Hi all
I decided to have a fly today, lovely bright sunny day very minimal wind, before flight it was taking its time finding satellites but eventually it did and said I could take off, once up in the air the bird was totally out of control, it was the worst 10 minutes flight I have ever had, all sorts of warnings were coming up on the screen but I could not take my eyes off the drone as I was having great difficulty keeping it from flying away, sometimes I was full throttle from keeping it drifting away, then all of a sudden it would accelerate fast, lots of things were happening on screen and with the drone, I did eventually get it back down on the ground, how I don't know, luckily I have flown planes for many years and always fly atti mode with the drone very often in case of flights like I just had, I had a P4 previous to the p4p and have done 160 full flights with no issues, 140 flights being with the P4 so I am pretty good and check everything before a flight.

What I would like help on is how I can get the data of what has happened and who can look at it to find out what went wrong, I have had a look at the flight I done on the iPad Pro which I use, I am running the latest software and firmware, I have taken a few snap shots from the flight, one warming was un paved airport but that is untrue, here are is a snap shot of the screen, I had 14 satellites on take off but looking at the flight on iPad it kept losing them, also it looks like it has only recorded half the flight and only recorded from when I walked to a new position I was getting a lot of warnings of gimbal yaw reached end point
Here is the flight data file folder link


https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jomjd ... I6KAvSoRn3iDEa?dl=0

Sounds like a pretty awful experience...

From what you say and looking at the errors, it seems like you had some sort of serious compass issues. The gimbal will try to smooth out turns so if it thought you were flipping around randomly (because that's what the compass may have reported) then that'd cause the gimbal to flip about, too. Is it the first time you've flown in that location? It could be some sort of magnetic material under the ground (iron ore/slag, pipes, etc.) or it could be that the compass itself has a hardware issue.

When you play it back, does the drone spin around more than what you actually observed? I mean, does the little arrow flip around and spin? That'd be a clue that it's a compass issue and the drone was trying to, "correct" for it.

I'd try, "flying" it (with no rotors on, just lift it up yourself) and see if it has issues in another location, if it's fine, try it one more time in that location (again, no rotors) and see if the issue occurs again.

Question... did you shoot video during the flight?  Would be interesting to have a look.

I think it would be easier to comment if you upload flight log , can really only see by screen shot that you had only 3 sats and you were in Atti mode, you had compass warning, did you calibrate compass, I'm sure with logs it will be much easier to comment. Well done for successful return..

Thanks for replies, it was a big struggle to get it back, I was just so lucky I can fly pretty good in atti mode, yes it was the first time I had flown at that point, I will try and get a video of the flight and add a link here, I have now got the flight data file link which is here https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jomjd ... I6KAvSoRn3iDEa?dl=0

I will a video link shortly

Mabou2 Posted at 2017-1-2 09:23
Question... did you shoot video during the flight?  Would be interesting to have a look.

I wish I had, think I will in future but at the moment the bird is grounded

Talk through of flight from Ipad, check out the speeds it was getting up to in the first minute of the video and how quick it was stopping,

Just the DAT file link

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n89xi6 ... 9-27-16%5D.DAT?dl=0

A kind gent on another forum sent me this from my dat file, you can see how frighteningly eventful it was !!!!

Sorry to hear about that, we'd like to help you analyze the flight data.
You have synced the flight records through APP as well? Please send an e-mail to support@dji.com with your APP account (e-mail address), the exact time when it happened, and attach the links for your flight data and video, our support will help you create a case then get it analyzed and let you know the analysis result.

DJI Natalia Posted at 2017-1-3 01:44
Sorry to hear about that, we'd like to help you analyze the flight data.
You have synced the flight records through APP as well? Please send an e-mail to  with your APP account (e-mail address), the exact time when it happened, and attach the links for your flight data and video, our support will help you create a case then get it analyzed and let you know the analysis result.

Hi Natalia

Thank you for the help, I have sent off to DJI the following

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/3KRU0DZGYVLKZ3J6KS8Y/

https://www.dropbox.com/s/448nmw ... 3-05-45%5D.txt?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/botdmw ... 6-58-38%5D.BAK?dl=0



Regards Mick

I lost control for 5 minutes and then crash. It was very strange and dangerous situation. Now i waiting fór result from Dji.

That almost has to be some serious interference from something. Without more Data  it is hard to say.... but if I were a betting man I would bet there was some strong  interference coming from something there.

is their any power lines cell towers radio stations anything of that nature in that area?

please let us know what you find, when you get it all sorted out.  

