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Newbie guy with instant flyaway, but recovered
1641 19 2018-12-18
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fans63185d0d
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LOL, what a day!.....I was sittin on the tailgate of my truck waitin on the UPS guy to deliver my new iPad mini 4 when I got a wild hair up my but that screamed at me to test fly my spanky new Mavic Pro using my Galaxy S8....DUH....Yeah, even after reading about the crashes and flwaways on Android, I decided anyway to use my S8.

I had recieved the new drone last week and completed all the updates to the drone, the controller and batteries using DJI Assistant 2, and watched all the videos on YouTube, and read this forum lots, so I figured what the heck, it might be two hours before the guy in Brown pulls up-SO FLY IT, BOY!-No Balls, no Blue Chips!-FLY THAT SUCKER!

WHEEEEE!.....Wait, back up!-This guy is 65 years old, OK?-And he ain't not never not flown no drone, OK?....LOL! WHEEEE!

So OK, I set the drone on the ground...Fire up the phone and the controller...Then fire up the drone....Watch it all connect, and the app says, "Hey, old man we ready to fly!"

But the old man sez, nope, first we gonna calibrate the compass and the IMU....So I did the silly dance out in the front yard with the grey lady drone-roundy round we went....Then I tossed that grey lady on the ground and flipped her in every position she demanded.....Finally she sighed, and said I am SO calibrated, youda MAN!."

Just tween me n you-not wanting the grey lady to see, I secretly switched it to Beginners Mode and told her, "Hold on to yer bloomers Girl, I'm fixing to send you to Heaven!", and I hit the Take Off icon....And that old grey lady lit up and flapped her wings and hovered right in front of me exactly 4 feet off the ground!...Cool!...WHEEEE!....SHEEEEEIT, I got this!!

Spent about two minutes easing it around the yard tween the 80 foot oak trees....got the yaws and the gees and the haws all fingered out, and the ups and the downs and even the roundy rounds.....CHit, Boy, this is easy!

Now here is the screwy part........With my fingerrs OFF the controlls, it shoots straight up-way, way up, and then heads north...all by itself!!!!   AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHH!....I look at the controller and in the top left it is saying No Connection to Aircraft!...Then it just stops!....Directly above a huge Oak tree....No response from the controlls...just hovers there...Still sayin No Connection.....WTF????!!!

THEN, the controller sez, Forced Landing!, and it slowly start downs toward those tree branches...We talking a full 80 feet up to the top of that tree, and it is slowly dropping toward it....My buttt hole puckered so tight A copper ingot chit thru it would be fine wire!!!!

INCHES above the tree limbs, it regains contact and allows me to guide it as it completes it's forced landing.....Just inches above the tree!

I'ma postin this just to relate my major pucker moment....An hour later my new wifi-cell iPad mini 4 arrived, and I got it all activated and updated and consumated and Apple-lated, and it is all looking good so far sitting on my living room floor at least.....I'm trying to finger out WTF is iTunes and the cloud-looks stupid so far....Yup, looks like soyboy stuff so far...

But Hey, no chit, Friends, that danged Mavic Pro is COOL!!!!!...Yeah, Buddy!!!

So Ok, told my tale, now I'll spend the night fingering out how to download my flight history and try to anylize WTF happened!!!!!

This old man and his old dog and his new drone will soon crawl into his new motorhome and head to the vast deserts of our great southwest for months at a time!....WHEEEE!
2018-12-18
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fans63185d0d
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2018-12-18
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Woe
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Flight distance : 4129268 ft
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2018-12-19
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fans63185d0d
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Woe Posted at 12-19 06:04
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Yep...oh well! LOL
2018-12-19
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HereForTheBeer
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Flight distance : 5381368 ft
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great to see your into flying and more people getting into it of all ages!  and sometimes best way to learn is to sweat bullets trying not to crash and to rescue it from danger.  
2018-12-19
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HedsIc
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Flight distance : 478757 ft
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Thanks for the headache
2018-12-19
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fans63185d0d
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HereForTheBeer Posted at 12-19 07:07
great to see your into flying and more people getting into it of all ages!  and sometimes best way to learn is to sweat bullets trying not to crash and to rescue it from danger.

