So this happened to me this morning!

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/9BOH65W24NI75UGTQK5L/

Still trying to find it in with my snow shoes and lots of hope

PLEASE HELP!!

The last GPS location in the log is here:  45.87273536        -74.12103734, but it is at nearly 380m, so I don't think it is on the ground here.

I would search further along the flight path that is shown on your LogViewer map.  Bring your RC and phone/tablet with you in case you re-establish connection to the Spark and see its current position.

Good luck

Sorry to hear - have you find your drone yet?

All the best, hopefully you find that bird!

Looks like a warranty case. The HP was recorded right, the flight to the HP was totally wrong.
Good luck with your search or for a replacement!

Thanks for your replies
No luck yet!
Taking a break now!

Luckily it started raining!

Dirk52 Posted at 2018-2-21 07:57
Looks like a warranty case. The HP was recorded right, the flight to the HP was totally wrong.
Good luck with your search or for a replacement!

Home point was recorded before it got a GPS lock. How's that right? Sorry, you might be right, since it saw GPSes but was not in P-GPS. What does it record then?

if you are using the latest DJI  GO4 app 4.2.6, it has a problem where the home point update does not display in green on the screen...but in the flight logs, the home update gets recorded

Dirk52 Posted at 2018-2-21 07:57
Looks like a warranty case. The HP was recorded right, the flight to the HP was totally wrong.
Good luck with your search or for a replacement!

I'm pretty sure the reason for the flight to the HP being wrong is that at an altitude of 1400+ feet (437 meters), the wind is blowing like crazy.  According to UAVForecast, for his area, the wind at that altitude is blowing 30+mph with over 70mph gusts.  The Spark just doesn't have a chance in those kinds of winds.

At the time the log ended, the Spark was 1248 feet high.  DJI documents the max descent speed as "9.8 ft/s (3 m/s) in Auto Landing Mode".    At that rate, it would take approximately 127 seconds for it to descend to the home point altitude (not location).  At a rate of 6.3mph (last recorded speed), it would likely have traveled around 0.2 to 0.25 miles beyond the last marked point in the log before reaching the takeoff altitude.  Looking at Google Earth for the area, it looks like there is some geographic terrain changes which of course would have an impact upon the location it would settle.

p.s. Someone please double check my math.  

Hiya, see https://forum.dji.com/thread-103792-4-1.html  (you made a double entry)

If it were me, I would probably be searching somewhere in the red area.  But that is a needle in a haystack I think.  The pinpoint is the last known GPS location from the log.  The line is my ROUGH estimation of the trajectory.

Kloo Gee Posted at 2018-2-21 10:00
I'm pretty sure the reason for the flight to the HP being wrong is that at an altitude of 1400+ feet (437 meters), the wind is blowing like crazy.  According to UAVForecast, for his area, the wind at that altitude is blowing 30+mph with over 70mph gusts.  The Spark just doesn't have a chance in those kinds of winds.

At the time the log ended, the Spark was 1248 feet high.  DJI documents the max descent speed as "9.8 ft/s (3 m/s) in Auto Landing Mode".    At that rate, it would take approximately 127 seconds for it to descend to the home point altitude (not location).  At a rate of 6.3mph (last recorded speed), it would like have traveled around 0.2 to 0.25 miles beyond the last marked point in the log before reaching the takeoff altitude.  Looking at Google Earth for the area, it looks like there is some geographic terrain changes which of course would have an impact upon the location it would settle.

This is insalely accurate!!

Patowski Posted at 2018-2-21 10:28
This is insalely accurate!!

Thank you so much!
I Followed you on youtube the day i bought my Spark!!!
never thought you would reply to this thread !

Patowski Posted at 2018-2-21 10:28
This is insalely accurate!!

I will put back my snow shoes on and search this area!!

