So it happened - my less than 2 week old Vision Plus flew the coop and is gone.
Here's exactly what happened. The night before I upgraded firmware to 3.0.2. The next day took the Vision out for a flight near my home - which is in a rural, wooded area. There had been a storm earlier in the day but now the air was perfectly calm. There were low clouds (~1500 ft). After getting a satellite lock and green flashing lights I took her up. Flew around at around 600 ft and triggered return-to-home feature. As she had done on every other flight (probably logged 40 flights so far) she dutifully flew back and landed. I decided to go back up with about 70% battery left. I turned the Phantom off at the battery and back on.
Again, I got green flashing lights with 7 satellites (had 11 once I got off the ground). Flew up a short distance and hovered - all was great. Decided to fly up and film some of the low clouds - started video recording. Flew up slowly directly above me - not moving it in any direction. A friend was there looking on and we were stunned by the beautiful clouds. Got up to around 1800 ft and hovered there. About 3 minutes past when I noticed to my horror the distance indicator at 3000ft!!! (I had previously only made it about 2000ft distance away) I was completely shocked and suddenly felt sick. I knew the battery level was draining - currently at 38%. I initiated RTH by switching the controller off. It started coming back but then lost connection. It regained wifi connection briefly and lost it again. That was the last I saw of it.
I checked the Find my Phantom feature and raced to the location it gave. There was nothing there. The Phantom still had a wifi connection but could not give me camera or SD card access. We searched the heavily wooded area for hours with no luck. We returned that night hoping to see the lights but again nothing. Went out the next day and walked the entire 3000+ feet between launch area and that location - nothing.
I understand what I did wrong - I should not have flow up with less than 100% battery. I should have been watching the distance indicator (but I was so used the the rock-solid hover function and GPS stabilized flight). I should have bought a separate GPS tracker (I trusted the Find my Phantom feature would be accurate). Given the distance and battery level I should have tried to land it - gone straight down instead of letting it auto-pilot back.
I keep wondering though what the real cause of this was. I don't understand how it travelled away so stinking fast! It's possible that even though the air was perfectly still there were very swift winds at higher altitudes. If that were the case the winds would have to be very powerful to push the Phantom that far that fast - 3000 feet in 3-4 minutes. OR the Phantom had a GPS problem and flew north as fast as it could.
I've thought about buying another Phantom to go out and fly the same course the lost one was flying. Thought there could be a small possibility of seeing it from the air this way. Can you buy a Phantom without controller and battery anywhere? Should I contact DJI and report this? Would they do anything? Any other advice would be welcome.
Here's exactly what happened. The night before I upgraded firmware to 3.0.2. The next day took the Vision out for a flight near my home - which is in a rural, wooded area. There had been a storm earlier in the day but now the air was perfectly calm. There were low clouds (~1500 ft). After getting a satellite lock and green flashing lights I took her up. Flew around at around 600 ft and triggered return-to-home feature. As she had done on every other flight (probably logged 40 flights so far) she dutifully flew back and landed. I decided to go back up with about 70% battery left. I turned the Phantom off at the battery and back on.
Again, I got green flashing lights with 7 satellites (had 11 once I got off the ground). Flew up a short distance and hovered - all was great. Decided to fly up and film some of the low clouds - started video recording. Flew up slowly directly above me - not moving it in any direction. A friend was there looking on and we were stunned by the beautiful clouds. Got up to around 1800 ft and hovered there. About 3 minutes past when I noticed to my horror the distance indicator at 3000ft!!! (I had previously only made it about 2000ft distance away) I was completely shocked and suddenly felt sick. I knew the battery level was draining - currently at 38%. I initiated RTH by switching the controller off. It started coming back but then lost connection. It regained wifi connection briefly and lost it again. That was the last I saw of it.
I checked the Find my Phantom feature and raced to the location it gave. There was nothing there. The Phantom still had a wifi connection but could not give me camera or SD card access. We searched the heavily wooded area for hours with no luck. We returned that night hoping to see the lights but again nothing. Went out the next day and walked the entire 3000+ feet between launch area and that location - nothing.
I understand what I did wrong - I should not have flow up with less than 100% battery. I should have been watching the distance indicator (but I was so used the the rock-solid hover function and GPS stabilized flight). I should have bought a separate GPS tracker (I trusted the Find my Phantom feature would be accurate). Given the distance and battery level I should have tried to land it - gone straight down instead of letting it auto-pilot back.
I keep wondering though what the real cause of this was. I don't understand how it travelled away so stinking fast! It's possible that even though the air was perfectly still there were very swift winds at higher altitudes. If that were the case the winds would have to be very powerful to push the Phantom that far that fast - 3000 feet in 3-4 minutes. OR the Phantom had a GPS problem and flew north as fast as it could.
I've thought about buying another Phantom to go out and fly the same course the lost one was flying. Thought there could be a small possibility of seeing it from the air this way. Can you buy a Phantom without controller and battery anywhere? Should I contact DJI and report this? Would they do anything? Any other advice would be welcome.