I purchased a Xiro explorer and flew it for 2 days untill I started having problems with the battery lock and not getting a compass reading so I sent it back and bought a Phantom 3 standard. I read the manual watvhed the tutorial videos and went out to fly it. I was in beginner mode with both switches in the up position and while I am getting used to the controls by doing simple box manouvers, 3 minutes into ythe flight the djigo software start yelling atti atti and the drone tippped to the left and crashed from about 30 feet up. The crash was fatul, it split the case open and broke the compass connector on the maunboard. Long story short I sent it off last Friday to DJI and it hasnt been received yet and have no clue what its going to cost. I am thinking they will want to charge me as much as the drone cost by reading some of the posts here. Am I wrong not to trust the pahntom 3, I am afraid to fly it if they ever send it back. I have a big trip on the fourth of July that I was hoping to use it on, but now I have no time to get used to it if it does get back in time.  I might just look for another drone thats not DJI.

Fly aways are very rarely caused by anything other than user error.  Thats not to say the Drone never makes mistakes; they do.  But, as an operator of a drone, being very familiar with all the things a drone like the Phantom can do and not do is critical to the safe and effective operation of the drone.  The time to find out what happens under a given situation is not while you are trying to achieve something with your Phantom.    Hopefully, you will have the knowledge you need to react to uenxpected events already in your toolkit.  Not having them often results in a crashed or lost drone.  Or, put another way,  read the manual, watch the tutorials, ask questions about things you don't understand, and all should go well.  No need to be nervous about the Phantom.  Lots of reasons to be nervous about the pilots level of skill.

Kneepuck Posted at 2017-6-8 12:46
Fly aways are very rarely caused by anything other than user error.  Thats not to say the Drone never makes mistakes; they do.  But, as an operator of a drone, being very familiar with all the things a drone like the Phantom can do and not do is critical to the safe and effective operation of the drone.  The time to find out what happens under a given situation is not while you are trying to achieve something with your Phantom.    Hopefully, you will have the knowledge you need to react to uenxpected events already in your toolkit.  Not having them often results in a crashed or lost drone.  Or, put another way,  read the manual, watch the tutorials, ask questions about things you don't understand, and all should go well.  No need to be nervous about the Phantom.  Lots of reasons to be nervous about the pilots level of skill.

I have no idea the drone was hovering then the software stated atti, atti and gave a interferance warning and it took a dive. hopefully DJI can shed some light on this.

BillL Posted at 2017-6-8 12:51
I have no idea the drone was hovering then the software stated atti, atti and gave a interferance warning and it took a dive. hopefully DJI can shed some light on this.

There's not enough information to determine the cause of the incident.
Where did you launch from?
What kind of surface was it?

Sounds like you lost GPS signal, you must have a minimum of 7 sats before takeoff. In ATTI mode drone will fly much more aggressively . Get you a cheap $40 drone to practice the basic  flying with.

Labroides Posted at 2017-6-8 17:12
There's not enough information to determine the cause of the incident.
Where did you launch from?
What kind of surface was it?

I was in an open field and took off from a hard dirt surface

if you loose GPS it will do that ive had good luck with mine. had a couple fw issues but got worked out... the Phantom 3 standard is actually the only one i have fly aways. a friend whom i met due to a fly away of his xiro. and crashed in my yard. f450 flamewheel just kept flyin and a cpl low enders

fans037ae75a Posted at 2017-6-8 17:25
Sounds like you lost GPS signal, you must have a minimum of 7 sats before takeoff. In ATTI mode drone will fly much more aggressively . Get you a cheap $40 drone to practice the basic  flying with.

I had 11 satellites because I was taking things very slow and got GPS clarification before the DJI dance.  I also did an IMU calibration before I left the house. The only thing that was not done was a firmware upgrade because it was the latest version. I think it was a compass failure.

