Thought it was over!!

[stealthbomber]

Went for a morning flight today. My plan was to launch of a concrete dock and fly over water. Got everything ready to go, started the motors but got a compass error message. Moved the Drone to a wooden part of the dock....all is well. Launched and flew away from myself over water, I got about one kilometre out and wham- connection lost, no usual red warnings that I’ve seen before when pushing the limits, just a “connection lost” on the top banner of my iPad. No telemetry feedback whatsoever. I quickly let go of the controls so it doesn’t get farther away. I’m thinking the worst.....maybe a bird strike......did I double check the battery was fully clicked in!!! I press the RTH button and start pacing around the dock. After a couple minutes and waaaaay off I start hearing the familiar whirl of the blades. Getting louder, I start scanning the bright morning sky and then it appears. Hallelujah. I switch to controls and it flys normal but still no iPad connection. I quickly land and put everything away. Enough flying for this day! My nerves were shot and I didn’t feel like figuring out what the problem could be. Any ideas? At the time of the blackout I was aligning the antennas but the iPad cord definitely did not get pulled out of the iPad or controller.

 

[Fly Dawg]

Any ideas? At the time of the blackout I was aligning the antennas but the iPad cord definitely did not get pulled out of the iPad or controller.

Upload the log from this flight to the link below, (Instructions are in the link). You can see what occurred for the entire flight, and if you wish others to take a look for you, place a link back here to the upload. NOTE: If you lost full RC signal ( Both downlink and uplink) This may not tell much after the Full signal loss....

DJI Flight Log Viewer - Phantom Help

 

[stealthbomber]

Upload the log from this flight to the link below, (Instructions are in the link). You can see what occurred for the entire flight, and if you wish others to take a look for you, place a link back here to the upload. NOTE: If you lost full RC signal ( Both downlink and uplink) This may not tell much after the Full signal loss....

DJI Flight Log Viewer - Phantom Help

Sorry but I no longer have a PC. I use my iPad for everything nowadays. Looking at the instructions in your link I don’t think it will be possible to upload my flight.

 

[Fly Dawg]

Sorry but I no longer have a PC. I use my iPad for everything nowadays. Looking at the instructions in your link I don’t think it will be possible to upload my flight.

PC or MAC will work, but not much we can help with, without the logs.

 

[GrammatonxXXxCleric]

Don't you just hate that "End of transmission" thing.?
Don't you just love the incoming whirl sound when it comes back?

 

[w1r3d]

another bird saved by the RTH function

 

[RodPad]

GrammatonxXXxCleric,

I love it here the Buzzard return to the nest.

Rod

 

[Offroader]

I had a similar thing happen to me. I use an Android tablet and the micro USB connectors tend to lose their holding power over time. I had touched the USB cable going into the tablet and lost signal. The RTH saved me then too. Another thing on my checklist is the micro USB holding ability. Once it starts to get loose, time to replace it.

 

[Offroader]

Went for a morning flight today. My plan was to launch of a concrete dock and fly over water. Got everything ready to go, started the motors but got a compass error message. Moved the Drone to a wooden part of the dock....all is well.

As has often been mentioned here, it is not wise to launch from cement. Slabs often have rebar mesh within it that interferes with the compass. Luckily, the wooden dock didn't have some kind of steel frame/reinforcement, otherwise, likely same result.

 

[Franky]

Wouldn’t such a launch area condition affecting compass be displayed on the HUD by a changing orientation marker?

 

[PhantomWetSuits]

Went for a morning flight today. My plan was to launch of a concrete dock and fly over water. Got everything ready to go, started the motors but got a compass error message. Moved the Drone to a wooden part of the dock....all is well. Launched and flew away from myself over water, I got about one kilometre out and wham- connection lost, no usual red warnings that I’ve seen before when pushing the limits, just a “connection lost” on the top banner of my iPad. No telemetry feedback whatsoever. I quickly let go of the controls so it doesn’t get farther away. I’m thinking the worst.....maybe a bird strike......did I double check the battery was fully clicked in!!! I press the RTH button and start pacing around the dock. After a couple minutes and waaaaay off I start hearing the familiar whirl of the blades. Getting louder, I start scanning the bright morning sky and then it appears. Hallelujah. I switch to controls and it flys normal but still no iPad connection. I quickly land and put everything away. Enough flying for this day! My nerves were shot and I didn’t feel like figuring out what the problem could be. Any ideas? At the time of the blackout I was aligning the antennas but the iPad cord definitely did not get pulled out of the iPad or controller.

When you say that you moved the drone to the wooden part did you restart both the drone and the controller ?

 

[Melvoid]

As has often been mentioned here, it is not wise to launch from cement. Slabs often have rebar mesh within it that interferes with the compass. Luckily, the wooden dock didn't have some kind of steel frame/reinforcement, otherwise, likely same result.

I was going to say the same. I was trying to video my kid at a skate park and it just sat there until I got it in the grass about 50 feet from the concrete... then everything was fine.

 

[stealthbomber]

As has often been mentioned here, it is not wise to launch from cement. Slabs often have rebar mesh within it that interferes with the compass. Luckily, the wooden dock didn't have some kind of steel frame/reinforcement, otherwise, likely same result.

“Concrete”, cement is the powder binding ingredient of concrete. Concrete is the result of mixing aggregate, water and cement. Yes rebar or welded wire mesh is usually placed in concrete slabs as reinforcement. I’ve worked in the concrete industry for 32 years now. My pet peeve is when someone calls it cement. It’s the same as eating a piece of chocolate cake but calling it sugar! Rant over, soldier on.

 

[stealthbomber]

I got the time and the nerve to retry the P3P this past Monday. Before I flew I checked the DJI app to see if it required an update and yes it did. The update details stated a few things but one was to correct the app from crashing during flight for some users. That could be me, maybe! So I updated. Went and flew the Drone. I live farm country so there was no flying over water this time . I thought if it crashes I could at least find the pieces. But the bird flew flawlessly. Yippee. I only ventured out around 400 meters. All is well! Still traumatized by the “incident” though. I may need counselling.