Definition of a "fly away"

[Deleted member 29014]

Bit of a silly list. These devices are designed to return to home in the event of a communication loss. So, shouldn't matter if someone did a range or altitude test or flew beyond LOS. If it fails what it is designed to do, it's a product failure.

Wrong, again. If you shot your bird BLOS, how in hell do you know what sources of RF or EMF are too close and interfering with your compass and throwing your return path off kilter?

 

[Buckaye]

I think if you push the envelope of any device - you are increasing the possibility that something could go wrong. I think that's what this list represents. People choosing to push the envelope and getting upset when that results in loss of the bird. @vgt If you choose to fly off in a direction and your Phantom doesn't return... it could be the Phantom performed perfectly, but the operator was flying downwind on the way out and the Phantom didn't have enough juice to get back.

I have seen people call similar situations "fly-aways" and blame DJI - when there is no reason to believe that the Phantom didn't try to respond properly but was run beyond it's reasonable limits.

The truth is, I have VERY RARELY seen stories that were clearly a malfunction of the hardware or firmware that resulted in the loss of the bird. I am not saying it doesn't happen... but the term "flyaway" is far FAR overused on this forum, when in a huge proportion of the cases - pilot error was involved.

 

[Deleted member 29014]

I think if you push the envelope of any device - you are increasing the possibility that something could go wrong. I think that's what this list represents. People choosing to push the envelope and getting upset when that results in loss of the bird. @vgt If you choose to fly off in a direction and your Phantom doesn't return... it could be the Phantom performed perfectly, but the operator was flying downwind on the way out and the Phantom didn't have enough juice to get back.

I have seen people call similar situations "fly-aways" and blame DJI - when there is no reason to believe that the Phantom didn't try to respond properly but was run beyond it's reasonable limits.

The truth is, I have VERY RARELY seen stories that were clearly a malfunction of the hardware or firmware that resulted in the loss of the bird. I am not saying it doesn't happen... but the term "flyaway" is far FAR overused on this forum, when in a huge proportion of the cases - pilot error was involved.

AMEN, brother...

 

[vgt]

Wrong, again. If you shot your bird BLOS, how in hell do you know what sources of RF or EMF are too close and interfering with your compass and throwing your return path off kilter?

You have a fundamental misunderstanding of how RTH works. But, just for kicks, if the drone was forty feet away from you, and flew itself off into the sunset, how would you know EMF/RF/FantasyFrequency interfered with its operation?

@vgt If you choose to fly off in a direction and your Phantom doesn't return... it could be the Phantom performed perfectly, but the operator was flying downwind on the way out and the Phanto

I have live telemetry, as do most of us these days. I can clearly see when I have eclipsed my control limits and the drone returns to home. Can see easily if it runs out of battery, or arbitrarily crashes itself into the ocean.

 

[Deleted member 29014]

You have a fundamental misunderstanding of how RTH works. But, just for kicks, if the drone was forty feet away from you, and flew itself off into the sunset, how would you know EMF/RF/FantasyFrequency interfered with its operation?



I have live telemetry, as do most of us these days. I can clearly see when I have eclipsed my control limits and the drone returns to home. Can see easily if it runs out of battery, or arbitrarily crashes itself into the ocean.

"But, just for kicks, if the drone was forty feet away from you, and flew itself off into the sunset, how would you know EMF/RF/FantasyFrequency interfered with its operation?"
DUH, high power lines, microwave antenna nearby would be a good hint. A mile away and BLOS you may not be so quick to see the source of trouble. I'm done with you on this thread. My goal was to get posters to start calling pilot errors for what they are and stop the mysterious flyaway stories, unless every possible reason has been ruled out.

 

[vgt]

"But, just for kicks, if the drone was forty feet away from you, and flew itself off into the sunset, how would you know EMF/RF/FantasyFrequency interfered with its operation?"
DUH, high power lines, microwave antenna nearby would be a good hint. A mile away and BLOS you may not be so quick to see the source of trouble. I'm done with you on this thread. My goal was to get posters to start calling pilot errors for what they are and stop the mysterious flyaway stories, unless every possible reason has been ruled out.

Flying within 40' of a microwave antenna? lol. Glad you're 'done' with me.

 

[N017RW]

I've always considered fly-aways as a verb, not a noun.

Before multi-rotors with auto-pilots we called these incidents crashes.
It's just part of the R/C 'deal'.

 

[Deleted member 29014]

I've always considered fly-aways as a verb, not a noun.

Before multi-rotors with auto-pilots we called these incidents crashes.
It's just part of the R/C 'deal'.

Yeah, but those were the days of real pilots and personal responsibility
DJI is the new boogyman...

 

[Buckaye]

I have live telemetry, as do most of us these days. I can clearly see when I have eclipsed my control limits and the drone returns to home. Can see easily if it runs out of battery, or arbitrarily crashes itself into the ocean.

You're making a fairly big assumption that MOST people have the knowledge you do of telemetry and the craft. I am not arguing with you that people SHOULD know what happened... I am arguing that a lot of people make stupid mistakes and DON'T know what happened and take the easy route of trying to blame DJI.

