Scary flight

Joined
Jul 10, 2015
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Age
53
Location
Panama
Hello guys,

First of all, GREAT forum and happy to be here!

I wanted to share a couple of issues I experienced today...

After completing my pre-flight checklist (I always do), I took off with my P3P and, at a distance of about 4000', I completely lost video and RC signal.

RC signal came back after a couple of seconds but video feed never came back even with full video bars. My iphone video screen started flickering displaying only scattered b&w images. RTH didn't work therefore I had to fly using only the map.

At about 2000' from my location, I got the low battery warning and I believe I canceled the RTH request by mistake and kept manually flying it towards me. At 200', I got a visual on the phantom and battery level was now 16%. The scary thing is that it started to land automatically on a nearby tree... Not able to cancel it, I had to "fight" it all the way home where it landed with 4% battery left.

Luckily, it was a safe landing after all and the camera issue got solved by power cycling the phantom.

I haven't found any info on either one of the issues and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!
 
For starters, the Phantom is programmed to auto land when the battery is critically low. That explains why you weren't able to cancel the auto landing.
 
Thanks for your reply but, is 16% critically low? Can it be changed to say... 10%?

Shouldn't 16% give you at least another 2-3 minutes of flying?
 
Sounds like you put something between you and the Phantom, which is easy to do at 4,000' if you're not high enough.

As for RTH not working, did you press the button?
 
Sounds like you put something between you and the Phantom, which is easy to do at 4,000' if you're not high enough.

As for RTH not working, did you press the button?

Yes, you are definitely right, I realise I wasn't high enough but I did have an unobstructed LoS.

I usually use RTH to lazily return home but, today it gave me the acustic confirmation but the P3 didn't respond.
 
Thanks for your reply but, is 16% critically low? Can it be changed to say... 10%?

Shouldn't 16% give you at least another 2-3 minutes of flying?

Yes, 16% is lower than I would ever go, unless I had no choice. Discharging beyond this point on a regular basis is not healthy for the battery.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sestus
Yes, you are definitely right, I realise I wasn't high enough but I did have an unobstructed LoS.

I usually use RTH to lazily return home but, today it gave me the acustic confirmation but the P3 didn't respond.

Just making sure you held it down instead of only pressing it.
 
Thanks! Am I looking for trouble or something?
Not necessarily.

What settings do you have?
I believe I'm set at 30% low warning and 20% critical. It's just something that comes with experience, and paying attention to your flying habits and remaining battery data. I went lower at one point, to experiment a little, but decided I felt more comfortable with the present numbers after test flights and reading lots of information from posters here.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sestus
Just making sure you held it down instead of only pressing it.

Pertinent question... Yes I definitely did.

By the way, Ive just found out that in the area where I was flying today, there is a radio station that is probably broadcasting "out of frequency". My friend ,who lives there, just told me that his car's remote control doesn't work most of the time... Could that be the cause?
 
Not necessarily.


I believe I'm set at 30% low warning and 20% critical. It's just something that comes with experience, and paying attention to your flying habits and remaining battery data. I went lower at one point, to experiment a little, but decided I felt more comfortable with the present numbers after test flights and reading lots of information from posters here.

Sounds good to me! Fortunately, today for me it ended up not being an expensive experience and I will stick to your recommendation. Thanks!
 
Pertinent question... Yes I definitely did.

By the way, Ive just found out that in the area where I was flying today, there is a radio station that is probably broadcasting "out of frequency". My friend ,who lives there, just told me that his car's remote control doesn't work most of the time... Could that be the cause?
No. Broadcast radio stations are so far below the frequencies used on your Phantom system that they just aren't any influence. Also, broadcasters are held to a very strict level of frequency and modulation parameters. AM stations must maintain their carrier frequencies within 20 Hz of the assigned value. FM stations must maintain their carrier frequencies within 2 kHz of the assigned value. There's no way they could be "out of frequency".
 
No. Broadcast radio stations are so far below the frequencies used on your Phantom system that they just aren't any influence. Also, broadcasters are held to a very strict level of frequency and modulation parameters. AM stations must maintain their carrier frequencies within 20 Hz of the assigned value. FM stations must maintain their carrier frequencies within 2 kHz of the assigned value. There's no way they could be "out of frequency".

Hi Steve,

Unfortunately, here in Panama the equivalent of the FCC is a joke.

Ive just found out that the radio station in question is blamed for the malfunctioning of many vehicle's remote key locking mechanisms. I drive an european car and indeed, today, I had to manually lock it with the key as the remote did not work. I didn't make much of it at the time but this confirms what my friend tells me. At night, after the station goes off line, the remotes start working again.

I don't know much about the subject but, not been in the US, could this be the case?
 
  • Like
Reactions: dirkclod and Sestus
Hi Steve,

Unfortunately, here in Panama the equivalent of the FCC is a joke.

Ive just found out that the radio station in question is blamed for the malfunctioning of many vehicle's remote key locking mechanisms. I drive an european car and indeed, today, I had to manually lock it with the key as the remote did not work. I didn't make much of it at the time but this confirms what my friend tells me. At night, after the station goes off line, the remotes start working again.

I don't know much about the subject but, not been in the US, could this be the case?
And that makes the broadcaster responsible, how? That proves nothing - consider that the key remotes were poorly designed and can't work in that environment.
 
And that makes the broadcaster responsible, how? That proves nothing - consider that the key remotes were poorly designed and can't work in that environment.
Agree with you on the cheaply-made stuff nowadays. No one shields their sensitive electronics very well. That's because we consumers want it cheap! Plus FCC Part 15 says those key fobs and many other electronics must accept any interference.
 

Recent Posts

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,352
Members
104,933
Latest member
mactechnic