HELP! P3 Professional went out of control and crashed.

[Tenly]

Wow, that is definitely a relief to hear that it's possible but I will just wait it out and see. The battery thing is the main lesson learned here although I will reiterate that I was aware of the battery and made the mistake of taking off with sole intentions to burn the battery down, not for a distance flight. Now i know, horrible idea.
I did not calibrate it on the metal, but I have a strong idea of where the what the metal was that caused the interference.

I did my best to recover knowing what I know, but unfortunately that wasn't enough. I am attempting to upload the video from the videocache folder but I'm not seeing one from the final flight. I wasn't recording during it and I believe thats why. I would like to upload the video from my logs on the app to also show the mayhem the aircraft was commencing, is there a way to do that?

Here is the screenshot the the log I speak of...

Yes I feel defeated regarding the situation, but I'm doing all I can to get back to where I was with the drone prior to the incident. Thanks for the positive advice and thoughts!

Well - you did nothing wrong by taking off with a battery at that level - or at least nothing that would void your warranty - unless there is some DJI documentation that says "NEVER fly with a low battery". Conventional forum wisdom/advice is not the same as a directive in your owners manual - so whether you read advice in the forum or not - is not relevant at all to that point.

Wanting to hover a few feet off the ground to discharge your battery seems like a perfectly valid explanation for why you began a flight with such a low battery level to start with. Advice from the forum is hit and miss and should never be blindly accepted. There is as much bad advice here as there is good advice. The suggestion that starting a flight with a battery lower than 100% could cause a brownout that messes up the compass or GPS is one of the most laughable suggestions I've heard here. It's simply not true. It's not the way today's electronics works.

So, when you are dealing with DJI support, don't be apologetic for making an error and don't state that you know you're not supposed to fly with a low battery. If they tell you "you're not supposed to do [fill in the blank]....", politely ask them where that is documented and/or tell them that you didn't think that would apply for a very short flight that was just intended to hover in front of you.

The minute you ADMIT that you know you did something wrong, you're done. I'm not saying that acting stupid is guaranteed to work - but if you admit that you did something wrong and that you know it - they no longer have to prove pilot error because you've admitted it and you'll likely be offered a lower discount than you would otherwise get if you cling to the story that you did nothing wrong and force them to find your mistake and prove that it was an actual mistake.

Again - good luck! I hope that things work out favourably for you! Don't forget to keep us in the loop!

 

[sethtinsley]

Well - you did nothing wrong by taking off with a battery at that level - or at least nothing that would void your warranty - unless there is some DJI documentation that says "NEVER fly with a low battery". Conventional forum wisdom/advice is not the same as a directive in your owners manual - so whether you read advice in the forum or not - is not relevant at all to that point.

Wanting to hover a few feet off the ground to discharge your battery seems like a perfectly valid explanation for why you began a flight with such a low battery level to start with. Advice from the forum is hit and miss and should never be blindly accepted. There is as much bad advice here as there is good advice. The suggestion that starting a flight with a battery lower than 100% could cause a brownout that messes up the compass or GPS is one of the most laughable suggestions I've heard here. It's simply not true. It's not the way today's electronics works.

So, when you are dealing with DJI support, don't be apologetic for making an error and don't state that you know you're not supposed to fly with a low battery. If they tell you "you're not supposed to do [fill in the blank]....", politely ask them where that is documented and/or tell them that you didn't think that would apply for a very short flight that was just intended to hover in front of you.

The minute you ADMIT that you know you did something wrong, you're done. I'm not saying that acting stupid is guaranteed to work - but if you admit that you did something wrong and that you know it - they no longer have to prove pilot error because you've admitted it and you'll likely be offered a lower discount than you would otherwise get if you cling to the story that you did nothing wrong and force them to find your mistake and price that it was actual mistake.

Again - good luck! I hope that things work out favourably for you! Don't forget to keep us in the loop!

I totally understand what you're saying and agree. I still feel I did not to anything wrong, 28% is not 1%. Yes it may not be the most logical to go up to max altitude and try to have some fun, but that's not what was going on. I will keep you updated! You've been a ton of help, thank you!

 

[sethtinsley]

I want to let you know now that it's best not to have any expectations on this claim. You may want to start now thinking the worse may happen. And if they offer a discount, ask if the discount is for a brand new aircraft and what accessories are included. Make sure you old one is returned.

I don't. Hope for the best and expect the worst. I will definitely, thanks for the help!

