Mini SE Falls From Sky, at about 45 degrees

[Etbrown4]

Received a high wind warning, I lowered altitude, but within a few seconds my SE headed nearly straight down or maybe 45 degrees with no warning, and a light crash. I had little to no control. Battery had 4 min left, and home had been set, but return home not pressed.

Where do I find the flight logs? I had no micro sd card installed. I saw one post saying that for Android they are at Android\data\dji.go.v5\files\FlightRecord

If that's right, can anyone tell me how you find that on an android phone? And if i can find them, do you view them in airdata?

I have Dji fly 1.7.5

 

[FLDave]

I connect my Android phone to my computer by USB cable and then open FileExplorer on my computer. Find the Android phone (brand name) and then work your way down the the file folder you have indicated. In the Flight Record Folder you'll find a .TXT file with today's date. Copy that file you your computer (create a special folder). Then, upload that file to AirData. That's all. I like the manually copy each flight record every day after all flights. I like to keep a permanent record on my computer. I don't use any automated uploads.

 

[Meta4]

Where do I find the flight logs?

Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
The instructions there will point you toward the flight data stored on your phone or tablet.
You can upload the .txt file to Airdata or the Phantomhelp log viewer to see a summary report for the flight.

Come back and post a link to the Airdata or Phantomhelp report if you want some help with analysis.

I had no micro sd card installed.

That's no problem, the files are on your phone or tablet.

 

[Etbrown4]

I found the file.
I got one high wind warning, from a single gust, and it stated 'unable to return to home.' At that point I was altitude 28' and distance 400'.

The risk was described as medium and then one second later, mode was automatically changed to 'Confirm Landing.' Then 3 seconds after that it states 'Payload detected' (prop guards which had been on the full 5 min trip) 'return aircraft home.' Risk Low.

Two seconds later it automatically switched to payload mode, and even though i was then out 277', it stated "max distance set to 164," and it started falling rapidly.... Not a usual slow landing descent. Risk was described as Low. But they forced a hard landing. If all this was due to prop guards, why the forced landing?

Over water, which I had been for 4 of the 5 minutes, the aircraft would have been lost.

 

[Meta4]

I got one high wind warning, from a single gust, and it stated 'unable to return to home.'

DJI's warning says that, but it's nonsense, perhaps a poor translation.

If all this was due to prop guards, why the forced landing?

If you post the .txt file or the link to the Airdata report, you might get some answers.

 

[FLDave]

At least you learned how to use AirData. If you upgraded your AirData to a basic paid level you would have been able to see some calculated wind speeds when you uploaded the data.
You omitted important information about your flight. What were the actual wind or windy condition at your takeoff location? Did you actually determine the wind speed at that location? Where there any gusts?
Generally lower altitude means lower wind speed, but not always. Lower altitude over some terrain can mean more gusts.
What was the condition of the recovered Mini SE? Are there any indications of what happened? What prop guards were installed? If the drone is operative are all motors working properly?
Just a thought, if a strong downdraft occurred is it possible they drone interpreted that as extra payload and did not have sufficient power to fight the downdraft. Is it possible a downdraft gust pushed the drone down?
You can check battery information on AirData to see voltage changes during flight to get some idea of power usage.
AirData doesn't give all of the information available in the TXT file; that requires more extensive analysis by experts.

 

[Etbrown4]

I have 4 flight files for yesterday. If this doesn't show a 5 min flight over water it's not correct.
Hopefully this is correct, but it's text is all chinese!
Just let me know if I need to post another.

You will notice the ending altitude is a (-) number. This is because takeoff was from a porch at 20' agl, and the landing point was at the top of a tall hedge 7' agl.

 

[Meta4]

Hopefully this is correct, but it's text is all chinese!

It's not Chinese, the data is encrypted.
Here's what it looks like:

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload and view flight logs from your DJI drones

www.phantomhelp.com

Received a high wind warning, I lowered altitude, but within a few seconds my SE headed nearly straight down or maybe 45 degrees with no warning, and a light crash. I had little to no control. Battery had 4 min left, and home had been set, but return home not pressed.

The reason your drone went down is because it was landing.
The reason it was landing is that at 5:41.1, while the VPS sensors detected that you were only 1 foot above whatever was below it, you held the left stick down for three seconds which confirms that you want to land and commences the autoland process.

As it started to land, you flew over the edge of whatever was below the drone and descended to whatever it landed in or on.

The Mini SE is not a high-powered drone and prop guards are like sails.
The added load of pushing the guards against the wind set off the restrictive Payload Mode.
Unless you have a particular reason to use propguards, it's best to leave them off when flying outdoors.

 

[Etbrown4]

Turns out the VPS was wrong. Earlier it was said "reason it was landing is that at 5:41.1, while the VPS sensors detected that you were only 1 foot above whatever was below, "..... when in actuality I was about 25' agl.

The SE initiated the landing and it seems possible it was the one wind gust or warning, or could it be that when it initiated payload mode around the same time, it found that the aircraft was about 50' outside of the max distance allowed in payload, or was it the VPS sensor which had picked up the wrong reading?

Is there anywhere in the log it states exactly why? Input much appreciated.

(I agree with the 3 sec down stick. That was done following the wind warning, in response to the request to lower altitude. I never saw the landing announcement. So the supposed landing confirmation was a pure coincidence)