P3S Dropped out of sky today

[RodPad]

I looked at your log, and there is wow just, just no ending.

I have a smashed P3A, I believe it was a motor failure. The flight log for mine is not complete ether, I saw it spinning out of control and falling on the live video feed. The log doesn't show any elevation drop. I was recording video and recording screen view.

Once I found the bird the battery was dislodged. I get back to the car, and shut off my remote and iPad, forgot to save the screen recording. I was thinking if you were using a Android maybe you could find some data that wasn't saved correctly.

I actually started to realize this yesterday, I tried to save a screen shot on my iPad, and I held the wrong button down, and it went black. Meaning I had tap the button and re-inter my sec code. I may have done that, and is why I don't have the last data from my flight. I really don't know.

The SD card you are trying to download is on the bottom of Main board, in the middle on mine, it is in a SD card socket, but it is glued in. My main board is really messed up, I didn't bother to power it back up. I can't read the SD card on a windows system. It just says to use it, I need to format it. Which of coarse I will never do.

When you power off to soon, or the battery pops out. There is no finish to the video file, if you power the system backup, that gets saved, if your camera and main board still works.

I uploaded the the video and @GrammatonxXXxCleric fixed it for me.

He posted the fun part here.

The white building top center of the screen is my garage, I was standing there with the remote in my hand. It went down about 50' from my property.

Rod

 

[BudWalker]

RodPad,
The app did say I was in flight data mode but just wouldn't mount the drive on my Mac. I am going to troubleshoot this a bit more when I get a chance. All of the props were still securely on the drone but one of the motor arms was cracked badly from the fall. The camera was within 5 feet of the drone itself and actually doesn't look broken to me (aside from the plastic mounting plate), just all the wires disconnected. I was using my fully-charged iPad 2 mini that I've used for almost all of my flights and using Litchi app, not the DJI app.
I would feel a little better if i just knew what caused it, (bird, power loss, other malfunction, etc). I was at 200' with no obstacles in the path. I may just never know what occurred. I may just buy a replacement bird since I have a good setup and accessories for the P3S. Any suggestions on the best options for a replacement?

Thanks for all the inputs.

Chad

Have you taken a look at the MAC OSX section on this page
How to retrieve a .DAT

or
http://www.datfile.net/DatCon/Mount DJI Phantom 3 Flight Data Drive in Mac OS X.pdf

 

[GregWV]

The housing is broken at one of the motors and the motor is tilted up a little and the rotor hits the frame now so this chassis is toast. Considering it was a 200' fall I would have expected even more damage. I'm trying to get the .DAT files off the drone but having an issue getting the drive to mount on my Mac. I did enter Flight Data mode and the DJI Go app appears to be able to see the drone attached to the controller. I've read some posts where others pointed out the USB cable was the culprit so need to try another cable.

I have. to mount my P3S on my Mac manually. try this:

To get the FAT32 microSD card to mount in Mac OS X use the

command line:

sudo hdiutil attach /dev/disk1s1 -shadow ~/Desktop/shadow

If your Mac has more than one hard drive for disk # may be different.

 

[wmralls]

I am just sorry that you were unable to see what happened as you would have had you been flying responsibly. Now, you will never know to include knowing if the drone caused others damage or injury when it fell out of the sky.

 

[Josh1234]

I had a "not so normal" flight today. I was only 3 minutes into flight at about 200' and flying over some woods close to my home. I was watching the flight on my tablet as the drone was, by now out of sight. Everything seemed to be going fine when all of a sudden the drone seemed to dip hard to the left and the video then froze on the screen. I have never had a single issue with the drone before and took off with a full battery (96%). I was using Litchi and unfortunately I forgot to start recording so I have no proof of my suspicion that a hawk or other large bird trashed it in flight. I recall reading where others have had their drone drop out of the sky for no reason but I've never had a single issue with mine and I'm running the same firmware that I've been using for probably 2 years. I still had good signal and the landing battery power was 86% according to my AirData UAV sync. I took the last known location and walked into the woods with my phone (GPS). I figured at 200' and heading down hard it would be a bit further away in the same direction it was going and I was right. It was probably 300ft or so down the route and luckily not in a tree. The drone was still on but the camera was ripped right off the thing. I was anxious to get back to watch the video and see the bird (ie dogfight in the sky) but was pissed I didn't have auto-record enabled at takeoff and forgot to start record.
Now after that long story, I was hoping some folks would have some ideas as to figure out what might have cause this if not a bird. I don't fly my drone all the time and my previous flight was back in July with no issues. Any ideas on pinpointing something in the log or what to focus in on as an indicator?

