My first creek flight, crash, and loss.

[Sky Architect]

Sounds like you were flying in a wooded area? I've had my p4 act like it was in sports mode. It happened once before. I recall it was very responsive and aggressive to my input on the sticks. I verified I was in the correct flight mode. I set it down immediately and rebooted and waited for GPS safe to fly and as soon as it turned green I heard Siri say Home position has been set. Didn't happen again after that.

I think I took off before home point was set, and without GPS. And my map was showing my old map location 300 miles away... So maybe when you flew in woods GPS glitched... Hard to say

How deep is the water?
I would buy a snorkel and a mask and find a heavy rock and crawl the bottom. Bring a flashlight if it's murky. If your bored... Might cost $50 for the set but you could probably get $400 for parts on eBay. If you washed it with distilled water and alchohol wiped debris from the board it might start up- especially since the battery ejected!

Lesson:
Be cautious when there's anything that appears irregular like this, even the slightest abnormality can spell disaster. It's best to reset and re evaluate the situation, than continue and risk the quad malfunctioning in mid flight. I do a full reset if there's something wrong every time.

Good luck, let me know if you get your dive gear

I actually have full dive gear from when I lived in Hawaii. It's arriving in 5 hours and I'm seriously contemplating chasing after the sunken treasure. If I completely dismantled it and clean everything. Given there aren't any cracks or dents, I would be shocked and beyond enthralled to see it airborne again but my hopes aren't up. I just hate wasting money like that. I'm very disappointed in myself.

I was in light woods that opened up to two ponds on either side... I should have restarted it. I will definitely not push any abnormalities with my next one.

 

[Sky Architect]

I sure did. I found it today. Maintenance guys went up and looked on the ledge at about 350ft up and sure enough it's sitting right there on a 3ft wide ledge untouched. The wind is even blowing and turning the props as I filmed it from my brand new P4. I'll be posting this video later tonight. Window washers can most likely retrieve it for me in two weeks. How lucky is that! It will have been rained on a couple of times but it might be fine. I'm just worried if it comes up a 40-50mph wind it might possibly blow off this ledge and fall 275ft to another little roof area that is connected to this same building. No danger of it hitting the ground at all. Thank goodness. So today was the first eyes that have seen this drone in 2 1/2 weeks. LOL. So then I flew up and checked it out from a parking garage roof top a block away. I was freaking out as I got up to it and saw the props blowing in the wind.

At least you know where it is. I would be making a scurry of a storm trying to get up there asap to get err down. So if you recover said p4 and it's fully functional and not damaged, what will you do with the extra?

 

[Hojo70]

Yeah I agree with Pharm, your fatal move was overreacting and pulling both sticks down. You never want to do that. Best course of action would have been to let go of both sticks and let it hover, and then run toward it to get VLOS so that you can easily navigate the drone from the hazard.

 

[mapwd1702]

At least you know where it is. I would be making a scurry of a storm trying to get up there asap to get err down. So if you recover said p4 and it's fully functional and not damaged, what will you do with the extra?

He is already trying to buy it!!! Love it!

 

[F6Rider]

I had this situation once with power lines where I saw them at the last moment (darn things are very hard to see, look for poles or towers). I did not touch the elevation control just pulled all the way back on the throttle held it for a moment and released, stopping the bird in place. Then accessed the position and location by yawing slowly and working the camera to find a safe direction out, up, and back. I realize this is too late in your case but by the time you see wires in the monitor you are VERY close so the best bet is to just stop fast and then take time to access the situation, any maneuver forward might put you right in them as you found out the hard way.

 

[erkme73]

I'm super-interested to hear if you're able to recover the bird with your diving gear. Might just be a first here.

 

[GFields]

I am saddened by your loss. It appears by the history you posted you didn't have it long. It took great courage to post what happened here, but in doing so will help me and other noobies from doing the same thing (hopefully). I have learned much reading the replies from the other experienced pilots as well. Thank you all for the input. I'm glad I joined this forum.

 

[Fishie]

Quite embarrassing but yes... this was my first away from society flight.