 

[Vertigo]

I got a response from DJI on the question about compass and attitude mode. They did not explain the in flight recalibration I asked about and for some reason, they answered me in German (probably thinking Dutch and Deutsch is the same?), so let me quote it and translate. German is only my 4th language, if anyone spots any mistakes, feel free to correct me. Original is below

In pure attitude mode, the quadcopter doesnt need compass data. It doesnt stabilize its position and doesnt require absolute orientation.

If the compass is signal is disturbed, then the quad automatically goes in to attitude mode. This is reported by many pilots as "lost control". In many flight records we see that novice pilots panic and give full stick deflection in one direction, then the other. The problem with that: the quad follows the commands 1:1 and the impression is made, that its completely out of control.

In this case, the pilot must compensate the drift. It makes no difference if the quadcopter was switched in to attitude mode automatically (due to compass error) or manually via the remote control. It requires some feeling to fly in this way; you can train this with no problem if you have enough free space.


Orginal german text:

wenn Sie nichts dagegen haben, antworten ich auf deutsch.

Im reinen Atti Mode benötigt der Kopter keine Kompass Daten. Er stabilisiert seine Position nicht und braucht auch keine absolute Orientierung.

Wenn das Kompass Signal gestört wird, dann geht der Kopter automatisch in den Atti Mode. Dies wird in vielen Fällen von Pilot bereits als "lost controll" beschrieben. In vielen Flightrecords sehen wir, das Piloten mit geringer Flugerfahrung panisch reagieren und die Steuerknüppel nur von einem Vollausschlag in den nächsten schieben. Das Problem dabei: Der Kopter folgt den Steuerbefehlen 1:1 und der eindruck entsteht, das er völlig außer Kontrolle geraten ist.

Der Pilot muss in diesem Fall aktiv das driften des Kopters ausgleichen. Irrelevant ist dabei ob der Kopter automatisch in den Atti Mode geschaltet hat (Weil er den Kompass error erkannt hat) oder ob Sie dies manuell über die Fernsteuerung tun. Dieses ausgleichen muss mit etwas Gefühl erfolgen. Man kann das auf eine freien Flächen problemlos üben.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Best regards
Technical Support
DJI GmbH

 

[MikeyOnline]

Well that would seem to debunk the compass altering your flight when in Atti mode but doesn't explain the erratic behavior. I haven't correlated the flight path to your stick movement but I'm assuming they should be able to tell that the flight path did not follow your stick movements so that's the area where DJI has some 'splaining to do. And I also agree: don't apologize or admit to taking off at 23% as an "error" if it's not in the manual to avoid that. Whether you just wanted to go straight up to 30 feet and take one last shot... or you wanted to hover in place for a minute or two: shouldn't matter. I don't see why that would/should cause anything to go bonkers.

Mike

 

[Vertigo]

Agreed, it doesnt explain most of the 'out of control' video's Ive seen either. I have no doubt DJI gets to see plenty such flight logs, but thats clearly not the whole story and a convenient excuse. But I just wanted to make sure attitude mode works the way most of us thought it worked: without relying on compass data. Consider that confirmed.

 

[Tenly]

Agreed, it doesnt explain most of the 'out of control' video's Ive seen either. I have no doubt DJI gets to see plenty such flight logs, but thats clearly not the whole story and a convenient excuse. But I just wanted to make sure attitude mode works the way most of us thought it worked: without relying on compass data. Consider that confirmed.

Thanks for taking the time to confirm that with DJI and for sharing the information.

This debate also serves to prove that just because someone delivers a piece of information confidently and repetitively, it doesn't make them right! Look for posters that are able/willing to back up their statements with citations or references rather than solely with repetition!

 

[sethtinsley]

It appears that since I posted my thread on Sunday that 2-3 more threads of similar nature have popped up. Somethings goofy here? Very consistent situations on all threads as well, unless those were bumped threads.

Thanks for gaining more information that will be very helpful in the long-run.

When watching the video log off of my DJI app, my controller movements (EDIT) were not consistent to the movements of the P3. We'll see!

 

[Vertigo]

Thanks for taking the time to confirm that with DJI and for sharing the information.

I had to know. If DJI for whatever reason decided it wise to render the phantom unflyable by injecting known bad and unneeded data in to flight controller, I honestly would have sold it straight away. At least now if it crashes or falls out of the sky for no good reason, or goes berserk like yours, I can find solace in the fact that whatever caused it, probably wasnt by design

 

[Meta4]

Well - you did nothing wrong by taking off with a battery at that level - or at least nothing that would void your warranty - unless there is some DJI documentation that says "NEVER fly with a low battery". Conventional forum wisdom/advice is not the same as a directive in your owners manual - so whether you read advice in the forum or not - is not relevant at all to that point.

