No signal then drown at sea

[hoctro]

Hello,

I could not believe I've lost my P3P at sea! I've flown over 20 times in different situations, i.e with gutsy winds, on mountains, at sea... 4 days ago, I took it to Hawaii and upon arriving, I've noticed that the RC when turning on, was showing some weird thing: it had a slow blinking red with the D-D-D alarm. I shut it down, turned it on again and nothing happened, so I took it out and flew 1 time. The next 2 days I flew it 1 time on each day with no issue and I did my sensor calibration dance each time at a new location. However just after one flight when I changed to another but fully charged battery, the RC showed the blinking red and D-D-D again so I decided not to fly anymore on that day. When I returned to the hotel, I turned on the RC and the blinking red with D-D-D was back so I calibrated the RC and this symptom went away. The next day, I flew it around without any issue on the beach. Then today at the same beach, I flew it one more time as seen in this flight log. It lost signal one time and I was able to use the RTH fine, then I canceled it when it got close to me to send it out to the sea one more time, which turned out to be its last. When it was going slowly to my left, suddenly the DJI Go app showed "No signal". I waited for 3 seconds for the RTH to kick off as usual but I heard nothing. I started to worry and then manually started the RTH on the App, but nothing happened. I pressed the RTH button and head the beep-beep sound but still "No signal" and it was the last screen I saw on the Go App. I looked at this link and saw that it was doing the Auto Landing at its final minutes in the ocean: why? Any promising case against DJI? Thanks.


Phantom Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[royster]

Sounds like your battery was at critical level, status indicator blinks red, aircraft will immediately start to land,
remote sounds an alarm too.

 

[Meta4]

When it was going slowly to my left, suddenly the DJI Go app showed "No signal". I waited for 3 seconds for the RTH to kick off as usual but I heard nothing. I started to worry and then manually started the RTH on the App, but nothing happened. I pressed the RTH button and head the beep-beep sound but still "No signal" and it was the last screen I saw on the Go App. I looked at this link and saw that it was doing the Auto Landing at its final minutes in the ocean: why? Any promising case against DJI?

Losing the app or losing signal doesn't cause the Phantom to fall from the sky.
With a lost app, you still have full control via the controller with a lost signal it will just hover for 3 seconds and come home on its own.
You may have lost the downlink but there was still full control and the app kept recording telemetry.
What your log shows is that at 12:56 your Phantom was 92 feet high and went from P-GPS mode to autolanding.
There was still full signal right up to 13:26 as your Phantom slowly came down to the water.
There is no indication that RTH was ever initiated.
Looks like you hit the wrong button on the screen - autoland instead of RTH.

 

[V tail]

Sounds like your battery was at critical level, status indicator blinks red, aircraft will immediately start to land,
remote sounds an alarm too.

I disagree with this. Battery is @ 41%

Looks like you hit the wrong button on the screen - autoland instead of RTH.

I 100% agree with this.

Was it a bright sunny day? Did you have a clear view of your tablet? You probably selected auto land and confirmed it.

 

[hoctro]

I disagree with this. Battery is @ 41%


I 100% agree with this.

Was it a bright sunny day? Did you have a clear view of your tablet? You probably selected auto land and confirmed it.

Yes, it was a bright sunny day.
After 3 seconds and nothing happened, I started to worry and waited for another 10-30 seconds at least, moving around on the beach to look at the P3P because it was close to shore. When there was no automatic RTH activity and the No signal message was still on the screen after that much time, I started to hit the RTH on the app. I now could not remember if I hit the wrong button or not. However, even if I hit the Autoland button, should it be re-connected to the P3P before it could land ? The screen was a No Signal til the end and I have never used the Autoland button to see how it actually behaves. I did push the controls left right up down but because of the No Signal message, my hope was dwindling fast. Thanks.

 

[hoctro]

You may have lost the downlink but there was still full control and the app kept recording telemetry.
What your log shows is that at 12:56 your Phantom was 92 feet high and went from P-GPS mode to autolanding.

The RTH was activated the first time fine when the downlink was lost and I canceled it when it came close. After that it was flying fine until the No Signal appeared on the screen, and then there was no RTH activated at all: this is mystery to me. I did not panic at that time and waited for a while but did not see any beeping of the auto RTH function. Then I activated my RTH/AutoLanding. Thanks.

 

[FantomFlier]

Hello,
Any promising case against DJI?

That was a (poor) joke, right?

 

[msinger]

After that it was flying fine until the No Signal appeared on the screen, and then there was no RTH activated at all: this is mystery to me.

According to your flight log, the downlink and remote controller were both connected the entire time after the signal was lost at the 4m 8s mark. That's why your Phantom did not auto RTH prior to you initiating the auto land procedure.

