Do P4P's have flyaways and if so whtat are the main causes?

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Hi Guys,

Looking to buy a P4P. Had no less than 4 Parrots which were all returned due to flyaways. Live in rural area so no interference to speak of but none the less flyaways would happen for no apparent reason. Lucky for me I could find them. Anyway I would like to ask the question .... " Do P4P's have flyaways and what is the reason for the cause also what is the DJI help desk like especially for someone living in Australia?"
 
Do P4P's have flyaways and what is the reason for the cause
In the old days, users might lose a P1 or P2 and not understand exactly why - this is where the idea of flyaways came from.
The Phantom is a sophisticated piece of technology and there's a learning curve to understand how it works properly.
Since the P3, Phantoms have a flight data recorder in the app so nowdays we can find exactly what happened in most lost Phantom incidents.
And the evidence shows that malfunctions are extremely rare and what users might think is a "flyaway" has a perfectly normal explanation.
Almost all are due to operator error or misunderstanding.
Some of most common scenarios are:
Not knowing how RTH works or how to use it
Flying behind an obstacle and RTH-ing into it
Flying downwind in a wind that is stronger than the Phantom can come back against.
Flying high where the winds are too strong
etc, etc.
Genuine flyaways are extremely rare - almost a mythical beast.
what is the DJI help desk like especially for someone living in Australia?
DJI's online help is a lucky dip, you might get a good answer or you could be told nonsense.
You'll generally get better help here on the forum.[/QUOTE]
 
These ladies and gentleman are awesome I am a rookie and probably ask some stupid question but they are the freakin bomb no ever laughs they just help. If you read a lot of the strings you will find an answer or something you can do with the phantom they are great
 
And the evidence shows that malfunctions are extremely rare and what users might think is a "flyaway" has a perfectly normal explanation.
Almost all are due to operator error or misunderstanding.
Some of most common scenarios are:
Not knowing how RTH works or how to use it
Flying behind an obstacle and RTH-ing into it
Flying downwind in a wind that is stronger than the Phantom can come back against.
Flying high where the winds are too strong
etc, etc.
Genuine flyaways are extremely rare - almost a mythical beast.

That pretty much sums up the "rash" of flyaways that show up from time to time.

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Premature of the industry to discount the flyaway issue.
Must address pilot as well as aircraft for overall system safety.
Aircraft must be instinctive in a loss of control or signal.
Each mishap is a learning opportunity that should be shared.
 
Premature of the industry to discount the flyaway issue.
That's not the industry speaking above.
It's users and based on thousands of flights and investigation of flight incidents to learn why they happened.
DJI Phantoms since the P3 series have been very reliable and based on exhaustive study and experience, it's safe to say the "flyaway issue" is a myth.
 
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Yet they "happen" every day.
The heart of the weakness in the UAS, is their lack of "Sense and Avoid".capacity., the FaA's greatest concern.
A flyaway, or pilot error, doesn't matter, that results in a drone leaving controlled flight is exactly that fear realized.
That's the area we should embrace as a learning tool.
 
Any private aircraft will fly away, if the pilot does not maintain control. Loss of control though, is not really a fly away, it is pilot error.
 
When an aircraft leaves the National Airspace System, but fails to land under control, that is concern to all.
Fly Away or Pilot Error, it must be addressed.
To me, your analogy to private aircraft is inapposite, unless we were talking about an aircraft where all the electronics failed, the aircraft was executing its own maneuvers, and the controls were unresponsive.
No, this is a unique UAS problem, and sweeping under the rug of "Pilot Error" does not make it go away.
This is the biggest problem facing drones today, and "blaming" pilots is massively counterproductive, education may prove the solution..
 
In the old days, users might lose a P1 or P2 and not understand exactly why - this is where the idea of flyaways came from.
The Phantom is a sophisticated piece of technology and there's a learning curve to understand how it works properly.
Since the P3, Phantoms have a flight data recorder in the app so nowdays we can find exactly what happened in most lost Phantom incidents.
And the evidence shows that malfunctions are extremely rare and what users might think is a "flyaway" has a perfectly normal explanation.
Almost all are due to operator error or misunderstanding.
Some of most common scenarios are:
Not knowing how RTH works or how to use it
Flying behind an obstacle and RTH-ing into it
Flying downwind in a wind that is stronger than the Phantom can come back against.
Flying high where the winds are too strong
etc, etc.
Genuine flyaways are extremely rare - almost a mythical beast.

DJI's online help is a lucky dip, you might get a good answer or you could be told nonsense.
You'll generally get better help here on the forum.
[/QUOTE]
all of these that you listed could come under the.
pilot error.
 
I have been flying drones sence the phantom2 vision.
never had a crash or flyaway until the 4 09 17
 
I wonder whether DJI is so busy geocaching, that errors are getting through in their constantly updating Firmware.
Further, I don't trust those logs, many pilot reports that stick movements shown in the report were not the ones input by the pilot.
Perhaps, it displays the movements the drone took on its own, which DJI uses to shift blame and deny warranty coverage.
Either way, drone pilots must stand together, not point fingers at each other.
 