There are more than enough threads on this forum warning of the danger of flying with a low battery.
There are plenty of dociumented cases of Phantoms falling from the sky after taking off with 50-80% batteries.
Flying with a battery that has been sitting for days and started to discharge is asking for trouble.

I still feel I did not to anything wrong, 28% is not 1%.

28% is very low and can drop to 10% very quickly
10% is just about 1% You can't rely on your battery at all from 10%.

 

[Tenly]

There are more than enough threads on this forum warning of the danger of flying with a low battery.
There are plenty of dociumented cases of Phantoms falling from the sky after taking off with 50-80% batteries.
Flying with a battery that has been sitting for days and started to discharge is asking for trouble.

As far as I know, there is nothing in the manual that says not to do this - and not every new Phantom user decides to participate in a forum, nor should people believe everything they read in a forum.

If this really were as big an issue as forum members make it out to be, I would think DJI would add (and highlight) a caution about it in the operation instructions, because without it - they're on the hook for any crashes where the battery drops from 22% to 0% in an instant. At one time in history, there was a lot of information about the earth being flat - but just because many people believed it to be true, it didn't make it true. I suspect this "fully charged battery" advice may also be false.

Maybe the battery issue is real. Maybe it's not. Maybe it was real at one time and DJI slipped a fix into a firmware update. All I can say is that even though the forum in general seems to be in a major tizzy over it - it doesn't seem like DJI is all that concerned....

28% is very low and can drop to 10% very quickly
10% is just about 1% You can't rely on your battery at all from 10%.

Again - DJI seems to think that 10% is enough to land the drone (safely?) from an average height. If the battery drops from 10% to 0% in an instant, that sounds like a bad battery. Is it under warranty? Yes? Great! So if that were the case - you'd be covered!

Did you read what this OP had intended to do with his battery at 28%? He wasn't off exploring and zipping around being reckless. He was hovering about 6 feet off the ground right in front of himself. His intention was to drain the battery a little more before charging it up. Whether that was necessary or not - he certainly wasn't doing anything stupid, reckless or against any documented rules. If he had more experience, he may have taken different actions to try and regain control after the bird started acting crazy - but most people don't react perfectly when they are in a panicked state and although he didn't make "all the right moves", I don't think that any of the moves he did make, made the problem any worse.

It's my opinion that the OP deserves our sympathy, best wishes and a replacement aircraft from DJI free of charge.

 

[msinger]

As far as I know, there is nothing in the manual that says not to do this - and not every new Phantom user decides to participate in a forum, nor should people believe everything they read in a forum.

Here's what's stated in the DJI Battery Safety Guidelines:
"Make sure the batteries are fully charged before each flight"

This is also mentioned in the "Preflight Checklist" section of the Phantom manual.

It's a great guideline. However, you certainly are not doomed if you take off with a battery that is not fully charged. You can safely do it if you watch the battery voltage. Many people pay no mind to the battery voltage though, so it's easier to just recommend they use a full battery each time.

 

[Susruth]

As far as I know, there is nothing in the manual that says not to do this - and not every new Phantom user decides to participate in a forum, nor should people believe everything they read in a forum.

If this really were as big an issue as forum members make it out to be, I would think DJI would add (and highlight) a caution about it in the operation instructions, because without it - they're on the hook for any crashes where the battery drops from 22% to 0% in an instant. At one time in history, there was a lot of information about the earth being flat - but just because many people believed it to be true, it didn't make it true. I suspect this "fully charged battery" advice may also be false.

Maybe the battery issue is real. Maybe it's not. Maybe it was real at one time and DJI slipped a fix into a firmware update. All I can say is that even though the forum in general seems to be in a major tizzy over it - it doesn't seem like DJI is all that concerned....



Again - DJI seems to think that 10% is enough to land the drone (safely?) from an average height. If the battery drops from 10% to 0% in an instant, that sounds like a bad battery. Is it under warranty? Yes? Great! So if that were the case - you'd be covered!

