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Need to know why my M2P didn't return home

vkantabu

Member
Joined
May 25, 2020
Messages
8
Reactions
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Age
66
Location
Pocatello, ID
On July 20th last year, I flew my M2P using Litchi on to Chinese Peak just south of our house here near Pocatello, ID. After just 150,996 ms, the phone ceased to record flight tracking information. I waited a few minutes, but the M2P never returned home. I thought I had not changed the setting for what to do in case of a lost signal, which should have meant that the M2P should have returned home by default. The question is, can I see what setting was in effect from the flight record?

The next day, I flew my P4P in search of the lost M2P. I thought I checked the signal lost action setting on Litchi to make sure it was to return home. Anyway, I also thought I flew from the other side of the mountain so that the P4P would always be in line of sight. I was wrong, and the P4P went out of sight and it, too, disappeared. This time I quickly hiked up far enough before dark to be able to connect the transmitter to the drone (P4P). So I took some pictures with the P4P and got them sent back to me so that I could read the P4P's coordinates and also see what kind of terrain it landed in. Luckily the P4P landed near a jeep road, so I drove up and fetched it. The P4P ended up about 200 feet beyond the last point recorded on the phone. If I assume that the M2P was lost the same way as the P4P, then I would expect that the M2P is also about 200 feet beyond the last recorded point on the phone in the M2P's flight tracking information. Anyway, I don't want to fly another drone up that mountain to search for the M2P until I know more why the two didn't return home, because if I fly a drone up the mountain and I lose the signal again, I don't want it to land up there. The last recorded position in the on-phone flight record of the M2P is 1200 feet from the jeep road and the terrain is rather steep for me because I have an ankle problem, so I don't want to go searching for the M2P in person.

I extracted the on-aircraft flight record from the P4P to see what happened after the point the communication between the transmitter and the aircraft was cut off. It did say that it was landing, but I couldn't figure out why it landed with so much battery left. If I share the on-phone and on-aircraft flight records with you, would you be able to tell me why the P4P landed? Or maybe you can tell me which column(s) to look for the information? Thanks!
 
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I'm sure someone will be along to help you just post the flight logs.
 
Sounds like they ran into a NFZ and landed. Did you check the area on B4UFLY first?
Not lately. But when I hit an NFZ it didn't force a landing. Anyway, even if it's an NFZ, wouldn't that be in the log somewhere? That place, by the way, is on a mountain and I don't see why it would be an NFZ.
 
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On July 20th last year, I flew my M2P using Litchi on to Chinese Peak just south of our house here near Pocatello, ID. After just 150,996 ms, the phone ceased to record flight tracking information. I waited a few minutes, but the M2P never returned home. I thought I had not changed the setting for what to do in case of a lost signal, which should have meant that the M2P should have returned home by default. The question is, can I see what setting was in effect from the flight record?

The next day, I flew my P4P in search of the lost M2P. I thought I checked the signal lost action setting on Litchi to make sure it was to return home. Anyway, I also thought I flew from the other side of the mountain so that the P4P would always be in line of sight. I was wrong, and the P4P went out of sight and it, too, disappeared. This time I quickly hiked up far enough before dark to be able to connect the transmitter to the drone (P4P). So I took some pictures with the P4P and got them sent back to me so that I could read the P4P's coordinates and also see what kind of terrain it landed in. Luckily the P4P landed near a jeep road, so I drove up and fetched it. The P4P ended up about 200 feet beyond the last point recorded on the phone. If I assume that the M2P was lost the same way as the P4P, then I would expect that the M2P is also about 200 feet beyond the last recorded point on the phone in the M2P's flight tracking information. Anyway, I don't want to fly another drone up that mountain to search for the M2P until I know more why the two didn't return home, because if I fly a drone up the mountain and I lose the signal again, I don't want it to land up there. The last recorded position in the on-phone flight record of the M2P is 1200 feet from the jeep road and the terrain is rather steep for me because I have an ankle problem, so I don't want to go searching for the M2P in person.

I extracted the on-aircraft flight record from the P4P to see what happened after the point the communication between the transmitter and the aircraft was cut off. It did say that it was landing, but I couldn't figure out why it landed with so much battery left. If I share the on-phone and on-aircraft flight records with you, would you be able to tell me why the P4P landed? Or maybe you can tell me which column(s) to look for the information? Thanks!

Did you calibrate and set the return to home before take off?
 
In Litchi, the default setting is to return home. I didn't change it. Guess I should have checked, but I probably didn't - I don't remember for sure. So now I'd like to know if one could read the settings from the flight record on the phone.

Now, note that I flew my P4P in search of the downed M2P. I'm pretty sure the P4P was set to return home when the signal's lost. But it also landed! Now, I did retrieve the P4P successfully and I have the flight record from the aircraft (Phantom). It'd be interesting to see what the two flight records (on the phone and on the aircraft) of the Phantom say. Could you or anyone help me read the flight records to determine if I was right about the RTH setting? Or, maybe you can figure out why the P4P landed instead of coming home. I'd venture a guess that whatever happened to the M2P also happened to the P4P.

Thanks.
 
Could you or anyone help me read the flight records to determine if I was right about the RTH setting? Or, maybe you can figure out why the P4P landed instead of coming home. I'd venture a guess that whatever happened to the M2P also happened to the P4P.
Post the data .. If you flew with DJI Go4 it will be easy to read.If it was Litchi .. not so easy but still readable.
 
Just change the file extension to .txt.
OK, will do. Thanks. Funny, I first changed the extension of these files in ~Document/Drones and still couldn't attach them. But when I downloaded them again and left them in ~Downloads and change their extensions there, I was able to attach the files! Anyway, here they are. I also have the Phantom's on-aircraft file from July 21st on a different computer if you want to see it too. Thanks again!
 

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  • 2020-07-20_21-35-11_v2.txt
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