Methinks thou dost protest too much...
 
Methinks its impossible to "protest" too much for safety.
All I needed to see were these pages, which revealed to me the extent of the problem, thanks!
Maybe my experience in life is different from yours.
I myself, have had cell phones and computers misbehave.
I think of a drone as a flying computer.
Not only will it receive updates that must harmonize with existing instructions, it must operate in real time and three dimensions.
So if a desk top computer can get a virus or freeze up, why should I presume a flying computer will have zero problems?
Particularly when these pages say otherwise.
 
Methinks its impossible to "protest" too much for safety.
All I needed to see were these pages, which revealed to me the extent of the problem, thanks!
Glen ... I've read your posts and I'm having trouble understanding what it is that you want to protest about.
I don't know your experience level with drones or even if you own one.
All I needed to see were these pages, which revealed to me the extent of the problem.
Perhaps it might help if you explained what "problem" you have identified and what you think it's extent might be because it's not at all clear so far.
Further, I don't trust those logs, many pilot reports that stick movements shown in the report were not the ones input by the pilot.
Perhaps, it displays the movements the drone took on its own, which DJI uses to shift blame and deny warranty coverage.
Either way, drone pilots must stand together, not point fingers at each other.
Your deep mistrust of the recorded flight data is a concern.
Eyewitness testimony can be very unreliable, an affected by what the observer thought they observed.
This is particularly true, particularly when the observer is disoriented or has misunderstandings of the technology they are using.
I've analysed many flight data from many incidents and found it to be a lot more reliable than what the flyer thought was happening.
If you can point to a single case where you believe that the recorded flight data is unreliable, I'd be most interested to see it.

With plane crashes, accident investigators study the evidence and recorded flight logs to work out the actual cause of the incident to help prevent similar events from occurring and contribute to pilot knowledge.
It's exactly the same with drone incidents.
The recorded flight data is the best tool we have for finding out exactly what happened, rather than what someone (who may or may not be reliable) thinks might have happened.
Sometimes the answer is pilot error and sometimes it's a malfunction, but Phantoms have proved to be very reliable and pilot error, disorientation and misunderstandings ares much more common.
 
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I stand for safety.
Drones need to land in a controlled manner, and they sometimes do not.
Drones are designed for human use, and must account for that if safe opearation in the NAS is undertaken.
The system logs are an important learning tool, and so is the subjective memory of the pilot.
Each incident should be dispassionately reviewed, with the end goal of a real world way to train or design a workaround.
 
I stand for safety.
Drones need to land in a controlled manner, and they sometimes do not.
Drones are designed for human use, and must account for that if safe opearation in the NAS is undertaken.
The system logs are an important learning tool, and so is the subjective memory of the pilot.
Each incident should be dispassionately reviewed, with the end goal of a real world way to train or design a workaround.
So what is the point you are trying to make? What is the problem you are concerned about?
 
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Simple truth of the matter is that no one outside of DJI knows what the fly away numbers are and how that relates to a particular firmware version or sequence of events. I have led teams of programmers and getting the code to work correctly was the easy part. Building in recovery routines when users did something that had not been anticipated by the designers was what took the most time to complete and thoroughly test. And the less experienced the tester the more valuable their input as they did not know how it was supposed to be done and so there was a much better chance of them doing the unexpected and "crashing" a system.

The infamous Windows BSD is just such a situation and one that is compounded by the poor design of the operating system that allows direct access by third party devices to the kernel. This is a defect that has been in existence for nearly 20 years and so it has become accepted as normal.

The reason one has to reboot a computer or similar device is because the programmer failed to program for a specific sequence and provide error trapping and a recovery routine. I have had to reboot or do hardware resets and or remove the battery power with nearly every electronic device I have owned over the years. Why should it be any different with a very sophisticated device like a DJI drone aircraft? Personally I am amazed at the amount of technology one can buy for $1400.
 
I stand for safety.
Drones need to land in a controlled manner, and they sometimes do not.
Drones are designed for human use, and must account for that if safe opearation in the NAS is undertaken.
The system logs are an important learning tool, and so is the subjective memory of the pilot.
Each incident should be dispassionately reviewed, with the end goal of a real world way to train or design a workaround.
Cars sometimes do not stop or drive in a controlled manner, is that the fault of the manufacturers?
Without logs, aircraft crashes are very difficult to investigate, you should be happy that your drone has such a feature, a $200,000 aircraft likely doesn't have it.
When you actually fly a real aircraft, you must rely on instruments, not your eyes, emotions or gut feelings, to ignore the instruments is a sure way to end as flight in a bad way.
 
Simple truth of the matter is that no one outside of DJI knows what the fly away numbers
We get a pretty good idea here from looking at reported incidents and my-phantom-flew-away posts.
And analysing the recorded flight data shows that there are occasional hardware malfunctions but the overwhelming majority are due to operator confusion, misunderstanding or straight out mistakes.
 
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