Sorry to hear about your unfortunate thing.
Could this be what happened to your aircraft?
Could this be what happened to your aircraft?
Missing - One Phantom 3 Standard
- Thread starter Providian623
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Extremely possible. Only I didn't have the flat area you started in, to walk in from towards where my bird was going. Nice job on the narration BTW. Big rain this morning and now wind so it's going to be a miserable day. Still going to go out and search some. We are supposed to get some snow over the next 48 hours so it's not going to be in pristine shape, even if I do find it. Mine did receive the RTH signal. I can see it on the map from the logs. Just don't know where the hell it ended up.
^ I just thought I'd mention, it's not my video. I sort of stumbled upon it and I just can't help seeing the similarities between this and with what you experienced.
I do hope you find it!
I do hope you find it!
Tony, you have a screen-writer's imagination.
While the skies are not yet sufficiently crowded with drones for something like that to have happened it's not hard to anticipate it happening in the future.
It flew in a straight line at a constant speed?
If so you could do a calculated guess of where it might dropped down considering about 16 to 20 minutes of flighttime
If so you could do a calculated guess of where it might dropped down considering about 16 to 20 minutes of flighttime
More a question than a suggestion:
Would it be worth considering that it didn't properly register the actual home location, and RTH was towards the previous home location you flew from? If the previous place you flew from is close enough, maybe it's sitting there happily in that location waiting for you? Nice thought I suppose...
Would it be worth considering that it didn't properly register the actual home location, and RTH was towards the previous home location you flew from? If the previous place you flew from is close enough, maybe it's sitting there happily in that location waiting for you? Nice thought I suppose...
Unless the home locations were the same, the scenario you described can't happen.
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Ok boys & girls, I found it! Last night about 11:30pm my email went off and it was a message that the Trackimo was pinging a nearby cell tower. No Lat-Long coordinates. This went on all night to the tune of 168 messages that the "right button" has been pushed on the Trackimo. I knew that couldn't be someone in possession of the Phantom. So I asked the Trackimo App for a 24 hour history thinking that surely somewhere in 168 messages it would have sent a locator. It did. I mapped it from point of launch across the top of where I dropped the original signal to the current location displayed and "viola" a straight line. I'd looked along the line before but under estimated the distance flown. Anyway, there it was sitting perfectly upright on a small rise in the middle of a farmers field (who I know & asked permission to walk out and recover it .... nice guy BTW) It has been missing since the 25th of Feb and out in at least 3 rain storms plus it was raining all night.
Here is my opinion of what transpired and I'd be interested in your input: For some reason I did not get a good GPS lock and/or compass calibration. The logs show the RTH signal was acknowledged but it flew on in a straight line. So I am thinking the launch point was never properly recorded. The Trackimo SHOULD have sent a signal when queried, but did not which led me to believe I may have accidently turned it off. The Trackimo was attached to the left skid and was flat. It got rained on and I am thinking maybe the circuitry inside shorted out to the "on" position. (just guessing). We had a terrible overcast the last 24 hours so it took a while for the Trackimo to be able to "see" enough sats for a good GPS reading (again just guessing). The Trackimo battery was down to 5% upon recovery. It was at 65% last night when it started pinging the cell tower.
So now I am off to WalMart for a 5 lb bag of rice and a tub. The Phantom goes in the tub and then gets covered by the rice. Best way I have found to suck the water off electronics and have used it a time, or two, for ham radio's or cell phones that have gone swimming. Usually takes 36 hours to dry things out. I only hope the camera isn't shot.
I know I am going to be asked so here are my three stock answers in advance:
1. It flew a lot further than it is supposed to. I think it got caught in an updraft w/tail wind. Till end of battery.
2. I kept it in sight for at least 90% of the flight (dropped behind a tree line on landing). Great FlyTron LED's.
3. It stayed within the recommended altitude.
Oh yeah one more thing. The wife insisted (seriously) that I buy a replacement so we bought a Phantom Advanced from Best Buy (none in stock) on Sunday. It came UPS yesterday. Haven't even opened the box. As I'm driving back to the house after the recovery, she says, "well now that we have two, I'm taking the Standard".
Here is my opinion of what transpired and I'd be interested in your input: For some reason I did not get a good GPS lock and/or compass calibration. The logs show the RTH signal was acknowledged but it flew on in a straight line. So I am thinking the launch point was never properly recorded. The Trackimo SHOULD have sent a signal when queried, but did not which led me to believe I may have accidently turned it off. The Trackimo was attached to the left skid and was flat. It got rained on and I am thinking maybe the circuitry inside shorted out to the "on" position. (just guessing). We had a terrible overcast the last 24 hours so it took a while for the Trackimo to be able to "see" enough sats for a good GPS reading (again just guessing). The Trackimo battery was down to 5% upon recovery. It was at 65% last night when it started pinging the cell tower.
So now I am off to WalMart for a 5 lb bag of rice and a tub. The Phantom goes in the tub and then gets covered by the rice. Best way I have found to suck the water off electronics and have used it a time, or two, for ham radio's or cell phones that have gone swimming. Usually takes 36 hours to dry things out. I only hope the camera isn't shot.
I know I am going to be asked so here are my three stock answers in advance:
1. It flew a lot further than it is supposed to. I think it got caught in an updraft w/tail wind. Till end of battery.
2. I kept it in sight for at least 90% of the flight (dropped behind a tree line on landing). Great FlyTron LED's.
3. It stayed within the recommended altitude.
Oh yeah one more thing. The wife insisted (seriously) that I buy a replacement so we bought a Phantom Advanced from Best Buy (none in stock) on Sunday. It came UPS yesterday. Haven't even opened the box. As I'm driving back to the house after the recovery, she says, "well now that we have two, I'm taking the Standard".
