P4 Lost; Help please.

Meta4 · Nov 12, 2016

atjt7 said:
I really wish I could take legal action but simply cannot afford it. A class action would be nice...

Without flight data no-one has any idea what happened to your Phantom.
If you want help, please upload your flight as mentioned in the post above.

atjt7 · Nov 13, 2016

I think this is it...
Phantom Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

msinger · Nov 13, 2016

Your log shows you were recording video near the end of your flight. Can you post that here too?

msinger · Nov 13, 2016

Do you recall what you had the setting below set to in DJI GO? From looking at your log, it appears it was set to "Hover". Is that possible?

Meta4 · Nov 13, 2016

atjt7 said:
I think this is it...
Phantom Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

Most of the flight seems quite normal but there's something interesting going on in the last few minutes.
Your Phantom was 980 feet above your homepoint which was at about 463 feet ASL
At 1440 feet ASL you were at about the same level as the highest point of Mt Cooroora.

At 13:12 your Phantom lost video signal for 1:37, video was restored but lost again for 0:42, 3:19 and 0:09.
Video signal was restored at 19:04 but your battery level dropped from 40% to 27% while this was going on.
The loss of signal must have been because your Phantom was being flown around Mt Cooroora from your home point and a chunk of the mountain was blocking the LOS between the controller and the Phantom.
That you didn't lose control signal suggests that your Phantom was right on the edge of dropping in and out.

The Phantom appears to have had a clear line to fly RTH, about 60 metres north of the highest point of the mountain.
If it did RTH along that line, it should have had nothing to hit on the way.
The puzzling thing is that the flight record indicates the Phantom was in RTH from 14:49 till the end of the record at 19:04 but it's position did not change at all during this 4 minutes 15 seconds.
After that there is no record, presumably because the mountain is blocking signal again.

Meta4 · Nov 13, 2016

msinger said:
Do you recall what you had the setting below set to in DJI GO? From looking at your log, it appears it was set to "Hover". Is that possible?

There must be a reason the Phantom just held position all that time even though it was indicated to be in RTH mode.
Question ... If you set Hover as the Loss of Signal action, does the flight record show RTH even though the drone is just hovering?

msinger · Nov 13, 2016

That's a good question. I've never tried such a test though.

atjt7 · Nov 13, 2016

I don't remember setting it to Hover at all but I suppose it is possible...
I will try to upload the video tomorrow.
Thanks for now

Meta4 · Nov 13, 2016

If Hover was the Loss of Signal action, which seems to be the most logical explanation for the Phantom holding position so long, it would have auto-landed when the battery got to about 10%.
It's position should be in the trees at about 26.3712S 152.8357E at about 720 ft ASL + tree height.
It might be a tricky one to recover as the tree canopy looks to be an issue.
This is in forest on a slope at the base of the exposed rock.
It shouldn't require any abseiling.
If you are going back to search again and want a helper, let me know and I might be able to come along with a GPS and binoculars.

msinger · Nov 13, 2016

atjt7 said:
I don't remember setting it to Hover at all but I suppose it is possible

That seems to be the only logical explanation since your Phantom did not move after RTH kicked in. I agree with Meta4 above. That's probably where your Phantom landed.

AWD · Nov 13, 2016

It is very interesting reading while you guys determine what has happened and where the machine should be. The history and logic of the events never ceases to amaze me.

Nicely done.

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Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

atjt7 · Nov 13, 2016

For some reason I cannot see the map on the log upload I did here but can see it fine on the one I did on Healthydrones?
Can you guys see the flight path on the google map from the link I gave?

I also cant find a way of uploading any videos or photos, I have tried "upload a file"...
The map I can see on Healthydrones seems to show it went in a straight line into the side of the hill but lower down when it lost contact and did not hover like this log shows...?

atjt7 · Nov 13, 2016

It shows the P4 was at a height of 441m and the Mountain is 439m so if it was going to go home it should have been ok especially as it did not have to fly straight over the highest point to get back but over the NW side which is lower.

I have a handheld GPS and have looked right underneath the last known position for several hours...

Meta4 · Nov 13, 2016

atjt7 said:
For some reason I cannot see the map on the log upload I did here but can see it fine on the one I did on Healthydrones?
Can you guys see the flight path on the google map from the link I gave?

The Google Earth image shows up fine here.
Perhaps some settings on your computer are stopping it.
If you click the Download KML link above the data you'll see it in Google Earth on its own.

atjt7 said:
I also cant find a way of uploading any videos or photos, I have tried "upload a file"...
The map I can see on Healthydrones seems to show it went in a straight line into the side of the hill but lower down when it lost contact and did not hover like this log shows...?

Healthydrones only gives a basic summary.
It doesn't show what was happening right through the flight so it's usually not much use for incident investigations.

Meta4 · Nov 13, 2016

atjt7 said:
It shows the P4 was at a height of 441m and the Mountain is 439m so if it was going to go home it should have been ok especially as it did not have to fly straight over the highest point to get back but over the NW side which is lower.

I have a handheld GPS and have looked right underneath the last known position for several hours...

Here's the way it looks in Google Earth (I drew in the RTH path)

Does the 40% point look like where you were searching?

atjt7 · Nov 14, 2016

That's what I can see on HD site.
And that's the flight path it should have taken to go home as I thought so it should have missed the Mountain as it had a direct path home if it kept to the same altitude.
I did wait over 20 mins at the home point after signal lost.
I don't understand where it goes straight towards the Mountain to the 40% spot as I don't remember doing that and DJI said that was where it had gone into the Mountain on RTH and it was my fault because it was behind the Mountain...

I converted the last known Lat and long to my Gps system and so yes the 40% is where I THINK I searched. Cant be sure though as spent hours both top and bottom of it...

Meta4 · Nov 14, 2016

atjt7 said:
I don't understand where it goes straight towards the Mountain to the 40% spot as I don't remember doing that and DJI said that was where it had gone into the Mountain on RTH and it was my fault because it was behind the Mountain...

At first, on seeing the picture I thought it must have flown into the mountain on RTH but looking at the height of the Phantom and the height of the part of the mountain under the RTH path showed that was not what happened.
Perhaps the DJI person that looked didn't pick that up?
The way it just sat there for so long is unusual and must be a factor in what happened.
What msinger and I came up with above is our best guess so far.

atjt7 said:
I converted the last known Lat and long to my Gps system and so yes the 40% is where I THINK I searched. Cant be sure though as spent hours both top and bottom of it...

just guessing here but possible causes of error might be:

Did you input the same location that I listed above to your GPS?
If you have the wrong datum set on your GPS that could account for an error of +/- 200 metres

atjt7 · Nov 14, 2016

Meta4 said:
just guessing here but possible causes of error might be:
Did you input the same location that I listed above to your GPS?
If you have the wrong datum set on your GPS that could account for an error of +/- 200 metres

Just checked the markers I saved on my gps and it would have been very close to that...
Actual coords are; 0483602 and 7083209

atjt7 · Nov 14, 2016

Meta4 said:
If you click the Download KML link above the data you'll see it in Google Earth on its own.

I did that thanks and can see fine now in 3D and whichever way I look at it the P4 should have been able to come home if it had kept to same altitude..