We went to a local creek and I was flying using some fpv and vlos. Well I got some amazing footage one way and started to come back towards me. Passed myself after a few circles and went up stream. I went around the bend pushing my range extender to its limits through the trees.

I started to lose a couple of bars of signal while approaching a bridge. I began to increase altitude to return my signal strength. So Flyter was climbing (it's name) and I saw lines on my screen. After the second one I yelled out and pulled both sticks down realizing these were indeed power lines. Oh the irony... well momentum and fate had its way with my drone and it tipped a line sending it toppling. Before it hit the water I lost all signal. I started running through the trails to get to where it was. 300 feet away... I come to the spot.

Walked through the water and found my battery, must have flung out during the spin. My calculations is that it hit the water and was dragged along with the strong current out into the body of the creek. Out where it currently is resting on the rocks with Davy jones. I saw where the current met the bank and slowed down and I attempted to swime out there to recover the body but it was over my head and I was tired out from fighting the current.

At this point, I'm not sure how to proceed. I have a badass bundle kit with cool accessories. I just don't have my copter or the lens that was on it. Oh and my trackimo... which is so Inna curate and says it's on land 500 yardso away from crash site. I did recover the battery and it was wet but in full working condition with a few dents from the rocks. Gunna put it on rice.

Should I sell my accessories and cut my losses or just save up some money and buy another p4, just the copter?

Careful of any dented Lipo!! You are just asking for a fire while charging.

Curious what "range extender" are you using?

 

[Fishie]

Diving!


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

Lol!!

 

[Fishie]

FOLLOW UP: No it didn't continue to report and there's no way a phantom flies 400 yards without a battery. The battery ejected itself into the creek below power lines and was found lodged between some rocks. It's weight and relatively small mass kept it from drifting with the current.

I checked at the resident and nothing was found at the "last known" location sadly. So now I'm back to my other many hobbies until I can buy another phantom.

I'll keep on the forums trying to learn and help.

My lessons from this is don't fly angry, don't fly when screaming kids are nearby, be extremely careful when flying outside of vlos. Imagine myself being the drone and visualize it's surroundings.

HOWEVER, I have another question for the more experienced folks... during my take off and normal flight, Flyter was behaving strangely( didn't contribute to my stupidity). When hovering after T/O I proceeded to move forward and he responded as if he was in sports mode. Made an aggressive tilt. So I tapped the stick forward and backwards just barely giving it gas and it had a sports mode tilt.
I was not in sports mode... Okay so next, during my flight, I would just barely be pressing the stick and it would be going 12-16 MPH in p mode... I had to keep going back to neutral position and varying the sensitive throttle. O/A was off, but I doubt that would cause this throttle sensitivity.

Any guesses as to why?

If secured properly, the battery should never just get ejected unless your P4 hit something quite hard and gave it a jolt. I can't see power lines causing that much of a jolt. No suspect the P4 was not far from the battery but since it is substantially lighter without a battery and has quite a bit of surface area then it could easily be carried downstream...especially if it floated for a bit. I've seen P4's with batteries sink like rocks but never one sink without the battery installed. It would have to take longer because it has less mass for the displacement.

 

[Fishie]

Sounds like you were flying in a wooded area? I've had my p4 act like it was in sports mode. It happened once before. I recall it was very responsive and aggressive to my input on the sticks. I verified I was in the correct flight mode. I set it down immediately and rebooted and waited for GPS safe to fly and as soon as it turned green I heard Siri say Home position has been set. Didn't happen again after that.

I think I took off before home point was set, and without GPS. And my map was showing my old map location 300 miles away... So maybe when you flew in woods GPS glitched... Hard to say

How deep is the water?
I would buy a snorkel and a mask and find a heavy rock and crawl the bottom. Bring a flashlight if it's murky. If your bored... Might cost $50 for the set but you could probably get $400 for parts on eBay. If you washed it with distilled water and alchohol wiped debris from the board it might start up- especially since the battery ejected!