JJBspark Posted at 2018-2-21 10:01
Hiya, see https://forum.dji.com/thread-103792-4-1.html  (you made a double entry)

Newbie here dont know much on how this works

Kloo Gee Posted at 2018-2-21 10:00
I'm pretty sure the reason for the flight to the HP being wrong is that at an altitude of 1400+ feet (437 meters), the wind is blowing like crazy.  According to UAVForecast, for his area, the wind at that altitude is blowing 30+mph with over 70mph gusts.  The Spark just doesn't have a chance in those kinds of winds.

At the time the log ended, the Spark was 1248 feet high.  DJI documents the max descent speed as "9.8 ft/s (3 m/s) in Auto Landing Mode".    At that rate, it would take approximately 127 seconds for it to descend to the home point altitude (not location).  At a rate of 6.3mph (last recorded speed), it would like have traveled around 0.2 to 0.25 miles beyond the last marked point in the log before reaching the takeoff altitude.  Looking at Google Earth for the area, it looks like there is some geographic terrain changes which of course would have an impact upon the location it would settle.

Nothing wrong with your math, but why should the Spark descent on rth?
It will fly until the battery critical threshold (when the HP isn’t reached) and will then descent.

Kloo Gee Posted at 2018-2-21 10:00
I'm pretty sure the reason for the flight to the HP being wrong is that at an altitude of 1400+ feet (437 meters), the wind is blowing like crazy.  According to UAVForecast, for his area, the wind at that altitude is blowing 30+mph with over 70mph gusts.  The Spark just doesn't have a chance in those kinds of winds.

At the time the log ended, the Spark was 1248 feet high.  DJI documents the max descent speed as "9.8 ft/s (3 m/s) in Auto Landing Mode".    At that rate, it would take approximately 127 seconds for it to descend to the home point altitude (not location).  At a rate of 6.3mph (last recorded speed), it would like have traveled around 0.2 to 0.25 miles beyond the last marked point in the log before reaching the takeoff altitude.  Looking at Google Earth for the area, it looks like there is some geographic terrain changes which of course would have an impact upon the location it would settle.

I also thought it would fly toward that direction, but i wasent sure..
the last video i have on the cache , i see the drone turning around..

Kloo Gee Posted at 2018-2-21 10:07
[view_image]

So now i know the Spark was trying super hard to fly back home but couldnt because of the wind,

My RTH is set to current altitude though...

dont know what it could have done...

I'll still go look in the aera you marked
fingers crossed
Thanks Again

Kloo Gee Posted at 2018-2-21 10:00
I'm pretty sure the reason for the flight to the HP being wrong is that at an altitude of 1400+ feet (437 meters), the wind is blowing like crazy.  According to UAVForecast, for his area, the wind at that altitude is blowing 30+mph with over 70mph gusts.  The Spark just doesn't have a chance in those kinds of winds.

At the time the log ended, the Spark was 1248 feet high.  DJI documents the max descent speed as "9.8 ft/s (3 m/s) in Auto Landing Mode".    At that rate, it would take approximately 127 seconds for it to descend to the home point altitude (not location).  At a rate of 6.3mph (last recorded speed), it would like have traveled around 0.2 to 0.25 miles beyond the last marked point in the log before reaching the takeoff altitude.  Looking at Google Earth for the area, it looks like there is some geographic terrain changes which of course would have an impact upon the location it would settle.

RTH was initiated at 3m 57.2s, altitude 1,436.7ft.   At the end of the log 5m 16.6s, or 78s  later the altitude is still 1,248.0 ft, so the drone only dropped 188 ft in 78s, average of 2.4 ft/s.  

Wonder with the RTH altitude set at 40m if the drone would drop to that altitude while RTH, or maintain the current altitude if above the set RTH altitude, than drop when above the home point.

With wind speeds above 30 mph or 44 ft/s, the little guy didn't have a chance.

Shade220 Posted at 2018-2-21 10:56
RTH was initiated at 3m 57.2s, altitude 1,436.7ft.   At the end of the log 5m 16.6s, or 78s  later the altitude is still 1,248.0 ft, so the drone only dropped 188 ft in 78s, average of 2.4 ft/s.  

