How much could the GPS be off?  My Phantom is reporting that is in a lake...?

I should mention that I lost it today. Phantom flew away. My fault, I think.
Question: Is it really in the small lake...(very large pond)? Or, maybe it is CLOSE to the lake...?  
The GPS on Find My Phantom says it's IN the lake...
Could it be wrong?
Can a Phantom still report from the lake-bottom?

Even with 5 Sats locked in, my unit would sometimes report that its 500 meters behind me when I'm actually staring down at it. I just wait until it locks on to more sats. If that does not work, I would power cycle it.

birdfolk5555 Posted at 2015-5-24 12:06
I should mention that I lost it today. Phantom flew away. My fault, I think.
Question: Is it really ...

We must have posted at the same time. Sorry to hear about your experience.  Let's see what others with similar experience (phantom in water) has to say. I hope you find it.

Thank you Godfrey. I'll be looking for it in earnest tomorrow. Not real hopeful.
At least I know where the app is telling me to look. I assume that will fail with the battery. But maybe it's just showing me its LAST recorded location... ? Could it really be at the bottom of the lake---How long could I expect the Find My Phantom feature to show the blip---from the bottom of a lake?  It doesn't make sense.

birdfolk5555 Posted at 2015-5-24 12:06
I should mention that I lost it today. Phantom flew away. My fault, I think.
Question: Is it really ...

Mr. Bird,

So sorry to hear about your Phantom. When you ask "Can a Phantom still report from the bottom of a lake?". I would say no. Once it went under the electronics would shut down and it wouldn't be able to report at all. That actually may be good news. If you were still getting some sort of signals sometime after it supposedly submerged in the lake then I would say there is a good chance that it's not in the bottom of the lake. You were a bit unclear, were you still getting some sort of signal after it went into the lake? If so, what signal were you getting? What were the circumstances that caused it to go down? Give us a bit more and with any luck maybe there's a glimmer of hope.

Jerry

JtrJr-Droner Posted at 2015-5-24 12:54
Mr. Bird,

So sorry to hear about your Phantom. When you ask "Can a Phantom still report from the b ...

Okay---Details:
No wifi---recording manually with the push-button on bottom of egg-shaped camera. No live video.
I took off before making sure I had sat lock.
Phantom began to drift immediately so I took her up over the tree to keep from hitting it, then I lost sight of it.
I took it higher---tried to bring it around by feel---never saw it again.
Tried to use home-lock---failed.
After five minutes I shut-off the controller.
After ten minutes I went out looking for it. I was at home. (country---wide-open spaces and fields---few houses)
Phantom reported it was over by the gravel pit--an area I am familiar with, and have permission to traverse with my dog whenever I like.
Phantom seems to be saying it's twenty feet offshore---

What you are probably seeing is where the Phantom reported it was when it was  a its last location. After that there are a lot of variables as to the reports. Lost any of the GPS signal will give an erroneous error along with other erroneous errors. The "Find my Phantom" works as long as the Phantom is working properly and still powered up. I..E if you are returning home and the battery gets to low and the plane self lands. Then your tracking works pretty good. For crazy fly a ways or other electronic issues those reports are not so accurate. That's just  the real world part of flying. Hope you find yours. If she still had a little power remaining ad was working ok then your chance of locating her by map and GPS would be better. When your flying and you get the message signal lost.... That would show the last known location by map where she was. After that.... Don't know where she went if she didn't return home. Sorry !

birdfolk5555 Posted at 2015-5-24 13:08
Okay---Details:
No wifi---recording manually with the push-button on bottom of egg-shaped camera.  ...

So sorry to hear that Birdfolk. I saw your initial post last night but had no idea you lost your bird. Possibly, it continued on a trajectory across the pond and is somewhere on the other side. I hope you find it,
Ray

birdfolk5555 Posted at 2015-5-24 12:50
Thank you Godfrey. I'll be looking for it in earnest tomorrow. Not real hopeful.
At least I know wh ...

I'm in my appartment and my unit is off. I opened-up the DJI Vision App in my iPhone and went to the find my phantom screen. It shows the last recorded position in the app (dropped pin) but it is off by about 75 meters to the North (red circle, actual last position). Like what the others have said, it is both good and bad, good that it may not be in the water, bad that you'll have to search a wider area. If you think it just went straight and can trace the last flight path, it should help narrow down the search area. Good luck tomorrow.

Ouch, l'm sorry to hear about your bird.
l have a question, if you didn't wait for enough sats and to establish home point before flying, do you remember where your last home point was? l think if you sent it high enough to avoid obstacles and then shut off the controller, it would head there. Fingers crossed you find it

Thanks for the concern and kind responses. I will resume my search this morning.

