3rd or 4th flight with P3P yesterday afternoon, stopped short due to error message that said "Ultrasonic sensor error. Please land as soon as possible."

Details:  Started flight with full batteries. Calibrated compass prior to flight. Flying in P-mode at the time (though had switched to A-mode earlier in flight for filming). After about 12 minutes of flight (battery at 45%), hovering over dense forest, at altitude of 40M, and 200M away, I got the error.

I flew back to home point and landed without incident.

VPS was enabled. I have disabled it now (from app menu).

What is the cause of this error? And can I fly again safely? If I disable VPS (since I never fly indoors or without GPS), will this fix it?

Hello. I had exactly the same error 2 days ago. I dont know the cause. I have done IMU calibration and compass calibration again and did not made any flight after that so i dont know if it solved or not.

Called DJI this am. Rep said calibrate compass and IMU and fly again. Send it in if error keeps happening. Said I could disable VPS if I wanted to (planning on it), but didn't think I needed to. When asked, he said that VPS works all the time, regardless of altitude.

I had the same error but my P3 moved like this video! But in my case I did not put my hand under the quad... I cannot take pictures or video for now! It was my first flight.

I had the same thing yesterday, but my P3 moved from right to left out of control.
Scared the hell out of me.
I have 10 flights first time something went wrong.
Not Good!!!

The same thing happened to me twice! - Both times flying over a cliff edge with water below. I have the latest (v1.1.9) Firmware installed and have had no issues on over 50 flights until recently. Will also be disabling VPS. Glad I managed to get it home to land each time. Scary!

Hi,

My problem is the same. I updated yestrday my Phantom 3 pro on latest frimware, And when I was flaying, my Phantom rapidly go Down. Please DJI fix this.
Im Lucky And I land my Phantom Safe.

adis.lisul@iclo Posted at 2015-6-21 21:50
Hi,

My problem is the same. I updated yestrday my Phantom 3 pro on latest frimware, And when I was  ...

I had The same a few days ago. 2nd error I got. Stated after last update.
Mine dropped like a brick from 5m the last flight I made. I want to send mine in for a checkup as it flys stranger every few days.
Mine hit the ground by my fault the 4th day I had it but had a lot of great flights after that for weeks.
Now every flight it seems to get more unstable.  Seems after the firmware updates.
It would be easy to blame my first hard landing for everything now but so I read here I do think something else is wrong.

Same error myself today.  It didn't seem to affect flight performance - I was about 100m up and 700m out so it took me a while to get back and land.  I had just upgrade to 1.2.8.  This was only about my 5th flight.  At the end of this flight I couldn't disarm - propellers would stop for a moment and then immediately start again with App showing Takeoff mode - probably unrelated but I'll do some more research...

same for me on my P3A on 1.2.8, posted this problem on another thread.

Turn off VPS until DJI comes with a solution.

I turned off VPS, know flying is very good! I hope that DJI come with solution very soon.

dronemastayoga Posted at 2015-6-22 01:54
I had The same a few days ago. 2nd error I got. Stated after last update.
Mine dropped like a bri ...

I turned off VPS, know flying is very good! I hope that DJI come with solution very soon.

HiAll,
My friends p3p has just fallen out of the sky for no reason, I have also watched a you tube video of a guy in america having the same problem, both happened after the latest firmware update.  I am now to scared to fly mine just in case the same happens, any
body else had this problem

Same error here.  P3 has been perfect since day one, after the upgrade to new iOS app I got an IMU calibration error, recalibrated as instructed then received the sensor error
Very disappointed

i have just had this error today i was at about 100ft it came back ok and landed so i turned it off and back on again and it seemed ok, but on my last two flights i have found the p3p very hard to control when i tried to travel forward the phantom would travel to the left at an angle i found it very hard to get back and land it. i have had no trouble whatsoever with it since i got it in may it all started when i updated the app on the apple app store.

Got to error myself... Didn't seem to effect the P3 but... Is this a hardware issue or firmware issue?

Same issue on my copter P3 PRO (is that still valid???) since latest update. This firmware is rubbish and its a shame that DJI is forcing its customer to use it or to stay on ground.
A) ULTRA SONIC SYSTEM ERROR, with constant risk to loose copter control
B) Lot lost video links (black screen , frozen video or stuttering )
C) picture quality seems to be not as good as before
I am wondering how much time it will now  take us customers to recieve a new and improved update.
Who else feels like BETA tester?

BoJu Posted at 2015-7-28 07:22
Same issue on my copter P3 PRO (is that still valid???) since latest update. This firmware is rubbis ...

