DJI drone Commits Suicide - Anyone else loose $2700. ?

GoodnNuff · Apr 24, 2015

To the point I'm so certain it was a complete malfunction that I have contacted the Canadian Association of Astrology and discussed the date that it occurred.

And taking your birth sign into consideration, along with the alignment of the stars that day, was it a good day to fly?
I assume the Canadian Association of Astrology uses western Astrology and not Chinese Astrology? I've heard those born under the sign of the Snake should not fly drones. Bad opposable thumb coordination it seems.

MikeON · Apr 25, 2015

Marlin009 said:
What if, he took off before it had GPS lock and it recorded the home point over the lake?

This seems most likely what happened. My yard is surrounded by tall trees and I could never get GPS lock on the ground. Would have to fly up 100' and then it would lock quickly, and home point would be set at that time. (Since doing the mod of putting the cable above the shielding, I now get GPS lock on the ground.)
davehumpries - was the point where it landed along the path that you flew early in the flight?

tcope · Apr 25, 2015

I'd say the lesson here is that we should always try to avoid a RTH situation. At the point that RTH kicks in, we are taking a chance that it may not be exact for for whatever reason. Better to maintain control over the Phantom rather then rely on as correct setting that was established at launch. RTH should _only_ happen when there is no other way to avoid it. It's also best to switch out of Phantom mode asap in order to allow Atti mode. If RTH initiates, or any fly away situation, the pilot should know to switch to Atti mode right away in an attempt to regain control of the Phantom.

ianwood · Apr 25, 2015

tcope said:
I'd say the lesson here is that we should always try to avoid a RTH situation. At the point that RTH kicks in, we are taking a chance that it may not be exact for for whatever reason. Better to maintain control over the Phantom rather then rely on as correct setting that was established at launch. RTH should _only_ happen when there is no other way to avoid it. It's also best to switch out of Phantom mode asap in order to allow Atti mode. If RTH initiates, or any fly away situation, the pilot should know to switch to Atti mode right away in an attempt to regain control of the Phantom.

I disagree. It's not as if RTH is flaky and only sometimes works. If the OP did indeed have an RTH event, it was because he took off before he had his home point set and it set out in the middle of the water as Marlin009 suggested.

If you wait for the home point to be set or manually set it, the Phantom will return to that point (assuming a big bushy pine isn't in the way). RTH is a valuable tool. It works.

P2 Explorer · Apr 25, 2015

Yes, I also lost my first P2 (with gimbal, Go Pro Hero 3+ Black, video transmitter, etc.) in late 2014, so I can empathize. I will admit however that I took a risk (dumb mistake).

My story:
I hiked up a mountain and wanted to capture the scenery between mountains over a lake. When I took off, it was locked on to seven satellites, but then it dropped to six at about 300m over the lake. At about 900m I decided to go back, but it was difficult to determine in my viewfinder which direction was towards me. After a few minutes of trial and error, I took a risk and tried returned to home. The day before I tried RTH with six satellites and it worked just fine. This time however the P2 was not moving. It actually flew farther away to just over 1000m. I panicked and turned the controller off, thinking this would help. The viewfinder blinked "auto land" or something to that effect since there weren't enough satellites. I assume it landed in the lake and never found it (searched the area for about four hours). I learned my lesson.

I liked the P2 so much that I bought another one (this time the P2 V2.0 with Go Pro 4 Black).

Lessons learned:

Never take off with less than eight satellites when planning to fly a great distance.
Never try RTH with less than seven satellites.
Never fly more than 50-100m away when battery power is less than 30-35%.

Marlin009 · Apr 25, 2015

RTH with 6 or more is fine. You may have lost GPS. In that case it can't get "home". Were you in Phantom mode? Home lock is what your initial situation is perfect for.

P2 Explorer · Apr 25, 2015

I was in Phantom/GPS mode. I'm fairly certain there were six satellites. I remember looking down at the monitor to see the number go back and forth from six to seven to six (at one point it might have been five).

Thanks for the information but unfortunately I didn't try home lock. In hindsight, I should have tried that first.

For future reference, does home lock also use GPS to take the P2 back to the take-off point?

Marlin009 · Apr 25, 2015

P2 Explorer said:
I was in Phantom/GPS mode. I'm fairly certain there were six satellites. I remember looking down at the monitor to see the number go back and forth from six to seven to six (at one point it might have been five).

Thanks for the information but unfortunately I didn't try home lock. In hindsight, I should have tried that first.

For future reference, does home lock also use GPS to take the P2 back to the take-off point?

Yes it does. If you were in Phantom, it wasn't an option. You need to be in Naza mode and have IOC enabled. Highly recommended. You can still fly in "Phantom" mode but you have other options.

