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Phanton 2 Vision Flew Away in come home mode
1875 26 2015-2-22
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b1kcook
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United States
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I was in gatlinburg tn. the other day going to be there for 1 day only, it was cold so about noon time the skys were clear I wanted to get a few shots from above. I live in Florida so I did a compass calibration first. Powered everything up, got 9 satellites, everything looked normal.
Had it sitting in the parking lot, started the motors and let it sit a few seconds, took it up about 5 feet and let it hoover a few seconds, it bearly moved so I took it up just below 200 ft and snapped some shots. It was only in the air for maybe 2 but no more then 3 minutes. Put it in come home mode and about 5 or 6 seconds into coming down it just took off and disappered over a hotel so i lost sight of it, I was shocked to say the least. My first through was its in come home mode so it will be back, but after waiting about ten minutes I knew it was gone, but for the next 20 minutes or so I kept ckecking knowing the battery would be dead by now. I tried to get an ideal where it might have gone but because I lost sight so fast I could only quess and most of that area is not places you can just walk to, plus everything was covered in snow, kind of hard to see something thats white. We did ride around the roads we could go on but it was like looking for a needle in a hay stack.
Not sure how DJI handles things like this but i hope there is help.
If it was my error I would not even tell anyone but it was in come home mode, it was supposed to be automated

2015-2-22
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Swerve
lvl.4

United Kingdom
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Sorry to hear about your flyaway. Did you have it marked so if anyone finds it they can contact you?
2015-2-22
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Northofthe49th
Captain

Canada
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b1kcook,
Sorry yo hear you lost your Phantom, did you try the "find my phantom" via your phone?
Any chance you could tell of it took off towards your last home point ((Florida)

You mentioned you calibrated your compass first, then powered everything up, not sure if that had or should have had any effect though the procedures state to turn on the RC and the wifi range extenders first, then power up the Phantom and do the compass calibration.

Hope you find it.
2015-2-22
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markus2015
Second Officer

Germany
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Wow, I feel your pain and hope you get it back or a replacement. Just one question, as it begun to fly away, did you switch back into GPS or ATTI mode? Didn't it react at all to any RC inputs??
2015-2-22
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johnwarr.live
Captain
Flight distance : 6467 ft
United Kingdom
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I know I am old and senile, but I still don't understand why so many operators use RTH on a regular basis and not just fly their Phantom back home under control.
In my mind, RTH is an emergency feature and only to be used if you are 100% sure you have a valid home point recorded and the Phantom has solid GPS lock in flight.
I am sorry that you lost your Phantom, but flying from a built-up area is not recommended.
DJI might offer you a discount on a new Phantom, but are unlikely to do anything else without having the Phantom back for inspection.
2015-2-22
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Northofthe49th
Captain

Canada
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Rereading your post you stated that you calibrated the compass and then turned everything on,
How did you calibrate your compass without the RC turned on as that is not possible to do.


2015-2-22
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Northofthe49th
Captain

Canada
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You should phone the hotel it appeared to disappear over, it may be on top of it or in a tree just surrounding it if any trees or worse in the back of someone's pick up. Either way, may be worth a call.

I don't disagree with Johnwarr at all either..RTH/Failsafe is crucial to have when you absolutely need it and it should be tested when in a safe and open area etc. though not used as the conventional means for bringing it back due to unfamiliar surroundings and other variables.

All that said there are certainly other things that could've happened, maybe you lost an ESC, was there any snow or ice crystals falling that might've clogged up a motor etc. etc. who knows? Hope you find it.

2015-2-22
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Observer 2
lvl.1

United States
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If you were at 200' and your RTH altitude was set to 66', it would RTH at an altitude of 200' until it was over the recorded home point, then it would come straight down to land.
2015-2-22
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Northofthe49th
Captain

Canada
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Observer 2 Posted at 2015-2-23 00:14
If you were at 200' and your RTH altitude was set to 66', it would RTH at an altitude of 200' until  ...

