Drone Fly Away

[Starz]

Careful with State Far Insurance! I had a claim on my truck for tailgate damage. Two months later crashed my drone (insured by State Farm). They paid for a replacement. Two months later they canceled my insurance! Two accidents in one year!

That information would have been available from your agent on how that type of scenario would have been handled prior to the occurrence.
You always want to know that information before it happens and those questions should be asked in advance.

 

[LarBear360]

St.Farm policy covers the cost to replace if lost or stolen. Repair I can’t answer.

State Farm does not offer "drone insurance" of any kind. It's called a personal articles policy and covers a wide range of property, including cameras. A claim will result in a payout, however, you will most likely not get renewed and/or your rates could increase regardless of insurance company. Everybody reports claims to the same database which insurance companies all share. It's like a credit bureau but for insurance companies. Your claim will increase your rating in terms of risk. Higher risk, higher rates. It's just that simple.

 

[Starz]

State Farm does not offer "drone insurance" of any kind. It's called a personal articles policy and covers a wide range of property, including cameras. A claim will result in a payout, however, you will most likely not get renewed and/or your rates could increase regardless of insurance company. Everybody reports claims to the same database which insurance companies all share. It's like a credit bureau but for insurance companies. Your claim will increase your rating in terms of risk. Higher risk, higher rates. It's just that simple.

And technically, a bee doesn’t fly.

 

[Safety71]

I strongly suggest you secure drone insurance from an entity NOT IN THE auto insurance industry. Reason why-----if you file a claim, say with an auto insurance company for your drone, it is a claim, no matter how you look at it and will follow you. Safe flying.

 

[bsartist]

"Flyaway" just means I lost my drone and don't understand why"
When we look at the recorded flight data, we see that the cause of almost all "flyaways" is operator error which firmware is unable to address.

I'm unaware of anything to suggest that there's any issue that requires resolution.
The P4 pro is an extremely stable and reliable drone for recreational and commercial use.

Just for completeness, I believe there was a short lived version of firmware that had a bug that would reset the home point thousands of feet away. These looked like fly always upon RTH. I think it was P4P. May be wrong. DJI was replacing drones. Don’t remember the version. But make sure you don’t have it.

 

[RodPad]

Just for completeness, I believe there was a short lived version of firmware that had a bug that would reset the home point thousands of feet away. These looked like fly always upon RTH. I think it was P4P. May be wrong. DJI was replacing drones. Don’t remember the version. But make sure you don’t have it.

Is this what you are referring to?
Phantom 3 Standard Fly Away. Where is it ?

Rod

 

[bsartist]

Is this what you are referring to?
Phantom 3 Standard Fly Away. Where is it ?

Rod

Ahh yes. Thank you. I was wrong on two accounts. It wasn’t firmware and it wasn’t the P4P. The memory is the second thing to go.

Thanx.

 

[AeroViking]

Ahh yes. Thank you. I was wrong on two accounts. It wasn’t firmware and it wasn’t the P4P. The memory is the second thing to go.

Thanx.

As a man getting older, I an curious as to what the first thing to go will be. I'd like to prepare

 

[bsartist]

As a man getting older, I an curious as to what the first thing to go will be. I'd like to prepare

Can’t remember what the first thing is.

 

[captainmilehigh]

The first thing to go already went. ....I wonder what it was...?

 

[Theo CvV]

Hi,

I do sympathise with you about the flyaway that you experienced and I can appreciate the fear that you must feel over the loss of control.

As others have already said the Phantom 4 series is well engineered with built with dual IMUs etc and is renowned for its reliability. That said the systems are not infallible. However, we should all be prepared to look closely at our own actions because pilot error is unfortunately a common factor. Last December I posted an account of my 'flyaway' that was purely my fault and I have cut and pasted that info below:

Over a year ago I nearly lost my P4 when it started to misbehave in flight. After take off I intended to use the course lock function so turned the P4 on to the course heading I wanted but I noticed that the P4 continued to turn slightly after I stopped the stick control and when I turned the bird back onto the desired heading it drifted past again. So although I noted this odd behaviour I didn't fully realise the danger. After I engaged course lock the P4 flew away but was in sight and I managed to fly it back. Luckily I was wearing brown cords. I landed it in a panic and checked over the drone. I did the compass dance and all seemed well so I risked taking off again (yeah, I know!!!) and it flew off out of sight beyond tall trees but I eventually landed 1/4 mile away and recovered it. The first lesson here is to note that you must take heed of any unusual behaviour by the drone and immediately land it to investigate.

