Yesterday I had a flyaway and crash. I have seen many theories on why flyaways happen, but my situation just doesn't match those. Perhaps someone can explain more.

After completing a flight plan with waypoints using ground station, the quad came to the end and started hover at the end point around 75ft. Battery was at 20% power. I switched the S1 to position 2 and entered the non-GPS mode(In Phantom/Vision mode) and regained control of the unit and was bringing her down for landing(i've done this many times without incident). I was carefully trying to land inside a truck bed and in doing so nicked a prop, no biggie took her back up to reset the landing. Almost immediately the unit flew up and back to 150ft AGL, I lost all control. After hovering for 10 seconds or so, it shot off due east 200 meters and died. It fell about 250ft and crashed into a wooded hillside. "Find My Drone" worked perfectly and it was recovered. The unit still flies after replacing all the props and camera and gimble work fine. GPS seems damaged but all in all, could have been much worse.

Here are some facts that may help explain/debunk:
I had a acquired a good home station, with the green lights and was correctly located on the map
I had just completed a mission not too far away 30 mins prior.
I was surround by metal conexes(shipping containers)
There was a small power line 100ft behind us
I never lost satellites.

Sorry you had a crash, that sucks. A couple things though. You mention you set the s1 switch to position 2. Did you ever flip it back up? I think position 2 is atti mode where you will have no gps stabilization. This shouldn't have caused it to shoot up to 150' though. The big problem I see is you landed in the bed of a pickup. And surrounded by lots of other big metal objects! That could definitely screw up the compass. Not really an ideal site for flying. You say the battery was about 20% when it took off. Did you have return to home on low battery enabled? I'm wondering if the Phantom saw the battery was low and tried to go home but got lost because all the metal was messing up the compass.

jmtw000@gmail.c Posted at 2014-11-27 03:55
Sorry you had a crash, that sucks. A couple things though. You mention you set the s1 switch to posi ...

CSI DJI...  this would make a great series.....

I did not have low battery failsafe enabled. I'm pretty neurotic about battery life and always keep it close and in view when below 30%. I did confirm the presence of a radio tower 225m away. I Thought ATTI mode is only in NAZA-M. Regardless, I'm beginning to believe that the radio tower coupled with the high presence of metal confused it and causes it to fly away. Any ideas, on what a good buffer would be? Anyone ever fix/repair a GPS?

Question:  You mention you were taking off and landing in a truck bed?  Is this the position where you normally take off from and acquire your GPS home lock position?

Map_Flyer Posted at 2014-12-1 21:28
I did not have low battery failsafe enabled. I'm pretty neurotic about battery life and always keep  ...

Look on you tube  there are video's  showing how to replace a cracked ceramic which only cost a few pouds/dollars.
Here you go

Absolutely,no flying  near or on cars truck's, pylons,. Even carrying tools in your phantom carry case or rook sack, some tools are magnetic.

I had a similar attempted "fly away" that was caused by a slight hit on a branch with the prop... When I hit I was immediately trying to land to inspect the prop but it took off and to the side, I cut power immediately and it fell to the ground undamaged.... I did a thorough review of what the cause was and concluded that the prop lost a 3 mm section off the tip which caused the motors to wind to compensate for the lift lost which caused the sudden increase and pitch of the aircraft.  There was no fault of the aircraft and it was 100% caused by the prop damage.  So without being there I think that the contact to the prop with the truck bed probably caused the damage and any input to control the aircraft would not work as the compensation of a damaged prop would be impossible.... If it ever happens again, immediately cut power to motors and prevent it from getting away.  

Jeff212 Posted at 2014-12-2 02:04
I had a similar attempted "fly away" that was caused by a slight hit on a branch with the prop... Wh ...

Cut power how? Pulling down on the left stick for 3 seconds? Intriguing theory...

Map_Flyer Posted at 2014-12-3 01:19
Cut power how? Pulling down on the left stick for 3 seconds? Intriguing theory...

both control sticks down and towards center....  Worked immediately and dropped it to the ground before it got to far away and increased in altitude....  

Sure wish we had access to log files to provide a better understanding what happened in these situations.

The idea stick control inputs can go ignored, whatever the cause, is very unsettling.  

Just bought a brand new Phantom 2 Vision Plus.  It did a complete flyaway on it's first  flight (following calibration and initial testing).  It launched in GPS mode and within 3 minutes at about 200 feet AGL it started to fly erratically and the controller became ineffective.  Attempts to regain control, including shutting down the controller, failed to affect the craft which stayed in the area for a few minutes but then proceeded to cross 100 feet above it's take off point at a high rate of speed following a single line and disappeared for good.  The "Find My Drone" feature did not locate the drone.  While the lost video feed message displayed appropriately, at no time did the "Returning Home" message display.  The new out of the box Phantom was inspected before flight, systems tested and calibration of the drone done away from a ferrous environment.  I am very familiar with the operations of this craft; as this was my third Phantom Vision purchase.   Flyaway reportedly happens with damaged equipment and calibrations done incorrectly.  But now I can attest it happens to brand new Phantom 2 Vision craft flown by an experienced pilot.  DJI -  others are posting similar stories; when are you guys going to acknowledge an equipment failure ?