Crash- Phantom 4 flyaway changing to "follow me" mode.

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Fourth time out with my DJI Phantom 4 and I had a fly away. I've been very careful about getting used to the drone and building up my skills. This time I was starting to use the intelligent flight modes. I successfully used several of them, and was circling a point of interest when I decided to use "follow me"

I had been circling at 36 feet but over the course of the point of interest mode it had decayed to 28 feet. I didn't want to be too high if I had a problem. I was in a very wide open space - a golf course with no trees within several hundred feet.

I tried to enable follow me mode but the drone controller warned me I was below 10 meters. I increased my altitude just above 30 meters and tried to enable it again. When i hit it, the drone took off sideways rapidly running away. I tried to raise my altitude- no response. I tried to cancel follow me. No response. It left the golf course. Tried to frantically press return to home. No response and then I heard the impact in a tree. I was running with an IPhone 6s+ as the controller. I had a great gps fix and a very clear line of sight.

Video of the event here:

Flyaway starts just after 1:17 in the video. Note the video glitch when it goes into follow me mode. I was close to the drone, had good signal all day and had no other glitches. Did the cpu in the drone just barf? If you check the flight logs you can see it flies sideways in the flyaway. No hope for the collision avoidance to save it from the tree

Log uploaded to healthydrones here:
HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

Crash has creased the case. Broke a prop. Battery popped out. Some other scuffs and strains. Powers up and I was able to fly it briefly up to about 8 feet with a new prop. Didn't want to fly any significant amount until it is checked /repaired but had to know how bad this was.

Can anyone tell me what happened? What path do I take with DJI? This looked like a complete failure of the follow me capability in my shiny new drone.

Appreciate any insights.
Rob

ff5bae375af6ffeb0886d61d3d7c1a42.jpg
 
Last edited:
Contact DJI. If it was a software error (their fault) and not a pilot error (your fault), they should repair/replace your bird for free.
 
You have to be careful with follow me, specifically pay attention to the GPS fix of your device. It is the blue dot on the map. If your device's location is not accurate the aircraft will fly away to the incorrect location when you initiate follow me.
 
I did check and My gps location was accurate and exactly represented my location. Even if it thought I was somewhere else, follow me should not have flown sideways, right?


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
Check out blue dot, straight flyaway line and the orientation of the drone (stayed in that direction the whole flight).

9f29abc4d5c5863bc97da100b03dca7c.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
Have you trying switch it to Atti mode to gain back control?


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@what the. Too inexperienced to think of it in the 15 seconds of this event. :-(


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
Sorry for your incident. Judging by the HD analysis, it almost appears that you were switching to fast between intelligent flight modes. Perhaps not letting the flight controller reset for the next mode. I normally never run multiple IFM's with in one flight. I would still attempt to send your flight logs to DJI and file a claim just to see if they will honor the warranty and repair or replace your bird.
Good Luck!
 
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Different view of the log here:

Phantom Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

The 5 warnings on healthy drones were:

Testing ActiveTrack
1) Camera Settings Adjusted to ActiveTrack
2) Warning:Subject lost. Searching ...
3) Warning:Subject lost. Searching ...
Successful active track session

Trying POI circle. Didnt know how to use the interface. Had to set the radius.
4) Warning:Min Circling Radius is 5m (16ft).
Successful POI circle.

Attempting to get into Follow Me mode:
5) Altitude Less than 10m. Cannot enable Follow Me Mode.
Was at 27.9 feet. Raised to 33.5. Wanted to stay low over a very flat golf course open field as I learned.

Entered Follow me mode:

Follow Me Mode Enabled
Mode changed to 25

What is Mode 25?

I contacted DJI support. They have opened a ticket and I'm sending in the drone for evaluation. No indication if they will cover under warranty. Fingers crossed after a couple posts recently where other oddities were denied.
 
Different view of the log here:

Phantom Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

The 5 warnings on healthy drones were:

Testing ActiveTrack
1) Camera Settings Adjusted to ActiveTrack
2) Warning:Subject lost. Searching ...
3) Warning:Subject lost. Searching ...
Successful active track session

Trying POI circle. Didnt know how to use the interface. Had to set the radius.
4) Warning:Min Circling Radius is 5m (16ft).
Successful POI circle.

Attempting to get into Follow Me mode:
5) Altitude Less than 10m. Cannot enable Follow Me Mode.
Was at 27.9 feet. Raised to 33.5. Wanted to stay low over a very flat golf course open field as I learned.

Entered Follow me mode:

Follow Me Mode Enabled
Mode changed to 25

What is Mode 25?

I contacted DJI support. They have opened a ticket and I'm sending in the drone for evaluation. No indication if they will cover under warranty. Fingers crossed after a couple posts recently where other oddities were denied.
Fingers crossed for you on this end. Hope it go's well. Keep us up to date on the process. Good Luck!:cool:
 
One thing I wanted to mention, Clearly your FAA reg is visible. Now I know where you live.
Might be a good idea to blur the reg in the photos.:cool:
 
How far away did you have it set to follow from?

(Not altitude, but distance from subject)
 
Mode changed to 25
What is Mode 25?
Mode 25 is Follow-me.
The Phantom thought it was in Follow-me, but it's not clear what it thought it was following (the flight record doesn't show this) or what else was interfering with normal flight since it was flying sideways.
In the final leg of the flight it accelerated to 29mph but at 7:55 it decelerated rapidly and strangely, it climbed 14 feet and then picked up a little speed before the signal was lost.
Maybe this is somehow related to encountering tree branches? But that's only a wild guess.
 
If You bought it from a shop. Assuming You are in the UK. You are entitled to a replacement, no quibbles. I bought Mine from Maplins & had problems with drone. It took 3 attempts to get a Good one.


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Thanks guys. Here's the revised photo without my FAA registration. At least everyone knows I'm a responsible pilot!

bd7e83f542105d12fc0bb8b8efd8ded3.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
 

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