Looking at Phantom help there is a compass warning almost immediately after take off (7.7s), and that is the first of many (apart from the "The aircraft is in a Warning Zone (Unpaved Airports). Fly with caution here." at take off). My thought would be that the compass was either badly calibrated, faulty, or flying in an area with an extraordinary amount of electro-magnetic interference.

DJI have the data files and have replied back saying they want me to send the drone back to them, do I just send the drone back on its own in its original poly case or do I have to send everything back that came in the box from new ?

Snowwolfwarrior Posted at 2017-1-3 09:35
DJI have the data files and have replied back saying they want me to send the drone back to them, do I just send the drone back on its own in its original poly case or do I have to send everything back that came in the box from new ?

Your best to send everything back in the box just make an inventory of what your sending put this inside the box and keep a copy for yourself,  also take note of your serial number, you won't need to send props, this way they will check battery RC and aircraft, good luck..

Wow! that is nuts!!!! i wonder what would have happened if u flipped the switch to atti and just fully took over.. would it still be acting nuts?

What about postage cost? They give me back? Cost me 100 Euro.

fans53d90e19 Posted at 2017-1-3 11:02
What about postage cost? They give me back? Cost me 100 Euro.

How did you arrange pick up, ?

I send a Phantom through curier When Dji repair Phantom they send me back through curier. I will be waiting for repair 20 day

fans53d90e19 Posted at 2017-1-3 11:39
I send a Phantom through curier When Dji repair Phantom they send me back through curier. I will be waiting for repair 20 day

Usual for dji to arrange collection so maybe you will have to check with dji.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-1-3 11:54
Usual for dji to arrange collection so maybe you will have to check with dji.

They are sorting out courier I would guess as they are setting up an RMA

Aardvark Posted at 2017-1-3 05:42
Looking at Phantom help there is a compass warning almost immediately after take off (7.7s), and that is the first of many (apart from the "The aircraft is in a Warning Zone (Unpaved Airports). Fly with caution here." at take off). My thought would be that the compass was either badly calibrated, faulty, or flying in an area with an extraordinary amount of electro-magnetic interference.

If it was something on the ground that was causing the problems I would have thought it would have improved the higher it got, but it didn't, luckily I have flown many times in atti mode which saved the drone for sure

Phantomski Posted at 2017-1-3 09:53
Wow! that is nuts!!!! i wonder what would have happened if u flipped the switch to atti and just fully took over.. would it still be acting nuts?

I did think quite a few times to flick to atti mode but a lot of the brief times I looked at the screen it said it was in atti mode, perhaps I should have ? I don't know, I was hoping at some point it would snap back into being normal, lol

Snowwolfwarrior Posted at 2017-1-3 12:01
They are sorting out courier I would guess as they are setting up an RMA

From past experience, repair service is excellent, may take a few days to get some results but once they contact you to say they have received your aircraft, everything moves quickly after that.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-1-3 12:13
From past experience, repair service is excellent, may take a few days to get some results but once they contact you to say they have received your aircraft, everything moves quickly after that.

That's good to know, thanks heads up, DJI have been pretty quick in their replies which is good.

If they asked for it back then the flight logs really did not tell enough of a story.  I guess it was not the the GTH kicking in, obstacle avoidance, or lack of IMU calibration if they are asking for it back?  I noticed the one screen shot only had three satellites.  Was that the case on takeoff?

At one point there was zero satellites, on take off it had in between 12 and 14

Snowwolfwarrior Posted at 2017-1-3 14:34
At one point there was zero satellites, on take off it had in between 12 and 14

I would really be interested in finding out if your new GPS tracker had anything to do with the AC aberrant behavior. Just seeing that the RF-V16 does not have too many online reviews on Amazon.

Snowwolfwarrior Posted at 2017-1-3 14:34
At one point there was zero satellites, on take off it had in between 12 and 14

Where was your GPS tracker fitted ?

the only thing atti switch would have bought you was that it would possibly stop flipping back and forth between gps and atti...  and the reason that may be good, is that while you are linking back to gps, it is possible to have the location a bit wrong, hence the drone could appear a bit nuts... if there were also compass errors, atti may have been useless.....

fans14e29af9 Posted at 2017-1-3 15:47
I would really be interested in finding out if your new GPS tracker had anything to do with the AC aberrant behavior. Just seeing that the RF-V16 does not have too many online reviews on Amazon.

I tried a fly the next day with and without the tracker and both flights were identical, quite steady but with gps problems I have always had since I bought it, the crescent  flight stopping problem, it has always had that even after doing compass calibrations

Just like to add DJI have been fantastic with the problem and sorted out return shipping to them already, can't fault them on all the correspondence I have had.