Can I please get some help? I am heart Broken....

[Zbip57]

Keep expanding the map out until you see the continent of Africa.
From that view of the map it is showing home point to be at zero degrees latitude and zero degrees longitude (0°N 0°E).

Correct. The PhantomHelp log viewer does show that. However it is like that for only the very first line of data (highlighted in light blue). If you click down onto the 2nd line of data (Data Recorder File index is 15) you'll see the Home Point jumps to the takeoff location when motors are started.

And in the 8th line of data, at 0m 31.8s, the Home Point is Updated and Recorded with a RTH height of 30m at take off.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Correct. The PhantomHelp log viewer does show that. However it is like that for only the very first line of data (highlighted in light blue). If you click down onto the 2nd line of data (Data Recorder File index is 15) you'll see the Home Point jumps to the takeoff location when motors are started.

And in the 8th line of data, at 0m 31.8s, the Home Point is Updated and Recorded with a RTH height of 30m at take off.

Thanks for pointing that out. Still seems strange that it recorded it there in the first place. Hundreds of flights with my Air 2S and not one has ever placed home point anywhere it should not have been. I have seen flight logs from Autel xstars that place it in the same place and it turned out to be a faulty GPS on the bird.

 

[Zbip57]

not one has ever placed home point anywhere it should not have been.

I've seen this on some of my logs, when I start up my Mini inside the house without GPS reception. If I check the log file in the Fly App under Profile, More..., it shows my location in that spot off Africa.

I don't think it actually ever records the Home Position as being off the coast of Africa. It's just the null value, (zero lat, zero long) before it's powered up and had a chance to record anything at all.

It won't ever try to return to that point. It corresponds to No Home Point recorded yet.

 

[Intruder Weasel]

Fascinating thread. I learn so much from reading and watching all of you work to solve these problems. I love flying my drone but hadn't begun to master the details. Still working to understand. Keep it coming..............

 

[Jet skier]

Hopefully you had your name and email address visible on the drone I have had my drone returned twice because of it having the label

 

[slup]

Is there anyone here that can please advise me on what my Drone decided to do with the rest of its battery charge when my STUPID iPhone decided to freak out...

...if it was trying to move toward the home point after the last recorded gps point or what.

Just to get it off the chart ... Your HP was properly recorded at your launch point at 27,8sec into the flight.

OK ... you made several mistakes during this flight.

The log from the incident is severely chopped up due to the lousy connection you had out there in the furthest distance from the HP ... meaning it is a lot of gaps in the data stream which not providing any data at all ... in the chart below it's shown on the broken graphs & in the sat. pictures as broken flight path lines.

At 371,5sec into the flight you manually initiated RTH from the RC & the AC started to fly home ... there you had 44% battery with a lowbattery RTH threshold defined to 41% & a lowbattery land threshold at 17%.

It was here ...



Your craft made good progress towards the HP until somewhere between 411,4sec to 420sec (between these time stamps you lost connection so no data exists here in the log) ... when the connection had been reestablished you had 38% battery with a lowbattery RTH threshold defined to 39% & a lowbattery land threshold at 17% ... and you was in Sport mode ... meaning that you had canceled the RTH. As your battery percent already was lower than the lowbattery RTH threshold your AC would not re-initiate it again... & here you just stay put and hover down the battery.

From 420sec the connection continues to be choppy & the last thing that is recorded in the log is that your AC have 29% battery with a lowbattery RTH threshold defined to 38% & a lowbattery land threshold at 17% ... and you have just started to apply a stick command for full forward ... & here your phone dies.

It was here ...



And here the chart with the relevant telemetry, with the chart marker just in the end where the log recording stops...



So ... when your phone died you had commanded full forward speed to your AC, you had already cancelled the opportunity for a successful lowbattery RTH ... your failsafe action if you would lose the connection was set to Hover, not RTH. You had 12% battery left until the lowbattery landing should start & you was at a maximum of 1192m from the HP (if you continued to apply full forward after the phone died it could be somewhat less left to HP).

Your AC most probably consumed those remaining 12% battery until the lowbattery landing ... & landed. How far it flew is unknown as the log have stopped to record & we don't know for how long you kept applying full forward after the phone died. If you released the sticks right there when the log ended (phone died) & didn't touch the sticks again ... your AC landed very close to the last logged position.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Nice and detailed explanation @slup. Nice to see a member explain it such detail.

