I need help: P3P crashed and total-loss immediately After “Aircraft disconnected” error

[msinger]

I thought it took it every 30 seconds or so.

The Phantom logs data about 10 times per second. Unfortunately, Healthy Drones does not show most of that data and the OP does not want to upload his log here. So, this case will most likely remain unsolved.

 

[flyNfrank]

There are indeed trees and bushes. But, why should there be an "aircraft-disconnected" issue? Even if the P3P did hit a tree, you normally would not loose connection.

If you were in deed flying around trees at only 57ft altitude then it's very possible to become disconnected from the aircraft.

 

[Barend Houtsmuller]

Just a guess but I would suspect that the indication that the aircraft disconnected was a symptom of a more serious problem.
A disconnection doesn't cause a crash - but a loss of power would cause a disconnection.
HealthyDrones gives very limited information.
To get more information,
Go to https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/
Follow the instructions to upload your flight record from your tablet.

If you are using an Android phone or tablet, the flight records are in Internal Storage/DJI/dji.pilot/FlightRecord
They are all txt files and the file name includes the date.

Come back and post a link to the report it provides.
Some of the experienced people may be able to work out what happened which would be useful for any claim.

Here is the link of Phantomhelp.com:
Phantom 3 Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[Barend Houtsmuller]

Here are the last 25 readings of the flight record.
It seems that the last 9 seconds the drone is falling down. Can anyone discover if the motors were obstructed?

3m 50.2s P-GPS 20satellites 56.4ft 4.0mph 465.1ft 86% 15.31V 3.822V 3.842V 3.835V 3.811V 0.031V
3m 50.3s P-GPS 20satellites 56.4ft 2.6mph 465.2ft 86% 15.31V 3.822V 3.842V 3.835V 3.811V 0.031V
3m 50.4s P-GPS 20satellites 56.4ft 2.1mph 465.4ft 86% 15.264V 3.788V 3.831V 3.838V 3.807V 0.05V
3m 53.2s P-GPS 20satellites 54.5ft 0mph 465.3ft 86% 15.583V 3.874V 3.915V 3.908V 3.886V 0.041V
3m 53.5s P-GPS 20satellites 51.8ft 1.1mph 465.4ft 86% 15.523V 3.867V 3.895V 3.891V 3.87V 0.028V
3m 53.7s P-GPS 20satellites 49.9ft 1.5mph 465.3ft 86% 15.523V 3.867V 3.895V 3.891V 3.87V 0.028V
3m 54s P-GPS 20satellites 47.6ft 0mph 465.1ft 86% 15.523V 3.867V 3.895V 3.891V 3.87V 0.028V
3m 55s P-GPS 20satellites 45.6ft 0mph 464.0ft 86% 15.667V 3.863V 3.941V 3.941V 3.922V 0.078V
3m 55.4s P-GPS 20satellites 43.0ft 0mph 463.6ft 86% 15.381V 3.844V 3.859V 3.846V 3.832V 0.027V
3m 55.7s P-GPS 20satellites 40.7ft 0mph 463.5ft 86% 15.381V 3.844V 3.859V 3.846V 3.832V 0.027V
3m 55.9s P-GPS 20satellites 38.4ft 1.1mph 463.6ft 86% 15.381V 3.844V 3.859V 3.846V 3.832V 0.027V
3m 56.1s P-GPS 20satellites 36.4ft 0.7mph 463.7ft 86% 15.381V 3.844V 3.859V 3.846V 3.832V 0.027V
3m 56.3s P-GPS 20satellites 34.4ft 1.1mph 464.0ft 86% 15.381V 3.844V 3.859V 3.846V 3.832V 0.027V
3m 56.5s P-GPS 20satellites 32.2ft 0mph 464.2ft 85% 15.694V 3.919V 3.935V 3.933V 3.907V 0.028V
3m 56.7s P-GPS 20satellites 29.9ft 0mph 464.5ft 85% 15.694V 3.919V 3.935V 3.933V 3.907V 0.028V
3m 56.9s P-GPS 20satellites 27.9ft 0mph 464.7ft 85% 15.694V 3.919V 3.935V 3.933V 3.907V 0.028V
3m 57.1s P-GPS 20satellites 25.9ft 1.5mph 464.9ft 85% 15.694V 3.919V 3.935V 3.933V 3.907V 0.028V
3m 57.3s P-GPS 20satellites 23.6ft 1.1mph 464.9ft 85% 15.694V 3.919V 3.935V 3.933V 3.907V 0.028V
3m 57.6s P-GPS 20satellites 21.0ft 0mph 464.8ft 85% 15.691V 3.897V 3.929V 3.942V 3.923V 0.045V
3m 57.9s P-GPS 20satellites 18.4ft 0mph 464.7ft 85% 15.691V 3.897V 3.929V 3.942V 3.923V 0.045V
3m 58.1s P-GPS 20satellites 16.4ft 1.1mph 464.8ft 85% 15.691V 3.897V 3.929V 3.942V 3.923V 0.045V
3m 58.4s P-GPS 20satellites 13.8ft 1.5mph 465.1ft 85% 15.568V 3.859V 3.901V 3.913V 3.895V 0.054V
3m 58.7s P-GPS 20satellites 11.8ft 1.7mph 465.5ft 85% 15.568V 3.859V 3.901V 3.913V 3.895V 0.054V
3m 59s P-GPS 20satellites 8.9ft 0mph 465.2ft 85% 15.568V 3.859V 3.901V 3.913V 3.895V 0.054V
3m 59.2s P-GPS 20satellites 5.9ft 0mph 465.1ft 85% 15.568V 3.859V 3.901V 3.913V 3.895V 0.054V Downlink Lost

 

[FantomFlier]

If you were in deed flying around trees at only 57ft altitude then it's very possible to become disconnected from the aircraft.

