Help! Lost Phantom 3 Advanced

Joined
Mar 27, 2017
Messages
4
Reaction score
21
Yesterday afternoon my son did several flights from our house to soccer field to video for a friend. The field is about 2 1/2 blocks away. On the last flight it disconnected with approx 6 min of flight time remaining. He selected RTH, but it did not. There is a possibility that he tried to establish GPS and took it off RTH. I'm not sure- it's hard to remember what you did when you're freaking out. I read another post where you suggested retrieving the flight records. He was using version 3.1.6 of DJI GO app.

Here is the sharing link:
Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones

If you have any suggestions- I would really appreciate it!
 

Attachments

  • DJIFlightRecord_2017-03-26_[15-35-22].txt
    1.1 MB · Views: 251
According to AirData it reached a max altitude of 728 feet!? That can't be good.

I don't think the link to your log is working. I couldn't open it.
 
RTH was initiated at 3m 27.2s (blue circle below) and cancelled at 3m 34.6s (red circle below). The Phantom was then flown back to the spot where RTH was initiated and it hovered there for most of the remaining flight. After commanding the Phantom to descend, it eventually descending far enough for it to lose the downlink and most likely the remote controller signal.

RTH.jpg


Using the default settings in DJI GO, the Phantom will return to the home point when the remote controller signal is lost for 3 seconds. If the "Main Controller Settings" --> "Advanced Settings" --> Remote Controller Signal" lost setting was changed to "Landing" or "Hover", the Phantom would have landed here:

Landing1.jpg


I'm assuming that was not the case though since the RTH at 3m 27.2s looks like it occurred due to a lost remote controller signal. I think it was just too windy for the Phantom to make it back to the home point. Weather Underground is showing the wind speeds were around 15 MPH with gusts around 23 MPH during that time. The flight log shows the Phantom was traveling at 40 MPH on the way to the field and was tilting to fight the wind as it hovered over the field.

Since the Phantom did not return back to the home point, it most likely auto landed on its way back to the home point when the battery reached the critically low level. If you want to track it down, walk the yellow line below from the field back to the home point until you find the Phantom.

Landing2.png
 
RTH was initiated at 3m 27.2s (blue circle below) and cancelled at 3m 34.6s (red circle below). The Phantom was then flown back to the spot where RTH was initiated and it hovered there for most of the remaining flight. After commanding the Phantom to descend, it eventually descending far enough for it to lose the downlink and most likely the remote controller signal.

View attachment 79278

Using the default settings in DJI GO, the Phantom will return to the home point when the remote controller signal is lost for 3 seconds. If the "Main Controller Settings" --> "Advanced Settings" --> Remote Controller Signal" lost setting was changed to "Landing" or "Hover", the Phantom would have landed here:

View attachment 79276

I'm assuming that was not the case though since the RTH at 3m 27.2s looks like it occurred due to a lost remote controller signal. I think it was just too windy for the Phantom to make it back to the home point. Weather Underground is showing the wind speeds were around 15 MPH with gusts around 23 MPH during that time. The flight log shows the Phantom was traveling at 40 MPH on the way to the field and was tilting to fight the wind as it hovered over the field.

Since the Phantom did not return back to the home point, it most likely auto landed on its way back to the home point when the battery reached the critically low level. If you want to track it down, walk the yellow line below from the field back to the home point until you find the Phantom.

View attachment 79277
I am on it!! I can't tell you how much I appreciate the help! I'll let you know how the search goes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Digdat0
Hope I never lose mine, but I know who to ask if it happens, good work msinger, hope this leads to another find with thanks to you.
 
  • Like
Reactions: OOO
These are going to be dumb questions, but just remember- I'm the looker, not the pilot.
I've done the first pass on the yellow trail- no P3. The path is fairly open, but there are some treed areas. Would it try to land, even if there are trees below it? Trying to know how carefully I should search tree tops.

If the RTH was initiated at 3m 27.2s (blue circle above), should I be searching that area as well?
Assuming it had enough battery, would it have traveled on the yellow path past the initial takeoff spot (home)?
 
These are going to be dumb questions, but just remember- I'm the looker, not the pilot.
I've done the first pass on the yellow trail- no P3. The path is fairly open, but there are some treed areas. Would it try to land, even if there are trees below it? Trying to know how carefully I should search tree tops.

If the RTH was initiated at 3m 27.2s (blue circle above), should I be searching that area as well?
Assuming it had enough battery, would it have traveled on the yellow path past the initial takeoff spot (home)?
Yes it will land regardless of what is below,once it reaches critical battery, so yes it could be in the trees.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dgustavo
Probably picked up by the person who had it land on their roof. Just my guess. Hope you find it. Hopefully, if someone did find it they will track it through the FAA # on the quad.
 
Msinger, you are Sherlock!!! I found it, completely unharmed, right along the yellow path! You are amazing.
I am so incredibly grateful and appreciative of the effort you all put into helping me. What a great community! Now, I'll get to reading on how to make sure this doesn't happen again.
 
Good to hear! :)
 
Might want to put phone number and reward on next on , at least it gives you a shot .
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
143,055
Messages
1,467,298
Members
104,920
Latest member
stovebayen