Thanks.

Chad

Hi, my P3P was in straight and level fight at about 40ft in full view then just toppled forward straight into the ground upside down. Was about 12 mins into flight and in 12kt wind. Basically just stopped flying. It was a write off due to gps module going through the central processor into the battery. Individual motors appeared to be still OK as free to smoothly rotate. Think it’s just one of the many P3 in flight failures. Now have a P4.

 

[LarBear360]

Hi, my P3P was in straight and level fight at about 40ft in full view then just toppled forward straight into the ground upside down. Was about 12 mins into flight and in 12kt wind. Basically just stopped flying. It was a write off due to gps module going through the central processor into the battery. Individual motors appeared to be still OK as free to smoothly rotate. Think it’s just one of the many P3 in flight failures. Now have a P4.

Can you give us some examples of the "many in-flight failures" of a P3?

 

[Horiguchi]

After over 2 years of flight with my standard, I had a sudden motor failure at about 100 metres agl and 2min into flight. The camera was recording so had evidence whether there was a bird strike or not. Managed to retrieve it out of a tree minus one prop and a bent gimble arm but relatively undamaged. Got it flying again (close to ground) went fine for a short time then went haywire and down it went. Did more checks imu calibration etc flew it again went fine for close to 14min (great) got a bit confident went a bit higher (damm) another crash. The issue was intermittent but was a motor problem and not an esc I had wondered. Replaced it with a new one, good as gold since. Had it flown a few more moments into the original flight and it would have dropped into the inlet nearby (phew!) Here is the flight in real time.

 

[Andy9]

Why do you all stick to that wire? How can gimbal be ripped off during the flight.
I don't know how did you set up the recording parameters, but once or twice I forgot to push the record button and still got recorded video from my RC. In low res. of course.
This is not related to recording or no on the memory card. Until you had been disconnected it should be there - in the memory of RC.
And if the gimbal didn't brake at the time of crash the bird would be the only logical explanation.
Hawks and similar flying things would grab the drone from the down side as from anywhere else the rotors would prevent it.

 

[Andy9]

After over 2 years of flight with my standard, I had a sudden motor failure at about 100 metres agl and 2min into flight. The camera was recording so had evidence whether there was a bird strike or not. Managed to retrieve it out of a tree minus one prop and a bent gimble arm but relatively undamaged. Got it flying again (close to ground) went fine for a short time then went haywire and down it went. Did more checks imu calibration etc flew it again went fine for close to 14min (great) got a bit confident went a bit higher (damm) another crash. The issue was intermittent but was a motor problem and not an esc I had wondered. Replaced it with a new one, good as gold since. Had it flown a few more moments into the original flight and it would have dropped into the inlet nearby (phew!) Here is the flight in real time.

But motor failure would be documented in flight log unless it cause an instant electric shutdown.

 

[RodPad]

I am just sorry that you were unable to see what happened as you would have had you been flying responsibly. Now, you will never know to include knowing if the drone caused others damage or injury when it fell out of the sky.

Hum,
"Now, you will never know to include knowing if the drone caused others damage or injury when it fell out of the sky"
Is he still looking for it?

Hum,
"I am just sorry that you were unable to see what happened as you would have had you been flying responsibly"

"I had a "not so normal" flight today. I was only 3 minutes into flight at about 200' and flying over some woods close to my home. I was watching the flight on my tablet as the drone was, by now out of sight "
I see this as flying over the area that he is very familiar with, he lost visual but could see the live view on his tablet.

"Everything seemed to be going fine when all of a sudden the drone seemed to dip hard to the left and the video then froze on the screen. "
I see this as he still had control hoping to get his visual back.