Did you read what this OP had intended to do with his battery at 28%? He wasn't off exploring and zipping around being reckless. He was hovering about 6 feet off the ground right in front of himself. His intention was to drain the battery a little more before charging it up. Whether that was necessary or not - he certainly wasn't doing anything stupid, reckless or against any documented rules. If he had more experience, he may have taken different actions to try and regain control after the bird started acting crazy - but most people don't react perfectly when they are in a panicked state and although he didn't make "all the right moves", I don't think that any of the moves he did make, made the problem any worse.

It's my opinion that the OP deserves our sympathy, best wishes and a replacement aircraft from DJI free of charge.

Very Touching

 

[HWCM]

Nope, it is steel. Rusty old steel. Absolutely not aluminum.
Thanks.

My guess is that it's actually aluminum rather than steel. Aluminum is not magnetic, thus no compass issue.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[impilot51]

Nope, it is steel. Rusty old steel. Absolutely not aluminum.
Thanks.

Interesting. I wonder if the thinness of the panels doesn't have enough mass to have much of a magnetic field.

 

[BudWalker]

Nope, it is steel. Rusty old steel. Absolutely not aluminum.
Thanks.

Is there any chance of getting the .DAT from one of those flights where you landed and took off from the shed roof? It'll be a couple of weeks before I can look at it. If you have a flight that does the initial launch from the shed roof that would be particularly interesting. But, don't perform that flight if you haven't already. I think you may have been lucky that you didn't encounter any problems taking off or landing from the shed roof. I'll speculate that if the roof area is large enough the geomagnetic distortion in the center will be small. Where you landing and taking off in the center?

 

[Vertigo]

Steel isnt necessarily magnetic. In fact, most stainless steel isnt, or barely, it depends on the specific alloy: Magnetic Properties of 304 & 316 Stainless Steel

 

[sethtinsley]

As far as I know, there is nothing in the manual that says not to do this - and not every new Phantom user decides to participate in a forum, nor should people believe everything they read in a forum.

If this really were as big an issue as forum members make it out to be, I would think DJI would add (and highlight) a caution about it in the operation instructions, because without it - they're on the hook for any crashes where the battery drops from 22% to 0% in an instant. At one time in history, there was a lot of information about the earth being flat - but just because many people believed it to be true, it didn't make it true. I suspect this "fully charged battery" advice may also be false.

Maybe the battery issue is real. Maybe it's not. Maybe it was real at one time and DJI slipped a fix into a firmware update. All I can say is that even though the forum in general seems to be in a major tizzy over it - it doesn't seem like DJI is all that concerned....



Again - DJI seems to think that 10% is enough to land the drone (safely?) from an average height. If the battery drops from 10% to 0% in an instant, that sounds like a bad battery. Is it under warranty? Yes? Great! So if that were the case - you'd be covered!

Did you read what this OP had intended to do with his battery at 28%? He wasn't off exploring and zipping around being reckless. He was hovering about 6 feet off the ground right in front of himself. His intention was to drain the battery a little more before charging it up. Whether that was necessary or not - he certainly wasn't doing anything stupid, reckless or against any documented rules. If he had more experience, he may have taken different actions to try and regain control after the bird started acting crazy - but most people don't react perfectly when they are in a panicked state and although he didn't make "all the right moves", I don't think that any of the moves he did make, made the problem any worse.

It's my opinion that the OP deserves our sympathy, best wishes and a replacement aircraft from DJI free of charge.

Thank you for not being a couch quarterback and also truly seeing how this event mistakenly happened, compared to kicking someone while they're down. You the man.

 

[sethtinsley]

Is there any chance of getting the .DAT from one of those flights where you landed and took off from the shed roof? It'll be a couple of weeks before I can look at it. If you have a flight that does the initial launch from the shed roof that would be particularly interesting. But, don't perform that flight if you haven't already. I think you may have been lucky that you didn't encounter any problems taking off or landing from the shed roof. I'll speculate that if the roof area is large enough the geomagnetic distortion in the center will be small. Where you landing and taking off in the center?

While on this topic, would a large amount of industrial outdoor refrigerators possibly create a error such as mine?

 

[HWCM]

Yes, if i get time to this weekend I will do it. The .DAT is from the aircraft?

Is there any chance of getting the .DAT from one of those flights where you landed and took off from the shed roof? It'll be a couple of weeks before I can look at it. If you have a flight that does the initial launch from the shed roof that would be particularly interesting. But, don't perform that flight if you haven't already. I think you may have been lucky that you didn't encounter any problems taking off or landing from the shed roof. I'll speculate that if the roof area is large enough the geomagnetic distortion in the center will be small. Where you landing and taking off in the center?