How long will I see this "pin" on the map?  Will it stay there forever, as it was the last recorded location... or is the Phantom still giving-off a signal...?
Lost it yesterday afternoon and the Find My Phantom feature still shows the pin (in the pond).

birdfolk5555 Posted at 2015-5-24 21:23
Thanks for the concern and kind responses. I will resume my search this morning.

Sorry to hear of your loss.  Hopefully you will find it.  Diligence does pay off sometimes.  I wish you luck in your search.  If you were close by I would stop by and help.

nrgwise Posted at 2015-5-24 23:50
Sorry to hear of your loss.  Hopefully you will find it.  Diligence does pay off sometimes.  I wis ...

Thanks, Dude.
Just spent two hours traipsing through fields and brush. No luck yet. Going to search a short-pine forest close to the lake after lunch.
Rain comin', tonight, I think.
Ij just spent a fortune replacing the camera and battery, and spent about ten hrs getting it ready to fly...
Oops.   LOL

Sorry for your loss. I hope to hear good news that you found it & not damaged.

Hi Birdfolk, sorry to hear about your disaster.
One thing I am not quite sure about is you said you did not have Wi-Fi for the domed flight, if you did not have the vision app connected to the Phantom Wi-Fi then it will not be able to receive the GPS location, and so the "find my Phantom" feature will not work.
It would just report the last known location, which should be the last time it was receiving telemetry from the Phantom.
The "find my Phantom" feature is not fool proof, one time it was telling me it was still at the field I took off from the day before, despite having 10 sats locked and home point confirmed on that later flight.

johnwarr@live.c Posted at 2015-5-25 03:44
Hi Birdfolk, sorry to hear about your disaster.
One thing I am not quite sure about is you said you  ...

It's all I have to go on---A pin on a map.
I wish there was more.
Chances of me or ANYONE finding it before the weather ruins it is incredibly remote. In fact, it may not be discovered for years. Too much acreage consisting of tall grasses and impenetrable marsh.

birdfolk5555 Posted at 2015-5-24 23:58
Thanks, Dude.
Just spent two hours traipsing through fields and brush. No luck yet. Going to searc ...

Remember to look up! It could be stuck in a tree.

Sorry to hear that Birdfolk. Hope you find it soon.   Barney

?

busclas Posted at 2015-5-25 09:17
Sorry to high jack a thread since there's no way to pm yet, but I finally got over close to the da ...

You are confused.  I have no idea what you are talking about.  Or maybe I am confused but I still have no idea what you are talking about.  Okay, I usually am confused.  Or 'unwashed and somewhat slightly dazed'.  Did you know there is no gravity?  No, really, the Earth sucks!  Like a big vacuum...oops, we call outer space the vacuum.  If you stand in the woods and never hear a tree fall, did one?

nrgwise Posted at 2015-5-25 09:29
You are confused.  I have no idea what you are talking about.  Or maybe I am confused but I still h ...

Maybe got my people confused my bad.  

busclas Posted at 2015-5-25 09:40
Maybe got my people confused my bad.

Okay, but still, you are standing in the woods for hours and hours and never hear a tree fall.  Did one fall or not?  I mean, come on, you hijacked the thread.  Let's do it right.  Bird will search and report as appropriate, in the meantime (like we are the crowd back at the lodge drinking stale coffee, milling about) we can entertain ourselves.  He knows, at least I hope he does, that our hearts and best wishes are with him.  So?

No luck searching today.
I think I'll check the lake-bottom tomorrow. I'll hope to snag a prop-guard with a hand made grappling hook.
I just want closure.
I want to know where it is.
I want to know if I came within twenty feet of it while searching fields, today.

nrgwise: I missed a hijacking? Damn, first my Phantom, now my thread...?
lol
no biggie, I guess.
*shrugs*

birdfolk5555 Posted at 2015-5-25 10:12
No luck searching today.
I think I'll check the lake-bottom tomorrow. I'll hope to snag a prop-guard ...

Bird,

We feel you and we all want to see you find your bird. You could try a fishing pole as well with a big sinker on it. Might make it easier to detect it by dragging the sinker across the bottom. Just a thought.

Jerry

birdfolk5555 Posted at 2015-5-25 10:12
No luck searching today.
I think I'll check the lake-bottom tomorrow. I'll hope to snag a prop-guard ...

Bird, I honestly wish I knew where you were and that it was close enough that I could drive there as I would sincerely like to help you find your quad.  I see your loss/pain in your posts.

This loss has sparked an idea.

Same here!

Are either of you going to share these "ideas" or are they secret???

Jerry

nrgwise Posted at 2015-5-25 10:28
Bird, I honestly wish I knew where you were and that it was close enough that I could drive there  ...