 

[Adamisprimal]

My hopes are very low here however I am more than thankful for all the help and guidance given here guys like I didnt think I would get any insight and wow blown away at the forums willingness to help and try work out what happened here. I also learnt so much from this all. I was wondering if the controller has any form of stored telemetry like does it store any log data as it was connected to the drone after my piece of **** iphone decided to lag the hell out. Never saw an error before stating processor full or something. Thanks guys

 

[Adamisprimal]

Just to get it off the chart ... Your HP was properly recorded at your launch point at 27,8sec into the flight.

OK ... you made several mistakes during this flight.

The log from the incident is severely chopped up due to the lousy connection you had out there in the furthest distance from the HP ... meaning it is a lot of gaps in the data stream which not providing any data at all ... in the chart below it's shown on the broken graphs & in the sat. pictures as broken flight path lines.

At 371,5sec into the flight you manually initiated RTH from the RC & the AC started to fly home ... there you had 44% battery with a lowbattery RTH threshold defined to 41% & a lowbattery land threshold at 17%.

It was here ...

View attachment 137730

Your craft made good progress towards the HP until somewhere between 411,4sec to 420sec (between these time stamps you lost connection so no data exists here in the log) ... when the connection had been reestablished you had 38% battery with a lowbattery RTH threshold defined to 39% & a lowbattery land threshold at 17% ... and you was in Sport mode ... meaning that you had canceled the RTH. As your battery percent already was lower than the lowbattery RTH threshold your AC would not re-initiate it again... & here you just stay put and hover down the battery.

From 420sec the connection continues to be choppy & the last thing that is recorded in the log is that your AC have 29% battery with a lowbattery RTH threshold defined to 38% & a lowbattery land threshold at 17% ... and you have just started to apply a stick command for full forward ... & here your phone dies.

It was here ...

View attachment 137732

And here the chart with the relevant telemetry, with the chart marker just in the end where the log recording stops...

View attachment 137733

So ... when your phone died you had commanded full forward speed to your AC, you had already cancelled the opportunity for a successful lowbattery RTH ... your failsafe action if you would lose the connection was set to Hover, not RTH. You had 12% battery left until the lowbattery landing should start & you was at a maximum of 1192m from the HP (if you continued to apply full forward after the phone died it could be somewhat less left to HP).

Your AC most probably consumed those remaining 12% battery until the lowbattery landing ... & landed. How far it flew is unknown as the log have stopped to record & we don't know for how long you kept applying full forward after the phone died. If you released the sticks right there when the log ended (phone died) & didn't touch the sticks again ... your AC landed very close to the last logged position.

You are amazing for this detailed and really comprehensive breakdown. Just as a random q, How far do you suppose the drone would of been able to fly with the bat it had at the last point in theory so I can plot a area of possible landing. Also do you know if the controller stores telemetry logs?

 

[slup]

...How far do you suppose the drone would of been able to fly with the bat it had at the last point in theory
...Also do you know if the controller stores telemetry logs?

In one instance on the return path you were going in Sport mode with full stick forward ...

There your AC fought against a direct headwind of approx 7-8m/s ... and could occasionally reach a maximum ground speed of 8,8m/s. During that period your AC consumed approx. 1% battery per every 4,8sec.

This means that you from those 29% battery you had left when the log ends ... would have been able to fly in Sport for further 57,6sec until it would have started to lowbattery land. To this we add continued forward flight during the landing phase... as you were on 199,5m height (possible area approx 10m higher than HP so 189,5m to ground) & the max descend speed for your AC was 3m/s in Sport ... it means it would have taken approx. 63sec until it touched down ... still with full forward speed of 8,8m/s.

With a maximum ground speed of 8,8m/s during 57,6sec + 63sec landing ... would give you 1061,2m if you kept the stick nailed at full forward the whole time until the AC touched down.

So the theoretical min/max distance would be from the last position in the log if you released the stick there in the end of the log ... or further 1061m closer to the HP if you continued to apply full forward. (But the wind speed would also have been less closer to ground making it possible for your AC to go faster ... & your AC would also most probably have hit something during a landing with full horizontal Sport mode speed.)

And no ... no flight telemetry exist in the RC.

 

[eEridani]

Home point was recorded properly...

 

[eEridani]

And no ... no flight telemetry exist in the RC.

With regard to what happened - the drone was in a mode where LOS caused it to stop and hover. The log shows that pretty clearly. So rather than returning to home, the drone simply stopped, hovered, and then landed (or tried to land).

My earlier post (#11) showing the last log entry is probably pretty close to where the drone came down. Just west of the snack bar.