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.sweet. Wow. Too bad you bought from Best Buy. With the fire sales going on. I hope it will be fixed. Good luck.
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
RodPad
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I had them price match the least expensive Phantom Advanced on the net, same thing I did when I purchased the standard. They're good about price matching, so I didn't get stung bad on either purchase. We'll see if DJI wants to do anything about the fly away. If not, then it becomes a learning experience and we press on ...............................
RodPad
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Really, I'm surprised, so my travels to your neighbor hood, Orlando, Start tomorrow about 5:00 am Pacific to 4:00 pm East tomorrow, not looking forward to the ride.
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Glad you found it!
Curious how it turned out? Did she fly again?
The area I fly in, although free from interfering radio signals, has poor GPS, no Cell coverage, and the ground is often littered in magnetic Iron rocks (and quite possibly spirits from my Indian ancestors)... needless to say, I've had my share of glitches from this. (I have the Trackimo, but its of no use to me out here. It never gets a signal. )
I will take off with "safe to fly GPS" and get 100 feet away and "compass error" will kick in. I have tried to do "follow me" a few times but most of the time it says GPS signal too weak. One one occasion I've had it set to follow me, and it just took off. Whatever it was following, it wasn't me.
It seems to me that most of the fly away's aren't so much the fault of the Phantom, but rather a glitch with GPS. Its not a perfect system. Just like using the map on a cell phone, sometimes it doesn't have your location exactly. Sometimes its just a little off, sometimes its MILES off...
The RTH feature is great, but its not an infallible fail-safe because it relies on the GPS. If GPS is glitching, RTH won't help. Most of the videos I've seen and the experiences I've had flying in a poor GPS area have led me to think that the best fail-safe is Atti Mode.
The times mine has set off with a mind of its own were not because the P3P was glitching, it was working just as it should, it was just lost due to GPS confusion. I'm sure if i'd hit RTH it would not come back.
Just my $0.02, but as pilots, there should be a set list of procedures to go through as soon as a "Fly Away" situation occurs. If you think about what you will do before it happens it will be much easier to execute than trying to think of what to do after the fact.... For me, step 1 is to try to regain control with Atti mode... and that hasn't failed yet but it it were to fail I would next try to loose altitude if possible and look for a safe place to ditch it before it gets too far. If you can't loose alt, for the safety of others, it would probably be wise to CSC and ditch the aircraft before it gets out of range/control...
Curious how it turned out? Did she fly again?
The area I fly in, although free from interfering radio signals, has poor GPS, no Cell coverage, and the ground is often littered in magnetic Iron rocks (and quite possibly spirits from my Indian ancestors)... needless to say, I've had my share of glitches from this. (I have the Trackimo, but its of no use to me out here. It never gets a signal. )
I will take off with "safe to fly GPS" and get 100 feet away and "compass error" will kick in. I have tried to do "follow me" a few times but most of the time it says GPS signal too weak. One one occasion I've had it set to follow me, and it just took off. Whatever it was following, it wasn't me.
It seems to me that most of the fly away's aren't so much the fault of the Phantom, but rather a glitch with GPS. Its not a perfect system. Just like using the map on a cell phone, sometimes it doesn't have your location exactly. Sometimes its just a little off, sometimes its MILES off...
The RTH feature is great, but its not an infallible fail-safe because it relies on the GPS. If GPS is glitching, RTH won't help. Most of the videos I've seen and the experiences I've had flying in a poor GPS area have led me to think that the best fail-safe is Atti Mode.
The times mine has set off with a mind of its own were not because the P3P was glitching, it was working just as it should, it was just lost due to GPS confusion. I'm sure if i'd hit RTH it would not come back.
Just my $0.02, but as pilots, there should be a set list of procedures to go through as soon as a "Fly Away" situation occurs. If you think about what you will do before it happens it will be much easier to execute than trying to think of what to do after the fact.... For me, step 1 is to try to regain control with Atti mode... and that hasn't failed yet but it it were to fail I would next try to loose altitude if possible and look for a safe place to ditch it before it gets too far. If you can't loose alt, for the safety of others, it would probably be wise to CSC and ditch the aircraft before it gets out of range/control...
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Update: I flew the recovered Standard yesterday late afternoon, and again today (Sunday) in a local park. I had to shake some rice out of it, but I'm pretty sure any water that may have gotten inside is gone, so the rice did the trick. The camera functions ok and the bird flies well. Last night I did get an "interference" warning 2X, from the app and a caution about flying long distances. Duh, you think? Didn't get any kind of repeat warning at the park area. So, I am breaking out some of my ham radio gear tomorrow and I am going to do a frequency sweep in my usual take off point near the house to see what the "interference" could be. I am wondering if my residence is sitting in a microwave communication path, but don't believe that high a range of signal would cause a fly-a-way. Then again it could all have just been caused by the "FM" principal .......... (F*&*ing Magic) !
Greetings from Greece!
That was an amazing story and I'm glad that you found your bird.I'm a new owner (5 hours of close-flying) and I'm as scared as hell with things like this.I just joined healthydrones as well!
Its totally impressive that the P3S after all these weather conditions,works after the classic rice trick.
Especially the camera.
That was an amazing story and I'm glad that you found your bird.I'm a new owner (5 hours of close-flying) and I'm as scared as hell with things like this.I just joined healthydrones as well!
Its totally impressive that the P3S after all these weather conditions,works after the classic rice trick.
Especially the camera.
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I hope you enjoy flying your drone as much as I enjoy flying mine. Just keep it in sight ! LOL, Σε ευχαριστώ πολύ ....
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