Can you download your flight logs, curious if you lost signal that low to the ground and if it tried to RTH or ?

What was the battery level?  What was the temperature?  If you lost signal or the battery got down to critical level, it would likely fly straight up, into the tree because it hit RTH mode automatically.

I am experimenting that kind of behavior on my P3S during the landing last days. I didn,t crash mine, but almos hit in some trees. My P3S is also drifting a lot during the land. I always have 11 GPS Sats and it happens.

grampykwf Posted at 2016-1-31 10:44
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaC5QAtBlrI

NOT the cause!

may be , RTH was activated , you did manually or if you turn back with the controller and you are not pointing the quad or you are back to a wall tree or anything like that you automatically lose signal
and the RTH functions is activated automatically so the quad go higher to avoid obstacles (you can change the settings in the DJI go app )  and if you don't have activated intelligent RTH you are not going to be able to control the quad during RTH unless you cancel it

wrathofkhan Posted at 2016-1-31 14:25
Yes AGON I think that maybe thats what happened.  I know the battery was getting low and the RC wa ...

It sounds very much like the battery got too low and it went into RTH. Depending upon what RTH height you had set, it would immediately ascend to that level to fly home. The only way to stop it is to press and hold the RTH button on the controller. You said the RC unit was bleeping, that was probably telling you the battery level was critical. When it beeps, you have 10 seconds to cancel RTH or it heads home.

You say it did not respond to the sticks, that is normal, you must cancel RTH using the button before you will regain control.

AG0N-Gary, temperature would never be a problem in Perth, Western Australian, it is like living in Miami.

Geebax Posted at 2016-1-31 12:21
It sounds very much like the battery got too low and it went into RTH. Depending upon what RTH heig ...

John, Geebax is right, this is behaviour on low/critical batter(unless you configure it differently). Your logs may show otherwise, so it's best to have a look at them..

I had the same thing happen indoors, and luckily my P3 just got stuck on a flat ceiling with props rotating full throttle. No amount of down throttle would stop it.  Cancelling using the RTH button physically on the controller is the only way to regain control. - Not a lot of people know this. (I didn't until it happened) but it's clearly written in the manual..

Now I do not normally fly if the battery level is less then 20%. I land and change the battery. Then carry on. Or at the end. I switch off, pack and carry the quad back.  

dji-p3p1 Posted at 2016-1-31 16:00
John, Geebax is right, this is behaviour on low/critical batter(unless you configure it differently ...

"Now I do not normally fly if the battery level is less then 20%. I land and change the battery. Then carry on. Or at the end. I switch off, pack and carry the quad back. "

This is good advice. I know you are supposed to get more life out of the battery, but is it worth the risk? I never take that risk, always land and put a fresh battery in. It costs you nothing.

wrathofkhan Posted at 2016-1-31 01:11
Yes, everything is pointing to the RTH engaging so I must read up on that but also WATCH the low b ...

Feel bad about the damage. Hope you get it fixed ok.
Ya RTH can be an issue like all have said. One thing I believe no matter what altitude you have it set for , it won't respond to stick movement until it hit 20 meters. After that you can " guide " it with the sticks.
Guess you figured what to do next time anyway. Cancel with the button , land ASAP.
Good luck

wrathofkhan Posted at 2016-1-31 14:11
Yes, everything is pointing to the RTH engaging so I must read up on that but also WATCH the low b ...

John, I don't have any experience with the gimbals, but I know ther are a few in the US and UK/Europe that have taken them apart. They may be coming on line in a couple of hours, hopefully they can help.


In the meantime can you please post Pictures of your Gimbal, here,  that will really help in better understanding the issue.  A Picture/s is worth a thousand words.

John, while you wait for somebody, I was just looking around I came across this.. Hope it helps.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2460080

wrathofkhan Posted at 2016-1-31 17:11
Yes, everything is pointing to the RTH engaging so I must read up on that but also WATCH the low b ...

RTH is a critical area of Phantom flying that all owners must understand.
There are loads of reports of RTH leading to crashes when pilots didn't understand what was happening.

You can replay the flight on your tablet to see the indications and  get a better understanding of what happened.
Or go to HealthyDrones and follow the instructions there to upload your flight data and see the  analysis.

wrathofkhan Posted at 2016-1-31 11:18
Many Thanks dji-p3p1 it sure is a learning curve.

I hate to think about it but if the worst comes ...

This issue has been predicted & pointed out.

There's a full explanation and a long argument that fully explains your predicament here.

During RTH the aircraft's ascent to 20 metres above ground level (home point) is not affected by stick input at all. The only way to cancel RTH is by pressing the RTH button, which can take a few seconds to respond, so even if you'd realised what was happening & immediately pressed the RTH button to cancel it, it would probably still have crashed anyway.

Geebax Posted at 2016-1-31 04:21
It sounds very much like the battery got too low and it went into RTH. Depending upon what RTH heig ...

