My Phantom 4 Pro Plus (Obsidian) went rogue on me and flew away. I've seen several pilots whom I was able to relate as it happened to them as well. I am a hobbyist and it's only been less than a year since I've gotten my Phantom 4 Pro+. I am working on a goal to get my license. Although, I am well aware of the basics and the golden rules of flying UAs I flew my drone at night over our backyard to take a photo of our backyard's new lighting. Controlled area. The only intention was to hover as high as the two story house and snap a quick photo. Everything else was fine according to my RC, communicated and connected clearly the only problem was since it wasn't that bright the ambient light sensor warning came on. Satellite connection was fine, except for the collision sensors. I had a clear path to hover up and down then all of a sudden it went awry or what it's known as "fly away". It went rogue and flew higher than I intended to: flew left and loss control of the drone. Two blocks out I could barely see the drone as the lights that intended to be one wasn't on except for the flashing green lights. It was nerve wracking too close to losing my drone and perhaps damaging someone's roof. I took full responsibility not knowing it would do this as I have seen other drones that flew at night and well controlled. The drone kept moving away from the house and far from where I am able to see it. I ran out quickly to follow the drone and get it to come back. I was somewhat able to control it by moving the joysticks even though it wasn't responding to the right position I was trying to control it to fly, at one point I was able to initiate a return to home, but it seemed like it just wanted to land directly down and not to the it recorded when it first flew up. I canceled the RTH and quickly maneuver it again to fly toward my direction, the sticks were not responding appropriately which was the most annoying part of it all. I finally got to land it in a safe distance area; initiated RTH and it hovered low enough for me to force kill the damn thing. I am now scared to fly it and never at night for obvious reason!
I am frustrated as the damn drone just went rouge and flew away. I wasn't sure where the hell it wanted to go. @djiinnovations needs to fix this issue if it loses signal or encounter any case that prevents it from flying accordingly then it needs to suspend the drone from flying. I feel like it's dangerous both day and night for it to just do a fly away. It certainly would be a dangerous situation if I wasn't able to communicate some what with the drone as it went it away on its own. The drone is updated to its latest firmware. I am not sure if calibration was the problem but it went away as it usually never allows me to fly the drone until I calibrate the drone. I found out that also I need to calibrate the IMU, which is different from the calibration it asks for me to do which if the compass calibration. There has got to be a better way of initiating all of this. Then the issue of ghz of 2.4 or 5.8 which is so technical that a normal pilot wouldn't know until it encounters the problem as it goes. Preventative measures need to happen on the DJI algorithm so that, one I won't lose my investment and two would not want to invest my self in liability because the company can't get their drones' to work right. If there is any interference, magnetically or communication between wifi (drone to remote connection) they need to fix this or prevent the device to fly or come back safely.
I've also learned that the nomenclature of the term "wifi connection" isn't what I thought it was. Since I have a "plus" (built-in remote control) version I thought just the connection of the remote to my wireless fidelity network at home (router). I term "wifi connection" also refers to the remote housing, mobile device (as monitor, remote) connection to the drone. I have never flown or own a drone that I need to connect with an iPhone or Android phones so I am not aware of this distinction. This is the second time I had a problem with my Phantom 4 Pro Plus. The first what the drone hovers and was unable to communicate with the remote, that turned it self on and off and wasn't able to connect with the drone that's already up in the air. Thankfully I was able to get it low enough to my direction for me to take the battery off. I was so nervous that I could have just force kill it using the battery button. Took me days to get it out of my system and fly again.
Any more advice to go about in letting DJI know of this issue or forum that best connect me to the right experienced pilots?
Your best bet it to upload the flight record at the following link, instructions are on the site.
Once you have done so, copy the link and paste it here in a reply.
It's an akward thing you had there and it would be important to know which messages are in the flight record: http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/
There are quite some experts here that may be able to help.
Nigel_ Posted at 2018-6-25 00:19
If you post fight logs for the incidents then we might be able to work out what happened, without data we can only guess.
Upload to http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/upload/ and then give us a link...
I flew of off our backyard. So sync my flight log data and saw the actual mapped out video of what happened including the warnings. It was due to Magnetic Field Interference, Exit P-GPS Mode, GPS Signal Weak (12 Sats), also backward obstacle not working.
