Lost Phantom 3S. Disconnected while flying miles from home.

[reeces]

I attempted a risky and very stupid flight today.

I drove in the car with a relative while we flew the drone overhead. We kept going for miles until there we passed by with a forest on our left, thick, tall trees that go on forever. Then, all of a sudden, it read, Aircraft Disconnected, and I had no feed or view of anything.

There was really nothing I could do because,

1. Home was miles and miles away and at the time of signal loss my battery was 29 PERCENT! No chance of returning home, even if it tried.

2. It was over a forest and if it triggered auto-land it would be in the tops of trees (we searched as much as we could.)

I do not know what to do at this point.

I have read the logs and am still empty.

Anyone please share your knowledge and help me with my mistake. I love my drone dearly and if possible finding it would be amazing. Still no luck.

Thank you.

MORE INFO:

Altitude when signal is lost: 600 feet!
Video cuts off suddenly, nothing unusual, flying steady, going 18 MPH.

 

[msinger]

Please upload your TXT flight log here and post a link back here.

 

[reeces]

@msinger Phantom Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[msinger]

What did you have the "Main Controller Settings" --> "Advanced Settings" --> "Remote Controller Signal Lost" setting set to in DJI GO?

 

[reeces]

@msinger Return to Home

 

[msinger]

Since it was flying higher than all other obstacles between its last known location and the home point, it would have tried to fly back to the home point and made it there if it had sufficient battery power. There is no way it would have made it home though since the battery was too low. It should have started flying back to the home point and auto landed somewhere along the way. According to the data in your flight log, it had enough battery power left to fly for about 2.7 minutes.

 

[reeces]

How can I use this information to find it? What area is best?

 

[reeces]

According to my calculations, lets say the phantom is returning to home at 10MPH, 10mph converted to minutes is 0.17 miles per minute. If there was 2.7 minutes of battery remaining, the Phantom at most could have traveled 0.459 miles towards home point.

 

[msinger]

It should have landed somewhere along this red line:

 

[reeces]

@msinger this is so helpful you have no idea.
I am asking a couple more things of you please:

At what point of the red line is 0.459 miles from disconnect location?
and what would you start to do and where to look if you were me?

 

[msinger]

At what point of the red line is 0.459 miles from disconnect location?

That would be right about here:

where to look if you were me?

I'm not sure how far it traveled along that line since I don't know what speed it was flying on its way home. I'd start walking the red line where it crosses 104th St Ct E.

 

[reeces]

@msinger thank you for your help. it is 4am here and as soon as sun rises around 7-8am i will be heading out and search along that line. that baseball field you see is actually a private baseball field built by some wealthy dude. im actually crossing my fingers it landed there rather than anywhere else! it is a longshot though.

 

[reeces]

We are out right now and have looked everywhere. What are some other options? I am running out of ideas and I think this may be a huge L to start off 2017... don't know anywhere else to look. Logistically where it could have landed and how far have it had gone? @msinger anyone else please help

 

[Sfgiants24]

You lost it, get over it. Flying over populated areas from a car at 600 ft? Not just risky and stupid, negligent.

 

[reeces]

@Sfgiants24 Would like to see you lose your bird sometime soon.

 

[David Rodwell]

I am going to have to go with our Giants fan on this one. Looks like a number of rules broken not to mention a few common sense and safety rules. This kind of behavior will eventually make it far more difficult for all of us. If we as a whole are seen as Drone Tweakers, the FAA and other governmental organizations will come down hard on us all even limiting sales. Folks we need to tighten it up or we all lose!

The strangest thing I have noticed is folks break multiple FAA regulations and then publicize it on youtube, here and other easily monitored locations....

 

[Sfgiants24]

I may lose it, but it won't be because I'm flying recklessly over a populated area from a car at 600 ft. You deserved to lose it, now man up and quit crying.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[Matts175]

The strangest thing I have noticed is folks break multiple FAA regulations and then publicize it on youtube, here and other easily monitored locations....

I removed my Youtube video, after it was pointed out to me that I broke a rule.