Is it possible that a P3S can be flown and not record a log of the flight?
Perhaps if it crashed, had the battery pulled, etc?  I assume it writes the log as it flies, but is there any case in which there would just plain be no log at all for a flight?

Hello Jeppedy, thank you for reaching us out. The Flight record is important in an Aircraft as it will show if what happen to the aircraft during flight and crash/bad landing. It is possible that the flight record will not generate a log by this following scenarios:
1. The pilot disables the app or the app crashes (or the mobile device is out of power during flight);
2. There is no communication between the aircraft and the remote controller for a long period of time
3. The aircraft crashes or suddenly powers off.
4. pilot fails to connect to the app when flying.
5. The pilot uses third-party software for flying.
6. The pilot manually deletes the flight records.

Those are the reasons why there is no flight record has been generated. I hope you find the information helpful. Flysafe!
Thank you.

Even if the drone crashes, loses power etc, there is always a flight log.

DJI Paladin Posted at 10-27 14:42
Hello Jeppedy, thank you for reaching us out. The Flight record is important in an Aircraft as it will show if what happen to the aircraft during flight and crash/bad landing. It is possible that the flight record will not generate a log by this following scenarios:
1. The pilot disables the app or the app crashes (or the mobile device is out of power during flight);
2. There is no communication between the aircraft and the remote controller for a long period of time

I’m confused.  I’m referring to the log the drone itself records (aren’t I?)   The things you cite, seem to be related to the app side of things.  Are you sure the app has a relation to the log recorded by the drone itself?

Jeppedy Posted at 10-27 15:01
I’m confused.  I’m referring to the log the drone itself records (aren’t I?)   The things you cite, seem to be related to the app side of things.  Are you sure the app has a relation to the log recorded by the drone itself?

The app is the usual place to find your flight logs.
How else are you going to find out what might have happened in a flight if you've lost the drone?
Look in your app for your flight records.

Labroides Posted at 10-27 18:21
The app is the usual place to find your flight logs.
How else are you going to find out what might have happened in a flight if you've lost the drone?
Look in your app for your flight records.

Ahh, gotcha.  But in this case, I have found a drone on my property.  No name, no FAA ID, no identifying marks.  No SD card in the camera.  All I have is the drone itself, and there's no record of the flight that brought it to my property.  That's what's so odd, and why I am wondering how that could have happened...

Jeppedy Posted at 10-27 20:20
Ahh, gotcha.  But in this case, I have found a drone on my property.  No name, no FAA ID, no identifying marks.  No SD card in the camera.  All I have is the drone itself, and there's no record of the flight that brought it to my property.  That's what's so odd, and why I am wondering how that could have happened...

The Phantom 3 standard was a very basic drone.
DJI released the much more advanced P3 Advanced and Pro models in 2015 and four months later released the Standard.
It was an economy model employing technology which had already been superseded by the much better Advanced and Pro.

If the owner didn't bother to label the drone, they didn't care very much about having it returned.
If it wasn't damaged the most likely reason for its loss was the flyer flying too far for the drone to be able to make the return trip.
Perhaps they failed to consider the wind speed and direction and flew downwind and it couldn't get home pushing into a headwind.

On the battery reaching critical low voltage, the drone would have autolanded to prevent crashing.

Labroides Posted at 10-28 01:17
The Phantom 3 standard was a very basic drone.
DJI released the much more advanced P3 Advanced and Pro models in 2015 and four months later released the Standard.
It was an economy model employing technology which had already been superseded by the much better Advanced and Pro.

Totally plausible, indeed. Under such a scenario, shouldn't the drone have recorded a flight log to the drone itself?

Jeppedy Posted at 10-28 01:53
Totally plausible, indeed. Under such a scenario, as shouldn't the drone have recorded a flight log to the drone itself?

It has in internal SD card that records flight data.
How can you tell that there's no flight data in the Phantom?

Labroides Posted at 10-28 02:03
It has in internal SD card that records flight data.
How can you tell that there's no flight data in the Phantom?

There are many log entries. Just not one for the flight that brought it to me...