to terribly far from me. If you would call or text me, that would be nice, we can talk alittle about it.
I am very flexible during the week days and weekends....I want to find this thing..
If you have any friends that could help out, that would be awsome.

 

[Mark The Droner]

Not sure if you want to put your phone number on the open forum - the bots may pick it up ---------------------- >

 

[Stephenmaycol]

Had my phantom a few weeks. Learning about waypoints and flying. Yesterday I lost my drone.
I had experienced the loss of signal on a few flights, but had the understanding that once loaded with flight plan, the drone will make it back to origination point. Well, this time it did not.
Today I went out to look for this needle in a haystack. I was able to pull up my flight log. While in flight yesterday, all seemed good until signal loss. Video camera went streaky.
My question is....when I physically find the Latitude and longitude position where signal was last sent, should I find the drone there?, or did I just lose signal but it continued flight mission?
I should have had plenty of battery, and my height should have been above the tree line.
I went looking this morning, looking in trees and round area of where the marker showed. If the drone kept flying it could be lost in the tree tops beyond that last transmission point.
Have I done all I can do at this point? thanks

To may amazement in the DJI app, it logs all your flights and shows a video of the entire track complete with height, distance, speed, condition etc..... I lost my drone on my 3rd flight and then discovered this can be seen with google earth as the background. This showed me the exact tree the bird was lodged in..

 

[RodPad]

To may amazement in the DJI app, it logs all your flights and shows a video of the entire track complete with height, distance, speed, condition etc..... I lost my drone on my 3rd flight and then discovered this can be seen with google earth as the background. This showed me the exact tree the bird was lodged in..

Yes that works well if you have signal when Phantom crashes. But if you loose signal and the Phantom keeps flying then your information of your flight will end where the signal was lost.

Rod

 

[SunnyD]

Aww man, I thought by page 8 he would’ve found it.
Guess I’ll have to wait for the sequel...

 

[Michael Humphrey]

Wow. I trust the mission planners but the birds were very aggressive and were just nosey.
I’m thinking it was attacked and crashed where logs stopped. Very thick underbrush at wp1 and 2
15-16 easily see in that area.
If missions are planned, do them in bite size portions if trees and elevation s come into play.
Sorry we did not find it Rick.

 

[Aussie markD1969]

Sorry to hear that Rick but you said should have been quiet a few times" "

 

[RodPad]

I think this is an excellent video demonstrating one of the several reasons it's generally a bad idea to use prop guards ...

Thanks for posting

Hope you get it back

I could start and stop the props, view the camera (start/stop/settings) until the battery went dead.

By the time I got another Phantom, first flight was the video posted I was attempting to retrieve it, but
dodging weather and testing some ideas the tree decided to let it go. It was now in 5 pieces I still use the battery and the Marco Polo tracker.

Without Prop Guards made a difference?

I still have the mission saved on the hub, I will share it if any one else wants to test it, I have only tested with the Guards.

Rod

 

[RodPad]

Wow. I trust the mission planners but the birds were very aggressive and were just nosey.
I’m thinking it was attacked and crashed where logs stopped. Very thick underbrush at wp1 and 2
15-16 easily see in that area.
If missions are planned, do them in bite size portions if trees and elevation s come into play.
Sorry we did not find it Rick.

Dang, sorry I made a reply in the middle of this.

Double Dang, didn't find it yet.

@Michael Humphrey
Wow great for efforts!




Rod

 

[Mark The Droner]

I could start and stop the props, view the camera (start/stop/settings) until the battery went dead.

By the time I got another Phantom, first flight was the video posted I was attempting to retrieve it, but
dodging weather and testing some ideas the tree decided to let it go. It was now in 5 pieces I still use the battery and the Marco Polo tracker.

Without Prop Guards made a difference?

I still have the mission saved on the hub, I will share it if any one else wants to test it, I have only tested with the Guards.

Rod

Prop guards will give the tree branches extra stuff to grab onto and hold your AC... I guess that can be good or bad depending...

 

[RodPad]

Hum, well not that this is going to help him find it, I was kind of waiting a while before I threw this out there.

Could the OP downloaded the mission from the HUB to his mobile, then accidentally tapped on his mobile and created a new way point (I have done it more than once).

