I'm posting this because this flyaway seemed a little different than all the ones I have seen/read about in the last 24 hours. I'm hoping you more experienced folks can help shed light on the error of my ways, or avoiding the situation in the future as I will be getting back on the horse soon enough.
So, to start, I have had a Phantom 1 for over a year. Never in hundreds of flights had anything like a flyaway.
I live in a 300 acre private lake community, and had been asked to shoot some footage of the regattas we have nearly every weekend. I shot it first with the Phantom 1, but without a gimbal - and sailing is a lot more fun in the wind - and the poor battery life, I looked to a Phantom 2 - not the vision as I still wanted to use a GoPro for the best picture quality.
The first flight last Thursday with the P2 was great. It really is a huge stability improvement over the P1, and I like the centered throttle, etc. No problems at all.
Of course, I calibrated the compass, and I always wait until I get all green lights before take off (learned this the hard way with the P1, don't need to learn again).
I was on my second battery in the P2, flying over one of the markers waiting for the boats to round it. Operating from a pontoon boat (I have done this many times), the quad was about 50' away from me hovering as I played with the camera angle via gopro wifi. This P2 has (or I should say "had") the interference board installed. I put down the ipad which had lost wifi connectivity anyway and watched the P2 for another minute or two waiting for the boats to arrive and then it took off like a bat out of hell towards the dam. It would say it was about 40' in the air. I tried all the controls and switches and got nothing, then when it was rapidly going out of sight almost to the dam I shut off the controller hoping for the "return to home" mode to save the day. Instead, as soon as I did the P2 dropped like a rock into the lake and sank. Almost like it had been shot out of the air (and there was some joking about that). Of course, it went into the deepest part of the lake (around 80'). Some scuba folks were on the boat and suggested a salvage mission, but in the murky depths of this freshwater lake, due to silt, etc, you would be lucky to find it.
Other environmental factors: none really. no high tension wires nearby, no radio towers or cell towers nearby. I have flown the P1 in the same place many times.
So, I want to learn from my mistakes. The P2 is a really simple platform and suits my needs nicely. I'm ready to buy another if I can be somehow assured this won't happen again.
Any thoughts appreciated!
sj
So, to start, I have had a Phantom 1 for over a year. Never in hundreds of flights had anything like a flyaway.
I live in a 300 acre private lake community, and had been asked to shoot some footage of the regattas we have nearly every weekend. I shot it first with the Phantom 1, but without a gimbal - and sailing is a lot more fun in the wind - and the poor battery life, I looked to a Phantom 2 - not the vision as I still wanted to use a GoPro for the best picture quality.
The first flight last Thursday with the P2 was great. It really is a huge stability improvement over the P1, and I like the centered throttle, etc. No problems at all.
Of course, I calibrated the compass, and I always wait until I get all green lights before take off (learned this the hard way with the P1, don't need to learn again).
I was on my second battery in the P2, flying over one of the markers waiting for the boats to round it. Operating from a pontoon boat (I have done this many times), the quad was about 50' away from me hovering as I played with the camera angle via gopro wifi. This P2 has (or I should say "had") the interference board installed. I put down the ipad which had lost wifi connectivity anyway and watched the P2 for another minute or two waiting for the boats to arrive and then it took off like a bat out of hell towards the dam. It would say it was about 40' in the air. I tried all the controls and switches and got nothing, then when it was rapidly going out of sight almost to the dam I shut off the controller hoping for the "return to home" mode to save the day. Instead, as soon as I did the P2 dropped like a rock into the lake and sank. Almost like it had been shot out of the air (and there was some joking about that). Of course, it went into the deepest part of the lake (around 80'). Some scuba folks were on the boat and suggested a salvage mission, but in the murky depths of this freshwater lake, due to silt, etc, you would be lucky to find it.
Other environmental factors: none really. no high tension wires nearby, no radio towers or cell towers nearby. I have flown the P1 in the same place many times.
So, I want to learn from my mistakes. The P2 is a really simple platform and suits my needs nicely. I'm ready to buy another if I can be somehow assured this won't happen again.
Any thoughts appreciated!
sj
Lessson learnt the hard way, I was lucky I guess all I got was a bent gimbal.
