P3 Pro never came back home

[msinger]

When the downlink was lost for the final time and the data stopped recording in your log, it looks like your Phantom was very close to the ground (trees). It probably crashed before RTH could be initiated.

 

[Mark The Droner]

I don't see it either. And that is the troublesome part because I activated it twice. First time was after it didn't initiate RTH on it's own after losing signal. And then again after waiting about 5 mins and it still didnt show up. My RC was beeping indicating that it was in RTH mode. Apparently not.

I don't understand why you think your log would show an activation of RTH when you have a broken connection.

What happened after you waited 5 minutes? Did it occur to you to turn off your controller?

Sorry for your loss.

 

[kaotic1]

Google Earth suggests otherwise

Just uploaded the cached video to Youtube. It doesn't lie. Shame too that it stopped recording the moment it lost signal.

 

[msinger]

Just uploaded the cached video to Youtube. It doesn't lie.

Agreed. It appears you flew it directly into the tree tops.

 

[kaotic1]

I don't understand why you think your log would show an activation of RTH when you have a broken connection.

What happened after you waited 5 minutes? Did it occur to you to turn off your controller?

Sorry for your loss.

No, it did not occur to me to turn off the controller. I've lost signal before, 4 times the distance so I had confidence in it and didn't think to do that. I guess I put way too much faith in the beeping of my RC.

 

[Meta4]

Msinger hit the nail on the head.
Run your cursor along the line your Phantom was flying until it lost signal.
Check the elevation on that line and beyond (and factor in the tree height as well).
The land is rising and gets to the same elevation, and higher than your launch point.
If you had the camera pointing forward you should have noticed the rising terrain.

 

[kaotic1]

Agreed. It appears you flew it directly into the tree tops.

Msinger hit the nail on the head.
Run your cursor along the line your Phantom was flying until it lost signal.
Check the elevation on that line and beyond (and factor in the tree height as well).
The land is rising and gets to the same elevation, and higher than your launch point.
If you had the camera pointing forward you should have noticed the rising terrain.

I get what it appears like. But like I said, when I lost signal I was around 900+ ft coming back, as you see there in the video as I'm panning back up. But from the flight log it continued another 500 ft west after I had initiated RTH on my RC.

Thanks for your guys' time and thoughts though, I appreciate it. Looks like I won't be needing to call DJI as they will no doubt have even stronger arguments than you all as to what happened.

 

[With The Birds]

Call DJI. They might give you 15-20% off a replacement AC

 

[Meta4]

I get what it appears like. But like I said, when I lost signal I was around 900+ ft coming back, as you see there in the video as I'm panning back up. But from the flight log it continued another 500 ft west after I had initiated RTH on my RC.

Thanks for your guys' time and thoughts though, I appreciate it. Looks like I won't be needing to call DJI as they will no doubt have even stronger arguments than you all as to what happened.

The spot heights tell the story

The video shows tree tops very close - and remember that the ultra wideangle lens makes them appear further away than they are.
If your Phantom flew any further NW than the flight record shows, it would have hit treetops and been behind higher terrain.

 

[Mark The Droner]

...... The problem occurs when I am heading back. I'm flying back manually

...

It appears you only thought you were flying back which would have been north, but instead you were flying northwest.

 

[rene van der meer]

Call DJI. They might give you 15-20% off a replacement AC

Looking at the last part of the video the tree tops were coming closer.
Here we are not allowed to fly without an unaided line of sight, but even it it were allowed, in such a terrain FPV flying is a risk.
I would try to find the AC starting at the location where the contact was lost.

 

[kaotic1]

It appears you only thought you were flying back which would have been north, but instead you were flying northwest.

"Back" relative to where I was, 1,400+ ft out.

 

[kaotic1]

Looking at the last part of the video the tree tops were coming closer.
Here we are not allowed to fly without an unaided line of sight, but even it it were allowed, in such a terrain FPV flying is a risk.
I would try to find the AC starting at the location where the contact was lost.

Yeah, I might have to attempt that. Although the chances are very slim being it is a very popular hiking trail.

 

[kaotic1]

The spot heights tell the story

The video shows tree tops very close - and remember that the ultra wideangle lens makes them appear further away than they are.
If your Phantom flew any further NW than the flight record shows, it would have hit treetops and been behind higher terrain.

Yeah, doesn't add up because it took me 1 min and 10+ secs to reach almost 1500 ft from home point but only 40 secs to come back to 975 ft and then end up ultimately at 1,435 ft. west of homepoint. This was a very tough and expensive lesson.

 

[bluer101]

Did anyone notice his antenna positions???

It appears so. I always fly with my antennas in the correct orientation in relation to where the aircraft is too so I don't know what the hell happened. Totally disappointed in DJI at the moment.

 

[Noodle]

Just uploaded the cached video to Youtube. It doesn't lie. Shame too that it stopped recording the moment it lost signal.

Wow, that's a very brave and risky flying you got there. You spent most of the beginning of the video flying backward, then the second half of the video with the camera pointing downward. You weren't even pointing the camera forward where your drone was heading. And from the description of your first post, it appears your drone was out of your visual sight too, so basically it was flying "blindly" most of the time.

 

[Noodle]

Did anyone notice his antenna positions???
View attachment 58327

Good pick up.

 

[bluer101]

Good pick up.

Yep, range and signal gets very limited like that, could have kept the signal perfectly and avoided this disaster all together.

 

[MikeyOnline]

Agreed. It appears you flew it directly into the tree tops.

That was my immediate thought. The most likely explanation is that the AC was down before RTH was initiated. So basically it was trying to RTH while in a tree or upside down on the ground with the motors obstructed. Not saying that's the definitive answer but it would certainly explain it.

Edit: this is the final frame of the video. You look to be clearing the trees at that point by maybe 50 feet and the ones in the foreground are rising fast. I could be wrong on this, but I believe when you lose signal, the AC continues on its current course for some length of time (10 seconds?) before stopping and initiating RTH. I know that when I see loss of signal on mine for something like 1.5 seconds (happens all the time on mine for some reason), the course is not altered during that 1.5 seconds and it continues moving. Another 10 seconds on your current course, from the looks of the video, and the trees could have risen to the height of the AC.

Mike

 

[dtviewer]

Great detective work guys!

To the original poster, I'm sure its a terrible feeling right now but with all the info and tracking in this thread I would think there is a chance you can find it. Maybe grab a couple of friends and canvas the area from the above posts and see if you can find it before it sits out there for too long.

Also, learn a lesson from the picture of your antenna orientation. That is most likely the reason you lost signal.

This really makes me want to look into some kind of tracker to put on the bird....