How in the world that DJI can't figure out to make the drone stable if it detected a magnetic interference?
Also I don't know how to upload or even where to begin to save a flight log. I was able to sync it and view it but unable to save a file. I connected the drone to my computer via DJI Assistant 2 and some what saw a USB like storage that contains data but not sure which one to save.
Eric13 Posted at 2018-6-25 00:19
Your best bet it to upload the flight record at the following link, instructions are on the site.
Once you have done so, copy the link and paste it here in a reply.
It's an akward thing you had there and it would be important to know which messages are in the flight record:
And while you're at it, paypal msinger a nickel. He'd be rich by now if everybody did so
edwin.spencer Posted at 2018-6-25 16:36
I flew of off our backyard. So sync my flight log data and saw the actual mapped out video of what happened including the warnings. It was due to Magnetic Field Interference, Exit P-GPS Mode, GPS Signal Weak (12 Sats), also backward obstacle not working.
How in the world that DJI can't figure out to make the drone stable if it detected a magnetic interference?
We are not going to be able to tell you much until you provide a flight log report. The PhantomHelp web site provides all instructions about how to upload the flight log. Once you have uploaded the log and are viewing the report on their web site, copy the link to it and paste it in this thread.
edwin.spencer Posted at 2018-6-25 16:36
I flew of off our backyard. So sync my flight log data and saw the actual mapped out video of what happened including the warnings. It was due to Magnetic Field Interference, Exit P-GPS Mode, GPS Signal Weak (12 Sats), also backward obstacle not working.
How in the world that DJI can't figure out to make the drone stable if it detected a magnetic interference?
Actual data is what's needed to make any intelligent comment on your incident.
Go to the site listed in post #3 and follow the instructions you'll find there to upload your flight record from the app.
It will give you a detailed report.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.
It would also help if you can tell a little about where you launched, particularly if you launched from a steel or reinforced concrete surface. How in the world that DJI can't figure out to make the drone stable if it detected a magnetic interference?
DJI makes great drones that work very well.
Ignore the comment about flying over an iron ore deposit - that wouldn't make any difference.
Nigel_ Posted at 2018-6-25 00:19
If you post fight logs for the incidents then we might be able to work out what happened, without data we can only guess.
Upload to http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/upload/ and then give us a link...
Not his video, it was just an example as to what he thinks his ac was like
Go to the site listed in post #3 and follow the instructions you'll find there to upload your flight record from the app.
Is it only during the startup procedure where the ac is effected by magnetic interference or can flying over say a steel ship (example) cause magnetic issues too?
Bashy Posted at 2018-6-25 20:12
Is it only during the startup procedure where the ac is effected by magnetic interference or can flying over say a steel ship (example) cause magnetic issues too?
Anything that can interfere with the compass can cause issues but in your case it should recover as soon (if) you get clear of what caused the interference opposite when the aircraft has initialized being influenced of some interference messing up prior to takeoff.
KedDK Posted at 2018-6-25 21:13
Anything that can interfere with the compass can cause issues but in your case it should recover as soon (if) you get clear of what caused the interference opposite when the aircraft has initialized being influenced of some interference messing up prior to takeoff.
Thats what i would have hoped for, to resolve the error once clear of the object, whereas initialization error would stay with the ac, thanks
KedDK Posted at 2018-6-25 21:13
Anything that can interfere with the compass can cause issues but in your case it should recover as soon (if) you get clear of what caused the interference opposite when the aircraft has initialized being influenced of some interference messing up prior to takeoff.
You would have to be very close to a steel ship to cause any problems. Very close.
Bashy Posted at 2018-6-25 20:12
Is it only during the startup procedure where the ac is effected by magnetic interference or can flying over say a steel ship (example) cause magnetic issues too?
If flying over a steel ship caused problems, I would have lost my Phantoms a long time ago.
Placing the compass a couple of inches from the magnetic field of a piece of steel or the steel inside reinforced concrete at startup is a problem but flying 20+ feet away from a bridge or ship is fine.
Testing your own Phantom with a pile of steel reinforcing on a construction site or a steel roof on a building is a good educational experiment.
Lower the Phantom towards the steel slowly till you notice it start to slowly swirl as the compass has trouble seprating the earth's normal field from the field associated with the steel.
