I have a question of accountability in which I'd like a fair and honest answer to by the forum.  

One month ago, while shooting on an island an incident happened with a phantom 3 Pro that took us completely by surprise.
While on an expedition in the Pacific Ocean to shoot wildlife our drone went down.  The circumstances surrounding the drone
going down are as follows:  

After anchoring the boat about a mile or more out in the Pacific Ocean we noticed whales breaching out of the water.  We did a full system check,
had the latest firmware updates, and tested all of our equipment before going up.  This means we turned on the P3P, got satellite signals, and got
all clear from the P3P (compass good, calibration good, all green, ready to go).   We did a quick flight over the boat to make sure everything was in order.
I'm not sure how one could have been more responsible in this situation.  We then launched the drone in a hope to get some great wildlife footage.  About 1 minute in to the flight, at about 14feet up and 100 feet away from the boat over the water (yes only 14 feet!!) we get a warning message that I've never seen before.  This message looked like a yield sign and said that we were approaching a no-fly zone and the drone was landing itself.   The message was a long one, and by the time we read it, the drone had landed in the Pacific Ocean.  It was unrecoverable and all of the footage we took that day, and the drone was gone.  I found out the hard way that DJI's firmware will down your aircraft if you are near a no-fly zone regardless of anything.  It did not send the aircraft back to home.  The log indicates that the drone was at 14 feet when the no-fly warning went on and the aircraft was "firmwared" in to the ocean within 8 seconds.   I am in no way advocating flying in a no-fly zone.  Just the opposite.  I don't think the firmware should have let me take off if I was so close to a no-fly area (which is why we did the test).  

I will say is that I am aware of the FAA regulations.  We ALWAYS follow them under every circumstance.  We use the FAA application UAV Zone to check for flight regulations and follow them accordingly and we did so before we took off from land (at the dock).  I'm guessing that the boat wandered in to waters close to an airport on land.  However,  I was under the impression that DJI aircraft would NOT take off in or near a no-fly zone.   As well, it seems as if DJI should let me have the capability to fly the drone back instead of downing the drone.  For all it knows, there could have been someone underneath it rather then ocean.  The drone/firmware gave me less then 8 seconds at 14 feet to respond. When you've never seen an error message, and they give you a long explanation on the message,  there was no way I had a shot at saving the drone from it's ultimate fate.  

So my question to the forum.  Is this ok for DJI to do?  In this situation what should I do and what should DJI do?  It's been a month and I've heard nothing from DJI except providing them the flight log.  Feel free to comment negatively or positively and hopefully honestly.

I would have thought the app should have prevented take off if you had full GPS before take off.  What you describe sounds like the action when take off had no GPS and the drone suddenly found the GPS signal and therefore landed.  Exceptionally unlucky you were over water as otherwise it behaved perfectly.

If the flight logs prove you had GPS on take off, you might be able to claim off DJI.

wellsi Posted at 2016-3-19 04:09
I would have thought the app should have prevented take off if you had full GPS before take off.  Wh ...

It's possible you were just outside the no fly zone when you took off, but entered it as you flew away.

In any case, I agree that DJI's algorithm should of handled this more gracefully. At 14ft you were not a threat to any aircraft, unless you were on a runway. It should have given you more time to land safely.

Thanks for the feedback.  Yes I had full GPS mode, however you make a great point.  I wonder if something loaded late to the GPS.  Interesting idea