Flyaway with Flight Log/PLEASE HELP

[vail]

I unfortunately lost my drone to the ocean while visiting the Algarve in Portugal a few days ago after only having it for a few days.
I was wondering if someone could have a look at my flight record below and let me know if this was all user error?
At one point it said to return to home so I accepted and swiped to do so and then 5 seconds later it told me it was landing. I tried and tried to get it to the nearest cliff but it just didnt make it


Thanks in advance.

Scott

A few things you can do to avoid this in the future:
1. Always take off with a 100% battery.
2. Don't fly with a strong wind over water for a length of time and force yourself to return into the wind.
3. Don't fly so high in strong winds. If you are struggling, get lower and the winds are typically lighter.
4. Play it safe with your battery over water... don't expect everything to work perfectly.
5. Always take off with a 100% battery.

 

[AMann]

100% battery charge over water always, and at least double your reserve battery level for when you must return to home.

But over land, over open space with no hazards present, I use the battery level percent as a basic indicator of how far out I can go safely if winds permit - If I normally fly 1km out, a 50% battery level means I can only go 500m out, and so on. Its not a hard rule, just a safer one.

You need to use good judgment on this though; things like weather, terrain, people present, trees and roads, all those hazards must be accounted for when you decide where and when it is safe to fly.

 

[PAW]

It probably didn't matter much after that point you left RTH to do the driving but RTH is a slow driver and the drone was only making 4-5mph in the direction of home.
At 6:04.9 (battery 22%), you cancelled and took over and pointed the drone to the northeast again.
Making slow headway, you tried Sport Mode but the small extra speed it gave only burned the battery faster.

You tried RTH again at 7:02.5, leaving RTH to do the driving again.
It made painfully slow progress against the headwind until at 7:28.6 (battery 12%), the drone began to autoland.
It does that when the battery won't get it home and there is only enough for the landing.
On land that's better than flying till empty and crashing but at sea, it doesn't make much difference.
You fought the autolanding with full left and right stick.
As the drone descended, the forward speed increased (lower altitude = lower wind strength) but it was too late.
At 9:21.3 the battery reached Critical Low Voltage (3.3 volts per cell), pushing the left and right sticks further, drained the battery to zero and it was all over.

Wow! it was like I was there.
A compelling recount of a tragic story @Meta4.
I was riveted to the action and praying that it would end well when you dashed all my hopes with a quiet splash and a cold watery grave...

Sorry for your loss Scott

 

[JAW]

<snip>
In post #2 look closely at the windspeeds and the altitudes.
You'll see that at higher altitudes, the wind was stronger.
It was easily manageable at 80 ft but too strong for the drone to fly against 780 feet up.

Even at the same altitudes, winds can vary greatly between two points. The winds near the takeoff were around 10mph at 80' of altitude as Meta4 noted. Move about a mile away and the winds at nearly the same altitude were 32mph.