Raise the Phantom a few feet and it stops slowly spiraling, lower it again and it starts again.
Bashy Posted at 2018-6-25 21:35
Thats what i would have hoped for, to resolve the error once clear of the object, whereas initialization error would stay with the ac, thanks
Stick a strong RE/Neodymium magnet to the knob of your flagpole and test out what happen as you fly close over and away again.
Bashy Posted at 2018-6-25 20:12
Is it only during the startup procedure where the ac is effected by magnetic interference or can flying over say a steel ship (example) cause magnetic issues too?
Normally the problem results from turning the aircraft on while it is close to steel fence or steel reinforced concrete which are both likely to have a reasonable strong magnetic field at close range, the aircraft then calibrates it's compass to match the local incorrect magnetic field and when you fly away from the steel the compass is then permanently wrong and the aircraft is often unflyable even in atti mode, unless you can get it back near to the power on point.
If you pass by a magnetic field while in the air then it is only a temporary issue until you move away from the source, or if you are over an iron ore deposit which covers a large area then you will just get minor navigation errors but still perfectly flyable in atti mode.
Cast iron grids/pipes/bridges are generally not much of an issue because they don't have much magnetic field.
Steel ships also generally aren't a problem because although steel does have a magnetic field, the steel used for ships has the magnetic field removed to make high quality welding possible, otherwise they would sink. The same probably goes for modern steel bridges, as long as they are welded and not bolted/riveted.
I have sen a "flyaway" where the ac has been flying fine for a while then all of a sudden its just gone haywire, pretty much like the video above, the ac acts like its hit a magnetic field but probably impossible due to the height it was at, would that have been more of a loss of gps? but still, it would have gone in to atti mode, but the video i saw was where the ac was not controllable for the most part.....
Bashy Posted at 2018-6-26 06:29
I have sen a "flyaway" where the ac has been flying fine for a while then all of a sudden its just gone haywire, pretty much like the video above, the ac acts like its hit a magnetic field but probably impossible due to the height it was at, would that have been more of a loss of gps? but still, it would have gone in to atti mode, but the video i saw was where the ac was not controllable for the most part.....
It is very unusual to actually loose GPS, unless you are in a war zone. Nearly every time it happens is due to the GPS saying the aircraft is heading in one direction and the compass saying it is going in another, beyond some limit the AC gives up and turns GPS off entering ATTI mode. If you are very close to the limit then it may not happen until the AC is in an unlikely position, or maybe not until a space storm causes a slight change to the earths magnetic field pushing the compass a little further out. If it drops into Atti mode because of magnetic issues then it may fly perfectly if it is only the horizontal direction that is out, but if the vertical direction is out then it could be very hard to control since it wont be flying flat, while it is still under GPS control the aircraft will be correcting that error, not so easy in manual control.
Not sure what happened in the video in the original post, looks very strange, maybe KedDK can explain, maybe just a gimbal fault...
I am sorry to know what happened to your Phantom 4 Pro Plus (Obsidian). Please contact DJI Tech Support and please sync your Phantom 4 Pro Plus (Obsidian) flight records using your DJI Go 4 application so that we will be able to know what really happened to the Drone. I will be posting the link for online repair request https://repair.dji.com/repair/index.
Nigel_ Posted at 2018-6-26 06:59
It is very unusual to actually loose GPS, unless you are in a war zone. Nearly every time it happens is due to the GPS saying the aircraft is heading in one direction and the compass saying it is going in another, beyond some limit the AC gives up and turns GPS off entering ATTI mode. If you are very close to the limit then it may not happen until the AC is in an unlikely position, or maybe not until a space storm causes a slight change to the earths magnetic field pushing the compass a little further out. If it drops into Atti mode because of magnetic issues then it may fly perfectly if it is only the horizontal direction that is out, but if the vertical direction is out then it could be very hard to control since it wont be flying flat, while it is still under GPS control the aircraft will be correcting that error, not so easy in manual control.
Not sure what happened in the video in the original post, looks very strange, maybe KedDK can explain, maybe just a gimbal fault...
I don't know why you think i can explain what's going on in some random YT video?
But i do think that OP has taken off under influence of magnetic interference from so far unknown source in the backyard.
All we can do is wait until Edwin comes back from his Phantom search and add some more information.
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