Almost had a fly-away with my P3P. Why??

iAm

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was flying in my usual spot at the end of my entrance on the road.
There are 4 heavy electrical wires above the entrance but I never fly over the wires. I always stay clear and fly the other way for the last year and a half. Never had a problem.
Tonight, after confirming GPS location I went straight up about 100 metres to take pics of the red sunset, when all of a sudden the bar went red and this message appeared on screen...
"!Warning
Warning Compass Error. Exit P-GPS Mode"
Then the bird started to fly North.
(All I could see were the red bar and the word Warning. I did not read Exit GPS mode)
I hit the "Return Home" button.
No response.
The red "Compass Error" was still on screen
Then the bird regained the green "Ready To Go (GPS)" signal and the "Return Home" kicked in.
And I was able to bring it home.
Lesson learned about switching over to Atti Mode if I lose GPS signal again.

Any thoughts as to why I lost the GPS Signal. There were 16 satellites on screen.
 
Any GPS error you flip out of GPS mode immediately.

As for why... you'll have to dig in and post your flight log for someone to try and evaluate and even then it's still a guess.
 
Tonight, after confirming GPS location I went straight up about 100 metres to take pics of the red sunset, when all of a sudden the bar went red and this message appeared on screen...
"!Warning
Warning Compass Error. Exit P-GPS Mode"
Then the bird started to fly North.
(All I could see were the red bar and the word Warning. I did not read Exit GPS mode)
I hit the "Return Home" button.
No response.
The red "Compass Error" was still on screen
Did your Phantom start to fly north .... or was there a wind that blew it to the north?
In atti mode the Phantom has no position holding ability and will be blown around by any wind.
Your Phantom showed a compass error - the cause of that is unknown.
When you get a compass error, the Phantom can't deal with the conflicting data it's getting from the compass and GPS ... so it drops the GPS data and ignores it because the Phantom can fly without GPS but it can't fly without compass.
Without GPS, there's no way for the Phantom to RTH (if you properly activated RTH)
Then the bird regained the green "Ready To Go (GPS)" signal and the "Return Home" kicked in.
And I was able to bring it home.
Lesson learned about switching over to Atti Mode if I lose GPS signal again.
When your Phantom has a compass error and drops GPS, your Phantom is in atti mode.
You don't have to switch anything because atti mode is what you have when you fly without GPS.
Any thoughts as to why I lost the GPS Signal. There were 16 satellites on screen.
The usual suspects are:
What you've done to the compass ... where/when you last calibrated it
Or .. were you flying in the vicinity of any magnetic/electromagnetic influences that would screw up the compass.
 
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I haven't calibrated the Compass in a few months!
And
The electrical wires lining my street seems could be my answer to the Compass Error.
And thanks for letting me know that the bird will drop the GPS signal when there is a Compass Error. Now that I look at the screen, I see that it switched to Atti Mode.
 
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We can get the root cause of the issue only analyzing the logs. But it's very clear that both compass and gps have to work all the time for its positioning stability. If one goes down, you should understand that you are heading for a problem. Switching over to ATTI mode may be the only solution for such conditions
 
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We can get the root cause of the issue only analyzing the logs. But it's very clear that both compass and gps have to work all the time for its positioning stability. If one goes down, you should understand that you are heading for a problem. Switching over to ATTI mode may be the only solution for such conditions


How do I up load the logs?
Thanks in advance
 
Should I do the upgrade it's asking me to do?
I'm reluctant to do an upgrade before a vacation.
I'm going to Italy ( Cinque Terre) in 2 weeks.
Or just recalibrate everything here and in Italy and remember to fly in Atti if I loose GPS?
 
How do I up load the logs?
To look at your flight data, go to https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/
Follow the instructions to upload your flight record.
Come back and post a link to the report it provides
Should I do the upgrade it's asking me to do?
I'm reluctant to do an upgrade before a vacation.
I'm going to Italy ( Cinque Terre) in 2 weeks.
Or just recalibrate everything here and in Italy and remember to fly in Atti if I loose GPS?
If it's running well now, it's probably not going to run any better after an update.
If it's flying properly, there should be no need to recalibrate anything now or in Italy.
And if your Phantom ever loses GPS, your Phantom is automatically in atti mode regardless of what you do.

How close to the electric cables did you fly?
 
