Hello, I own since some weeks a Phantom Vision 2 Plus V3 - flying was always a pleasure
Unfortunately it crashed yesterday into trees (prop and gimbal are damaged, hope I can fix it...). It was weird, I flew over a river - on the left and right side was a forest. At some point my Phantom startet to fly away to the left side, right in to the trees. I tried everything I could to avoid the crash but I was not able to take control over it.
As soon as I found the drone I checked the video on the SD-card and I was suprised it stopped recording right at the moment when it got out of control. The last GPS setpoint of my phantom on my iPhone was also at the moment where I lost control. Something must happend which crashed the software of the Phantom - I guess.
I've had the live videofeed running on my iPhone, this was also interupted before the crash. Unfortunately my iPhone crashed during the flight because of battery (iPhone battery was charged 40%, no idea why this happend). Is it possible, that my crashed iPhone (which was in use for the live video feed) was responsible for the Phantom software (and physical) crash?
I can't imagine some other reason, due the drone wasn't far away, I've done the compass calibration right before takeoff, GPS was strong (10 sats), no wind and there were no electronics around which could causes interferences.
Does some has a suggestion what happend and if my crashed iPhone could be responsible for it?

Thank you!

Felix

Greetings from Switzerland

Most likely your iPhone had nothing to do with the crash. You mentioned that your phantom stopped recording at the moment it drifted away. Check your settings in the vision app and see if in the "when connection breaks" you have the stop recording selected. You lost the video link so it may be possible that you were out of controller range as well. It should have kicked into return home but sometimes it take a few seconds.

As above, it's not likely that it has to do with the phone. Most of the control is done through the actual transmitter.  Personally, I would never trust waypoint flying and GPS except in a big open area. If you have not already done so, learn about the ATTI mode (altitude hold, manual control) - this should allow you to retake control of your Phantom when problems occur.

OK, good to know my iPhone is not responsible.
For the next time, do I have a chance to get back control over my Phantom when I'm not flying in ATTI mode? I'll give a try practicing ATTI, but due this was my 8th flight I would like to be a bit more familiar with the drone before I disable the assisted mode

felix_schmid@ms Posted at 2014-12-22 23:28
OK, good to know my iPhone is not responsible.
For the next time, do I have a chance to get back con ...

on the contrary... my advise is to go to NAZA mode as soon as possible.
In NAZA mode, you can still fly in GPS assisted mode. But, if GPS mode acts crazy (for whatever reason - lack of GPS coverage, software bugs, etc), you can toggle S1 switch and recover your Phantom.

I was in pretty much the same situation like you. On my 3rd day, I experienced a flyaway (yes, to the left ). I was sorry that I didn't have NAZA mode enabled. Somehow, I recovered my drone without a crash. But after that, I practiced sending the drone in return to home and then get control by switching to ATTI.

I remember clearly that my Phantom 1 manual said not to test the RTH function - for various reasons. Here is the quote. In over a year, I have not tested it ever!

I usually fly within 300 feet or so of where I am standing - both vertical and horizontal. Only once did I need to use home lock to get it back near me when I lost orientation. In general, it's better to trust (and build up) your piloting skills and be aware of wind direction, etc. than to rely on the automatic stuff. That's for when everything else fails (IMHO).

"We strongly recommend you DO NOT try “Turn off the transmitter”, because there are three types of risk: (1) You must be pretty clear whether the Home-point is OK for landing or not. (You have to understand the definition of Home-point well and the working process of failsafe) (2) If there are tall buildings around, the aircraft may be obstructed on the way. (3) When GPS signal is bad or GPS is not working, failsafe will not work."
Note - it also says NOT to use GPS mode unless in open areas.....
"If in GPS ATTI. Mode, keep the aircraft flying in the open space without obstruction"

droneflyers.com Posted at 2014-12-23 10:25
I remember clearly that my Phantom 1 manual said not to test the RTH function - for various reasons. ...

I've checked again my P2V+ user manual (v1.1) - pages 41, 42 regarding RTH (failsafe function).
It doesn't say to avoid it. Regardless, all the reasons listed by you are valid. If you want to test / play with RTH all those conditions must be met: good GPS coverage and no high obstacles between Phantom and "home".
As far as I'm concerned, I've tested it to know it - in case that the drone decides to execute that RTH function by itself, because lost signal or, in worse case, because I get somehow lost. I've also wanted to make sure that I'm confident to recover from that RTH by switching to ATTI mode. And yes, I was in a open field, no obstructions between the Phantom and me, and on top of that, I use a rather high RTH altitude (220 feet) just in case...

Dear Felix , I am sorry to hear that . Could you upload videos for us to study ? We might find some specifics from the videos although the camera stopped recording before the drone got out of control.

@DJI-Jackson
How should I attach / upload the video? Youtube?

I keept on walking while my phantom was in the air, so my starting position wasn't my actual position. So maybe she wanted (for some reason) to return to home - and due to my walking there where now trees in between the phantom and the starting position. This would explain why it crashed in to the trees, but not the way it has happened. Because:
- she drifted away to the left side. IMHO by returning home she's never drifting
- the video was interrupted at the same time she started drifting away. I've configured NOT to stop video recording when the connection to the remote gets interrupted

My lessons learnt so fare are as following (maybe it helps someone else too):
- Changed from Phantom-mode to Naza, hopping get some better control if a similar situation occurs once again
- Changed the remote from CE to FCC mode. This should increase the remote signal for a better and wider range
- Activation for WiFi Booster (via iPhone) for getting a better and wider range of the video signal

I uploaded my crash video to Youtube: http://youtu.be/2oK1gmD_2I4
As already mentioned, the crash is not captured on video. For some reason the video was unfortunately interrupted before the crash.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

"Activation for WiFi Booster (via iPhone) for getting a better and wider range of the video signal."
Can you explain this, please?  Isn't that standard operating procedure? Aren't we ALL using WIFI, and connecting it from camera to phone through the booster?   You had to activate the booster using your phone???  

I havent used it so far, but it has some good recomandations (google it). Available at least for iOS („FPV Booster for Vision+“).
This app kicks an additional 50-100% WiFi boost on your phantom which should give you a much better video signal. You have to run run the app each time before flying