I flew my spark today in area thatI usef to fly in it before. I lost connection and failed RTH.
I followed find my drone but unfortuantely nothing found .

Vedio for the flight
https://youtu.be/t7TUuT6kR6A

Welcome to the club! I lost mine today as well. Upload your log here: http://phantomhelp.com/logviewer/Upload/ and someone will probably be able to tell you what went wrong. And definitely, open a case with DJI if you haven't already.

http://phantomhelp.com/logviewer/ZN8CWGGYVY12V60PGVPG/

http://phantomhelp.com/logviewer/ZN8CWGGYVY12V60PGVPG/

Hey mate,

Sorry for your loss.

What can you tell me about the conditions at the time?

From 1:09 of your video, it appears that the drone is being pushed backwards when trying to return home and based on the coordinates and time of the incident, there was a significant wind blowing.
The wind direction and speed appears to correspond with the way the drone is being pushed.

Weather not that bad. Wind speed 30 and less. I was able to fly against and it was sport mode but connection issue. Since Rth begun and I couldn't get any response.
Another thing it flew in an open area . I suppose to find cocnnection when I get there ...

I had the forecast app for drone it was allowing.

The reported wind speed at the time was 23mph/37kmh and the drone itself measured wind speed of 50mph/80kmh at an altitude around 300ft/91m AGL.

One of the more experienced guys might be able to see something here that I am not.

Best of luck in the recovery of your drone!!!

Aha ... then at least should be in that open area. No trees or other things

If it were me, search would start         54.358919,-8.494491 and search heading S/SE.

It was 361ft/110m up at last ping though, so could be within a decent distance of that location.

Oh that is useful . I do

Lyons90 Posted at 2017-12-7 15:40
If it were me, search would start         54.358919,-8.494491 and search heading S/SE.

It was 361ft/110m up at last ping though, so could be within a decent distance of that location.

How can i search using those numbers in the map ?

DJI User3277 Posted at 2017-12-7 15:51
How can i search using those numbers in the map ?

https://goo.gl/maps/UE9Wf9t8rmM2

Lyons90 Posted at 2017-12-7 15:59
https://goo.gl/maps/UE9Wf9t8rmM2

Thanks for that. Actuall i looked that area too ...

I will keep looking tomorrow too. Thanks alot

DJI User3277 Posted at 2017-12-7 16:25
I will keep looking tomorrow too. Thanks alot

Hi, sir. I feel sorry about your lost. You can enter the flight record and check the last GPS position in it. I would recommend you contact the Support to start a case, provide the flight records to them. Here is the link: http://www.dji.com/support. Thanks for your support.

How does the spark knowwind speed?

This is the descriptor from AirData, one of the UAV flight analysis tools.

Wind is calculated using the angle of the aircraft, the speed of the aircraft and the status of the remote control knobs.
In order to get a reading, all the following conditions must be met for at least 5 consecutive seconds:
The aircraft must be in GPS mode (P mode on the remote) - missions and other modes are currently not supported
The aircraft must fly at full speed and in a straight line - OR - hover at the same spot without moving
No direction change, right-left turns or altitude change should take place during these 5 seconds

DJI User3277 Posted at 2017-12-7 12:34
http://phantomhelp.com/logviewer/ZN8CWGGYVY12V60PGVPG/

I’m afraid lyons90 has got it spot on, the wind was to strong so your spark was being blown back and had no chance of RTH , you should go back and walk from last coordinates if it was in open ground you may find it at 10% battery it will start landing, there is enough information on your log to give you indication of how far it could have traveled backwards.
Good luck.
Just a word of advice when flying a mission always start upwind to insure your flying back with wind helping.

Well if the spark was flying backwards at 20 mph, and trying to maintain position by flying automatically  at 32 mph into a 50 mph headwind, it will have no chance. Even into a 30 mph wind at best it will hover.

It's even possible that if it was facing down wind with forward cyclic applied it flew away at 80 mph!

Yes. You are right

Lyons90 Posted at 2017-12-7 13:54
The reported wind speed at the time was 23mph/37kmh and the drone itself measured wind speed of 50mph/80kmh at an altitude around 300ft/91m AGL.

One of the more experienced guys might be able to see something here that I am not.

Where are you seeing the wind speed reported by the drone?

I was looking at his flight logs and I don't see that info..
I do see early in the flight very high numbers in the YAW colum while the drones "speed" is zero...
I assume that means the drone was fighting against a stiff wind coming from the side of the aircraft.

I am trying to understand the log files better.  

Wind speed can be apparently calculated by a third party app "airdata". I am not familiar with it, check back to page 1 of this thread.
I think it means that the spark does not/cannot know wind speed  in real time. When it reports "caution high wind velocity", I presume it's registering turbulence which may or may not reflect wind speed.

Bright Spark Posted at 2017-12-8 13:02
Wind speed can be apparently calculated by a third party app "airdata". I am not familiar with it, check back to page 1 of this thread.
I think it means that the spark does not/cannot know wind speed  in real time. When it reports "caution high wind velocity", I presume it's registering turbulence which may or may not reflect wind speed.

Thanks I will have to look into airdata...
Spark might not calculate the approximate wind speed but it certainly can make pretty educated guesses.  
It knows how much pitch, roll, and yaw it is applying to the aircraft and can easily work out the speed and direction that it should be moving in given zero wind conditions.  Couple that with data from the IMU and GPS as to the actual speed of the craft and the difference is wind speed.
So, if spark pitches forward as many degrees as it would need to move at 20mph but only is moving at 10mph the wind is 10mph from the front of the spark.

DJI User3277....