"You say it did not respond to the sticks, that is normal, you must cancel RTH using the button before you will regain control."

Once the aircraft is above 20 metres above ground level, moving the throttle stick will halt ascent & the aircraft will turn & fly towards the home point at that altitude & you can still control it with the sticks.  Below 20 metres you are correct, the sticks have no effect.

wrathofkhan Posted at 2016-1-31 22:18
Many Thanks dji-p3p1 it sure is a learning curve.

I hate to think about it but if the worst comes ...

Hi John,
I have never personally had to buy any P3 parts ( Except Propellers - Finger crossed) But I think DJI have them on their website, however you cannot just buy the arm, the whole camera and gimbal come as one piece and its VERY Expensive.

Your Gimbal Arm looks like it has just got a little bit bent. I have never done this but I'm wondering - you may just be able to straighten it out if you did it really carefully. But I would not do it with it still on the P3, because putting any load on it and any other part may break something else!
Is there a way you can remove the arm itself by following the videos in the link I gave you, and then straighten it in isolation or give it to an engineering company/place/person to carefully do it for you.

Again, its just a thought as I have never done this myself so please be careful and/or follow advise from somebody who has.

nigelw Posted at 2016-1-31 23:24
This issue has been predicted & pointed out.

There's a full explanation and a long argument that  ...

Correct NigelW.

I Also learnt the Hard Way, I wish i had read that earlier. - As you already know, mine was not too bad, I got away with just A set of worn out Propellers and a bit of yelling from the W.I.F.E Authority.

John: See here what happened to me:  http://forum.dji.com/thread-40587-1-1.html

PaulKerry Posted at 2016-2-1 02:30
I'm sorry to do this to you, Nigel... But... You know I'm a pedant and I couldn't really let this  ...

My bad  

PaulKerry Posted at 2016-2-1 02:43
John... Which version of the manual was current when you first bought and flew your Phantom?

Unle ...

Phantom user manual is v1.6 now, but yes, v1.2 doesn't mention the lack of stick control.

wrathofkhan Posted at 2016-2-1 04:00
Paulkerry, what you have just stated is extremely interesting and confirms my original thoughts on ...

Very sad to hear about your predicament John. I really think that DJI should withdraw the quick start guide - forcing us all to read the manual. I would've done the same thing as you and read the QSG then took it out to fly, BUT, the weather here has been so horrible that I I wasn't able to fly for the last month, so read the manual and a lot of this forum instead. IT certainly opened my eyes to the RTH feature.

Best thing to do is upload your flight log to Healthydrones.com and analyze what happened. without an answer as to what happened the accident will always be in the back of your mind while flying.

wrathofkhan Posted at 2016-2-1 16:00
Paulkerry, what you have just stated is extremely interesting and confirms my original thoughts on ...

John, based on the manual that was issued to you, I hope you can get it in for a for a warranty repair..

As a separate option, this thread has been posted wrt replace the of camera for P3A. Look it up, there may be a Pro option available..http://forum.dji.com/thread-41620-1-1.html

Interesting read! I too have learned a lot about RTH. This was my post of a few days ago, and with this post I realize i grabbed my Phantom at the same time it started it's RTH:

practicing flying a couple days ago, around 28 deg f., over snow, I was doing practice manouvers low level, around 4-5 feet above ground. All going good and low battery warning came on at 30% as set. I continued to fly till around 12% and hovered at 4-5 feet in front of myself and the controller. I knew I was getting really low batteries and decided I would grab it and shut down the motors.. What a surprise, max power! Sort of scared me and I didn't know what to do. Hung on for what seemed like 5 min, probably 30 seconds and all the while kept trying to shut the engines down. They finally went from full power to stop. I know they were at max power because there was a notation on my iPad. I did not keep looking at my iPad, I was just making sure the high powered flying lawn mower stayed still in my hand. I've caught other smaller UAV's. I'm sure this one, my DJI P3 PRO, it is a no no. My question, why max power at the moment I held on the the landing gear? Thank you ahead for your input.
Regards
,
Jim

jimb55 Posted at 2016-2-2 13:15
Interesting read! I too have learned a lot about RTH. This was my post of a few days ago, and with t ...

It would have been trying to ascend up to 20m.  If it senses it's not going up, it'll just increase power until it is.  It was trying to lift you off the ground with it!  

Yup! Amazing how I grabbed it at just the right second. New RTH procedures for me from now on. Great Thread all!!!  Thanks!

wrathofkhan Posted at 2016-2-7 09:00
What do you guys think,,, what would you want?.

John

I'd want a replacement, no question.  The drone did something not listed in the instructions.  Have you got the P3 instructions that were valid at the time you bought it (downloaded from the DJI website)?  I have & was then surprised to read different instructions on here.  When I checked, I had the old version which had been updated without notification.