I live in Sheridan, Mich.
Rain is coming---and I doubt we'd find it with a small army and ten RVs.

Fun Fact: I had a GettrBack affixed to my drone a month ago, but it broke upon a hard landing. I could've had a floating bobber on the lake if I had bothered to replace it.

It would be helpful if someone in the area had another drone they could fly over the area to see if it could be spotted.

Man I feel for you! I lost my Phantom may 1st, my app showed it 20 miles away! I searched across a river on a rocky, bushy hill side everyday, 3 hrs a day for 7 days, scuba dived the river, with a eye on the weather too. Finally gave up only to receive a message on face book exactly 2 weeks to the day i lost it, saying my dad found your drone! What a shock that was. I still find myself looking across the river where i thought i lost it! (it had returned to me and crashed 20 feet from where i had been flying, thank god the video worked! ) It gets into your damn psyche!

Here is mine from the other day. Using Ultimate Flight app. It shows where it is from last time it landed. Its within 10 ft of where I had it last. I was parked 2 spots down from where the phantom is shown in this pic. If I open up the DJI vision app (stock app) itwill show it at my house since that was the last time I used that app with the phantom.

The thing that is screwing with my head is the absolute knowledge that if I hadn't given-up and had just remained calm, taken a minute to analyze the problem---I could have brought it back.
I just can't believe I gave up on home-lock as quickly as I did---gosh---I made so many stupid mistakes in six minutes I don't even deserve it back.

birdfolk5555 Posted at 2015-5-26 21:50
The thing that is screwing with my head is the absolute knowledge that if I hadn't given-up and had  ...

Bird,

No need to beat yourself up over it. Most honest people on this board would admit to having similar moments in a pressured situation. I've had more than one! There is a lot going on and trying to remember everything in a panicked situation can be a bit overwhelming. Too bad these situations are so damned expensive! Any more luck on trying to find it? If it did crash or land somewhere other than the lake, it may be very salvageable even if it rained a lot. If the power died before it got wet and you find it and dry it out throughly for a week or so you could very well be flying again. I'd hate to see you have to give up on it but also understand that day may come. More than that, I hate seeing you beat yourself up over it. Unfortunately, it's  all part of the game, Man.

Jerry

JtrJr-Droner Posted at 2015-5-26 22:10
Bird,

No need to beat yourself up over it. Most honest people on this board would admit to having ...

There is always a need to beat oneself up after carelessly and needlessly losing something expensive.
I'll be okay.  Thank you for the condolences. Please send flowers, wreaths, cards and money to:
Lost My Drone
1234 Dumb St.
Anytown, USA

Very sorry about your Phantom loss. My input may be useless and most you already know at this point but Im sort of thinking out loud, it sound to me that because of a low sat count you were in Altti mode and is why it was drifting, when or if the 7 sats were gained you still would not know if the correct  home point was set. This is why home lock was not working. If the Satellites were still low and Phantom was still in Altti mode when you turned off you controller then the Phantom would have just landed where it was and should not be far away from where you last saw it. Also if the sats were established above the trees and the home point was then set then it would still be around your area of flight. With you having prop guards then there is a high chance it is stuck in a tree cause the guards like to snag branches causing it to stay up in the tree. the 2 worst case scenarios are the Phantom is in the bottom of the pond but still maybe ok sense it is fresh water or the worst being it the home point was set miles away and when you turned of the controller it took off to "never never land".
Did you have your phone number listed on the Phantom anywhere ?
I just checked the "Find My Phantom" in the DJI Vision App and it is still showing my Phantom last know spot from 3 days ago.
last I would not give up your search if it starts raining. My Phantom spent an 30mins in the rain while it was off and I was trying to get back to it. let it sit for a few days until it was completely dry and have more then 15 flights sense with no issues.

Sorry but no.  I had mind crash into the ocean...a moment of silence please, and nothing to report.  Sorry.

Hi, sorry to hear about your lost bird and I'm impressed with the way you are still looking for it, and as they say..."God loves a trier".....and they also say..."If you don't laugh you'll go crazy".  I will watch this post until I see that you have either found her or you have called it a day.  I'm sure all the guys on the forum wish you the best of luck.  Chin up and best regards  Ian. (UK)

But it's probably in that lake, right?
If I first turned on the GPS mid-flight, while having no idea where it was, it would have started to hover instead of drift--- right? And eventually it would've landed in that same spot, right?
If no more input came in--- If the remote was turned off???   It would hover and land at that same spot, right?
I'm trying to figure out what the chances are of it NOT being in the lake...
The Find My Phantom feature is putting it about twenty feet offshore...