I am sorry to hear your story.  Looking at your location, it looks great.  Big wide open space away from possible interference.  I am a beginner at looking at the Phantom Help log files, and I'll admit I was a bit puzzled.  You had adequate number of satellites, few error messages, all looked good.  But I did notice that at some point on your return to home, you started going backwards.  I was thinking...hmmm...maybe your homepoint was set incorrectly, but the Airdata data that Lyons90 looked at shows a high wind speed.  I've only seen my Spark get up to about 26 mph going home, and I think that was with the wind.  So if the wind was anything like that, I can understand the problem.

One of the things I always check when I fly is which way the wind is blowing.  If possible, if I'm doing any long flights, I want to be returning to home with the wind, not against it.

Lyons90 provided a huge "lightbulb" moment for me.  I have exported my logs to Airdata a few times  (a great tool), but have never looked for the windspeed function.  I'll need to check this out.

This a really fantastic sport which I got into only a few months ago.  This is so much fun and I'm learning so much.

What I will also say, is that we have rules, as responsible UAV pilots we are to follow.  Not everyone follows them 100% of the time, and I think part of that is human nature.  For example, I think you were about 1,600 feet out when RTH was initiated, if you can see your Spark at 1,600 feet out and 328 feet high, lol....you are a better man than I!  I'm not coming down on you, I think most sometimes flex (ok....break) the rules.

In this particular case, you flew a decent distance (over 1,000 feet) downwind.  It's possible you didn't consider this, and I'm guessing in the future you will.  :-)  Or, maybe you did consider this, and just risked it.  This is very common and human nature to try to push the boundaries of exploration, and if you ask me, that's what we are doing.

I think we all have regular "safe" flights in which all rules are followed.  It is doubtful that there are many here among us that have not flown in conditions, which if fully laid out, would not put the pilot at fault if something bad happened during the flight.

I think the best thing is for us all to learn as we go along, so that we can be cognizant of the decisions we actively make.

Again, sorry for your loss.  I am thankful that I have learned something from this thread.

I do hope you are able to find your Sparky!  

Cheers...

Todd in Chicago

Hi guys.
Really thanks for your useful input. I realize many things now.
I contacted many farmers there if they found it. Hopefully
And here is dji tech report
The aircraft was working in GPS mode after taking off, then it switched to Sport mode under the pilot's command; the aircraft was affected by the wind from northwest during the flight;
2. At t=03:52, h=110 m, d=388.6 m, Failsafe RTH was triggered but the aircraft could not RTH successfully due to the wind;
3. At t=05:53, h=110 m, d=590 m, the flight record ended. Please do not fly under high-wind condition.

According to the analysis, the incident was not caused by any product malfunction factors. As such, we could not provide warranty service.

I am sorry to hear that! But since it's really a wide open area I hope you will be able to find it soon!

I also hope to receive their decision for my case soon so that I can plan what to do next before my trip to NZ soon.

DJI User3277 Posted at 2017-12-9 03:41
Hi guys.
Really thanks for your useful input. I realize many things now.
I contacted many farmers there if they found it. Hopefully

Hey man that’s tough, you only live up the road from me , I’m in Enniscrone, hopefully someone might find it, I know your expecting snow this evening.
Good luck.

Todd in Chicago Posted at 2017-12-8 18:48
DJI User3277....

I am sorry to hear your story.  Looking at your location, it looks great.  Big wide open space away from possible interference.  I am a beginner at looking at the Phantom Help log files, and I'll admit I was a bit puzzled.  You had adequate number of satellites, few error messages, all looked good.  But I did notice that at some point on your return to home, you started going backwards.  I was thinking...hmmm...maybe your homepoint was set incorrectly, but the Airdata data that Lyons90 looked at shows a high wind speed.  I've only seen my Spark get up to about 26 mph going home, and I think that was with the wind.  So if the wind was anything like that, I can understand the problem.

He was only just outside the regulations for flying in Ireland, but of course you are expected to be in VLOS , the area I know well and is a very safe area to fly in, so we can’t be to hard on OP,
When using RTH we must always remember limited speed of RTH against no limits with the wind. Hopefully he might retrieve it.

DJI User3277 Posted at 2017-12-9 03:41
Hi guys.
Really thanks for your useful input. I realize many things now.
I contacted many farmers there if they found it. Hopefully

Guys, the wind velocity is not a big thing !!  I had a similar situation with wind velocity warning first below the green GPS indicator and then it blanked the GREEN GPS indicator and flashed high wind velocity in orange.!!!   

.What you have to do at this stage is lower the altitude of the drone atleast by 30 meters ( if it is at 100 meters high) and fly it low....this could happen when RTH has been initiated or while the drone is in RTH mode....do not use two joysicks together to control...use one at a time during RTH...

S.J Posted at 2017-12-9 10:51
Guys, the wind velocity is not a big thing !!  I had a similar situation with wind velocity warning first below the green GPS indicator and then it blanked the GREEN GPS indicator and flashed high wind velocity in orange.!!!   

.What you have to do at this stage is lower the altitude of the drone atleast by 30 meters ( if it is at 100 meters high) and fly it low....this could happen when RTH has been initiated or while the drone is in RTH mode....do not use two joysicks together to control...use one at a time during RTH...

You cannot lower aircraft in RTH , you must cancel first, this wasn’t wind velocity warning this was actual wind.

For some reason my controls work well even on an RTH !! In theory you are correct but practically I have avoided many trees during RTH landings !!
But the thing is you can only use one joystick at a time.

Thank you guys for the useful comments

DJI User3277 Posted at 2017-12-12 14:26
Thank you guys for the useful comments

Did you end up finding your Spark?

I did not find it yet ... but I feel I will .. hahah

don't set you RTH altitude to high since the spark is rising to higher wind conditions

And watch out when flying higher than your RTH altitude, spark will NOT decend.!!! and stays in the strong wind!!! trying to come back but drift away