I'll stand by my statement that most of the usage of the word "fly-away" I have seen has been suspect at best. I have only seen two or three posts here where there was really a complete malfunction of the hardware/firmware without some other readily available explanation.

However I have seen lots of times where people lose their craft doing something that pushes the limit and blame DJI for their own miscalculation.

Please be clear - you might be one who fully understands the Phantom and maybe even one who has seen a real "fly-away" And please be clear that I understand that some hardware malfunctions and am not surprised by that

My point, however, is that this consumer electronic is so accessible to people who don't fully understand it - that most of the "fly-away" threads I have seen have other much more probable explanations that point more directly at the pilot.

 

[Holt]

Ok, so high power lines and big *** antennas will cause the craft to malfunction? What else?

I'll have to admit, this is rather entertaining.

 

[kirk2579]

I've gone ahead and struck out the scenarios that should absolutely never lead to a flyway, with the exception of an internal defect to the phantom, which the user would likely not be able to correct regardless of its positioning.

does this include someone setting a ground station mission that exceeds battery range . failsafe are not involved then as it is meant to fly out of range with out issue?

 

[vgt]

does this include someone setting a ground station mission that exceeds battery range . failsafe are not involved then as it is meant to fly out of range with out issue?

RTH would still be triggered at the low battery threshold. Whether or not it makes it back because you sent it so far away is another story, but landing on the way back due to insufficient battery is not a 'flyaway'

 

[kirk2579]

RTH would still be triggered at the low battery threshold. Whether or not it makes it back because you sent it so far away is another story, but landing on the way back due to insufficient battery is not a 'flyaway'

I agree 100%, but I think many users would call it that wrongly like many have said.

The thought process would be: I don't have it, It did not return, therefore it "flew away" on me.

 

[Milly]

My full pants experience when I first started flying and I was showing off my new purchase to a friend on the front lawn. after a while we noticed my wife on her quad bike in the adjoining field checking the sheep for a neighbour that was away on holiday.
I decided to go closer to her and try and video her by making some over head passes and the control made some warning beeps before I realised the battery had run low and I didn't notice, before I realised what was happening I lost control of the craft and it rose well into the air and made its way home for a safe landing.
I pretended to my friend that the smells from my pants came from the neighbours cattle and packed up quick sharp before I was rumbled, but I did learn from the experience.

 

[Grimfever]

I'm a fairly new flyer with only having my P3A for about a month now but I've been on phantom pilots for 2 (info gathering) and aside form a rotor failure, plenty of things I've read seems like pilot error. I live in a city so flying near power lines(none high) is unavoidable and I've had no issues. I've also never flown above 220ft or 3000ft away. I do want to know about calibration however cause I do it every time I fly. Is that a bad thing cause I thought you were supposed to.

 

[Buckaye]

I'm a fairly new flyer with only having my P3A for about a month now but I've been on phantom pilots for 2 (info gathering) and aside form a rotor failure, plenty of things I've read seems like pilot error. I live in a city so flying near power lines(none high) is unavoidable and I've had no issues. I've also never flown above 220ft or 3000ft away. I do want to know about calibration however cause I do it every time I fly. Is that a bad thing cause I thought you were supposed to.

Hey there... you do not need to calibrate the compass or the IMU on every flight... DJI suggests doing calibrations when you have traveled a great distance from the last place you flew or if the app calls for a calibration.

Can it hurt? I suppose it could if you end up in a place that makes it difficult to get a good calibration.

I'll be honest... I have traveled as far as NC from Florida and forgotten to calibrate and didn't have a problem.

 

[N017RW]

Hey there... you do not need to calibrate the compass or the IMU on every flight... DJI suggests doing calibrations when you have traveled a great distance from the last place you flew or if the app calls for a calibration.

Can it hurt? I suppose it could if you end up in a place that makes it difficult to get a good calibration.

I'll be honest... I have traveled as far as NC from Florida and forgotten to calibrate and didn't have a problem.

Me too...

South Florida to Murphy, NC and back with no compass cal.!

Whoops, I forgot this was the P3 forum. I've only done it with my P2 NV.

 

[Clipper707]

I might win the Bonehead Award here. From the SF Bay Area to Luang Prabang, Laos. Three flights feet-wet over the Mekong River before remembering to calibrate.

 

[Holt]

My full pants experience when I first started flying and I was showing off my new purchase to a friend on the front lawn. after a while we noticed my wife on her quad bike in the adjoining field checking the sheep for a neighbour that was away on holiday.
I decided to go closer to her and try and video her by making some over head passes and the control made some warning beeps before I realised the battery had run low and I didn't notice, before I realised what was happening I lost control of the craft and it rose well into the air and made its way home for a safe landing.
I pretended to my friend that the smells from my pants came from the neighbours cattle and packed up quick sharp before I was rumbled, but I did learn from the experience.

You actually **** your pants? Dude...

 

[Milly]

You actually **** your pants? Dude...

Just a figure of speech and a bit of jest.