But that shouldn't by itself lead to a crash? At best, good RTH altitude setting with an up-and-over, but at worst.......?

 

[Barend Houtsmuller]

But that shouldn't by itself lead to a crash? At best, good RTH altitude setting with an up-and-over, but at worst.......?

My RTH settings were set to 100 ft. Of course i pushed the RTH setting after te aircraft seemed to be disconnected. But is was obviously too late. At that moment, the drone had an altitude as little of 5,9 Ft, and maybe was hitting the water just after that?

 

[PFalcon]

Why do people hit the RTH button after receiving messages like the "disconnected" message here? The aircraft is designed to return to home automatically in such cases, so the only possible outcomes of hitting the RTH button are nothing (if you still have no RC signal) or you will inadvertently be cancelling the auto RTH by hitting the button...

In this case I don't think it matters. The aircraft either hit something (tree or bird strike) causing it to fall out of the sky, or the battery failed/disconnected causing the aircraft to fall out of the sky.

 

[msinger]

At that moment, the drone had an altitude as little of 5,9 Ft, and maybe was hitting the water just after that?

Did you fly your Phantom down to 5.9 ft as shown in your log?

 

[Barend Houtsmuller]

Why do people hit the RTH button after receiving messages like the "disconnected" message here? The aircraft is designed to return to home automatically in such cases, so the only possible outcomes of hitting the RTH button are nothing (if you still have no RC signal) or you will inadvertently be cancelling the auto RTH by hitting the button...

In this case I don't think it matters. The aircraft either hit something (tree or bird strike) causing it to fall out of the sky, or the battery failed/disconnected causing the aircraft to fall out of the sky.

just because my console asked me to accept the RTH-feature. So I did......

 

[Meta4]

Here are the last 25 readings of the flight record.
It seems that the last 9 seconds the drone is falling down. Can anyone discover if the motors were obstructed?

For those last 9 seconds the Phantom is descending vertically at 1.5 metres/sec.
A full speed powered descent is 3 m/sec and when falling a Phantom drops faster than that.
It appears that your Phantom slowly descended rather than falling from the sky.
You should be able to display your stick input in the flight record playback in the app which would show whether you flew the Phantom or it flew away.
This should be good evidence to present to DJI if it does show the Phantom flying off and ignoring your input.

The flight record doesn't show any indications such as motor obstructed, whuich would indicate a crash, or any RTH.
It just shows a flight that descends and ends without any special notifications.

 

[ferraript]

I looked at that log.
According to it, it was user error.

13:26:09.3 - bird is at 17.2 m, user starts to pull throttle stick down
13:26:11.2 - stick input stopped, bird descended to 14.0 m
13:26:11.8 - user again starts to pull throttle stick down - at 100 % rate
13:26:15.4 - for 0.2 seconds user stops to pull throttle stick down (but at this moment bird is at only 4.5 m)
13:26:15.6 - throttle stick down again, this time at 25 % rate (bird is at 3.9 m and descending at speed 2.5 m/s)
13:26:16.0 - according to rapid change in roll/pitch/yaw values, bird touches water
13:26:16.2 - there is still negative throttle input
13:26:16.3 - last record of the log

so, I see two possibilities:
1. user is trying to fool us (and maybe DJI too)
2. RC went crazy and sent those stupid throttle commands to bird

 

[msinger]

13:26:16.0 - according to rapid change in roll/pitch/yaw values, bird touches water

This sounds reasonable. I'm assuming the altitude was off by about 5 ft in the DJI GO app. The OP probably thought he had another 5 to go -- but, in reality, he hit the water at that point.

 

[Barend Houtsmuller]

I really don't understand why I should have pulled the throttle stick down. There is simply no reason to do that.. so I am very confused
Maybe I did it by accident, but 4 times after each other? Could there be another cause?

 

[msinger]

I really don't understand why I should have pulled the throttle stick down. There is simply no reason to do that

The log records the position of the sticks every 10th of a second. ferraript is just explaining what the log shows in layman's terms. We're not sure why you were flying that close to the water either.

 

[SGs]

This sounds reasonable. I'm assuming the altitude was off by about 5 ft in the DJI GO app. The OP probably thought he had another 5 to go -- but, in reality, he hit the water at that point.

Yeah I did notice the other day after I took off and came back to the home point the bird was hovering about 6' off the ground but the app was telling me I was about 20' up. Really gave me pause, can't rely on that number under a certain point it seems.

 

[msinger]

can't rely on that number under a certain point it seems.

Right. It's safer to assume that it's only an estimate.

 

[Numone]

Mine said I was 4 to 5ft up the other day... It was on startup on the ground! Powered down, calibrations done, restarted and then it was fluttering 0.0, -0.1, 0.0 etc. which seems to be the norm.

 

[PFalcon]

You also must consider that not all terrain is flat/level. You can be 50' above the takeoff point (which will show as 50ft in the app) while flying only 5' off the ground if the ground is 45' higher where the bird is flying. That along with the fact that the altitude indication is only an "estimate" and you can see why you should not rely on it when flying low altitudes and/or close to obstacles.

 

[rene van der meer]

Barend,
I have sent you a PM.
Since all the speculations about full throttle down at a low height, did you have visual contact and could you see the drone going down?

 

[Barend Houtsmuller]

I saw the drone going down the last couple of seconds. I was not aware that I was pushing the throttle down and I was not aware that the drone hit the water, since there were bushes between me and the drone/ I heard the motors spinning in a very strange way, just before the connection failed. But it is obvious that the throttle gave a negative input. See picture below.