Brand new P4 Pro GONE

[AceMark]

Well fellow drone nuts I had a bad day this past Thursday. I took my new P4 Pro out for a flight around a dam/lake to collect some video. I fired it up and everything looked good.. no errors, no warnings etc.. I flew for about 10 minutes and all seemed well.

My controller begins to beep and I saw red writing which is never good. The P4 had lost connection with the transmitter. The drone was not in direct sight at the time but guessing 100 feet away. I ran over to where I knew the drone to be when GPS dropped. I looked, looked and looked some more in a panic to try to establish a connection or locate the craft.

I never saw the drone again... a couple of employees of the dam were standing under the hill somewhat close to where the drone last shown on the DJI GO App. After looking everywhere that I could see I drove down to where the employees were standing. The first thing one of them said was "was that your drone??". I said yes it is my drone but it's gone from view, radar etc etc... He proceeded to tell me that it was about 30 feet above the water hovering then just dropped straight down. BOOM just like that my drone was gone for good.

That was the drones 7th logged flight owning the drone for a total of 4 days. The question is what can I do? Why would the drone have just dropped from the sky that close to the base/controller?

Needless to say this was very disheartening. I am left scratching my head. I am a new pilot no doubt but there was nothing fancy going on or risks involved etc.. just a normal in range flight to capture feed.

Is there anything I can do? I know the Drone is long gone but is this the end of the story?

 

[sar104]

Post the flight log if you want any actual insight into what might have happened.

DJI Flight Log Viewer

 

[Fly Dawg]

As @sar104 said, that is the best way to determine what happened. Everything else would be only speculation without that.

 

[Bakersfield Quad]

First, that is very sad, sorry for your loss. Maybe someone will help to solve the mystery.
But it would seem that you never really knew wher the drone was, did it set another home point, or auto land due to battery levels, hard to say. But maintaining VOLS is for a reason, to help with that. Not chastising, just showing how these recommendations make sense sometimes.
Being deep in a lake, I doubt you will receive help through warranty, no data recovery has been shown to be a problem in these cases.
Hope you had insurance, good luck.

 

[jeffames226]

How did you not see it if it was only 100ft away?

 

[AceMark]

First, that is very sad, sorry for your loss. Maybe someone will help to solve the mystery.
But it would seem that you never really knew wher the drone was, did it set another home point, or auto land due to battery levels, hard to say. But maintaining VOLS is for a reason, to help with that. Not chastising, just showing how these recommendations make sense sometimes.
Being deep in a lake, I doubt you will receive help through warranty, no data recovery has been shown to be a problem in these cases.
Hope you had insurance, good luck.

Yeah I know and I understand what you are saying. However I will say the battery was 90% plus. I did not have insurance.. Speaking of that do you mean extended warranty or actual insurance through a insurance party? I didn't know you could do that. It did not set another home point. I knew where it was based on the read outs and the video feed as I was flying it. I just need to figure out how to get the log uploaded and perhaps the community can see what exactly happened. Thanks for the sympathy though.. it's a bad feeling when it happens.

 

[Destructo433]

Did you calibrate the compass before your flight way from any concrete and steel structures.

 

[AceMark]

How did you not see it if it was only 100ft away?

The place I was flying is a parking lot/look off point for the public. A small building owned by the TVA (Valley Authority) sits right at the dam. On the right side of that building is the dam itself and you see over to the bottom of the dam where the water flows out. The left side of that building is where the lake is that feeds into the dam. It's a nice view of the lake with the lake homes around the banks of the lake.

I was on the left side because that's where I set up and set my home point. I should have followed along closer as I flew over the dam down to the river at the bottom. With up to 3 miles of flight distance I never would have dreamed there would be a issue being so close to me. However I stayed on the left side. I was only planning a swoop down for a bridge shot, turn around back towards the dam. Starting at the bottom and making my way up over the dam to the lake side where I began. Maybe a more accurate number would be around 200 feet but still close just not in direct sight.

Batteries where good, I use the signal enhancers and once started up all signs were good to fly. I am at a loss as to what caused it to drop mid flight not even 10 solid minutes in.

 

[AceMark]

Did you calibrate the compass before your flight way from any concrete and steel structures.

No I did not. Is that a common thing that needs to be done often? (Remember I'm the noob so I'm sorry for the dumb questions) they are all to better educate myself on flying.

 

[sar104]

The place I was flying is a parking lot/look off point for the public. A small building owned by the TVA (Valley Authority) sits right at the dam. On the right side of that building is the dam itself and you see over to the bottom of the dam where the water flows out. The left side of that building is where the lake is that feeds into the dam. It's a nice view of the lake with the lake homes around the banks of the lake.

