Last Saturday, I had my first mishap.  I was trying to fly in a downtown area.  I was having some compass errors, and kept moving till I found a "safe to fly" spot.  As soon as it took off (1-2 ft) it read compass error, and the craft veered sharply right, until hitting a parked car and flipping over.  I have tried to download the flight log, but all I see is gibberish.  Can someone tell me
a. How to download and interpret the flight data
b. Somewhere to learn about the compass and the way the phantom controls its direction.

Thank you!

If you moved more than around 10 miles from where you had been previously flying -- and last calibrated -- you should recalibrate the compass.  You didn't specifically clarify whether or not you were able to successfully calibrate the compass before takeoff.  "safe to fly" can be misleading since it just indicates the home point has been established and there are enough satellites.  A downtown area is going to be full of electromagnetic radiation of all kinds and a lot of that can get reflected off building affecting the Phantoms "awareness".  

Regarding the flight  records, are you trying to use the ones in the Phantom itself or the ones in your phone/tablet?  I found the easiest way to look at my flight records from my tablet is here:  http://healthydrones.com/main?a=upload

I'm just curious... How much damage to the car??

I discovered this today, if I put my P3S down on or near these objects, I get a compass error. I assume I should never go near a car or any large metal object.

Thank you for your answer.  I had read about the compass calibration issue, had previously been doing it every time I moved location.  For this one, I had done a calibration about 7 miles away, in my backyard.  I was not near any metal at the time.  
There was no damage to the car, thankfully.  Could not even see a scratch.  Not the same with my props, though...
Is there somewhere I can read about what the compass mod refers to?  I read that you want between 1000 and 2000, but what exactly does that mean.  And the x, y and z axis?