Agreed, I have noted correction...and apologies for confusion. I had it bassackwards!
It would have ascended in RTH had his RTH height been higher than he was flying though in this instance (presuming his RTH was 66' and lower than his flying height), it would have stayed at his flying height of 200' until over his home point then descended.


2015-2-22
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Observer 2
lvl.1

United States
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Northofthe49th Posted at 2015-2-23 00:22
Actually, if he was at 200' and his RTH was 66' I am pretty certain it would work it's way to 66'  ...

It would start to come down after it hit the low battery indicator, otherwise it will stay at 200' as long as the battery is in the green area.
2015-2-22
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Northofthe49th
Captain

Canada
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Ooops.Looks like I goofed!
2015-2-22
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gnixon2015
First Officer

United States
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north, that is not true.  it will stay at a fixed altitude all the way to the RTH landing spot.  if it is lower than rth then it will RAISE first, but if it is at or above, it will not descend ANY during the return.  i have tested this a handful of times with my p2v.
2015-2-22
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Northofthe49th
Captain

Canada
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O.k, thanks, I thought I noticed it did this to me..going to try this again this afternoon after I Rototill my garden here in Langley BC!
I'll take her up to 400' about 100 yards from my field and shut off the RC just for giggles. I have my RTH set to 200' for some high trees we have around here.
I stand corrected and will pull/edit.
Apologies for any confusion.....
2015-2-22
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Observer 2
lvl.1

United States
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Northofthe49th Posted at 2015-2-23 01:23
O.k, thanks, I thought I noticed it did this to me..going to try this again this afternoon after I R ...

Once you hit that critical red on your battery and coming home, it will start to descend.
2015-2-22
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Northofthe49th
Captain

Canada
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Observer 2 Posted at 2015-2-23 01:27
Once you hit that critical red on your battery and coming home, it will start to descend.

Interesting caveat then to RTH if you are flying above your RTH height and RTH is initiated manually vs. RTH is initiated due to low battery. This could possibly have been a case of both, OP indicated he initiated RTH and then who knows, it then simultaneously detects low battery and bingo/bano/gonzo..

I am not about to try this with a near dead battery.
OP made no comment about how much charge he had when he was flying.

I am still going to test something later this afternoon.
2015-2-22
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gnixon2015
First Officer

United States
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good point obs, it will descend in low batt mode, that i agree with (and i have watched youtube vids showing this happening).   i have not ever had low batt so cant say i would think of that part.  ive only done the altitude tests with mainly full batts.
2015-2-22
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oakspi
Second Officer

United States
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Was it headed in a direction toward Florida when it departed?
2015-2-22
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Observer 2
lvl.1

United States
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Northofthe49th Posted at 2015-2-23 01:45
Interesting caveat then to RTH if you are flying above your RTH height and RTH is initiated manuall ...

It was only in the air for maybe 2 but no more then 3 minutes

I'm assuming he was flying with a nearly full charge.
2015-2-22
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b1kcook
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United States
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It was a full charge battery.
Controller and WiFi were turned on first.
I did go back to GPS mode as soon as it started taking off from its fixed position.
After it disappeared over the hotel I got a lost connection signal.
I had NAZA M because the controls are much better and faster, why would you want to turn off your controller to inter RTH?
With ATTI mode you can float for good pics and video, so NAZA gives fast mode switches, RTH had never failed me even after about 20 plus hours of flight.
This flight was straight up in GPS mode and was to come straight down with RTH, The RTH mode had become the go to for landing, don't know why, it just worked so well.
I have asked myself if it was done different would I still have it, but I can't redo it now and if its locked on to home why did it take off?
I did tell the Hotel what happened so if someone showed up they would know.
The problem is in that area it could be years before someone comes across it, its mountains.
2015-2-22
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gary.ok
lvl.4
United States
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Hmmm. Something's sounding fishy here????  RTH will not initiate a decent away from the home location, yet he reports it started to decend then just flew off?  just seems that we are seeing more and more of these fly away reports on the forums. On the eve of Hubsan releasing to H109??  Could be legit I guess, but seems a bit fishy.
2015-2-22
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sunchuck.gmail
lvl.1