I was on the left side because that's where I set up and set my home point. I should have followed along closer as I flew over the dam down to the river at the bottom. With up to 3 miles of flight distance I never would have dreamed there would be a issue being so close to me. However I stayed on the left side. I was only planning a swoop down for a bridge shot, turn around back towards the dam. Starting at the bottom and making my way up over the dam to the lake side where I began. Maybe a more accurate number would be around 200 feet but still close just not in direct sight.

Batteries where good, I use the signal enhancers and once started up all signs were good to fly. I am at a loss as to what caused it to drop mid flight not even 10 solid minutes in.

So are you going to post the flight log? You are not going to get any answers here without it.

 

[sar104]

No I did not. Is that a common thing that needs to be done often? (Remember I'm the noob so I'm sorry for the dumb questions) they are all to better educate myself on flying.

No - only calibrate when the app tells you to.

 

[Bakersfield Quad]

Yeah I know and I understand what you are saying. However I will say the battery was 90% plus. I did not have insurance.. Speaking of that do you mean extended warranty or actual insurance through a insurance party? I didn't know you could do that. It did not set another home point. I knew where it was based on the read outs and the video feed as I was flying it. I just need to figure out how to get the log uploaded and perhaps the community can see what exactly happened. Thanks for the sympathy though.. it's a bad feeling when it happens.

State farm sells a policy, $60 per year.
Where to start? The dam and building could have upset the compass, lot of steel, in that construction I would assume. The communications loss, could also be linked, if all that was between you and the drone.
Flight log should reveal a lot.

 

[Meta4]

I just need to figure out how to get the log uploaded and perhaps the community can see what exactly happened.

Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer
Follow the instructions to upload your flight record.
Come back and post a link to the report it provides

 

[eaglegoaltender]

Is there anything I can do? I know the Drone is long gone but is this the end of the story?

If you noted where others have mentioned "what you can do" - you may just get your answer. Where have you gone - like your P4 - vanished?

 

[Neon Euc]

Sorry to hear about that [emoji17] a few things may have caused it to do that

* you saw a red bar at top of the screen? Could be a compass calibration error

* with the dam it will have metal reinforcements with will muck up the compass, hence you saw that red bar on top of the screen

* if obstacle avoidance was turned on, the sun glaring from the water into the phantom may have confused it

* could have been a faulty battery making it drop and go into automatic/ critical landing procedure.

If you can upload your flight logs we can get a much better explanation. Sorry once again to hear that tho

 

[Westernflyer]

similar situation to mine. mine was a lake - but the circumstances were almost exactly like yours. check out my thread.
I hope it works out for you - I was able to retrieve the drone and sent it to DJI - it seems they will repair it under warranty.

 

[Droning in AR]

State farm sells a policy, $60 per year.

I got mine at State Farm where I have my home and autos insured. Lady told me I was the first in our town of 7,000 people to have drone insurance, lol.

 

[Russ43Phantom]

Yeah I know and I understand what you are saying. However I will say the battery was 90% plus. I did not have insurance.. Speaking of that do you mean extended warranty or actual insurance through a insurance party? I didn't know you could do that. It did not set another home point. I knew where it was based on the read outs and the video feed as I was flying it. I just need to figure out how to get the log uploaded and perhaps the community can see what exactly happened. Thanks for the sympathy though.. it's a bad feeling when it happens.

First, State Farm provides cost effective insurnce. You should check on it if you buy a new drone. Second ... VLOS is a MUST. Instrument read outs and video feed DO NOT qualify as a replacement for VLOS.

 

[Powdermike]

Check and see if the credit card you purchased the drone with has buyer protection.

 

[Pharm]

"The P4 had lost connection with the transmitter. The drone was not in direct sight at the time but guessing 100 feet away. I ran over to where I knew the drone to be when GPS dropped."

This may be at least part of the key to the mystery. Without the logs (which, for reasons unknown, the OP hasn't provided), we'll never know for sure. First, a lost connection doesn't attest to GPS dropping. If it was 100 feet away and NOT in VLOS, it's indicative of an obstruction blocking the VLOS between the AC and RC. The Phantom would then initiate whatever action it was programmed to do upon signal loss. My guess would be that it was set to land (based on what the witnesses said). Knowing that eyewitness descriptions can be notoriously inaccurate, what they're describing as the Phantom "dropping into the water" could have actually been a landing into the water. My guess, in a nutshell, is the OP flew behind something, lost connection (NOT GPS) and the Phantom's lost signal behavior being set to land instead of RTH, did exactly as would be expected. It landed (in the water). Again, just a guess without the log. I don't see any way that compass calibration (or lack thereof) or lack of State Farm insurance had any bearing on the event.