I had my first 'freakout' moment while shooting some test footage with my P3 Pro.  I was getting terrible reception, shooting in this block where I work, next to the CNN building with some satellite dishes, power lines, etc.  I was following a car back and forth down the road and the reception on the video feed was basically like still frames, like 20 second delays... absolutely useless so I had to go all line of sight.  Anyway, we're doing laps up and down the street, working on timing and the battery was getting low so I was trying to bring it home, then it hit the critical low and the app freaked out and locked up and when I pressed down on the stick... it just flew right up (instead of landing).  The scary part is that it just missed the power lines overhead.  It kept going up but I jammed a bunch of buttons on the remote and eventually got it back under control and landed it.

I'm wondering... has anyone else had this happen?  Was it due to the battery being too low on the Phantom?  It was about 16%.  I have the current firmware.  I'm trying to think what else.  Could it be interference?

Thanks.  

You don't say how high you were.. RTH kicks in at 20% and it will rise to the set RTH height ( 20 meters default I think )..

Bad reception was probably the location. maybe stay clear of CNN if you like the Phantom 3 in one piece

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I agree with the learned poster above.....In a situation that you were in, I think that rather than RTH you should have been in Landing

sploodge Posted at 2015-6-9 04:46
You don't say how high you were.. RTH kicks in at 20% and it will rise to the set RTH height ( 20 me ...

I'm hoping it was RTH.  It was low, I thought it was 16% but maybe slightly higher.  The odd thing is that it was about five feet from landing then... boom... right up, which freaked me out.  Then, the app freaking out didn't help.  

If the phantom enters return RTH just hit the RTH button to disable it. This happens to me a lot when squeezing the most out of one battery.  I set my phantom to enter RTH at 15%. If you allow the RTH to take effect it will rise to the default height for RTH which is adjustable. You did not have a "fly away" and shouldnt label it as such. You admit having interference which means you were not flying safely to begin with.  The last thing you need is to crash into the CNN building. WOW!

With all the interference around you how did you do a compass calibration before flight? The warning are there about transmission lines and such but you chose to fly.

Not knowing at what elevation your RTH was set, the programed response is to rise to the preset the land at the home point that you set.

You've just had your learning moment, don't  do it again.

@Gregg - Yeah, I always  do a compass calibration every time.  It didn't warn me about anything though, it only got 'wonky' when I flew it down toward the CNN building but it did the flyaway when it was away from the building.  I'm assuming it's a RTH thing, which I've never experienced before.  I honestly didn't know there was a battery and height setting for it, which I'm glad to have learned.  Everything sounds like it's a RTH thing but the app part is what scared me, how that froze up... good "whew" learning experience though.  I'll just fly it at home for a while, not in the city   I got some GREAT views of Hollywood though.

@Hawk - I'm going to explore the menus more when I get home now but yeah, with that interference, probably not a bright idea.  The controls were fine but the app was useless, all 'old school' using the force, haha... just flying by line of sight.  

jasonhoneycutt Posted at 2015-6-9 08:01
@Gregg - Yeah, I always  do a compass calibration every time.  It didn't warn me about anything thou ...

Jason, my apologies if I came off strong handed.

Flying involves safety first. Until the issues on the Flight Position View are addressed I can't recommend using the system as a sole means of flight. Run the system and later play the video back. Then look at the flight logs in the user center to see how they appear compared to what you saw.

Keep it real.

The P3 seems (based on anecdotal evidence) very sensitive to interference from the vast number of wireless signals in many built-up areas. I think it is even sensitive on my street with 10 wifi signals from the local houses.

Also, anytime you are doing anything semi-dangerous (and I'm not going to lecture you.....you'll find out soon enough), you should make sure you finish your flight at 35-40% battery. In the heat of the moment you don't want to have your Remote and device telling you it's going to go into RTH or land if you don't act fast.

droneflyers.com Posted at 2015-6-9 09:51
The P3 seems (based on anecdotal evidence) very sensitive to interference from the vast number of wi ...

Yeah, it was acting weird, as far as the POV in the app, just totally frozen so I had to fly line of sight and that was still responding well, but I really needed to see what it was seeing as there were powerlines, poles, news trucks, etc, up and down the street (behind CNN).  I almost called it a day when it wasn't exactly responsive, a little 'slushy' in the controls, which it never was before.  But yeah, as you said, the battery got low and it went crazy.  It might have been trying to return to home, which is what I was manually doing but I freaked up when it started racing straight up, almost into overhead powerlines.  

Lesson learned   I'm loving it though, getting better with flying, try practicing every day.  I just got back from a camping trip, handled amazingly, flew it a couple thousand feet away with zero issues.  I got some amazing shots of a lake, flying over a ridge.  Nice not having any interference    

Jason
Addressing your question about app freeze and possible return home, and not your judgement.
I did have a similar experience, but not in a congested populated area,  First I think the app freeze might be what a lot are experiencing with the video lag, overheating of the processor.

Combined with the low battery a certain amount of panic, and not knowing what the phantom is doing for sure leads to misperceptions of the situation , that's all a bad combination without adding in the signal interference.

What I am saying is this.  It probably was the return home , if your app is bogged and frozen, its not telling you what it is doing,  and you wouldn't  know I am suggesting that you test again a fairly long flight and see if your pad or phone  starts to lag again, that could put you back in the situation , with none of the other things mentioned a factor.   stay close  

My RTH has always been on the stock 20 meters. However the couple of times I've activated it, it's always shot up above 100 feet before returning. Scared the heck outta me the first time I did it, told my buddy watch this thing auto land, and instead it took off straight up.

On various fly aways.... my theory is the bird gets weird GPS readings, like it thinks it's somewhere else, so it tries to correct, which looks like a fly away. I'm flying ATTI mode now, only flip on GPS to position hold, take a photo, then back to ATTI. No clue if this is a good solution, but I haven't had a fly away yet.

jasonhoneycutt Posted at 2015-6-9 08:01
@Gregg - Yeah, I always  do a compass calibration every time.  It didn't warn me about anything thou ...

If you do a compass calibration all the time - you will have more issues. If you do not travel further than 200 miles - you do not need to calibrate it. I visited one industrial site that was 400 miles away and forgot to calibrate compass. Evryhting was fine.

astanatv Posted at 2015-7-17 10:58
If you do a compass calibration all the time - you will have more issues. If you do not travel furt ...

Good advice. Here's a good guide on when to recalibrate the compass:
http://www.phantompilots.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=32829

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xaq7@hotmail.co Posted at 2015-7-17 03:58
My RTH has always been on the stock 20 meters. However the couple of times I've activated it, it's a ...

Are you aware that there is a preset RTH height? Once RTH is activated, the Phantom will rise to that height then head home. It'll look crazy if you're unaware that it's supposed to shoot straight up at first then head home.