Hello,
I have had the message "Ultrasonic sensor error" occur on my last three flights.
Phantom 3 Advanced Firmware v1.2.8 and IOS 1.2.0
I have not had an incident, as on all occasions the message occurred above the ultrasonics range and I was flying GPS outdoors. It landed okay. I will turn off the Vision Positioning until the issue is resolved.

I olso have this error message several times alreddy, it does not seem to affect the performance of the copter, Always have this error when fliing further away, perhaps a good idee to disable VPS until DJI resolves this?

The new firmware should take care of the VPS issues you are experiencing.

Tahoe_Ed Posted at 2015-8-8 05:03
The new firmware should take care of the VPS issues you are experiencing.

Hi there, i just bought today a phantom 3 advance, my first move was to update the firmware, both to phantom and controller..

i have calibrate it and imu

i got all the time the error untrasonic and ask me to land as soon possible.. please tell if this issue is normal.

billmurder@hotm Posted at 2015-8-28 05:37
Hi there, i just bought today a phantom 3 advance, my first move was to update the firmware, both  ...

Bill, it is not.  Please remove and reinstall the App.  See if that helps.  Also turn off the VPS and see what happens after the App has been replaced.

Hello everyone, I had the same problem since i updated to the new firm ware. I wasn't sure that was the cause until I read the post that you have all sent out.  I usually land it and restart the P3 and it runs fine for a little after the restart.  Its the first flight that is the biggest problem for me. I also have another problem i just discovered, when I switch it to (F) and start my smart functions, the follow me mode won't work. It reads "GPS singnal to weak"and it won't allow me to continue. I look at my GPS signal and it has no less than  The others seem to work fine but haven't tried the way point. Do you have any suggestions on how to solve this problem?

1. I have calibrated the IMU and I calibrate compass every flight, I also make sure I am not near metal or high electric. But I am flying in Ohio and its extreamly cold right now. I wonder if that has something to do with it. Please help if you can. Thank you

Ben

I literally just had this error for the first time, too!   I, too, am on the latest firmware versions and performed IMU, compass, and gimbal calibrations after the update:
Android GO APP = 2.7.2
Firmware Version = 1.8.80
RC Firmware Version = 1.6.0

Would a representative from DJI PLEASE respond to this thread....do we need yet another firmware update to correct this as Tahoe_Ed said was the problem a year ago?

I just pOster this a couple of hrs ago, too...this HAS to be a firmware problem....will someone from DJI please post so we know you are looking into this? http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=15252&extra=page%3D2%26filter%3Dtypeid%26typeid%3D369&page=6&mobile=2   

Just had the warning to for the first time p3p app 2.8.1  FW 1.8.80   RC FW 1.6.0  landed without damage but feel its just a matter of time untill somebody gets hurt. Does anybody know if its safe to fly or if there has been any news from DJI with regards to this fault?   Thanks Hawk.

Bought a Inspire pro a 1 week back and I have the same issue. Diddn't try it before upgrading, but I did change between travel mode and flight mode and it worked fine. After upgrading, I now have issues with the travel mode (when going from flight mode to travel mode, it sometimes stops in the middle, flashed red and then returns to flight mode again) and I also get the error message "Ultrasonic system error. Land as soon as possible". I have contacted DJI and am now waiting for their reply.

Either I have been really unlucky or DJI is sending out drones that are not fully Quality checked. The drone that I have now is the third inspire pro. The first two had drained battery when I bought them and one of the had issues with the connection between the drone and camera. This is now the thrid one, and I am not sure if this is a firmware issue or if the hardware is actually broken. I am going to give them one last chance, so I really hope the fourth inspire pro will be okey. The drone (when it works) is really good, but it's a shame that it comes with so much hassle.

Hi  I haven't read through every reply to see if this has been solved. I had the same problem after a bit of accident and also it seemed to go wherever it wanted when I wanted it stationary in the air after this at times as well plus doing the auto land was just not happening in a pleasant fashion. I pulled of the sensor unit to see if it was damaged and noticed a little button on the module with the sensors on the (outside so no need to pull off like I did). I am pretty sure it is a reset button. I assembled it powered up and held this in for about 10 seconds. I am not at home at the moment and wont be for a few weeks so the next bit I cannot give the exact details- After that I went to fly it  but before I lifted off I was playing around in the menus and found a test menu and after that it told me I have to do a calibration. I am not convinced it was the IMU one due to my faulty memory and thought not. After that it is back to normal and works like a dream now . FYI I actually crashed it into the side of a mountain was the cause while doing something very silly. My drone has not failed me at all and I have had a few other incidences as well. Anyway before sending off for repair look for the reset button and go through the menus for a test one after as that's what fixed mine