I keep seeing all these "fell from sky" , "Crashed my drone and I didn't do anyting" , "Drone out of control" posts and makes me wonder.. is this all pilot error or is there something wrong with the P4??  Wondering did the P3 go through simular growing pains before they got the bugs worked out or is it just new drone pilots panicing?

Thoughts??

For every one that drops out of the sky I'm sure there are a thousand happy people you don't hear about. These posts can rattle you at times but remember satisfied people don't often post remarks.

A very short leash. I keep my copters.

Obstacle avoidance works pretty well. The only time I have crashed my P4 was due to ignoring the low battery warning.... not once, but TWICE!! I was over water and sweating my butt off hoping I would make it back over land. I made it back to land, but lost power and it literally fell out of the sky from about 30 ft. Totally my fault and luckily no damage. I pay attention to those warnings now. I also have a P1 which I have crashed numerous times.... mostly into trees.

I am really happy with the DJI Phantom 4 (mines the one thats fell out of the sky!!). It is a genius piece of engineering and although complex if you get to learn it properly then they are great. I dont believe this was pilot error as I have flew many times before and have had no issues up until now...just that it was a major issue. I wouldnt let that put you off though, get one bought they are much better than the competition!

While I don't have years of experience with drones, I have read the manuals thoroughly, read a zillion forum posts, ALWAYS used a checklist, and have never had a problem.  The vast majority of crashes are pilot error, improper setup, calibration, etc.  A biggy is not understanding Return To Home function, a lotta gotchas on that one.  The Phantom 4 is an incredibly stable vehicle.  If you don't try and get cute flying 2 feet above the ground at 45mph in Sport mode, or Buzz over water at low altitude, you will be fine.  Just take it a step at a time.

I've flown mine a few times now, not like the RC planes for sure.. with planes your on your toes all the time, this allows the pilot time to stop and think about what you want to do, try that with a RC plane traveling at 30 to 40 mph.  

Anyway, just wondering why all these posts about crashes?  and seems to be more after this last update or maybe I'm just imagining it... but even with all that I still did not buy the thing for it to sit...

MGR57 Posted at 2016-10-3 19:29
While I don't have years of experience with drones, I have read the manuals thoroughly, read a zilli ...

Just for the record I was not buzzing over water I flying the drone over fields and a river. Just seems you were having a dig there. It may well be OE on my part but I am experienced drone flyer this isnt my first but it is my first experience of this malfunction

So how many of these reports are you seeing?
And how many Phantoms are out there?

You can watch TV news every day and see stories of car crashes but you probably still drive.
As with cars, most of these incidents are due to operator error.
To get things in perspective, read this:
http://www.droneflyers.com/2016/ ... -on-drone-flyaways/

Insure it with State Farm - $60 per year no deductible. There's another member on here who had his insured with them and in his case he had a crashed his and took it and showed them (he still kept the drone) and had the money for it deposited in his account in 2 days. The insurance also covers a fly away but so far I haven't seen where anyone had to use it for that. I have a Trackimo on mine so I should be able to get close enough via that to find it.

js349 Posted at 2016-10-3 16:07
Insure it with State Farm - $60 per year no deductible. There's another member on here who had his i ...

Wondering how that was accomplished... I have State Farm now and I see nothing referring to this insurance.. however their are others insurers out there and I have looked at them..

Use dji app only, always take off with full battery, do pay attention to your warnings during flight, learn ATTI mode.. fly safe, line of sight, do not annoy birds and their teritory, avoid flying too close to objects, learn the manual and all the functionality before you fly...  oh, pay attention to ALL the warnings the app gives you... propulsion limited, motor obstracted, compass error, gps lost... just pay attention while you fly, and you'll be fine..... Like someone else mentioned - here you will see the stuff about issues, you will not see things from the rest of the happy users...  and the forum is just a narrow % of the dji user base anyhow.

bobmccracken1 Posted at 2016-10-3 15:14
Just for the record I was not buzzing over water I flying the drone over fields and a river. Just  ...

Was not a personal dig....generally speaking to anyone who the shoe fits.

Warnberg Posted at 2016-10-3 16:21
Wondering how that was accomplished... I have State Farm now and I see nothing referring to this i ...

It's a separate policy from your homeowners.  Personal Articles policy.  I live in Florida. State Farm wanted $76 to insure mine, but it's FULL coverage with NO deductible.  Covers everything.  I made darn sure of that before I signed up for it.

Phantomski Posted at 2016-10-3 16:48
Use dji app only, always take off with full battery, do pay attention to your warnings during flight ...

Totally agree with you. That's what I'm doing. And everyday I get more confidence in my drone.

MGR57 Posted at 2016-10-3 18:08
It's a separate policy from your homeowners.  Personal Articles policy.  I live in Florida. State  ...

Thank you.. thought that's what it was.. don't have homeowners with them, my vehicles and 5th wheel are
I'm in florida as well.. just north of Tampa.. you?

They will also insure anything you add on like a Trackimo just make sure you tell them.

Naples.  My agent was first told that State Farm would not write Drone policies.  But he talked to the underwriter's and found out they do.  Most insurance agents are ignorant to the drone industry....as they become more prevalent they will come around.

I don't have years and years of experience but as you can see from the attached photo, I have certainly earned my wings with the phantom 4. I have only had to minor crashes in both of those crashes were my fault.

I use my drone - meaning, I don't baby it simply because I bought it to fly and not admire from afar. With that said, I use reasonable caution and most importantly, I never try anything risky when there are people in the area.

I've had this P4 above 63 MPH while flying at an altitude of about 75' over water. The tailwind over the water allowed to be reach those speeds but the whole time I felt totally in control of the aircraft.

Conversely, while flying in my own backyard at nearly 200' altitude and a very slow speed under 10 MPH, that's when I clipped the top of a very tall tree and broke the camera gimbal. So... slow and high and in a very familiar cost me $490 for a new camera/gimbal assembly while crazy fast at low altitude over water which doesn't return the most accurate telemetry.. no problems whatsoever.

My point is, these things happen.  I don't believe that there as many "dropped out of the sky" events as people think.  I was at 200' and clipped a tree. If I didn't know my property that well, I would have thought that it fell out of the sky and THEN hit the tree, but... it was the tree and I should have known better. I'm willing to bet that a good amount of these issues of unexplained crashes are simply the pilots not fully understanding what really happened.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

Please excuse misspellings and typos in this post. I was using voice recognition, this the misuse of the word "to" when it should have been "two". Sorry, I hate seeing that kind of stuff in my posts. It drives me mad. Yeah... I have OCD.
0_o

Apologies.

jkaneisaacs: U can edit your post, just use a browser on a computer.

Warnberg: As for being comfortable, I am at almost 50hrs in the air, nearing 1mln ft, got my p3A since like April.. and yes, I notice when people watch me, I start doing dumb stuff.. like being too low over water.. the "airshow syndrome" kicks in.
Also it's easy to get too comfortable in familiar terrain, so extra caution is due.. I have not crashed yet, knock on wood - just be careful, and remember when in doubt, get higher, reassess, then figure what next....  does not always work.. say with birds, or under trees or bridges.. but most of the time shooting away from the ground will save your butt and give you time to figure things out.

I agree with most of these post. But, I think the manual is very lacking, and DJI promotes these as Ready To Fly out of the box. They make it sound so simple to fly. Any one can do it. We all know you can do that, but not for long. Some thing will happen. You HAVE to come to this site and read and learn. People should know there is a learning curve. When these are given as gifts, it may be a person that every thing he knows about drones, came from the Star Wars movies. Just my .02, I don't know what that would be in Euros, probably .03. LOL