Can someone explain why my Phantom 2 decides to leave me for no apparent reason. This has happened twice. The first time I was near some condos and I decided that perhaps it was WiFi interference and was very careful where I flew since then. This time I am in a quiet park. A very large park. I was flying until I realized it was time to land. My red lights were flashing so I immediately began my descent. I noticed the controls were acting a little strange but I thought it might have been prop wash or maybe the wind. Then, about halfway down, it took off like a bat out of hell. It went on a lateral trajectory as if I had my stick full to the right. I had no control. I moved the sticks in every conceivable direction then, as a last resort, powered down the controller hoping fail-safe would kick in. Nothing. It continued in the same direction at the same speed. WTF!? I began to chase the damn thing to keep a visual until it hit a large tree and crashed on a cement wash at the edge of the park 15 feet from the soft grass. I am seriously concerned about this. It is not only expensive to repair/replace my gimbal and camera but it is terribly dangerous. I have two questions for you experienced pilots. 1. Do I have a problem with my drone? Could it be a faulty transmitter or something. My wifi was off on the GoPro. I have had a couple of small crashes when I first got it, but nothing serious. Is there a way for DJI to test it or should I replace the RC components with something else? 2. How common is this problem? If this is at all a common problem, I think DJI should have an all-stop mode. I don't know if its possible but I would rather kill the props in mid air and have it come straight down instead of flying off to "who knows where". Also, the props should come to a stop when a crash is detected. If the motors detect resistance to the props (for example a finger or a tree branch) they should stop turning. My drone would be safely nestled in a tree if the damn thing didn't chop its way down. Any comments would be appreciated. Frank
You may find more opinions at the DJI forum......I hang out there quite a bit myself. There are so many variables to these things - but, in general, I'd say that 90% of flyaways are due to either pilot error or lack of pilot knowledge, which could be classified as the same thing. An inexperienced pilot is unlikely to keep a fragile Phantom 2 for very long...or at least keep it whole. Of course, DJI and other companies market these as "for everyone"...they want to sell a lot of them! But the truth of the matter is that it requires quite a lot of education, practice and continuing care to keep a Phantom in good condition. If you have not already read them, check out this article: https://www.droneflyers.com/2014/12/avoid-dji-phantom-fly-away-crashes/ As to your situation, I'd say that it points to GPS problems - there were some heavy solar weather days recently (that's one of the things pilots need check on) and your bird may have lost a GPS lock. In general, the way to find this out would have been not to fiddle with the sticks in every direction, but to switch the GPS off by entering ATTI mode and regaining control of the quad. I think you can kill the motors in the air with the arm/disarm stick movements...but I've never done it in 15 months of flying my Phantom. If your bird is still in good shape, I'd suggest reading that article, checking on the solar weather and going out to a big field...and then experimenting with ATTI mode. Also, if you get to it, switch to NAZA mode as suggested in the article and elsewhere so you can experiment with RTH (return to home) without turning the TX off. You might consider removing the gimbal and camera for a couple hours of practice in a large open field with the various modes, etc. - to make sure everything is working as it should. The manuals are quite long...but worth reading and understanding.
Thanks Webman for taking the time to respond to a noob. After making my post I scoured the internet for resources on flying. I did read the Fly-Away article on Droneflyers. I will be doing more research and testing but I would really appreciate your opinion on a couple of things: 1. Some say that I should recalibrate every time I change location. Droneflyers says not to recalibrate too often. They say only when you travel a distance of 10 miles or more but they claim that they go 100 miles without a problem. They seem to downplay the need to recalibrate. I suspect this is what caused my crash as I had just flown my Phantom 200 miles away on a mountain at an altitude of 8,000 feet. Came back here to sea level and didn't recalibrate. What do you normally do? 2. Although my Hero4 has a shattered lens and my gimbal is toast, the Phantom seems okay. I am actually surprised it didn't break into a thousand pieces. Should I be concerned about any damage to the internal components. I will be opening it up to look for loose connections and such, but I am not sure how durable the Naza, compass, etc are. Any idea?
I'd say you should have recalibrated with that move. I suggest not doing it every time around town....each field, etc. - I have moved a Phantom 1 as much as 100 miles east and not done it, but that bird is not as sensitive IMHO. Also, I fly mostly semi-manually so I don't see errors as easily. As to the NAZA, etc. these are pretty solid and if you inspect and make a couple flights with the camera and stuff removed - all should be OK. Now you have to wish me luck since my P2V+ came today...of course, flying in mid-winter around here can be tough anyway, so it's likely to sit on the table for a while anyway.
