Does it make sense to review flight logs to prevent possible problems?

[Elvis44]

So let’s dial the paranoia up to 11. Having read enough crash stories here I am quite nervous every time I am flying. Add to this the fact that often my locations are near/over/close to powerstations and other factories (the reason and purpose can be seen here Industrial Fine Art), you should understand why.
And then this thought occurred to me recently. To reduce the possibility of M2P crash or flyaway does it make sense to review logs after each seemingly successful flight using Airdata/Phantomhelp – I mean, could there be any signs warning me in advance about any issues or problems waiting to happen?

 

[sar104]

It might help with some kinds of issues, especially battery problems, but, for the most part, you are not going to learn much more there than if you just pay attention to the warnings and telemetry on the RC and app.

 

[johnmeyer]

You might see some issues with batteries (one cell not tracking the others), but at the risk of venturing into forbidden territory, studying logs and trying to head off trouble before something happens is a little like these awful mass shootings where after the fact everyone says, "why didn't they see the signs?"

The problem with both situations is that:

• There is too much data to sift through;
• The problem is often not obvious ahead of time, but makes perfect sense once something has happened;
• You may end up taking action when there is actually no problem at all;
• The difference between normal readings and abnormal readings may not be very large.

So, it probably makes a little sense to glance at the logs once in awhile, but you may end up chasing a lot of "problems" that aren't actually going to lead to any malfunction, and therefore waste a lot of time.

 

[IShouldBeWorking]

To avoid information overload, I upload each flight's data to AirData.com and then just review the notifications for each flight. That way I'm not sifting through each message in the logs, but I see any errors or warnings that I may have missed while flying. Just the other day I caught a warning that my Mavic thought it had a payload or prop guards installed when it did not. So reviewing errors and warnings might give me some early warning of a problem developing. Plus, AirData lets you review your flight path and a bunch of other info as well.

 

[Meta4]

To reduce the possibility of M2P crash or flyaway does it make sense to review logs

Yes ... but the logs you want to review are those of drones that crashed or were lost.
Reviewing your own successful flights won't do much at all but learning the causes of other flyers incidents is very educational and much less expensive.

 

[ff22]

So let’s dial the paranoia up to 11. Having read enough crash stories here I am quite nervous every time I am flying. Add to this the fact that often my locations are near/over/close to powerstations and other factories (the reason and purpose can be seen here Industrial Fine Art), you should understand why.
And then this thought occurred to me recently. To reduce the possibility of M2P crash or flyaway does it make sense to review logs after each seemingly successful flight using Airdata/Phantomhelp – I mean, could there be any signs warning me in advance about any issues or problems waiting to happen?

I like your photos. Interesting subjects.

 

[DanMan32]

It might be possible to see compass discrepancies that are not big enough to cause real issues, especially during initialization. Such issues could mean a need to calibrate or degauss. Seeing such issues before they are a problem may be too tedious to perform manually but may be feasible in a program, much like what is done with battery condition.

 

[Meta4]

It might be possible to see compass discrepancies that are not big enough to cause real issues, especially during initialization. Such issues could mean a need to calibrate or degauss.

No it wouldn't.
And the compass issues you are talking about are simply magnetic influences in the local environment, not problems to be fixed.
The compass is a trouble-free device and calibrating it won't "fix" anything.

 

[DanMan32]

We've heard about unusual yaw on takeoff that gets cleared on calibration or degauss. I'm sure such issues would appear in the logs so yes, it could possibly help.

 

[Meta4]

We've heard about unusual yaw on takeoff that gets cleared on calibration or degauss. I'm sure such issues would appear in the logs so yes, it could possibly help.

You are talking about something that's entirely due to magnetic effects in the launch spot.
Calibrating the compass doesn't fix that.
calibration of the compass doesn't fix anything.

 

[Elvis44]

Thanks everyone, the conclusion seems to be quite clear - keep calm and fly your drone!

 

[paulatkin73]

So let’s dial the paranoia up to 11. Having read enough crash stories here I am quite nervous every time I am flying. Add to this the fact that often my locations are near/over/close to powerstations and other factories (the reason and purpose can be seen here Industrial Fine Art), you should understand why.
And then this thought occurred to me recently. To reduce the possibility of M2P crash or flyaway does it make sense to review logs after each seemingly successful flight using Airdata/Phantomhelp – I mean, could there be any signs warning me in advance about any issues or problems waiting to happen?

Watch out for IMU switches with no obvious reason, for severe data discrepancy between IMUs, or stopped data streams. No much reason to do it on every flight, but to check from time to time makes sense.