Wonder with the RTH altitude set at 40m if the drone would drop to that altitude while RTH, or maintain the current altitude if above the set RTH altitude, than drop when above the home point.

RTH is Set at current altitude...

It'll keep anything over RTH set altitude, then descend.

Dirk52 Posted at 2018-2-21 10:38
Nothing wrong with your math, but why should the Spark descent on rth?
It will fly until the battery critical threshold (when the HP isn’t reached) and will then descent.

You are correct.  As of the last log entry, it hadn't switched to auto-landing mode yet.  But it was at 29% battery, over 1200 feet (380m) up, and over 2000 feet (610m) away.  It went from 45% battery to 29% battery in a matter of 79 seconds.  If my math is correct, I believe that is a burn rate of approximately 1% battery every 5 seconds.  Based on those details, my guess is that Auto-Landing mode would be triggered quite soon.

But you are correct, it was not in auto-landing mode at the time, so that would need to be figured into the distance it would travel.  

But since it couldn't penetrate the wind, all bets are off.
Fancy flying in that.

Shade220 Posted at 2018-2-21 10:56
RTH was initiated at 3m 57.2s, altitude 1,436.7ft.   At the end of the log 5m 16.6s, or 78s  later the altitude is still 1,248.0 ft, so the drone only dropped 188 ft in 78s, average of 2.4 ft/s.  

Wonder with the RTH altitude set at 40m if the drone would drop to that altitude while RTH, or maintain the current altitude if above the set RTH altitude, than drop when above the home point.

This is because the descent was triggered by the user's stick inputs, not auto-landing mode. In the log, we can see that RcElevator is maxed out for descent  (i.e. Left stick full back).   I think the rates of descent are different for full left stick back descent in normal mode vs Landing Mode descent.  However, I don't think that DJI documents those particular rates if I remember correctly.

Also, the number I mentioned before is the MAX descent speed.  Environmental factors could influence that as well.

Patowski Posted at 2018-2-21 10:56
So now i know the Spark was trying super hard to fly back home but couldnt because of the wind,

My RTH is set to current altitude though...

Good luck!  I hope you find the little beast!  I hope you have a bright colored Spark and not a white one!

I hope my input helps and doesn't send you in the wrong direction.  

Not trying to rub salt in the wound, but the best action would have been to not put it up that high in those conditions.  Once you were there, I think your best bet would have likely been to flip to Sports mode and try to bring it back or try to find a suitable alternate landing zone.   In Sports mode, its got a bit more zip that may have been able to hold its ground better in those winds and maybe descend a bit faster than it was in normal mode to get down below those crazy winds up high.

Patowski Posted at 2018-2-21 10:29
Thank you so much!
I Followed you on youtube the day i bought my Spark!!!
never thought you would reply to this thread !

I'm a sucker for checking out log files!  I have always loved to learn how things work and there is nothing like the log files to really try to get an understanding of what is really going on with the systems.

I just hope I'm helping out and not completely leading you in the wrong direction!  Hopefully the other good folks of this forum will help keep me honest!  

Kloo Gee Posted at 2018-2-21 11:12
Good luck!  I hope you find the little beast!  I hope you have a bright colored Spark and not a white one!

I hope my input helps and doesn't send you in the wrong direction.  

i did put it back in sport mode but i think the RC had lost connection when i did  so i guess  it did not "register"
It did fly way higher and farther than the max distances "allowed"
That's what i dont understand..

I will definitly set my max Alt to less than 150M instead of 500m
(that "cloudy " sunrise was pretty nice though)

AND look at the weather/winds carefully before flying!

I failed "Droning 101" big time

Put some reflective tape on it, way easier to locate it in the dark woods/trees with a proper torch :-)

Good luck!

Kloo Gee Posted at 2018-2-21 11:16
I'm a sucker for checking out log files!  I have always loved to learn how things work and there is nothing like the log files to really try to get an understanding of what is really going on with the systems.