 

[Alan Russel]

I find it a good safe procedure when you hit RTH button whether you cancel it or not, still let the bird land at or near the home point and then take off again. Maybe your action of cancelling RTH when it got close and sending the phantom back out to sea may not have been wise.

 

[msinger]

I find it a good safe procedure when you hit RTH button whether you cancel it or not, still let the bird land at or near the home point and then take off again.

It's perfectly safe to cancel the RTH and continue flying. The issue is that the OP accidentally used the auto land feature on the left side of the DJI GO app.

 

[Meta4]

I find it a good safe procedure when you hit RTH button whether you cancel it or not, still let the bird land at or near the home point and then take off again. Maybe your action of cancelling RTH when it got close and sending the phantom back out to sea may not have been wise.

There should be no need to let the RTH go all the way to landing.
Cancel or not, the Phantom still maintains the homepoint in its memory and you can initiate RTH and cancel it again and again without problem.
The problem in this case had nothing to do with RTH and was something unrelated.

 

[hoctro]

According to your flight log, the downlink and remote controller were both connected the entire time after the signal was lost at the 4m 8s mark. That's why your Phantom did not auto RTH prior to you initiating the auto land procedure.

Thanks for the explanation but believe it or not, the flight log did not show what exactly had happened.
Around the 11m 6.2 s, I was going sideways for a minute, and there was no increase in vertical height. I believe the No Signal occurred around 12m 10.3s. I was close to shore enough (1434 ft all that time) and the P3P should not have lost the connection. There was no reason for me to activate the AutoLanding even by mistake without any need, if I still had connection. It was not a Weak Transmission Signal or anything similar, but a sudden No Signal and the log did not show any of this. I did try to increase height, as seen now in the log but there was still the No Signal on the app screen. During this whole time, I was expecting the auto RTH to activate by itself, but nothing happened. Then probably I hit the Autolanding as it makes sense the most. What I should have done: run my AZ Screen Recorder in the beginning as I usually do; when the No Signal occurred, try some more time as I still had enough battery left; hit the RTH button on the RC (which I did but probably too late). I hand launch and hand catch my P3P all the time, so I use the RTH on the app as it is more convenient for me.
Thank you all for your comments: this is a great community.

 

[Paul A Byers]

Losing the app or losing signal doesn't cause the Phantom to fall from the sky.
With a lost app, you still have full control via the controller with a lost signal it will just hover for 3 seconds and come home on its own.
You may have lost the downlink but there was still full control and the app kept recording telemetry.
What your log shows is that at 12:56 your Phantom was 92 feet high and went from P-GPS mode to autolanding.
There was still full signal right up to 13:26 as your Phantom slowly came down to the water.
There is no indication that RTH was ever initiated.
Looks like you hit the wrong button on the screen - autoland instead of RTH.

There is an autoland button on the screen? Wanting to know where it is so I don't make that mistake if that is indeed what happened.

Thanks!

 

[msinger]

There is an autoland button on the screen?

Yes. It's on the left side -- next to the RTH icon.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Yes. It's on the left side -- next to the RTH icon.

Soon to be removed, just like the CSC command was from newer aircraft. Too many accidental, unintentional activations. I'd like to see Autoland removed from the screen, especially from the P4P, as I may want to initiate focus in that area on the screen, or use that area for an exposure setting. What's wrong with just holding the left stick down, under control, while it lands in place? There is also a huge dedicated RTH button on the controller! No confusion that way, especially for those aging pilots with presbyopia!

 

[AerialTouch]

Maybe make it configurable. Some may want it there, others can turn it off...


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[GadgetGuy]

Maybe make it configurable. Some may want it there, others can turn it off...


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

Works for me! Just add another few toggles for customizing which buttons you want displayed during flight! How about another one for disabling annoying wind warnings that keep repeating and must be clicked on every 5 /seconds to turn off and clear the screen!

 

[hoctro]

Update: My P3P was found and retrieved by 2 great Aloha spear fishermen who contacted me (thanks to my phone sticker and their amazing kindness) to proceed with the shipping back home after 3 days at sea. I've learned that some people got luck with the drying process. Once I have it, should I open it up and meticulously use my hair dryer or should I let DJI take a look? I don't expect my P3P to survive at all, but I will get my SD card back. I was also informed that my last video file was incomplete. Thanks in advance.

 

[m0j0]

You aren't going to dry it and fly it after t was submerged this long. You can however recover your sd card.


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[hoctro]

You aren't going to dry it and fly it after t was submerged this long. You can however recover your sd card.

Oh boy! Maybe it's time to save $$$ to pre-order a Mavic Pro. Aloha!