- Joined
- Jun 1, 2014
- Messages
- 38
- Reaction score
- 1
After over 200+ successful flights with my Phantom 2 Vision+ V1, I regret to inform that my precious phantom has been lost.
I did nothing different at all, flying with the latest firmware, I managed to find a flat, clean, magnetically "neutral" ground in the middle of the natural park, I calibrated compass, waited until I got 7 satellites and a home point and lifted off.
After emptying two batteries on what I believe would have been an awesome video, I went for the last pass using my third battery. When I was at about 200 meters from the home point and 60 meters in height, the satellite coverage dropped from 7+ satellites to just 4. The drone was still within visual distance but a mild wind was blowing, I knew the phantom was not flying in GPS mode so naturally I started adjusting heading to come back to the home point. Immediately afterwards, in just a few seconds, I lost signal of the video streaming.
I then relied on the last streamed image and the radar data to estimate where was the drone "nose" pointing and did my best to execute a heading with the remote that would allow my phantom to come back, sadly, by the time I performed the operation the drone had drifted beyond my eyesight... I went full throttle in the direction I judged best and waited, and prayed... but it never came back.
I checked the last know point of the phantom using find my drone but the drone was not there and the rest is history.
Having said that, I know have a few questions for the community that won't give me back my drone but hopefully will help to put in light a few issues that I think will be of benefit to most pilots:
1- How come I had 7+ satellites at 0 meters but the satellite count dropped to 4 at 60 meters height in the middle of the natural park, with no visible source of interference?
2- I know the phantom 2 Vision + requires at least 6 satellites to operate in GPS mode and to come back to the home point, but in these emergency situations, when streaming is lost and the satellite count is still 4 to 5, how come there is no failsafe to automatically estimate a heading that would put the phantom within streaming range again? I'm not asking for milimetric precision here, but certainly a 4 to 5 satellite lock could do a much better job than my eyesight to estimate a heading at about 300 meters of distance. I know this is a new technology, but after so many firmware updates, a billion dollar company has not thought about that?
3-What would you have done to prevent this from happening?
Also, I'm aware that the latest phantom 3 incarnations use both GPS and GLONASS satellite network, that might prevent issues like this from happening, but after losing this phantom this way, I'll have a hard time buying a DJI product again...
I did nothing different at all, flying with the latest firmware, I managed to find a flat, clean, magnetically "neutral" ground in the middle of the natural park, I calibrated compass, waited until I got 7 satellites and a home point and lifted off.
After emptying two batteries on what I believe would have been an awesome video, I went for the last pass using my third battery. When I was at about 200 meters from the home point and 60 meters in height, the satellite coverage dropped from 7+ satellites to just 4. The drone was still within visual distance but a mild wind was blowing, I knew the phantom was not flying in GPS mode so naturally I started adjusting heading to come back to the home point. Immediately afterwards, in just a few seconds, I lost signal of the video streaming.
I then relied on the last streamed image and the radar data to estimate where was the drone "nose" pointing and did my best to execute a heading with the remote that would allow my phantom to come back, sadly, by the time I performed the operation the drone had drifted beyond my eyesight... I went full throttle in the direction I judged best and waited, and prayed... but it never came back.
I checked the last know point of the phantom using find my drone but the drone was not there and the rest is history.
Having said that, I know have a few questions for the community that won't give me back my drone but hopefully will help to put in light a few issues that I think will be of benefit to most pilots:
1- How come I had 7+ satellites at 0 meters but the satellite count dropped to 4 at 60 meters height in the middle of the natural park, with no visible source of interference?
2- I know the phantom 2 Vision + requires at least 6 satellites to operate in GPS mode and to come back to the home point, but in these emergency situations, when streaming is lost and the satellite count is still 4 to 5, how come there is no failsafe to automatically estimate a heading that would put the phantom within streaming range again? I'm not asking for milimetric precision here, but certainly a 4 to 5 satellite lock could do a much better job than my eyesight to estimate a heading at about 300 meters of distance. I know this is a new technology, but after so many firmware updates, a billion dollar company has not thought about that?
3-What would you have done to prevent this from happening?
Also, I'm aware that the latest phantom 3 incarnations use both GPS and GLONASS satellite network, that might prevent issues like this from happening, but after losing this phantom this way, I'll have a hard time buying a DJI product again...
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