United States
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That is why I always check the Find My Phantom on my device BEFORE I take off.  That way one makes sure the HOME point has been recorded correctly
2015-2-22
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johnwarr.live
Captain
Flight distance : 6467 ft
United Kingdom
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Distance reading on the app and a centred icon in the radar will confirm the home point for us lucky vision or vision + owners.
I never take off before confirming these are ok.
2015-2-22
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b1kcook
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United States
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I just saw a you tube video posted 2/21/15 of the same area where my mishap was on the 19th
Has anyone ever heard of another controller interfering with a drone?
I understand some of you don't be-leave anything can happen and it has to be operator error.
But we are talking about electronics and just like computers there are bugs that take time to show up.
I will never see my drone again, that's $800.00 down the drain
How would you fell?  
2015-2-22
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Jason in TN
lvl.1

United States
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Did you check the find my phantom on the app. May have given you a idea of where to look. I live about a hour from that area if you had a good idea where it was would be willing to take a look when the snow melts off. Could have flown a long way though if battery was full.
2015-2-22
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b1kcook
New

United States
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Update


After going the support rough with DJI everything I did was right and I took all precautions before flight.
They offered me 30% off of a kit price for 559.30 and thats just the copter so thats about list price and
I send my controller to them.
This is what they sent me as to what may be wrong

(First, we want to remind you that the remote connection our Phantoms use can be interfered with by outside sources as per FCC law. Flying near any large amounts of concrete, steel, powerlines, wifi technology, and other man-made sources can affect the behavior of the aircraft. Also, calibrating the compass over or near any of these objects or material can cause issues in flight. This is a general reminder and may not necessarily apply to your situation.)

In other words don't fly in a populated area.
I was not looking for a free replacement but i did not think that was much help
2015-3-10
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Naza-PA
lvl.3

United States
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Did you ever updated firmware at least to 3.08? Sometimes it is beneficial, sometimes not.
2015-3-10
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matejedas
New

Chile
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Almost Lost
Yesterday I almost lost my PHANTON 3 ADVANCE; it happened in a place from where I had taken off several times, on the bank of a river where I am taken vertical pictures.  After a series of photographs the DRONE was at 1.500 m distance and 100 m above the river. Then I decided to do RTH to get it back and start another parallel flight.
The DRON instead of RTH at 180 degree, start a flight a 30 degrees, straight to my house, where it had made the previous flight. Then I started getting a poor signal reception. I stopped RHT. The DRON was at 1.800 m distance. After a few seconds I press RTH a second time. I got a signal of LANDING. Again I stopped RTH right away. After thinking a few second, I signal the DRON to ascend. At 150 m I got good signal and I could fly manually for a happy return.
Before the flight, I calibrate the compass and the DRON Status Indicators display a solid green light. It was in P-Mode.  The Pilot App System Status display “Safe to Fly (GPS)” and the Status Indicators were blinking GREEN, before takeoff.
Then DRON landed with 46 % charge. After landing I made a short fly just to check, if the RTH was recorded, to my surprise it was not, despite a strong GPS signal.
At home I check the manual in search of something poorly done. I found only the following references:
Pag. 9 : Circular LED around the RTH button display RTH status.
Pag. 12: The aircraft status indicator will blink rapidly when the home point is recorded.
Pag. 14 : Picture 1 Record Home Point  => Blinking Green
Pag. 14: Picture 2 Confirming Home Point => Blinking Green
Pag. 28: RTH LED only white related-to-Return-to-Home status after it is pressed.
Given the above it seems to me that is no clear indication when the RTH is not properly recorded, or in other words: no way of knowing if was not recorded.
2015-9-6
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