Hi All,

Sadly after so many years of perfect flights, the Phantom 2 decided to go absolutely haywire yesterday.
I always carry out pre-flight checks and procedures before each flight so that I know if anything did go wrong, it wasn't pilot error. The Phantom has had several hundred flights and was using a new battery with very little charge cycles, the propellors had only a few flights on them and the weather conditions were fine. I set my GoPro to time lapse and was lining up for some sunset shots, when suddenly... the Phantom started drifting backwards........ I tried to take control and bring the Phantom back but it didn't want to know, there was very little control input from the RC to the Drone, within seconds it started flying off at full throttle....... I tried to switch to ATTI but it was like the RC completely lost its link with the Phantom and the Phantom had been told to go in some other direction but flying backwards!?

Here's some pics of the damage, I'm now looking for a new shell... but any theory as to what MIGHT have caused this? I was in the middle of nowhere, no interference unless satellites caused it. who knows?




Safe flying all. :-(

OUCH!!  

Got a shiver from that description because it gave me a flashback to a 2014 flyaway I had with my P2V+ in the first 30 days of ownership!  Zoomed off on it's own like it was possessed and ended up crashing through the trees.  Mine didn't sustain nearly as much damage as yours and fortunately I did have a happy ending after all.  I sent it back to DJI and got a replacement in about six weeks.  (That didn't sour me from the hobby as I now have six different Phantoms)

Gil Posted at 2017-1-15 06:21
OUCH!!  

Got a shiver from that description because it gave me a flashback to a 2014 flyaway I had with my P2V+ in the first 30 days of ownership!  Zoomed off on it's own like it was possessed and ended up crashing through the trees.  Mine didn't sustain nearly as much damage as yours and fortunately I did have a happy ending after all.  I sent it back to DJI and got a replacement in about six weeks.  (That didn't sour me from the hobby as I now have six different Phantoms)

I'm kinda happy it's not just me but it was very scary, I am most happy that nobody was around and I was in a very open area... Did you loose complete control of the Phantom? did it fly far away? I bet your heart dropped. -sad day.

I was over at a neighbor's place because he had just recently bought a Phantom after seeing mine.  I was familiarizing him with how some things worked and was shooting video of his place when it stopped responding to commands and just took off at full speed.  Rather than fright, my reaction was more slack jawed confusion, astonishment and frustration, all in the space of a few seconds.  Throw in a heaping of embarrassment because I was supposed to be teaching my neighbor how to fly... D'OH!

Before flying my Christmas present, I was setting the trim 3 ft off the ground right in front of me, when suddenly it went full throttle and disappeared into the stratosphere.

RotorReady Posted at 2017-2-24 09:14
Before flying my Christmas present, I was setting the trim 3 ft off the ground right in front of me, when suddenly it went full throttle and disappeared into the stratosphere.

GPS tracker = 99.999% retrieval rate (ok, maybe slightly exaggerated...but MUCH better chance of getting it back)

With GPS tracking being so inexpensive like $20.00US, and these things being so expensive, not sure why people would even consider to fly without ?

Cessna172 Posted at 2017-2-24 09:32
GPS tracker = 99.999% retrieval rate (ok, maybe slightly exaggerated...but MUCH better chance of getting it back)

With GPS tracking being so inexpensive like $20.00US, and these things being so expensive, not sure why people would even consider to fly without  ?

What kind of GPS tracker are you talking about? I'm VERY new to the hobby.