Steve-76 Posted at 2017-6-8 17:42
if you loose GPS it will do that ive had good luck with mine. had a couple fw issues but got worked out... the Phantom 3 standard is actually the only one i have fly aways. a friend whom i met due to a fly away of his xiro. and crashed in my yard. f450 flamewheel just kept flyin and a cpl low enders

i mean the p3s does not fly away

fans037ae75a Posted at 2017-6-8 17:25
Sounds like you lost GPS signal, you must have a minimum of 7 sats before takeoff. In ATTI mode drone will fly much more aggressively . Get you a cheap $40 drone to practice the basic  flying with.

No ... you don't lose GPS unless you fly under something that blocks satellite reception.
It sounds like a compass error situation which automatically puts the Phantom in atti mode.

Personally I did not care for my phantom three standard.  It's different from the phantom advanced and professional, because it lacks the light bridge.  I also did not care for the maximum distance limitation compared to the advanced and the professional.  If it doesn't cost too much to fix, then of course fix it, yet if it gets out of hand you could still keep the battery and get yourself either a P3 Adv. or Pro.

GPS Failure is very common on the P3S and P3,4K.  I was also a victim however DJI Covered all the repairs free of charge.

Depending where you were flying, you may have gotten interference. The P3S is a great drone, and I have not had any major issues with it. Like many people who haven't flow before getting a Phantom, what you did was make a rookie mistake(s). Whenever someone is getting into flying, I always recommend learning to fly low and close in Atti mode because, like you experienced, GPS and compass can get interrupted.

Use your other drone to learn to fly in Atti. Learn to control the drone and how to find which way it's heading without the camera. It might seem like a lot, but when technology fails, it's up to you to fly it back. The technology is great, but its just there to assist you, not fly for you.

When you get your Phantom back, start building trust in it. Start flying close, then further and higher up. It took me a few battery charges to do this..

fansbcf5920c Posted at 2017-6-9 01:12
GPS Failure is very common on the P3S and P3,4K.  I was also a victim however DJI Covered all the repairs free of charge.

That is reassuring, They are assessing it right now.

Here is my flight data

BillL Posted at 2017-6-9 16:27
Here is my flight data

Not sure how to download the data file it only downloads the jpg.

BillL Posted at 2017-6-9 16:30
Not sure how to download the data file it only downloads the jpg.

To see your flight data, go to http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/
Follow the instructions to upload your flight record.
Come back and post a link to the report it provides and someone here might be able to analyse it and give you an understanding of the cause of the incident.

Labroides Posted at 2017-6-9 16:49
To see your flight data, go to http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/
Follow the instructions to upload your flight record.
Come back and post a link to the report it provides and someone here might be able to analyse it and give you an understanding of the cause of the incident.

here is the link.http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/A1667UES5CZW6KYIR9NA/
This is the only log that was generated.

The log is truncated,only 15 secs form 126 secs.   ... and 7 sats only on an open field. My home is surrounded by high mountains an i have no less than 8 sats.  .. very suspect.
In what altitude was the copter in flight? More than 30 FT or less?

Peterx Posted at 2017-6-10 11:22
The log is truncated,only 15 secs form 126 secs.   ... and 7 sats only on an open field. My home is surrounded by high mountains an i have no less than 8 sats.  .. very suspect.
In what altitude was the copter in flight? More than 30 FT or less?

less than 30 feet, The data shows 7 satellites but my data on my phone shows 10 and 11 when I play it back.

BillL Posted at 2017-6-10 20:40
less than 30 feet, The data shows 7 satellites but my data on my phone shows 10 and 11 when I play it back.

The CSV file shows more flight time

Then your copter was getting and  not losing GPS sats,as the csv-data shows you. The Jpg you posted shows the home point near the way cross. Did you stand on that place? If yes then the GPS works right and the app has no critical bug. Did you have a message or warning on the app yet?

Peterx Posted at 2017-6-10 22:58
Then your copter was getting and  not losing GPS sats,as the csv-data shows you. The Jpg you posted shows the home point near the way cross. Did you stand on that place? If yes then the GPS works right and the app has no critical bug. Did you have a message or warning on the app yet?

not sure what you are asking the drone did not crash on that spot where the home point is it crashed about 30 meters away. it acted like a compass malfunction. I had a xiro xplorer that I flew for a couple weeks and the battery lock was faulty and is somehow related to the compass. I had to bring it down a couple times and finally sent it back and bought aPhantom 3, I had less than 3 minutes air time with the Phantom.  There is not much difference in the two as far a control.