The time I didn't notice it, It flew the mission and I was ready to hand catch it when it was auto landing, part of the mission. Suddenly it took of at full speed to the East, hit a tree then the ground.
I walkover picked it up and carried back to the garage, the app was singing to me Warning Disconnected, so I shut everything off, The extra waypoint was now non existence, because the mission never got re-saved to the hub.

It wasn't until I was reviewing the original mission and the flight log that I decided what had happen, when I was satisfied I reran the saved mission from the hub. This was a mission I had reused many times before.

Just a thought.

Rod

 

[rickatom]

Hum, well not that this is going to help him find it, I was kind of waiting a while before I threw this out there.

Could the OP downloaded the mission from the HUB to his mobile, then accidentally tapped on his mobile and created a new way point (I have done it more than once).

The time I didn't notice it, It flew the mission and I was ready to hand catch it when it was auto landing, part of the mission. Suddenly it took of at full speed to the East, hit a tree then the ground.
I walkover picked it up and carried back to the garage, the app was singing to me Warning Disconnected, so I shut everything off, The extra waypoint was now non existence, because the mission never got re-saved to the hub.

It wasn't until I was reviewing the original mission and the flight log that I decided what had happen, when I was satisfied I reran the saved mission from the hub. This was a mission I had reused many times before.

Just a thought.

Rod

I wish i had some sort of answer. Im dying over here!!!## I dont under stand why log just quit, and why the litchi "find my aircraft" shows a mark just past the lat/long, but No drone in site. I have looked same area twice. Though its small trees and field grasses, the msrk is trees and no aircraft.

 

[sar104]

I wish i had some sort of answer. Im dying over here!!!## I dont under stand why log just quit, and why the litchi "find my aircraft" shows a mark just past the lat/long, but No drone in site. I have looked same area twice. Though its small trees and field grasses, the msrk is trees and no aircraft.

It's been pointed out multiple times that the "Find my drone" function is simply showing you the last known location, which was at the point that it disconnected. I have no idea why you continue to think that it might be there when it was on an autonomous mission. There is absolutely no reason for it to have stopped there.

 

[rickatom]

It's been pointed out multiple times that the "Find my drone" function is simply showing you the last known location, which was at the point that it disconnected. I have no idea why you continue to think that it might be there when it was on an autonomous mission. There is absolutely no reason for it to have stopped there.

That after today has become apparant. So do i move onto wp 3 to 4? No stone unturned, i dont want to overlook it and move on, I guess
Whats my next calculated move? I once read wp 11 to 12? Is that moving ahead numerically to far?

 

[RodPad]

@rickatom
"I dont under stand why log just quit, and why the litchi "find my aircraft" shows a mark just past the lat/long, but No drone in site."
Were the log quits is where the signal was lost, that doesn't mean its their. it means it made it that far, no signal no update location it would have kept on the mission plan until something stop it.

Have you every found the end of the rainbow?
Sorry, just adding some humor.
I been there, these guys are on it, I have followed many of this lost Phantoms threads.

Rod

 

[rickatom]

@rickatom
"I dont under stand why log just quit, and why the litchi "find my aircraft" shows a mark just past the lat/long, but No drone in site."
Were the log quits is where the signal was lost, that doesn't mean its their. it means it made it that far, no signal no update location it would have kept on the mission plan until something stop it.

Have you every found the end of the rainbow?
Sorry, just adding some humor.
I been there, these guys are on it, I have followed many of this lost Phantoms threads.

Rod

I agree, these guys have done an awesome job. Was my next plot. Wp 11 12?

 

[RodPad]

It would be there if it crashed there, but it kept flying the mission trying to get to the pot of gold, you.

Rod

 

[sar104]

That after today has become apparant. So do i move onto wp 3 to 4? No stone unturned, i dont want to overlook it and move on, I guess
Whats my next calculated move? I once read wp 11 to 12? Is that moving ahead numerically to far?

WP16 was the obvious problem. Even if nothing else untoward happened then it certainly would not have survived WP16. However - your later comments about tree height bring previous waypoints into question too. One approach would be to generate the ground track and the flight track elevation profiles and look at the clearance throughout the flight, and then compare to your estimates of tree heights along that track. I have a method to generate the continuous flight track ground clearance profile if that is something that you want to try.

 

[rickatom]

Sar am i right, next area to look is 11/12? Thanks

 

[sar104]

Sar am i right, next area to look is 11/12? Thanks

I'm not sure without further information. Did you see my previous post (#158)?