If you have less than 6 satellites for 10 seconds it will switch to ATTI mode and will drift with the wind or momentum. That may have been what happened.

manofword · Apr 25, 2015

I've had 2 flyaway and both were P2's (latest version) The one was RTH failure. It had sat locks, was in an open environment. I lost sight of it for a moment, feared the battery level, but knew it wasn't critical. The sky was grey and I didn't want to risk guessing its direction. I hit RTH and waited for the sound we all love to hear in that situation.........it never happened. Never found it or saw it again. I replaced it and was in a completely different place when this one, in GPS mode, started going crazy fast & started to dive on return. I was able to gain altitude and avoided hitting a residential area but it finally turned around, flew backwards, and crashed! Fortunately, I had a Trackimo on it and was able to find it and recover it. Contacted DJI about both instances. They had me ship it in for repair but no guarantee that they will find it was an inherent failure. I've had and an FC40, 3 P2's, and a Vsion+ so I'm not a newbie. I trusted the aircraft and was "woefully" disappointed. As I've said in a couple of other threads, I hope the P3 is more reliable. Extremely expensive loss $$$$$$.

P2 Explorer · Apr 25, 2015

Marlin009 said:
Yes it does. If you were in Phantom, it wasn't an option. You need to be in Naza mode and have IOC enabled. Highly recommended. You can still fly in "Phantom" mode but you have other options.

If you have less than 6 satellites for 10 seconds it will switch to ATTI mode and will drift with the wind or momentum. That may have been what happened.

I have IOC enabled on my current P2 (in Naza mode), but I haven't experimented with it -- I only tried ATTI mode. Regarding the one I lost, I think it was also enabled (I confused the term Phantom mode). Since I was panicking, I didn't think of even using it.

Anyway, I'm learning something every time I read the posts on the forum. If I turned the controller off and the P2 started drifting away, it probably had less than six satellites for less than 10 seconds, correct? I remember that I did still have some control however. Would home lock have been an option if there were less than six satellites? The last thing I saw on the monitor was "auto land".

tcope · Apr 26, 2015

ianwood said:
I disagree. It's not as if RTH is flaky and only sometimes works. If the OP did indeed have an RTH event, it was because he took off before he had his home point set and it set out in the middle of the water as Marlin009 suggested.

If you wait for the home point to be set or manually set it, the Phantom will return to that point (assuming a big bushy pine isn't in the way). RTH is a valuable tool. It works.

It works... yet you mention 3 issues with RTH in this one post. It works.... when it works but you also lose all manual control over the drone which is something that _should_ be avoided at all cost.

mendezl · Apr 26, 2015

Why did your phantom cost $2700? Should be like $1500

ianwood · Apr 26, 2015

tcope said:
It works... yet you mention 3 issues with RTH in this one post. It works.... when it works but you also lose all manual control over the drone which is something that _should_ be avoided at all cost.

Issues or limitations? RTH is not a panacea. It cannot save you from every situation you put the Phantom into. But if you can follow some simple guidelines, it can serve as a safeguard for many less avoidable situations.

Also, you can regain control during RTH with the simple flip of a switch.

Marlin009 · Apr 26, 2015

P2 Explorer said:
I have IOC enabled on my current P2 (in Naza mode), but I haven't experimented with it -- I only tried ATTI mode. Regarding the one I lost, I think it was also enabled (I confused the term Phantom mode). Since I was panicking, I didn't think of even using it.

Anyway, I'm learning something every time I read the posts on the forum. If I turned the controller off and the P2 started drifting away, it probably had less than six satellites for less than 10 seconds, correct? I remember that I did still have some control however. Would home lock have been an option if there were less than six satellites? The last thing I saw on the monitor was "auto land".

I may have added to the confusion regarding "Phantom" mode.
If you have changed to Naza in the assistant, and have enabled IOC, but you have both S1 and S2 switches in the up position, you are flying in GPS. Essentially it is the same as if you were still set in Phantom mode in the assistant.

When you tried ATTI, you may have noticed your green lights changed to yellow, that is your indicator of what mode it is flying in. If it loses GPS (less than 6) it will automatically change to ATTI. Home lock will not work with less than 6, neither will RTH (turning off controller).

I'm not familiar with the Vision apps and messages but "auto land" sounds suspiciously like a low battery situation.

tcope · Apr 26, 2015

ianwood said:
Issues or limitations? RTH is not a panacea. It cannot save you from every situation you put the Phantom into. But if you can follow some simple guidelines, it can serve as a safeguard for many less avoidable situations.

Also, you can regain control during RTH with the simple flip of a switch.

Again... still to my point that a flier should not rely upon RTH, it should be a last measure. As I mentioned, in RTH you hope that not one of many errors occur as anyone of them means you have a big problem. I agree that it _can_ serve a purpose... I've only stated that it should always be used as a last resort.

ianwood · Apr 26, 2015

There's no need to fear RTH. It is simply a waypoint flight back to home. Really very simple.

jason · Apr 26, 2015

Only if they have 6 or more satellites and if it's less then six they better their not over water or a canopy 70 foot trees.

macsoft · Apr 26, 2015

Ok. First of all, I think we are all sorry for your loss.
2nd.. What do you expect DJI to do? give you a new drone? Really?
Do you have proof it was not operator error? So how could they give you a new drone?
Hypothetically, imagine they believe you, with no proof whatsoever... How many people would just say they had lost their drones in the same way, just to get a new one? Do you think any company can survive with that policy?