RAPID RESCUE!!!!

[Ed H]

Took my Phantom 3 Standard out for a flight this evening here in Arkansas. I got it up a good ways and out a good ways using line of sight. Before I sent it up I started the camera recording in video mode. I had it up for about 3 minutes and then the dreaded happened... My screen flashed DISCONNECTED, and my remote went RED!!

Panic started to set in a little bit so I patiently raised my arm up as high as I could get it to try to reconnect to the drone.. MAGIC happened. I got it connected and activated return to home... Then SATAN showed his ugly head and the wind picked up and pushed the drone over 300 yards further away from me as it was on its descent to the 30m return to home flight level....

Fortunately I had just bought an electric golf cart 8 days ago.. I hit the garage remote, ran in and jumped on it with the controller in my hand and trying to keep both an eye and ear out for the lights and buzzing of the blades.. I hit the pedal and NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!! It would not move!!! HEY DUMMY!! Put the key in and turn it on!! I did that, stomped the gas again.. NOTHING AGAIN!!!!!! I was literally about to poop a cat, kitten, dog, and a couple cows at this point!! I just got it (the drone) in after paying almost $500 for it... Reached down to check the direction switch... It was in NEUTRAL... I flipped it to reverse, stomped the pedal, and took off like a shot, whipped it around to ALMOST pull a Rockford, then flipped the switch and hit the pedal as hard as I could.. I was off to the races.. I could still see and hear the drone!! And I did NOT like where it was going!! I flew across the highway in front of the house (yes I looked both ways), hit the switch for the LED light bar, and I was off and running, at 10.3 MPH!!

I got close enough for the drone to reconnect to the controller, and the app to pick up so I could cancel the return to home feature and guide it to me. That's when I saw the BATTERY WARNING!! 28% and dropping like a rock!! I grabbed the altitude drop controller and hit the bottom lock on it! 2 minutes later it was low enough I could guide it to just in front of me, get it to where I could grab a leg and shut it down...

Happy ending!! Except for the frozen face, iceburg ears, frostbitten fingers, and foggy glasses!!

I have had problems with this one just randomly disconnecting since the very first flight. The last one I had flew like a bird and I never had an issue unless I got low on battery (to me 35% is LOW)... Then it only took me standing up and facing the drone to reconnect and get it back to me. This one though, it has choppy video, choppy reception, video signal not coming thru, all kinds of problems. So I will be contacting DJI tomorrow for advice and tech tips to see if I can get it flying right. I have tried it with an iPhone SE and an android device. Last one flew with the same iPhone SE, iPad 5th Generation, and iPad 3rd generation.

 

[greenie95125]

Glad you got it back. I thought that on a disconnection event from the remote, the bird was supposed to go directly to RTH mode? I know "fly aways" happen, but I thought they were the exception, not the norm.

-Mike

 

[Ed H]

It wasn't a fly-away. It was wind pushing it away.. It was trying to get back but the head wind that suddenly came up just beat it to death!! It was literally 3-4 minutes it went thru over 40% of the battery TRYING to make some progress... But as it got pushed further away, I knew there was a river not too far from where I regained control of it. I already sent one swimming when I was first learning to fly one..

I was NOT gonna do it again, especially involuntarily!!

 

[Ed H]

Glad you got it back. I thought that on a disconnection event from the remote, the bird was supposed to go directly to RTH mode? I know "fly aways" happen, but I thought they were the exception, not the norm.

-Mike

Thanks. This one will technically be my 4th one. The first one I got at WalMart and it was someone else's return... So I took it back and got the second one, which went swimming cause I was harassing the ducks while still a novice drone flyer... That one went back to Walmart, who exchanged it without even asking a single question other that "Refund or Exchange?" The third one (the last one I had before this one), flew like it was literally 100% perfect!! I couldn't make a wrong move with that thing, except when I could not tell which way it was facing...

And then this one, which has already almost caused me 4 heart attacks between yesterday and today...

Yesterday, a twin engine plane took off from the local airport and decided it was going to fly right over my house. I had the drone up at 400 feet recording some sunset video of the horizon. As I heard the plane sound like it was getting closer, I dropped my drone basically into crash dive mode... It LOOKED like the drone and plane were gonna hit, but there was quite a big gap between the 2 of them as the twin engine went overhead...

 

[MapMaker53]

If you live that close to a local airport where a twin engine flies over your house at 400 ft (or even LOOKS like it), I'm guessing you are probably within 5 miles of that airport and shouldn't be flying there without notifying them.

Regarding your often disconnections, if you raised your arms and the controller reconnected, you may have the antennas oriented incorrectly, and only after raising your arms did the angle of the controller/antennas change and orient correctly.

 

[solentlife]

I know its hard ... but maybe lesson learnt ? Check weather forecast ... Internet is full of sites .. I use Windguru professionally and for hobby (we plan ships alongside each other using it ! ) ....

Second - if it starts to be blown by wind and you can get a connection - LAND WHERE IT IS if you can ... don't let wind decide for you. Better to land where you KNOW it is than do as often the case - fight and then go hunting for it.

After already having 3 P3's and this your 4th ???? Can I ask - do you have a full manual as well ?

