Are fly aways mostely due to pilot errors or to technical problems ?

Objectively speaking, most 'flyaways' are not. It is an over-used and mostly innacurate term. Often a poster will come on here, angry and bitter because his aircraft flew away on him. If he can be convinced to upload the flight data to a site that decodes it, it will often be found that the pilot was responsible for the aircraft flying away. And quite often, it takes a lot of convincing to get the pilot to understand and/or admit that it was his fault. This process of convincing is often referred to by some members as bullying.

But from time to time, it can be shown that the problem was caused by a fault in the aircraft or it's software/firmware. This is actually quite rare, but when it occurs, DJI may see the issue, or the experts on this forum will manage to convince a moderator to take up the case and get a replacement for the poster. Despite what some may say, DJI is actually quite fair in this regard.

Geebax Posted at 2017-7-14 15:29
Objectively speaking, most 'flyaways' are not. It is an over-used and mostly innacurate term. Often a poster will come on here, angry and bitter because his aircraft flew away on him. If he can be convinced to upload the flight data to a site that decodes it, it will often be found that the pilot was responsible for the aircraft flying away. And quite often, it takes a lot of convincing to get the pilot to understand and/or admit that it was his fault. This process of convincing is often referred to by some members as bullying.

But from time to time, it can be shown that the problem was caused by a fault in the aircraft or it's software/firmware. This is actually quite rare, but when it occurs, DJI may see the issue, or the experts on this forum will manage to convince a moderator to take up the case and get a replacement for the poster. Despite what some may say, DJI is actually quite fair in this regard.

Great answer! Kudos to you.

In my humble opinion, I think most people are just impatient. Just take your time. Let the UAV warm up. Wait for the GPS 'lock' and watch to make sure that the arrow that represents your UAV on the device screen is pointing in the exact same direction that your aircraft is facing. I've seen it suggested that you lift off slowly, do some front to back and side to side movements while the drone is still right near you. When you're sure that it's acting as it should, head out and have fun!

  I've read many 'fly away' posts on these boards with great fear thinking that this was something that I would need to worry about. As stated by Geebax, they usually (almost always) turn out to be operator error of some kind. Which is actually refreshing because it means, if you're careful, it probably won't happen to you.

These UAVs are VERY easy to fly and fly well. While in the GPS mode, they will hover like they're hanging from a string! With a little practice, you'll be doing some cool stuff in no time!  

I've been trying to get my drone to fly away and it always comes back no matter what.  Fly out of signal it returns. Shutdown App and RC and it returns. Damned nuisance machine just wont commit Hara Kiri on me at all. I have proof. Even when I fly it 3 miles distance at max height above the clouds somehow it always decides to come home again.

blackcrusader Posted at 2017-7-14 18:35
I've been trying to get my drone to fly away and it always comes back no matter what.  Fly out of signal it returns. Shutdown App and RC and it returns. Damned nuisance machine just wont commit Hara Kiri on me at all. I have proof. Even when I fly it 3 miles distance at max height above the clouds somehow it always decides to come home again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzmMFx_TD-g

Nice video! Mine always returns too.

blackcrusader Posted at 2017-7-14 18:35
I've been trying to get my drone to fly away and it always comes back no matter what.  Fly out of signal it returns. Shutdown App and RC and it returns. Damned nuisance machine just wont commit Hara Kiri on me at all. I have proof. Even when I fly it 3 miles distance at max height above the clouds somehow it always decides to come home again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzmMFx_TD-g

Yes, this dog like behavior is truly amazing, almost touching ... Until that one unfortunate day when the dog will die on the way home due to malnutrition ...

Geebax Posted at 2017-7-14 15:29
Objectively speaking, most 'flyaways' are not. It is an over-used and mostly innacurate term. Often a poster will come on here, angry and bitter because his aircraft flew away on him. If he can be convinced to upload the flight data to a site that decodes it, it will often be found that the pilot was responsible for the aircraft flying away. And quite often, it takes a lot of convincing to get the pilot to understand and/or admit that it was his fault. This process of convincing is often referred to by some members as bullying.

But from time to time, it can be shown that the problem was caused by a fault in the aircraft or it's software/firmware. This is actually quite rare, but when it occurs, DJI may see the issue, or the experts on this forum will manage to convince a moderator to take up the case and get a replacement for the poster. Despite what some may say, DJI is actually quite fair in this regard.

Well put! I had a flyaway and it was entirely my fault, with the Hubsan X4  I used to get the hang of drone flying before getting the P4P. I was outside in a windy day and I used the wrong stick, lost control and let it crash into the garden hedge. No damage, that little thing sure could take a beating...

Dobmatt Posted at 2017-7-14 20:56
Yes, this dog like behavior is truly amazing, almost touching ... Until that one unfortunate day when the dog will die on the way home due to malnutrition ...

Well this never seems to happen.  My DJI Phantom Menace knows always when to come home even with 35% critical battery warning messages from max height at distance.    
Even when flying at altitudes over 10000 feet my wee little drone just knows not to die of malnutrition.  

blackcrusader Posted at 2017-7-15 16:49
Well this never seems to happen.  My DJI Phantom Menace knows always when to come home even with 35% critical battery warning messages from max height at distance.   
Even when flying at altitudes over 10000 feet my wee little drone just knows not to die of malnutrition.  

Again, until that one bad day, when sudden wind blow .... Remember to keep your poker face up ...

Dobmatt Posted at 2017-7-15 17:06
Again, until that one bad day, when sudden wind blow .... Remember to keep your poker face up ...

I already fly in winds that bring my drone home at 50mph.  Nothing wrong with flying in winds when you have a tail wind to fly home with.

Only had one due to another App running in the background. I realized what was happening and caught it in time and activated "RTH" and the Phantom returned. Flying out os sight is another story.

Many flyaways!! Are caused by poor preparation, it always good to give yourself 2 minutes before take off, here's a couple of tips , that might help avoid, what some refer to as flyaway.


1/ Never calibrate Compass unless prompted to.

2/ start AC leave until you receive enough gps lock ,

3/ if you get Compass interference turn off AC and move to another location,
without interference.

4/ In bottom left hand corner on your map you will see small red triangle, check to make sure that this triangle is pointing in the same direction (heading) as your AC, this will show good compass on the ground.

Raise AC to height of 8ft
Hover for 20 seconds
Fly forward 2ft
Backward 2ft
Left 2ft
Right 2ft
Up 2ft
Down 2ft
Yaw left
Yaw right
Each time returning to hover position
If you have a good horizontal each time, you will then know you have good gps good IMU and good Compass, and your ready to fly.

This exercise takes less than 2 minutes and is worthwhile doing before every flight,

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-7-16 03:56
Many flyaways!! Are caused by poor preparation, it always good to give yourself 2 minutes before take off, here's a couple of tips , that might help avoid, what some refer to as flyaway.

hallmark007 have you been spying on me.Fully agree doing these few pre flight checks is money in the bank.

                                                                                         

Propwash Posted at 2017-7-16 04:46
hallmark007 have you been spying on me.Fully agree doing these few pre flight checks is money in the bank.

I use it myself all the time, and find it works. They say less haste more speed.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-7-16 05:30
I use it myself all the time, and find it works. They say less haste more speed.

Yup I agree. I also find that sometimes the video lags a bit so I warm up fly to about 2m height test the controls and the gimbal tilt and video recording. Sometimes close and restart the app, check again and fly off into the yonder if all OK.