Thanks!...It is FUN!

Oh, thanks to another guy on here I discovered how to download my flight log to my PC via bluetooth, then upload it to a web based viewer so I could examine the whole scenario...WOW!...Really cool online assist from that drone website!

Sure nuff it lost total contact with my phone/controller while it was just a few feet from me!.....Then shot straight up in the air and half acre away and just sat there directly above a huge tree, then began normal landing sequence, but was stopped by downward sensors 'seeing' the tree for 30 seconds, then went into 'forced landing and just then I regained nuff control to guide it away from tree, but could not stop the landing...batt was still at 58%...That sucker lost total connection twice for over a minute each time....JUST A FEW FEET FROM ME!, And then directly above me about 80 ft.

So Ok, NO more Galaxy S8 crap!....A few minutes later my iPad mini arrived and that sucker is all programmed and ready to go now.
2018-12-19
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fans63185d0d
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HedsIc Posted at 12-19 07:07
Thanks for the headache

Huh?....Ok, whatever
2018-12-19
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BKahuna
Second Officer
Flight distance : 7425909 ft
United States
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Sorry for the scary experience and glad it all worked out.  I doubt it had much to do with your Android device.  It sounds like the remote control lost connection to the aircraft and that connection isn't controlled by the phone.  I use Android and have never experienced any of the problems that people attribute to Android.  I suppose Android will always be more problematic because it runs on so many devices and iOS is carefully controlled by Apple.
2018-12-19
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HedsIc
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Flight distance : 478757 ft
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because there was so many ups and downs there. (no pun intended)
2018-12-19
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M2Wair
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Welcome to the forum and good choice with the iPad mini 4 ....... Samsung for me sucked big time, so I changed to iPad mini 4's and no hassle whatsoever.
2018-12-19
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rwynant V1
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Flight distance : 4842277 ft
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Sorry guys,  but has to be said....

batt was still at 58%.....   NEW Bird,  always start with 100% battery

Check your RTH altitude setting

Check your RTH setting for Return to Home Point,  as opposed to HOVER

58% doesn't mean your battery cells were at proper voltage.......what "could have happened" is this

1- Critical low battery = RTH  meaning the bird will climb to RTH Altitude

2- Once Altitude is reached,  it will HOVER or Fly to directly above HOME Point....then land depending on your setting

With the little info we have,  it sounds like your bird did what it was supposed to do......Can you post your Flight log here?

Randy
2018-12-19
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Vendex
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2018-12-19
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fans63185d0d
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rwynant V1 Posted at 12-19 10:52
Sorry guys,  but has to be said....

batt was still at 58%.....   NEW Bird,  always start with 100% battery

Yup, all you say is correct....BUT flight log shows it lost total connection before zooming beyond the tree tops......TWICE...for over a full minute each time.

Total flight time was almost 8 minutes which included compass and IMU cal time.

Flight was never over 40 feet from where I was standing, and I remained directly under MP while it was hovering high without contact with controller antennas flat toward it.

Batts were at 58% AFTER flight........
2018-12-19
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fans63185d0d
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http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

Here is link to the online flight record viewer I used.

Sorry, but I don't recall who here provided it, BUT thanks tons!
2018-12-19
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fans63185d0d
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OK!.....Got it figured out WHY my MP instantly soared high and then away from me, and then just hovered high above a tree.

The reason was my RTH settings....It was programmed to auto RTH in the event it lost connection. And the RTH altitude was at default setting. I launched the MP from the ground under the canopy of a huge tree with auto take off....then flew it away from the tree and all around the yard at about 8-10 feet high for several minutes....THAT is when it lost connection and soared high, then returned to directly above take off point....because of the lost connection, it RTH and when it attempted to land, the sensors on bottom of craft prevented it because they detected tree limbs......Eventually it shifted into Forced Landing mode and began to come down, but I also regained connection just in time to save it from the tree.

