Please Provide Your Input Lost P3P

[Paul A Byers]

I lost my P3P after 18 hours on the bird with no issues. I have always considered it to be my fault, but after some of the posts I've been reading about updates causing issues with RTH I am starting to wonder if it was my fault or not. Aside from the obvious of taking off with only 58% battery(I was only going to pop up for a second to show a friend my P3P) can any of you give me some input here as to what went wrong? I realize I didn't have a full battery at takeoff, but all of my batteries were dead, this one had the most charge. I was only going to pop up for a second to show a friend the drone and I never saw it again.


Phantom Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[tevek]

I read and re-read your log viewer data, and apart from the obvious battery level, which shouldn't matter given it was a short flight ( I always fly with 100% - whatever), there were a number of cautionary battery cell readings with some red flag deviations. The drone has gone into auto land at 13% as it was not going to make it home following your RTH instructions and actually increased speed and distance from you as maybe the wind picked it up as it was no longer locked into P-GPS mode. I read an earlier thread and you suggested that there may be a bunch of other issues relating to your loss, and the nature of the forum in general and given your frustration, its probably a normal reaction. I have only been on this forum since August last year and I have witnessed a massive increase in people having issues with their new phantoms, and you being here longer than me can probably work some of that out for yourself.
There are much smarter people than me on this forum and my first pass would be that it may not have been a RTH issue at all but a combination of wind and battery level not being able to bring the drone back to you.

 

[mandalay]

I lost my P3P after 18 hours on the bird with no issues. I have always considered it to be my fault, but after some of the posts I've been reading about updates causing issues with RTH I am starting to wonder if it was my fault or not. Aside from the obvious of taking off with only 58% battery(I was only going to pop up for a second to show a friend my P3P) can any of you give me some input here as to what went wrong? I realize I didn't have a full battery at takeoff, but all of my batteries were dead, this one had the most charge. I was only going to pop up for a second to show a friend the drone and I never saw it again.


Phantom Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

I agree with tevek's assessment above. The drone did try to go home but it was not able to. It looked like the wind caused the drifting and prevented it from going home. How bad was the wind?

 

[Paul A Byers]

I agree with tevek's assessment above. The drone did try to go home but it was not able to. It looked like the wind caused the drifting and prevented it from going home. How bad was the wind?

The wind was moderate, but nothing I had never overcome before. I've been on the beach in similar wind with no trouble.

 

[tevek]

The wind was moderate, but nothing I had never overcome before. I've been on the beach in similar wind with no trouble.

When it kicked into auto land you were approx 100mtrs up and possibly the wind at that height was vastly different to that at ground level. You can see the distance increasing as your drone is descending. Either way, I would be bitterly disappointed seeing my pride and joy disappearing into the distance, no way to locate it from information on the app at its last known location?

 

[Paul A Byers]

When it kicked into auto land you were approx 100mtrs up and possibly the wind at that height was vastly different to that at ground level. You can see the distance increasing as your drone is descending. Either way, I would be bitterly disappointed seeing my pride and joy disappearing into the distance, no way to locate it from information on the app at its last known location?

Did you get the visual from my log showing it on the maps? If you did, you can see it landed just near the water. I went and looked for it, the persons who's yard it shows it being in even let me in his backyard to take a look. Nothing. My guess is it went in the water. I even went in a canoe with a net. Couldn't find it. Lesson learned I guess.

Paul

 

[DanMan32]

If you were using an Android and had pre-02/07 3.1.2, then a bad RTH was possible but you probably were just forced to 3.1.3 which doesn't have the RTH problem.

Sent from my HTC 10 using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[tevek]

Did you get the visual from my log showing it on the maps? If you did, you can see it landed just near the water. I went and looked for it, the persons who's yard it shows it being in even let me in his backyard to take a look. Nothing. My guess is it went in the water. I even went in a canoe with a net. Couldn't find it. Lesson learned I guess.

Paul

Yes sorry I did, I was of the forlorn hope it landed near the edge of the water, and you could possibly find it within a short distance of the last known location. I fly over water a lot and in my case if it goes down, I'm stuffed. Time for a cheap P4 before they all disappear?

 

[Paul A Byers]

Yes sorry I did, I was of the forlorn hope it landed near the edge of the water, and you could possibly find it within a short distance of the last known location. I fly over water a lot and in my case if it goes down, I'm stuffed. Time for a cheap P4 before they all disappear?

Disappear? You know something I don't?

Paul

 

[tevek]

Disappear? You know something I don't?

Paul

I understand that they will stop making them in the near future and support the P3S and the other P4 products including the Mavic. The prices over here have probably dropped $800 over the last 3 months, parts won't be an issue in the short term but by then I will have moved onto something newer.

 

[Meta4]

Did you get the visual from my log showing it on the maps? If you did, you can see it landed just near the water. I went and looked for it, the persons who's yard it shows it being in even let me in his backyard to take a look. Nothing. My guess is it went in the water. I even went in a canoe with a net. Couldn't find it. Lesson learned I guess.

The flight record ends with the Phantom still 144 ft up in the air and descending at 3 m/sec and being blown in a westerly direction at about 6 metres/sec.
It would have taken a further 15 seconds to get to ground level, in which time it could have traveled a further 90 metres (300 feet) toward the west.

 

[Paul A Byers]

I understand that they will stop making them in the near future and support the P3S and the other P4 products including the Mavic. The prices over here have probably dropped $800 over the last 3 months, parts won't be an issue in the short term but by then I will have moved onto something newer.

Just to make sure we are on the same page, you said P4 before they disappear. I thought it was the P3 Pro and P3 Advanced that were going away. I had not heard about the P4.

Paul

 

[tevek]

Just to make sure we are on the same page, you said P4 before they disappear. I thought it was the P3 Pro and P3 Advanced that were going away. I had not heard about the P4.

Paul

I have read a number of threads regarding the P4 ceasing production to make way for a P5 (?), the already existing P4P, the P4P+ and the Mavic. When it will happen, no idea, but I guess with this segment of the market being more and more congested, it would make sense.