What happened to my drone? Still under water.

[itsneedtokno]

Over water failure. So upset. Waiting on DJI.

View attachment DJIFlightRecord_2019-05-17_[18-39-39].txt


Flying circles around a boat, dropped altitude, still flying circles doing just fine, then... gone. Last error message was that the "drone has rolled, check for damage"
I don't want to have to go fishing, but I will if necessary.


EDIT: it's still under water, I know exactly where it is, I don't have a boat, but can use one on Sunday.

My question is, is it heavy enough that it will stay put with a slight current, or should I retrieve it ASAP to ensure it doesn't drift?

 

[Shon]

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

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Not sure if this will help or not. Looks like you were flying in a National Park?

 

[Shon]

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

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Not sure if this will help or not. Looks like you were flying in a National Park?

There appears to be an artifact in the water near where you crashed. A tree perhaps?

 

[itsneedtokno]

I was very close to a National Park, but got no warning which has happened in the past when I got too close to the edge.

It's open water, the nearest object was an island, I'll go back and look tomorrow to be certain.

EDIT: I looked at the map log and know what that is... It's a channel marker/no wake zone sign. Looking at the log though, I definitely missed it. It's 1 foot wide.

 

[Shon]

I was very close to a National Park, but got no warning which has happened in the past when I got too close to the edge.

It's open water, the nearest object was an island, I'll go back and look tomorrow to be certain.

EDIT: I looked at the map log and know what that is... It's a channel marker/no wake zone sign. Looking at the log though, I definitely missed it. It's 1 foot wide.

You are probably right...but in my experience the map has not been 100% accurate...so it is a possibility. @sar104 is the person to call.

 

[itsneedtokno]

You are probably right...but in my experience the map has not been 100% accurate...so it is a possibility. @sar104 is the person to call.

That's who I'm waiting for lol.

I'm like, pacing, tapping my feet, constantly refreshing the thread... waiting.

 

[Shon]

That's who I'm waiting for lol.

I'm like, pacing, tapping my feet, constantly refreshing the thread... waiting.

Even a superhero needs to rest now and then, LOL. Hopefully Sar will get back to you soon.

 

[BD0G]

 

[Meta4]

EDIT: I looked at the map log and know what that is... It's a channel marker/no wake zone sign. Looking at the log though, I definitely missed it. It's 1 foot wide.

That's quite interesting. Here's what I can see in the data ...
Towards the end of your flight you were flying SW at 18 mph.
Your indicated altitude from the barometer showed 5 ft higher than launch point and the VPS was showing 4 ft above something.
At 3:25.4 everything came unstuck.
The speed suddenly dropped from 18.2mph to 14.2 mph, in 0.3 seconds the drone has gone from facing SW to NE, the drone has gone from level flight to being tilted 80 degrees sideways and the forward tilt has gone from 7 degrees to 60 degrees.
The altitude also started dropping.

It looks very much like your drone clipped an obstacle and did not recover.
A channel marker could fit the evidence??

 

[itsneedtokno]

That's quite interesting. Here's what I can see in the data ...
Towards the end of your flight you were flying SW at 18 mph.
Your indicated altitude from the barometer showed 5 ft higher than launch point and the VPS was showing 4 ft above something.
At 3:25.4 everything came unstuck.
The speed suddenly dropped from 18.2mph to 14.2 mph, in 0.3 seconds the drone has gone from facing SW to NE, the drone has gone from level flight to being tilted 80 degrees sideways and the forward tilt has gone from 7 degrees to 60 degrees.
The altitude also started dropping.

It looks very much like your drone clipped an obstacle and did not recover.
A channel marker could fit the evidence??

IF that happened, the chances would have to be 1:1,000,000,000,000.

I see what your talking about, but can't imagine that actually happening.

I'm still waiting on an answer about it drifting down stream with the current. I need to know if I should go diving now, or if I can wait until tomorrow to go fishing.

