I was videoing some flooded areas at my ranch and had my first real fly away today and fortunately I was videoing the take off. It was a waypoint flight the the copter was only about 60' when it dove to the right angling down. I was able to determine the general location and found the battery about 5 feet off the road right next to some trees but I cannot find the copter. There is some moderate pasture growth but I cannot find the copter on the ground or in the trees. How far could it be from the battery? Really weird. I just cant imagine the copter being very far from the battery. Help!

I think you're right it's got to be close to the battery my guess is it landed in a tree and the battery fell to the ground. I seen a video where a an R/c plane was up in a tree but you couldn't see it from the ground.  

I would think it would have to be close. The battery had to have come out on impact. It may have hit the tree with a glancing blow and ejected the battery. hope you find it.

If by chance the battery ejected during flight the copter could be 20-30 towards the waypoint. Give it a little walk down the flight patch. Good luck!

roy@mcscomputer Posted at 2015-4-26 10:16
If by chance the battery ejected during flight the copter could be 20-30 towards the waypoint. Give  ...

thanks to all for your response. I will be back out at daylight looking again.

Good luck, it can't ne far from where battery was.

Sorry to hear, it certainly can't be far unless it had also been fitted with a solar panel!
Serously, if it were only 60' up when it went down, I would be looking in about a 60' radius from the battery and start from the direction the Phantom was coming from...I would also recheck the trees, these things really are not that big and can be pretty hard to spot even in a clear sky sometimes...
Hope you find it..

Call me superstitious but this is why I don't use waypoints. One small slip up and it's the end...

That does have to be a first...finding the battery and not the quad. I think you will find it and if it landed in a tree it's probably in decent shape.

But that begs the question of why a tree landing popped a battery.

You are right  - it is bizarre.

Hate to be the negative one, but what condition is the Battery in, Any Damage, Scuff marks???    Could the Battery have hit the road and bounced or slid off the road.   Was travel path going across the road?

I know if I was driving down a road and saw some thing with 4 props and what looked like a camara on the side.  well you can guest the rest...

That's way I put my phone# and address on the battery, and inside the battery compartment.   and another sticker on the battery with the word  "REWARD"  in BIG print...



@ 12 Flights and no issues

Many thanks for all the advice. I finally found the copter in the trees and it was in perfect shape minus the battery that it spit out. Fortunately I just fly it on my ranch no worries about anyone else finding it. I calibrated the compass and did a test flight in open pasture and all appears to be well. I have included my fly away video ( just chance that I was actually videoing the copter) and a video of the flight today( the one I was trying to shoot when I had the fly away) after recovering the copter.

  Fly Away

Competed Flight after copter recovery

I tell ya, I dislike GS big time......

And the battery popping out still seems crazy - maybe it wasn't in perfectly and that caused the two data pins to have a bad contact and that would mess up GS?

Make sure you clean the battery and pin contacts and maybe put some conductive grease or contact enhancer on them (ck Amazon for these compounds)

droneflyers.com Posted at 2015-4-27 04:47
I tell ya, I dislike GS big time......

And the battery popping out still seems crazy - maybe it was ...

Why do you not like GS?

I must admit I am nervous about it and as a consequence I have never used it. I went with the DataLink instead of FPV initially (I have it now) but wish I had gone with FPV first up.

Yug

I think that maybe the battery wasn't in all the way. GS has always worked great for me and it has flown perfectly today after spending the night in a tree.

mdprejean@gmail Posted at 2015-4-27 05:03
I think that maybe the battery wasn't in all the way. GS has always worked great for me and it has f ...

How much have you used GS?

Yug

I don't like it because it's somewhat of a afterthought put in for consumer demand. It's not perfected, IMHO.

Maybe with two separate GPS systems the P3 will be better for SDK solutions.

GS is "dumb" in that it doesn't know if you are going to fly into a hill or even into the ground if it slopes up a bit. Yet GPS and google maps DO know the basic slope of the ground, so a smarter app would warn you about these things.

If I had a really important use for it I would then be very careful and set up a mission. I've been tech nut since I was a kid - and yet I almost flew my first GS mission into the ground. I take experiences like that and think "OK, I'm no newbie to maps and tech...and if I almost did this, what is going to happen when regular people try this"....

I think most people who are technical fail to understand how most of the population thinks. Most people can't read maps and topography well. That's a fact.

I think the current generation of drones requires pilot input. This may change very soon - but I'd want to see a lot more checks in the system and warning that say "hey, if you fly this particular mission you are going to hit the ground as indicated by our maps and GPS" warnings.

Lastly, it's impossible to really test what might happen when the usual errors occur in mid-GS missions. For example, DJI has claimed to fix a lot of telemetry errors which caused flyaway when things like bad pin contacts are occurring. BUT, I doubt there was every enough real world testing to prove what happens in every scenario when you are in the middle of a mission....

Again, that's my humble opinion. It could change with the P3 or with new software and hardware.

I fly the same GS routes on a regular basis to monitor tree growth, pasture, deer/hogs, check for the conditions of roads in bottom land after big rains. Otherwise all my flights are pilot controlled. You are correct regarding the topography of the fly area, you have to know where you are flying and I always carefully plot the waypoint heights. I never get off my property unless one of my neighbors needs some info about his place or maybe try and locate a lost cow/horse.

droneflyers.com Posted at 2015-4-27 06:01
I don't like it because it's somewhat of a afterthought put in for consumer demand. It's not perfect ...

Thanks for that. Pretty much how I feel about it. Unfortunately  I did not look into it deep enough before purchasing. When I got it I soon saw it's flaws.

Thanks again.

Yug

mdprejean@gmail Posted at 2015-4-27 06:10
I fly the same GS routes on a regular basis to monitor tree growth, pasture, deer/hogs, check for th ...

I envy your use of the Phantom. So unique.

Yug

mdprejean@gmail Posted at 2015-4-27 03:11
Many thanks for all the advice. I finally found the copter in the trees and it was in perfect shape  ...

Outstanding. Glad you recovered it!

Glad you found it I though it would have been  up in a tree. Was the video of the fly away edited because you didn't say thing like I would have said if my phantom had just flown away.

no it wasn't edited. that was real time. i think i was just in shock that it took off. i used several words looking for it for a couple of hours.

Well glad you found it.