 

[Meta4]

With regard to what happened - the drone was in a mode where LOS caused it to stop and hover. The log shows that pretty clearly. So rather than returning to home, the drone simply stopped, hovered, and then landed (or tried to land).

As has been explained in posts #5, #10 & #26, he only lost his phone and app.
That does not mean he lost signal connection to the controller.
His Failsafe Action (Hover) would only have been triggered if signal was lost.

 

[slup]

With regard to what happened - the drone was in a mode where LOS caused it to stop and hover. The log shows that pretty clearly. So rather than returning to home, the drone simply stopped, hovered, and then landed (or tried to land).

My earlier post (#11) showing the last log entry is probably pretty close to where the drone came down. Just west of the snack bar.

The only thing that's shown in the log ... is that it ends. This together with the OP's info about that the LED on the RC still was green (meaning still AC connected) & that his mobile device gave up (making the log recording end), strongly suggest that the RC still was connected with the AC.

If that was the case & if the OP continued with the full forward stick command he just started there in the end of the log ... the AC would have started & continued to fly either until he released the stick, the AC ran out of battery or lost the connection (which would have made the AC hover as that was the set failsafe action).

 

[EricJT]

As has been explained in posts #5, #10 & #26, he only lost his phone and app.
That does not mean he lost signal connection to the controller.
His Failsafe Action (Hover) would only have been triggered if signal was lost.

And this is precisely why LOS is so critical....if the phone/app crashes, the pilot can still fly the AC home and land it. Without LOS and RTH not underway, the AC will more than likely be MIA.

 

[eEridani]

The only thing that's shown in the log ... is that it ends. This together with the OP's info about that the LED on the RC still was green (meaning still AC connected) &...

Except the OP indicated the LED had gone red...

I had a green light and beeping for like what felt like the scariest 10 - 15 seconds before I then got red flashing.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

And this is precisely why LOS is so critical....if the phone/app crashes, the pilot can still fly the AC home and land it. Without LOS and RTH not underway, the AC will more than likely be MIA.

Very true.
If worst comes to worst, press RTH ONCE, get it facing home, then you can left stick forward, bring it down (telemetry on the controller critical for that), and get it closer until you can see / hear it.
Always nice to be close though.

Re the controller telemetry, why oh why did DJI change that on later controllers ?
Even the Spark had nothing but controller battery leds.

 

[eEridani]

Very true.
If worst comes to worst, press RTH ONCE, get it facing home, then you can left stick forward, bring it down (telemetry on the controller critical for that), and get it closer until you can see / hear it.
Always nice to be close though.

Re the controller telemetry, why oh why did DJI change that on later controllers ?
Even the Spark had nothing but controller battery leds.

Keeping it made their controllers too much like HolyStone ... lol.

 

[slup]

Except the OP indicated the LED had gone red...

Yes, all true ... but we all know & have here at the forum seen how a panicked pilots info, very often hugely differ from what the log shows actually happened.

That the OP estimate something to 10-15sec may in reality have taken 30sec... or 2sec ... or the red LED actually came up minutes later when he had given up his tries to initiate RTH from the RC & stopped giving stick inputs to all possible directions. All this is up for speculation only ...

With regard to what happened...
the drone was in a mode where LOS caused it to stop and hover. The log shows that pretty clearly. So rather than returning to home, the drone simply stopped, hovered, and then landed (or tried to land).

Here you're just speculating ... the log doesn't show what you say "pretty clearly"

The log ends ... that's a fact. The AC could have been airborne for approx 120sec after the log ends ... also semi accurate fact as it's calculated out from averaged log data.

What happened to the AC during those approx. 120sec is up for speculation ... in one case the AC could have been flying for further 1061m (if the AC didn't crashed into something & the OP kept the stick on full forward even during the lowbattery landing)... this is based on the available maximum ground speed achieved earlier during the same AC speed mode & similar wind conditions.

Or ...

The AC could have been left very near to the last known position hovering down it's battery & landed.

This makes up for a theoretical search distance starting from the last known position reaching out to 1061m closer to the HP.

The only one that knows what happened & how the AC was commanded after the log ended is the OP ... the log doesn't show anything of that "pretty clearly".

 

[Meta4]

And this is precisely why LOS is so critical.... if the phone/app crashes, the pilot can still fly the AC home and land it.

You mean VLOS.
The drone could be 5 miles away and still have a clear, unobstructed lone of sight.

Without LOS and RTH not underway, the AC will more than likely be MIA.

In a case where you can't be sure, all you have to do is switch off the controller and that will initiate RTH (as long as you still have your Failsafe Action on the default setting of RTH.