Nigel

 

[1boater]

I would love to see a video from start to finish with all the running around (LOL)

 

[stuka75]

Then it only took me standing up and facing the drone to reconnect and get it back to me

turning your back on the ac with the controller will/can block your controller signal. Always fly facing the ac. Use a sunscreen if the sun is affecting the screen view. If the ac is already higher than the set RTH, it will remain at that altitude on the return home. As Solent says, the winds aloft can be much higher than surface winds. Cold weather/battery degrades battery output time wise, and high winds are a recipe for disaster.

 

[BigAl07]

First off what happened to #3 since it flew perfectly? I might have missed it . . .

It sounds like you're pushing your luck in several ways. I'd suggest keeping it much lower and closer to home until you diagnose and resolve your connection issues. Flying high and away with known (repeated now) issues is pretty much pushing the envelope and borderline "negligent" at leas IMHO.

If you consumed 40% in 3-4 min you might have a battery issue.

When fighting a strong headwind you can usually ZigZag back and forth instead of directly into the wind to make better progress and always get lower to possibly get into less wind.

 

[Ed H]

Mapmaker53, I was under 400 feet and the airport is a municipal 98% unattended. The twin engine was way above my P3S, but from the ground, it looked a lot closer. You are probably right regarding antenna orientation.

Solentlife, I am learning a lot of things about flying this drone. And now that I am on here, I am learning a lot more. I couldn’t land it where it was when I regained control. It would have been in a water covered sandy field. Being new to this, I don’t know what you mean by a full manual? And it is technically my 3rd flying drone. The first one I bought was a return someone else had. I never tried to fly it cause stuff was missing.

1boater, sorry but no video.

Stucka75, I did not have my back to it, it had gone behind a tree I was sitting by and it was directly in the LOS. It was last night, so no sun issues. It was cold, and when I took off there was barely a breeze. Surface winds picked up so I can only imagine what it was fighting with up at 400 feet.

BigAl07 - #3 was returned to Walmart due to financial issues. This drone will remain in the case until warmer weather after it has been fixed by DJI for the connection issue. And the batteries I have are both brand new. I know there can be defective new stuff. As for zig-zagging, when I finally got control of the drone with the controller, I got it down under 75 feet and brought it straight to me, which was after I had gone after it in the golf cart... There wasn’t enough time or battery left to zig zag it.

 

[solentlife]

Have you gone onto DJI site and downloaded the full manual and not just relying on the quick guide in the box ?

It really is worth downloading and studying while you wait for DJI to sort your gear.

As per others comments :

1. Check weather forecast ...
2. If you lose connection with AC ...
.... if lost VIdeo - then let go sticks AC will hover ... it will not auto RTH. YOU have to press the button on controller to do that.
.... if lost Control - then auto RTH will kick in after just a few seconds.
3. If RTH kicks in - it will remain at height if above your set height in APP. If below that when it kicks in - it will first rise vertically to your set height - then fly back.
4. If RTH / controlled flight is not getting her back against wind ... then decide either to cancel and land where AC is, or let her move to side or further away to suitable landing spot - YOU decide where. You will have GPS coords to find her hopefully.
5. Read the Manual ......... I've read it many times and STILL forget odd bits ... read it again !!

Panic is your worst enemy here .....

Nigel

 

[Ed H]

Despite my colorful commentary, the only time I actually panicked was when it went beyond the flood levy and seemed to keep going away while in RTH. I knew it was woods, river, and muddy farm land beyond that levy, which would have made finding it pretty well impossible..

 

[Ed H]

But yes, I knew what all the drone would do if I lost connection. But the part you guys are missing, is that the app lost connection with the controller right AFTER the controller lost connection with the drone. So I could not tell it to do anything. When I got it to make connection once, I activated RTH in the app. But the app kept disconnecting from the controller, so I don’t know if the command ever made it to the drone or not.

 

[BigAl07]

But yes, I knew what all the drone would do if I lost connection. But the part you guys are missing, is that the app lost connection with the controller right AFTER the controller lost connection with the drone. So I could not tell it to do anything. When I got it to make connection once, I activated RTH in the app. But the app kept disconnecting from the controller, so I don’t know if the command ever made it to the drone or not.

You need to check your settings. When the aircraft disconnects from the Transmitter (controller) you should have it set to RTH. The moment you get disconnected from the aircraft you're dead in the water in terms of control so you want the AUTOMATIC setting to be RTH. In some instanced we change it to Hover in Place but that's the exception not the rule.

 

[RodPad]

@Ed H
Welcome to the forum!

One Comment, upload your flight from your mobile device to:
DJI Flight Log Viewer

When you see the result page.
Copy that url and paste that back here.

This will show data, of actually what happened.

Rod

 

[Snarg]

1) Always fly into the wind and, return with the wind.
2) RTH speed is 20mph. If it is battling the wind, and losing, cancel RTH, flip it to ATTI mode and hand fly it back.

 

[Ed H]

It did activate auto RTH.

And as I said, I am learning all this stuff and more.

 

[Kai.AL]

Great story !!

 

[RodPad]

It did activate auto RTH.

And as I said, I am learning all this stuff and more.

To me that shows the app or you issued RTH, doesn't mean that the Phantom was actually in RTH.
Need data, or the no value posts will go on for days.

Rod

 

[Ed H]

To me that shows the app or you issued RTH, doesn't mean that the Phantom was actually in RTH.
Need data, or the no value posts will go on for days.

Rod

Then they will have to go on for days.