Rod

 

[RodPad]

I'm not an expert. Power was never lost. Maybe you still had control, but no telemetry. Telemetry is lost by losing your gimbal. A bird could have ripped it off and you had no control then. That's the scenario I see. Everything looks good on the flight records.

This thread is really bugging me.
"A bird could have ripped it off and you had no control then"
He would still have control, loosing the gimbal doesn't effect the signal from the remote to the Phantom.

Rod

 

[Fly Dawg]

Hawks and similar flying things would grab the drone from the down side as from anywhere else the rotors would prevent it.

Incorrect. Hawks do not realize there are motors. They will attack at any angle EXCEPT from vertical below. This is why if you are lucky enough and fast enough you can out climb them with full throttle up. They can't keep up and will attempt another angle or disengage.

 

[Andy9]

Escaping straight up is the only way to escape, I agree with that. But predators are smart. Maybe they have bad experiences from the past, LOL. Not so rarely they fly in pairs and the second one can correct the mistake first one has done.
Of course this is all speculation. Without data that reveals the real cause of fall you will never know.

 

[Fly Dawg]

Without data that reveals the real cause of fall you will never know.

Agreed, and even with that, at times it is inconclusive. Usually the accelerometer data from the .dat file can give a pretty accurate description, along with the attitude and motor data.

 

[WV. Rootman]

Escaping straight up is the only way to escape, I agree with that. But predators are smart. Maybe they have bad experiences from the past, LOL. Not so rarely they fly in pairs and the second one can correct the mistake first one has done.
Of course this is all speculation. Without data that reveals the real cause of fall you will never know.

I have watched Bald eagles many times working in pairs. If you like to see it for yourself, go to the Orange county, Fl. landfill. It was over 15 years ago there were 50 Bald eagle's nest around there. It was a common event watching them. I worked at the power plant next door to it. Probably a great place to test drones. LOL

 

[WV. Rootman]

This thread is really bugging me.
"A bird could have ripped it off and you had no control then"
He would still have control, loosing the gimbal doesn't effect the signal from the remote to the Phantom.

Rod

Sorry, writing is not my forte. He had no control because the bird had the quad. Before that, I said he may still had control.

 

[Fly Dawg]

Probably a great place to test drones.

Testing is not an option. You are taking a bigger risk by that than you would gain rewards by the process. And you say writing is not your forte? From some of your posts, I beg to differ. Comprehensive writing may be a better term, but you do tend to express yourself in rather odd ways at times. No offense intended at all, but from time to time, way off topic. That's ok though. Perfectly acceptable.

 

[WV. Rootman]

Testing is not an option. You are taking a bigger risk by that than you would gain rewards by the process. And you say writing is not your forte? From some of your posts, I beg to differ. Comprehensive writing may be a better term, but you do tend to express yourself in rather odd ways at times. No offense intended at all, but from time to time, way off topic. That's ok though. Perfectly acceptable.

Yep, that twist gets me in trouble. So does my dyslexia.

Sometimes I'm looking for the response than the answer. My mind runs faster then my writing. Writing is not my forte.

But, lighten up Dawg. I did put a "LOL" after that statement this time.
Maybe it was the chemicals in that chip plant I worked in? What do you mean, I get off topic. LOL

 

[Fly Dawg]

What do you mean, I get off topic.

That wasn't directly related to any specific instance. Other than your "Off Topic" posts. But, when commenting on certain things at times you drift away from the subject. No worry's there really though. Was just pointing that out. As we get older that tends to happen. Sometimes noticed by others, sometimes not. It has happened to me as well while working with all of these data files. Sometimes more than three at a time. They run together and I may post pre-maturely while looking at someone else's data. I almost always catch those and correct, but it happens.....

 

[WV. Rootman]

That wasn't directly related to any specific instance. Other than your "Off Topic" posts. But, when commenting on certain things at times you drift away from the subject. No worry's there really though. Was just pointing that out. As we get older that tends to happen. Sometimes noticed by others, sometimes not. It has happened to me as well while working with all of these data files. Sometimes more than three at a time. They run together and I may post pre-maturely while looking at someone else's data. I almost always catch those and correct, but it happens.....

I do appreciate your skills. You're an asset to this forum.
Chad needs to put out some data so we can help him find an answer.