Lesson:
Be cautious when there's anything that appears irregular like this, even the slightest abnormality can spell disaster. It's best to reset and re evaluate the situation, than continue and risk the quad malfunctioning in mid flight. I do a full reset if there's something wrong every time.

Good luck, let me know if you get your dive gear

I would agree. Although I haven't tried it, I would suspect the P4 to act more responsive if it did not have a GPS signal to help keep it in position. I assume it would act more like it was in ATTI mode. Just a guess.

 

[stopdroningon]

Sorry to hear this buddy

 

[tbony]

Quite embarrassing but yes... this was my first away from society flight.

We went to a local creek and I was flying using some fpv and vlos. Well I got some amazing footage one way and started to come back towards me. Passed myself after a few circles and went up stream. I went around the bend pushing my range extender to its limits through the trees.

I started to lose a couple of bars of signal while approaching a bridge. I began to increase altitude to return my signal strength. So Flyter was climbing (it's name) and I saw lines on my screen. After the second one I yelled out and pulled both sticks down realizing these were indeed power lines. Oh the irony... well momentum and fate had its way with my drone and it tipped a line sending it toppling. Before it hit the water I lost all signal. I started running through the trails to get to where it was. 300 feet away... I come to the spot.

Walked through the water and found my battery, must have flung out during the spin. My calculations is that it hit the water and was dragged along with the strong current out into the body of the creek. Out where it currently is resting on the rocks with Davy jones. I saw where the current met the bank and slowed down and I attempted to swime out there to recover the body but it was over my head and I was tired out from fighting the current.

At this point, I'm not sure how to proceed. I have a badass bundle kit with cool accessories. I just don't have my copter or the lens that was on it. Oh and my trackimo... which is so Inna curate and says it's on land 500 yardso away from crash site. I did recover the battery and it was wet but in full working condition with a few dents from the rocks. Gunna put it on rice.

Should I sell my accessories and cut my losses or just save up some money and buy another p4, just the copter?

 

[tbony]

Ouch!!
Sorry to hear.
Both sticks down at once stops everything, props included, and bird will drop out of sky statim, I think.

 

[Vexed]

I

Quite embarrassing but yes... this was my first away from society flight.

We went to a local creek and I was flying using some fpv and vlos. Well I got some amazing footage one way and started to come back towards me. Passed myself after a few circles and went up stream. I went around the bend pushing my range extender to its limits through the trees.

I started to lose a couple of bars of signal while approaching a bridge. I began to increase altitude to return my signal strength. So Flyter was climbing (it's name) and I saw lines on my screen. After the second one I yelled out and pulled both sticks down realizing these were indeed power lines. Oh the irony... well momentum and fate had its way with my drone and it tipped a line sending it toppling. Before it hit the water I lost all signal. I started running through the trails to get to where it was. 300 feet away... I come to the spot.

Walked through the water and found my battery, must have flung out during the spin. My calculations is that it hit the water and was dragged along with the strong current out into the body of the creek. Out where it currently is resting on the rocks with Davy jones. I saw where the current met the bank and slowed down and I attempted to swime out there to recover the body but it was over my head and I was tired out from fighting the current.

At this point, I'm not sure how to proceed. I have a badass bundle kit with cool accessories. I just don't have my copter or the lens that was on it. Oh and my trackimo... which is so Inna curate and says it's on land 500 yardso away from crash site. I did recover the battery and it was wet but in full working condition with a few dents from the rocks. Gunna put it on rice.

Should I sell my accessories and cut my losses or just save up some money and buy another p4, just the copter?

I shouldn't laugh

 

[Vexed]

Ouch!!
Sorry to hear.
Both sticks down at once stops everything, props included, and bird will drop out of sky statim, I think.

Not true

 

[ftolino]

Quite embarrassing but yes... this was my first away from society flight.

We went to a local creek and I was flying using some fpv and vlos. Well I got some amazing footage one way and started to come back towards me. Passed myself after a few circles and went up stream. I went around the bend pushing my range extender to its limits through the trees.