I have to put my hand up and admit that this issue was an own goal - totally my fault. After recovering the P4 and while doing the compass dance for the 5th? time I realised that the compass error increased as I approached my P4 back pack. I first moved the pack a few yards to a new position suspecting that there was an object in the ground causing the anomaly and repeated the dance but the compass error persisted. It dawned on me that it was the pack itself that was the problem. I started emptying out the pack until the issue changed. The weather was cold and I had worn a pair of shooting gloves to the take-off site. I had taken these gloves off before flying and put them into the backpack from which I launched the P4. These specialist gloves allow the first finger and thumb to be exposed for operating the trigger/bolt on a gun. These parts of the glove are clipped out of the way by TINY magnets built into the fabric of the gloves. When I found the cause I felt like a complete fool because this silly mistake had nearly cost me my P4.

I thought that it was worth posting this info as a warning to others so that no one else falls in to this trap. I strongly suspect that the same problem has caused many of the reported flyaways. We all need to be aware that tiny neodymium magnets are built in to so many every day items - such as the clips on mobile phone and tablet cases, glasses cases, key fobs etc etc. After this incident I completely emptied out the back pack again at home and focused on a screen shade I had bought, but very rarely used, for the Nexus tablet that I use on the controller. To my horror I realised that the fold-flat screen shade when folded out and mounted on the tablet relied on built in flexi magnetic strips (as used on fridge magnets and shower doors) to hold it in shape. That shade immediately got binned and I made a replacement out of black card.

I then thought back to a non-DJI drone that I owned a year earlier. That drone eventually met its end when it started to fly erratically and uncontrollably. Because it had drifted near to houses and I was not in control so I was forced to initiate a forced motor stop to bring it down. Of course I couldn't remember whether I was wearing the same gloves but it did make me wonder. We live and learn. Fly safe.

All the best, Martin

Hallo, with regard to local magnetic interference, l had similar issues on my P3S, l attached one of those PVC tablet stands to the back of my T3 8 inch media pad & used the big DJI clip to hold it on my r/c. It was good but often l got the strong magnetic interference message. l noticed that this occurred in my frequent flying site at Margate Pier head, lots of metal railings, eventually l thought that it was odd happening there.
One night l noticed a tiny circular depression in the pvc thingy & gradually worked out that the railings combined with what turned out to be a pair of those powerful disc magnets was causing the error messages.
I had cancelled about 4 or 5 flights in this particular area previously & after removing these discs every flight has proceeded as planned. Having scanned through a lot of those handy little gadgets in our lives l am surprised just how often they are present. So it is now added to the operating procedures before packing for a flight. l carry a small compass capsule & pass it over all of the extra gear l might take to confirm no magnetic fluctuations or variations. Ho hum, Drone flying is such fun. Good luck clear, air & open spaces, T

 

[TNT Pilot]

In the three years I had my P4P I only had one fly away and that was caused by wireless interference in a downtown area. The end result was not favorable for the Phantom, and probably could have been avoided with more preplanning. All in all, I don’t think there is an inherent fly away issue with the phantom line or the Mavic 2 pro. I would take your new aircraft to an open area and start getting used to all the functions and have fun!

 

[pbxcomm]

Hello all..
To answer above replies, yes "Lost Drone" was my original post. I spent months looking for the drone in the area of which was posted as a thumbnail. I visited all businesses within a mile radius of this location as well as notifying the local police and offering a reward. I never located the Drone. Additionally there was no convincing proof of the actual reason this Drone flew away. It simply "took off' on its own. Proceeded to 400' altitude, tilted forward flew with wind direction, unable to regain control of the drone at any point after 400'.

 

[pbxcomm]

To add to the last post.. I did however purchase another Phantom 4 Pro Plus (Brand new in box) and continued my aerial search mapping all buildings and heavily forested areas within a mile radius of the thumbnail. This search was over a few weeks everyday 4 hours a day. Again, I never found the drone. I suspended my search efforts for an indefinite period of time.

 

[RodPad]

Well that sucks!

Have you had time to look my post#13?

I really think anybody with a P4 should be aware of this information.

These P4's are about the same price tag of my lost P2V+.

Rod

 

[Meta4]

Additionally there was no convincing proof of the actual reason this Drone flew away. It simply "took off' on its own. Proceeded to 400' altitude, tilted forward flew with wind direction, unable to regain control of the drone at any point after 400'.

Your drone did not fly away.
If you reread the responses to your original thread, there's some good analysis of your flight data and explanations of what happened.

LOST DRONE!

Well, I read horro stories about drone with minds of thier own.. Never thought it would happen to me, but it did. My drone took off out of site and dissapeared (LOST). No idea where it landed (or crashed). Battery went low at 300' so I assumed it fell to earth somewhere. I read there are...

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