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To look at your flight data, go to https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/
Follow the instructions to upload your flight record.
Come back and post a link to the report it provides

If it's running well now, it's probably not going to run any better after an update.
If it's flying properly, there should be no need to recalibrate anything now or in Italy.
And if your Phantom ever loses GPS, your Phantom is automatically in atti mode regardless of what you do.

How close to the electric cables did you fly?

Thank you for the link.
Will follow instructions tonight.
Here's a pic of my location.
The rectangular piece of wood on the road is my take-off location. I've been launching from that spot for the last year and a half. Never saw red.
I'm feeling nervous about flying.
Things that have made me very cautious when flying;
-I've had a hawk attack my drone.
-I've had a helicopter fly below my drone.
-I've had a lady tell me "it's too loud to fly it in the mornings"
-now this Compass Error.
 
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I'm a newbee, so take my input with caution.

That being said, that launch location looks AWFULLY close to that transformer.

And, transformer interference may be variable, not a constant?

Maybe the transformer was surge cycling, or in some state of flux that you hadn't launched from before?

Just wondering and trying to help! :)
 
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The AC loosing gps and switching to atti automatically, is this the same for p4p+? And if gps connects again does this happen automatically as well?
 
"...-I've had a helicopter fly below my drone..."

I'd love to hear THAT story!


It was an ambulance helicopter flying low along the river route in cottage country.
It did not fly directly underneath me. But close enough. I was higher than the helicopter which was low-flying.
Once I realized what it was I was hearing, saw how low it was and saw where it was in relationship to me, I knew no one was in danger. I always see my bird.hate loosing sight of it, so I never fly far just high. So I just hovered where I was, and of course tried to take a pic of it below me, but no luck. Took me too long to figure my orientation and trying to quickly point the camera in its moving direction proved quite challenging.
But lesson learned...Listen for planes flying in our airspace!
 
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I've had one similar experience... and that was one time too many. I can only suggest that you now do as I do; switch to flying in ATTI toward the end of your flights and bring it home manually.
Start with short distances and with very light winds at first say, 200 meters from home. Then, slowly increase those distances with each flight as you gain experience and confidence. Months later, I'm now completely comfortable with flying in ATTI mode from all distances and in all conditions. Fighting a cross wind whilst trying to keep the line to the RTH point is quite a ride and a great experience....
 
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Thanks Meta4, let's say you loose gps and out of panic you switch to atti (I didn't know it switched automatically until reading this thread) then your AC regains gps but your in atti mode, then it would not automatically switch back to gps because u switched over to atti mode. Right? So the point here would be if you loose gps just worry about controlling the AC in atti mode (switched over automatically) and land the AC.
 
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Thanks Meta4, let's say you loose gps and out of panic you switch to atti (I didn't know it switched automatically until reading this thread) then your AC regains gps but your in atti mode, then it would not automatically switch back to gps because u switched over to atti mode. Right? So the point here would be if you loose gps just worry about controlling the AC in atti mode (switched over automatically) and land the AC.
Yes ... but there should be no worry about losing GPS unless you fly under cover or in a canyon and lose your view of the sky, or you mess up with your compass somehow.
I haven't lost GPS in 3 years of solid flying.
There's no need to switch to atti if you lose GPS because without GPS you are in atti anyway regardless of the postition of the switch.
But if you switch it to atti, your Phantom will be in atti whether there are sats or not.
There's no big deal flying in atti - just don't try learning it close to obstacles.
Go to a big open park where there's nothing to hit and try it.
 
IMO, if you can't fly in attic mode you should't be flying more that 25 feet out and in low wind until you are proficient. I think most fly always are when it switches to atti and inexperienced pilots don't know what to do.

I flew RC planes and copters for 40 years before this so what is called ATTI mode or no gps is no problem for me.

Everybody is too dependent on gps always working properly.
 
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IMO, if you can't fly in attic mode you should't be flying more that 25 feet out and in low wind until you are proficient. I think most fly always are when it switches to atti and inexperienced pilots don't know what to do.

I flew RC planes and copters for 40 years before this so what is called ATTI mode or no gps is no problem for me.

Everybody is too dependent on gps always working properly.


I agree every pilot should learn how to fly in attic mode in some spare way or other, I like to get the wind moving the quad and slowly rotate round.
 

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