I started to lose a couple of bars of signal while approaching a bridge. I began to increase altitude to return my signal strength. So Flyter was climbing (it's name) and I saw lines on my screen. After the second one I yelled out and pulled both sticks down realizing these were indeed power lines. Oh the irony... well momentum and fate had its way with my drone and it tipped a line sending it toppling. Before it hit the water I lost all signal. I started running through the trails to get to where it was. 300 feet away... I come to the spot.

Walked through the water and found my battery, must have flung out during the spin. My calculations is that it hit the water and was dragged along with the strong current out into the body of the creek. Out where it currently is resting on the rocks with Davy jones. I saw where the current met the bank and slowed down and I attempted to swime out there to recover the body but it was over my head and I was tired out from fighting the current.

At this point, I'm not sure how to proceed. I have a badass bundle kit with cool accessories. I just don't have my copter or the lens that was on it. Oh and my trackimo... which is so Inna curate and says it's on land 500 yardso away from crash site. I did recover the battery and it was wet but in full working condition with a few dents from the rocks. Gunna put it on rice.

Should I sell my accessories and cut my losses or just save up some money and buy another p4, just the copter?

I'll buy your charger if you want to sell it

 

[180 Productions]

Quite embarrassing but yes... this was my first away from society flight.

We went to a local creek and I was flying using some fpv and vlos. Well I got some amazing footage one way and started to come back towards me. Passed myself after a few circles and went up stream. I went around the bend pushing my range extender to its limits through the trees.

I started to lose a couple of bars of signal while approaching a bridge. I began to increase altitude to return my signal strength. So Flyter was climbing (it's name) and I saw lines on my screen. After the second one I yelled out and pulled both sticks down realizing these were indeed power lines. Oh the irony... well momentum and fate had its way with my drone and it tipped a line sending it toppling. Before it hit the water I lost all signal. I started running through the trails to get to where it was. 300 feet away... I come to the spot.

Walked through the water and found my battery, must have flung out during the spin. My calculations is that it hit the water and was dragged along with the strong current out into the body of the creek. Out where it currently is resting on the rocks with Davy jones. I saw where the current met the bank and slowed down and I attempted to swime out there to recover the body but it was over my head and I was tired out from fighting the current.

At this point, I'm not sure how to proceed. I have a badass bundle kit with cool accessories. I just don't have my copter or the lens that was on it. Oh and my trackimo... which is so Inna curate and says it's on land 500 yardso away from crash site. I did recover the battery and it was wet but in full working condition with a few dents from the rocks. Gunna put it on rice.

Should I sell my accessories and cut my losses or just save up some money and buy another p4, just the copter?

Thanks for Posting! You pushed it to the limit huh? I would scape it, and check that battery again.

 

[Wayne Kinne]

Too many people lose their DJI Phantoms, I will not fly mine again until I invest the $250 for a good tracking device. I have had to search for mine way too many times. And DJI's answer is always the same, "you are too inexperienced", "read the manuals", "fly only LOS". Why would I buy a drone with a 3.1 mile range if I am never going to fly it out of sight?1

 

[Sky Architect]

If secured properly, the battery should never just get ejected unless your P4 hit something quite hard and gave it a jolt. I can't see power lines causing that much of a jolt. No suspect the P4 was not far from the battery but since it is substantially lighter without a battery and has quite a bit of surface area then it could easily be carried downstream...especially if it floated for a bit. I've seen P4's with batteries sink like rocks but never one sink without the battery installed. It would have to take longer because it has less mass for the displacement.

Out of most of the crashes I have seen here the battery always ejects when it spins and whirls back down to earth. I thing during the beating it took in the Rapids probably filled it with water and by the time it was in open creek was already down under. I may go diving for it today not sure yet. If so I will post back.

SIDE NOTE! I think I made a good decision as to the power lines, however it was the upward momentum from increasing altitude that caused it to hit a single line overhead. There were 5 lines in front and 1 single one overhead. Even if I had let go of the stick it would have still ended with same result. I truly believe that after assessing the situation from different angles.