I just hope I'm helping out and not completely leading you in the wrong direction!  Hopefully the other good folks of this forum will help keep me honest!

There is A LOT i still dont understand about log files

trying to figure all of this out since this morning..

there is a lot of Data you guys provided that i have absolutely no idea how to get my hands on!

like the google earth flight paths, the wind speeds and... mostly all data...

i registered to Airdata.com but i dont see much more infos..

Haggi Posted at 2018-2-21 11:27
Put some reflective tape on it, way easier to locate it in the dark woods/trees with a proper torch :-)

Good luck!

Lol Yeah!!  
I will also stick a Tile on it!!!

The Google Earth flight paths are an easy one.  Firstly, download and install Google Earth onto your PC/Mac.  Then on the PhantomHelp log page you posted, choose to download the KML file, then open that KML file in Google Earth.  



For the wind speeds, I use the UAVForecast app on my iPhone before flying to get an idea of wind speeds at different elevations.  For that, look at the Wind Profile tab.  For the screengrabs I posted above with the wind speeds, I actually went to uavforecast.com and put in your location.

The rest of the log information, I generally get from the CSV file downloaded from the PhantomHelp log report page.  I open that in a spreadsheet app such as MS Excel or I actually just use Google's free Google Sheets.   From there it is just looking into the data.

There are other tools that can extract even more info from the original TXT log file than PhantomHelp gives, but that is an even more advanced (and lengthy) topic.  

JJBSpark has an awesome desktop program he has built himself that he uses to help analyze the log files.

This was certainly blown away by wind.. you can see it start to return home but it can't fight the wind.  1600feet!   I didn't know that was allowed in Canada!

LouisP Posted at 2018-2-21 12:13
This was certainly blown away by wind.. you can see it start to return home but it can't fight the wind.  1600feet!   I didn't know that was allowed in Canada!

Yeah...
Big fail

LouisP Posted at 2018-2-21 12:13
This was certainly blown away by wind.. you can see it start to return home but it can't fight the wind.  1600feet!   I didn't know that was allowed in Canada!

It is not. The allowed limit is MUCH MUCH lower than that and is fixed at 90m so roughly 300ft.
At least it was not in any controlled airspace...

muskegg Posted at 2018-2-21 13:18
It is not. The allowed limit is MUCH MUCH lower than that and is fixed at 90m so roughly 300ft.
At least it was not in any controlled airspace...

Nothing to add on this..
Big fail...

Patowski Posted at 2018-2-21 13:41
Nothing to add on this..
Big fail...

Big thumbs up from me on owning up and learning from it.  I've seen lots on here not do the same.  We all make mistakes, its how we handle it and move forward that shows a persons real character.  



If you track it down, definitely let us know!

Kloo Gee Posted at 2018-2-21 15:04
Big thumbs up from me on owning up and learning from it.  I've seen lots on here not do the same.  We all make mistakes, its how we handle it and move forward that shows a persons real character.  

There is still something very strange going on here, throttle stick is what controls ascent and descent in mode 2, yet we see almost no movement on throttle stick yet AC climbs to height of 1500ft, distance of almost the same yet looking through the log nothing seems to match this up. Unless it’s some kind of custom set up I don’t know about.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-2-21 15:13
There is still something very strange going on here, throttle stick is what controls ascent and descent in mode 2, yet we see almost no movement on throttle stick yet AC climbs to height of 1500ft, distance of almost the same yet looking through the log nothing seems to match this up. Unless it’s some kind of custom set up I don’t know about.

I just noticed that RcElevator stick movement had a direct correlation with his altitude.  I didn't even think about the fact that it should normally be RcThrottle instead.  It does seem like a possibility that he is flying using something other than Mode 2.

Kloo Gee Posted at 2018-2-21 15:04
Big thumbs up from me on owning up and learning from it.  I've seen lots on here not do the same.  We all make mistakes, its how we handle it and move forward that shows a persons real character.  

I actually think this AC was being flown backwards at the end not downwards, -pitch..