HELP! P3 Professional went out of control and crashed.

[msinger]

does this only pose an issue when taking off from an area with large amounts of metal near it or is it at anytime during flight avoid metal?

Most people see compass errors when taking off from a location that is within about 10 feet of a large metal object and/or large amounts of metal. In most cases, the issue goes away after the Phantom is far enough away from whatever is causing the interference. While people less often encounter metal objects within 10 feet after takeoff, I'm assuming you'd see similar compass errors if flying close to a large metal object after takeoff. In your case, it looks like you had a bad compass calibration (e.g. you calibrated on the patio) prior to your flight since the errors persisted once your Phantom was up in the air.

As Meta4 noted above, if you ever see a compass error while on the ground, you should not take off. Instead, move to a different location and see if the error goes away.

 

[Meta4]

Did you try to switch into ATTI mode to try to get control back?

For the entire 3.5 mins this flight lasted the flight record is showing Compass Error or Yaw Error (which is basically the same thing).
The Phantom is telling the operator that the compass data is garbage.
Whenever the GPS positioning error came up, the Phantom automatically switched to atti.

Switching to atti causes the flight controller to ignore GPS data input.
But the compass is still required to maintain controllable flight and be able to fly straight.
When the compass data is garbage, switching to atti isn't much help.

 

[henick]

Land immediately is all that could have been done IMO and poster says he couldn't do much. With the bird maybe they could see if something failed but likely it was a bad calibration so probably classified "pilot error" if that is the case even though he didn't have much control.

They will probably say it should have been calibrated prior to flying. Really sucks because it doesn't sound like it was your fault at all but it would be hard to get them to blame their hardware without having it to analyze.

Either way though call them and see what they do. Never know it's worth the dice roll.

 

[flyNfrank]

You launched with a battery starting at only 23% remaining charge. Don't even contact DJI on this they will get way too much laughter from it.

You no more then launched and you were given numerous warnings about a list of issues. The rule of thumb is never launch without a FULLY charged battery.

I hate seeing these kind of things happen. But I'm curious how you lurk this site and not see all the posting that has taken place about launching without a charged battery? So many have experienced issues due to not using a fully charged battery.

Sorry you had to experience this!

 

[henick]

I didn't even see the battery level lol... you were doomed before you fired it up man... how far did you expect to get on that?

I disagree with not calling though, them laughing is worth the pity discount you get off the next one lol

 

[flyNfrank]

By the way.... This is where you should find your aircraft.
39.557941, -107.29127

I say it that manner because near the end of your data it says the "Motor Obstructed" which tells me the prop was likely up against something causing this to display in the flight log.

 

[flyNfrank]

There it is..........

OR...

 

[sethtinsley]

I didn't even see the battery level lol... you were doomed before you fired it up man... how far did you expect to get on that?

I disagree with not calling though, them laughing is worth the pity discount you get off the next one lol

I wasn't planning on doing any distance flying, I was simply planning on hovering to burn the battery down.

 

[sethtinsley]

By the way.... This is where you should find your aircraft.
39.557941, -107.29127

I say it that manner because near the end of your data it says the "Motor Obstructed" which tells me the prop was likely up against something causing this to display in the flight log.

It was... Against a tree prior to going down.

 

[flyNfrank]

I didn't even see the battery level lol... you were doomed before you fired it up man... how far did you expect to get on that?

I disagree with not calling though, them laughing is worth the pity discount you get off the next one lol

Did you know the offered discounts are on refurbished P3's? I know because I bought one.

 

[flyNfrank]

It was... Against a tree prior to going down.

Did it go in the water(creek/river/stream)?

 

[sethtinsley]

Did it go in the water(creek/river/stream)?

River.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[flyNfrank]

River.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

Well...like I said earlier, sorry.

 

[sethtinsley]

Well...like I said earlier, sorry.

Thanks man. I understand the criticism for taking off with a low battery, but that can't be credited for the incident. I'm just trying to gain some insight as to what led to the loss of control and erratic "flight behaviors"


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[henick]

Who knows if it was aggravated by low voltage or what but only the dat files would tell more.
Find it if you can and its contents will probably interest someone... you will likely find out a brown out caused a failure in the compass and you know the rest. So yeah it probably isn't all that interesting lol

I feel like I should be giving a moment of silence for every dead phantom so as to not anger my own.

 

[MikeyOnline]

View attachment 57612

I'd go with this one: it's the last entry in the log. Looks like it's taking a shallow bath.

Mike

 

[sethtinsley]

Who knows if it was aggravated by low voltage or what but only the dat files would tell more.
Find it if you can and its contents will probably interest someone... you will likely find out a brown out caused a failure in the compass and you know the rest. So yeah it probably isn't all that interesting lol

I feel like I should be giving a moment of silence for every dead phantom so as to not anger my own.

Wish finding it was an option, the current in the river is so strong and the water is so high. I'm sure it's long gone but I think I will go back in a week or two and see if I could see the coveted white quad body. **** it!

 

[sethtinsley]

I'd go with this one: it's the last entry in the log. Looks like it's taking a shallow bath.

Mike

I think you're right.

 

[MikeyOnline]

I do see at one point where it hit 51 MPH but it was not sustained and it was taking a quick dive in descent when it hit that speed. The only sustained high speeds I see are between 30 and 38 MPH which seem in range for the AC. I do have to agree that leaving the earth at all with 23% battery is tempting disaster from the start. I won't ever start the motors on mine unless it's a battery fresh off the charger.

Mike

 

[Vertigo]

Switching to atti causes the flight controller to ignore GPS data input.
But the compass is still required to maintain controllable flight and be able to fly straight.
When the compass data is garbage, switching to atti isn't much help.

Is this a fact? Most of my drones dont even have a compass, they are perfectly controllable using gyro's and accelerometers alone. Obviously the drone cant navigate without compass (well, technically it could, the pixhawk will manage without working compass, guestimating its bearing from GPS position data, but its tricky and the result not pretty), but basic control where the pilot controls the yaw should certainly not need one?