P3S makes unplanned descent during mission - now lost

[Fly Dawg]

What you have to remember is, you lost signal actually twice during the flight. Not long enough to kick in RTH, and even if that were the case it would not because you were doing a waypoint mission and the mission was not complete. You recieve data every 100ms via the telemetry, so my guess is you regained signal for 100ms then lost it again, hence no more data.

 

[Fly Dawg]

As an additional thought on that. Personally, I have never lost signal on a mission, although I use Litchi, and I am unsure if you are running a waypoint mission that you would even receive a signal lost message in the app because the bird doesn't care. All it knows is finish the mission, or land on critical battery. That could be why you didn't see another signal lost message in the data.

 

[xman4242]

Did u have FAA registration on it?

 

[UnluckyInFlight]

Did u have FAA registration on it?

I registered it through DJI, which I assumed was what that was (or at least included it).

 

[Fly Dawg]

I registered it through DJI, which I assumed was what that was (or at least included it).

No, you register through the FAA. It is required. Registration through DJI is completely different. I believe it is a $5 fee for FAA registration.

 

[UnluckyInFlight]

No, you register through the FAA. It is required. Registration through DJI is completely different. I believe it is a $5 fee for FAA registration.

Oh. Oops. Well if I get it back, I will definitely do that first thing.

 

[Frank Pliska III]

Oh. Oops. Well if I get it back, I will definitely do that first thing.

A D.C.-based appeals court struck down the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rule on Friday May 19th requiring recreational drone users to register their model aircraft with the federal government, in a major win for drone hobbyists.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit sided with plaintiff John A. Taylor, a recreational drone pilot, who argued that the FAA doesn’t have the power to make him register his toy drones because Congress already said the FAA can’t regulate model aircraft.

“The FAA’s 2015 registration rule, which applies to model aircraft, directly violates that clear statutory prohibition,” the opinion said. “We therefore grant Taylor’s petition and vacate the registration rule to the extent it applies to model aircraft.”

 

[xman4242]

I was just going to say that if you did, you could tell people the registration number. I think you should take your neighbor up in his offer and look for it with another drone.
Also, I don't know much about missions but is it at all possible that it could have flown to another waypoint?

 

[UnluckyInFlight]

I was just going to say that if you did, you could tell people the registration number. I think you should take your neighbor up in his offer and look for it with another drone.
Also, I don't know much about missions but is it at all possible that it could have flown to another waypoint?

My neighbor did fly his drone, but we did not see any signs of it. And it does look like it was trying to get to waypoint 2 (it was headed in that direction), but it was at 65 feet when last spotted, and there are 100 ft. trees between P1 and P2 (both waypoints were recorded at 150 ft.). But yes, I checked each waypoint just to be sure.

 

[UnluckyInFlight]

Shortly after the drone went silent, I took a screen shot of the waypoint path on the tablet. I referenced it for general locations, but I noticed something today that I had not noticed before: There is a P1, P2, and P4, but no P3. I doubt it is related to the loss, but thought I'd throw it out there (here). How could you have a path with a missing waypoint?

 

[Dounin Front]

I did not. Good to know going forward (if I ever find mine

Hope you have found your drone by now.
I finally bought a Marco Polo locator device for mine this year. It sure would have made search and rescue easier for you.

 

[DougLeppard]

Bummer it is lost. I suggest get back into the saddle and buy another.

This is one of the reason I put an independent finder module on mine because if it goes down around me it is swamp or very sense trees. I strongly suggest a module lots to choose from well worth the investment to help find drone. I use Loc8tor but others may be better for your situation.

BTW a P3S refurbished with full warranty is $400.
DJI Refurbish | DJI Store

 

[Mark J Colbert]

I lost a P3S because the weather outside was too cold. Everything was going along perfectly when I got a message stating my drone was landing - and there was nothing I could do about it. It went down in the front yard of one on my neighbors, whose children promptly grabbed it and went into the house. The GPS trail clearly showed it. When I asked them for my drone back, they, of course, had no idea what I was talking about.

 

[DougLeppard]

That is a reason I put on my drone contact info and $50 reward if found.

 

[Frank Pliska III]

I have all my contact info on my P3S but now I'm going to ad a note stating a reward for return. Guess you don't get along with your neighbors. Darn shame now a days. Seems to be more common in neighborhoods today. Did you tell them you have a tracker on it and it's in their house and you will call the law if they don't return it????

 

[UnluckyInFlight]

Hope you have found your drone by now.
I finally bought a Marco Polo locator device for mine this year. It sure would have made search and rescue easier for you.

I will definitely do that, if I find it...

 

[UnluckyInFlight]

Bummer it is lost. I suggest get back into the saddle and buy another.

This is one of the reason I put an independent finder module on mine because if it goes down around me it is swamp or very sense trees. I strongly suggest a module lots to choose from well worth the investment to help find drone. I use Loc8tor but others may be better for your situation.

BTW a P3S refurbished with full warranty is $400.
DJI Refurbish | DJI Store

Would love to get back to flying, but thing$ are a bit tight right now. Will definitely get a locator - hindsight is a beautiful thing

 

[DougLeppard]

Yes on hindsight. I read every crash and lost posting I could find, I wanted to learn and loosing it or crashing is a great fear. What I learned:

Most crashes by far is flying too low.

Drones at times do strange things but not common . Battery is low so it just lands or in my case I had put something that caused the compass to be bad and i almost lost it and only quick thinking got it back. I know eventually I will crash bad or loose one, but it is part of the cost for flying.

 

[JoeG698]

Bummer it is lost. I suggest get back into the saddle and buy another.

This is one of the reason I put an independent finder module on mine because if it goes down around me it is swamp or very sense trees. I strongly suggest a module lots to choose from well worth the investment to help find drone. I use Loc8tor but others may be better for your situation.

BTW a P3S refurbished with full warranty is $400.
DJI Refurbish | DJI Store

As of this date, DJI selling through Newegg.com has PS3(new) for 375

 

[JoeG698]

Would love to get back to flying, but thing$ are a bit tight right now. Will definitely get a locator - hindsight is a beautiful thing

As of this date, DJI selling through Newegg.com has PS3(new) for 375