SO, OK......Remember this was my very first experience with any drone, ok?....And remember I came here to share my experiences with all here-my mistakes-my lessons-my successes.

My first mistake-   I failed to study carefully ALL the settings and fully understand them., then perform proper setup for the planned flight.

Second mistake-   I failed to use dedicated tablet with screen large nuff to fully see everything from the very beginning. That tiny phone screen makes it difficult for an old man to see so much info and select stuff.

But hey, I got lucky and managed to recover signal and safely land my new MP...AND discovered the cool online flight data viewer from  DJI Drone Help pages.

Wheeee!
2018-12-20
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fans63185d0d
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rwynant V1 Posted at 12-19 10:52
Sorry guys,  but has to be said....

batt was still at 58%.....   NEW Bird,  always start with 100% battery

You are most correct! My RTH settings made it do exactly as programmed....LOL, I never knew the settings were there, nor ever checked them.

Hey, thanks!
2018-12-20
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rwynant V1
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fans63185d0d Posted at 12-20 13:11
You are most correct! My RTH settings made it do exactly as programmed....LOL, I never knew the settings were there, nor ever checked them.

Hey, thanks!

Glad we could help you understand the WHY and HOW.

Super glad you still have your aircraft!

Randy
2018-12-20
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fans63185d0d
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rwynant V1 Posted at 12-20 13:55
Glad we could help you understand the WHY and HOW.

Super glad you still have your aircraft!

Hey, thanks.
Yaknow, I now fully understand why the drone reacted the way it did, but I am still at a loss to why it lost connection with my phone/controller while just a few feet away...So, i'm gonna blame it on my Galaxy S8 at this moment.

The day before my first flight, after reading in depth about it, I installed DJI Assistant 2, then fully charged my drone and controller and updated both via USB to my laptop....I installed DJI Go 4 app on my phone, and set the drone on the floor and fully connected to it-all seemed good-no errors....

For the failed flight, I had my phone in the controller using the supplied cable from left side of controller plugged into my phone....plugged fully into my phone....And yeah, the controller shipped with the Apple Lighting cable installed but I had swapped that out the day before with the supplied USB C cable....

So OK.......With that pucker moment under my belt, and after hours of review and digesting the lessons learned, my next flight will be way far out in the country away from all trees and houses using my new dedicated iPad mini with wifi and cell and data from Verizon....My Verizon signal is maxed out in this area.

That first flight was in my front yard, and I live semi rural with no tall buildings or industry near and just simple residential power lines......BUT THERE IS A INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WITHIN 10 MILES OF ME....Even tho the controller/phone showed no NFZ's in my area, it may be possible that some sort of radar or other aircraft caused me to lose connection.

Whatever, who knows.
2018-12-20
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fans63185d0d
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OK!!!!! Got fingered out!
Why did I lose connection with my drone on my first flight?

Nope, it doesn't appear to be because of my Galaxy S8 after all, and I'll tell you why.

It IS because I am SO VERY CLOSE TO AN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.

The way I figured it out was to buy and configure a mini iPad with wifi and cell, then perform all new updates....AND then just now fly it in my house....I figured that if it experienced stupid stuff again, at leat it wouldn't fly way off in the woods never to be seen again, so I flew it in my house.

Before the fight, it indicated it was ready to fly with 11-12 GPS sats in my house...in beginner mode...compass and IMU's indicated calibrated.....So I slid the auto take off slider to the right and it lifted off and hovered solidly 4 ft high.....And then the iPad started beeping and on the display it told me I was only 120 meters from the airport NFZ and would prolly experience disruption in my flight and an unexpected RTH and loss of control.....So I immediately landed it back on the floor and shut her down.

Yup, I am now certain that is what happened-that my house is simply too close to this big airport and lots going on there caused the loss of signal, that caused it to perform the RTH stuff that made me pucker.

So, OK...lesson learned!    I will NOT attempt to again fly this drone with in many miles of an international airport because of the possibility of a loss of signal and loss of the aircraft!
2018-12-20
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