Did you sett the home point to the copters take off point or to your point?

Dirty Bird Posted at 2017-6-12 16:17
Phantom 3 Standards are very reliable.  I have two with over 1000 extremely complex flights with zero issues.  Not sure what happened with yours but it was an anomaly.

https://youtu.be/26ztIk624cs

holy crap what is the range of your Phantom? That video is great!  What were you using as a chase drone?

A mile 2 miles ? My P3S brought it to 500 meters distance 2 meters over ground without any booster on a open field. The Video you made is awesome.

Dirty Bird Posted at 2017-6-12 23:39
Thanks!  The chase bird is my second P3 Standard.  They are stock but running an autonomous Litchi mission so no RC contact is necessary.

That makes sense thanks for the great Idea. I loved the video. Too Cool. I just paid to have DJI repair my P3S it was only 138.00 for a laundry list of items including the main board. I think I will invest in the litchi app when I get the drone back.

Dirty Bird Posted at 2017-6-13 15:58
Thank you!  A P3 Standard makes for an awesome Litchi platform.  With a little planning you can achieve some incredible results.  Here is another P3 Standard Litchi mission:

https://youtu.be/K-Ct5V2YK1M

Your videos just blows me away.

BillL Posted at 2017-6-13 15:44
That makes sense thanks for the great Idea. I loved the video. Too Cool. I just paid to have DJI repair my P3S it was only 138.00 for a laundry list of items including the main board. I think I will invest in the litchi app when I get the drone back.

Good to hear it's on its way to getting sorted. You'll be up and running again soon.

You are not wrong. My Phantom 3 standard has an unfixable IMU calibration error. It's basically junk. Don't waste your money on DJI products.

fans1a17d31d Posted at 2017-6-20 20:15
You are not wrong. My Phantom 3 standard has an unfixable IMU calibration error. It's basically junk. Don't waste your money on DJI products.

That's not a fair statement to throw out there. Many or most of us who own DJI products have no issues.
Sorry that you have had your poor experience. Not uncommon, on the forum, but still pretty rare. I hope that you can find happiness in what ever fabricator you can find, who  designs and builds drones which suit your present and future needs.
Please post your next choices and results, thanks.


RedHotPoker

Dirty Bird Posted at 2017-6-13 15:58
Thank you!  A P3 Standard makes for an awesome Litchi platform.  With a little planning you can achieve some incredible results.  Here is another P3 Standard Litchi mission:

https://youtu.be/K-Ct5V2YK1M

Always awesome. You sure get er done... ;-)



RedHotPoker

fans1a17d31d Posted at 2017-6-20 20:15
You are not wrong. My Phantom 3 standard has an unfixable IMU calibration error. It's basically junk. Don't waste your money on DJI products.

Who said that,a technican an engineer for electronics  from DJI or who else?
You can find a Yuneek or a 3drobotics  and they can have the save "unfixable error.
You can´t see these errors from the outside.
Example: 25  years ago i´d buy an Amiga500 and this thing runs without any issue.
A friend also buy the same model and this model runs very horrible,error after error.
So can it be with all other products.

I just wanted to update everyone on my servce repair time. it was less than 10 days from the time it hit DJI door.

Case Accepted May/31/2017 12:24:42ReceivedJun/09/2017 04:33:07Damage AssessedJun/14/2017 05:55:00Payment ReceivedJun/15/2017 01:19:00 RepairedJun/17/2017 06:08:58Product deliveredJun/20/2017 02:01:22

I know how you feel I had a DJI Clone I was flying & the wind blew it away & I never did find it - yep it takes time to get your trust back into flying again thinking that it will happen again, as long as you go by the pre flight check list you should not have a problem. But I know the feeling of thinking the next drone will fly away or crash also - hope everything works out for you.

dji's software is so trustable that is is 9 - 10 time when it crashes user error