 

[Meta4]

IF that happened, the chances would have to be 1:1,000,000,000,000.
I see what your talking about, but can't imagine that actually happening.

There's no if, the data is very clear.
The drone was close to the water, it hit something and tumbled without recovering.

I'm still waiting on an answer about it drifting down stream with the current. I need to know if I should go diving now, or if I can wait until tomorrow to go fishing.

The shape of the drone has a lot of projections that help resist movement on the bottom to some degree but it depends on the smoothness/hardness of the bottom and the strength of the current.
That adds up to a definite maybe.

 

[itsneedtokno]

There's no if, the data is very clear.
The drone was close to the water, it hit something and tumbled without recovering.


The shape of the drone has a lot of projections that help resist movement on the bottom to some degree but it depends on the smoothness/hardness of the bottom and the strength of the current.
That adds up to a definite maybe.

The odds are insane, and my map logs show I missed it, but like @Shon said, sometimes they can be off. I was hoping that maybe there was a turbulent patch of wind behind the sign that caused my flip, not the sign itself.

It was windy, sorta really windy, but I never once got a high wind message. Wind was coming from the south at a steady 12+ mph.

 

[Meta4]

The odds are insane, and my map logs show I missed it, but like @Shon said, sometimes they can be off.

The data doesn't show that you hit a channel marker ... but it clearly shows that you hit something that wasn't very high and caused the drone to tumble and fall.
Your GPS track log is only as accurate as GPS.
It can't be taken to have pinpoint accuracy.

I was hoping that maybe there was a turbulent patch of wind behind the sign that caused my flip, not the sign itself.

DJI drones don't flip in the kinds of winds you would have been flying in.

It was windy, sorta really windy, but I never once got a high wind message. Wind was coming from the south at a steady 12+ mph.

12 mph is just a moderate breeze and has very little effect on your drone.
The High Wind Warning comes in when the detected wind exceeds 7 metres/sec (15.6 mph) but that's not particularly strong anyway.

 

[itsneedtokno]

Thank you for the breakdown, basically what I'm reading is...

Go get your drone ASAP

 

[BudWalker]

Over water failure. So upset. Waiting on DJI.

How do I upload the .DAT files?

View attachment 72676


Flying circles around a boat, dropped altitude, still flying circles doing just fine, then... gone. Last error message was that the "drone has rolled, check for damage"
I don't want to have to go fishing, but I will if necessary.


EDIT: it's still under water, I know exactly where it is, I don't have a boat, but can use one on Sunday.

My question is, is it heavy enough that it will stay put with a slight current, or should I retrieve it ASAP to ensure it doesn't drift?

It's possible that the MA hit something. But, it's also possible that it either lost a prop or otherwise had a propulsion issue. From the data presented thus far I'm leaning towards the latter. The only way to know for sure is to look at the .DAT that was recorded on the tablet. Look here to see how to get that .DAT and then attach it to a post. The .DAT will have a name then ends with FLY056.DAT

 

[BudWalker]

Thank you for the breakdown, basically what I'm reading is...

Go get your drone ASAP

The MA might have evidence of a lost or broken prop. But, that wouldn't be conclusive since a lost or broken prop could have happened on impact.

The onboard .DAT is useless since it is encrypted.

 

[itsneedtokno]

Thank you... Here's the .DAT

Do your thing

 

[itsneedtokno]

I've got a friend coming with underwater (electro?)magnets designed for magnet fishing (100+lbs of lift), cast net, and a boat. Wish me luck.

 

[Bigbird48]

I didn't know a magnet would pick up a drone and a strong magnet like that might do something not so good to the electronic inside the drone.

 

[itsneedtokno]

I didn't know a magnet would pick up a drone and a strong magnet like that might do something not so good to the electronic inside the drone.

It's been under salt water for almost 24 hours... It's toast

The motors have small magnets in them, so hopefully it'll catch those.