Experienced User Fly Away

huntflyer · Sep 19, 2014

Joined a club yesterday that I hoped I never would while flying a commercial real estate still photography shoot.

Phantom V1.1 - over 150 flights on the airframe, 12 cycles on this particular battery. IOC Setting: Course Lock - GPS Mode. Compass calibration was performed preflight (as always, unless it's a successive battery at the same site). Waited for GPS signal acquisition and recorded the home point. Flying 200 feet above and to my left, the Phantom pitched back and took off at full speed. Remote was totally useless with any control input. Flew for approximately 20 seconds before impacting a tree at full speed. While I didn't see it hit the tree, I certainly heard it. Luckily, I found it. At the very least, it needs a new casing, new gimbal, new props, and new landing gear.

And while I'll order all that today, I can't shake the nagging annoyance of not knowing the root failure. Would be interested in hearing about shared/similar experiences or thoughts on the failure.

HarryT · Sep 19, 2014

No clue at all in the video?

huntflyer · Sep 19, 2014

Absolutely none. Smooth flight followed by uncommanded 70 degree pitchback.

Pulled the housing and props last night. All the engines individually tested - run and respond to inputs on the bench.

HarryT · Sep 19, 2014

huntflyer said:
Absolutely none. Smooth flight followed by uncommanded 70 degree pitchback.

Pulled the housing and props last night. All the engines individually tested - run and respond to inputs on the bench.

Hmmm, that's a strange one. My only remotely comparable experience occurred when I was flying in a deep valley, and lost sight of my Phantom. In an attempt to get it back, I switched to HL, and pulled back on the right stick. Nothing. An hour later I got a phone call from an elderly gentleman whose garden it had landed in (or rather, crashed in, after hitting a tree). Looking at the video, when I pulled back on the stick it shot off backwards from the orientation it was facing in at the time, from which I conclude that, due to the steepness of the valley and the surrounding mountains, it must have lost GPS lock, so switching to HL mode did nothing. That one I count as pilot error (because I lost sight of it, which was stupid). Thank goodness, after many years of flying RC models, the first thing I do with any new aircraft is to put a sticker on it with my name and phone number on it.

Your experience sounds as if perhaps RTH mode was somehow triggered, but with the wrong home point.

N017RW · Sep 19, 2014

70 degree pitch back?

Wild guess...
IMU issue- only Manual mode would allow such attitude.

huntflyer · Sep 19, 2014

Solid logic on the IMU. Here's an image of the initial pitchback and several seconds later.

N017RW · Sep 19, 2014

I'm just guessing here, but why do you say solid logic?

Only Manual allows such attitude.

750r · Sep 19, 2014

I had a similar event a while back with my P1 no problems for about 2-3 min. Then it did a hard pitch went full throttle I bumped it down to manual got control flipped back to GPS went full tilt into the side of the barn . Put it back together changed the battery's in the controller have not had a problem .To this day have NO clue what happened

E_T · Sep 19, 2014

If something like this happens, would switching out of GPS mode and going to ATTI mode help regain control?

rrmccabe · Sep 19, 2014

What results could one expect with a motor failing/total failure?

Fplvert · Sep 19, 2014

rrmccabe said:
What results could one expect with a motor failing/total failure?

the Phantom will drop nearly straight down. I had that happen when front motor got magnetized sand particles in between the bell and the magnets. Very little damage to the bird, luckily!

Ohary · Sep 19, 2014

I've never been too comfortable with the P1 battery door. If the battery were to come loose, I could envision what happened to you.

aljames · Sep 19, 2014

huntflyer said:
Joined a club yesterday that I hoped I never would while flying a commercial real estate still photography shoot.

Phantom V1.1 - over 150 flights on the airframe, 12 cycles on this particular battery. IOC Setting: Course Lock - GPS Mode. Compass calibration was performed preflight (as always, unless it's a successive battery at the same site). Waited for GPS signal acquisition and recorded the home point. Flying 200 feet above and to my left, the Phantom pitched back and took off at full speed. Remote was totally useless with any control input. Flew for approximately 20 seconds before impacting a tree at full speed. While I didn't see it hit the tree, I certainly heard it. Luckily, I found it. At the very least, it needs a new casing, new gimbal, new props, and new landing gear.

And while I'll order all that today, I can't shake the nagging annoyance of not knowing the root failure. Would be interested in hearing about shared/similar experiences or thoughts on the failure.

Can we see the video? And have you seen this? http://fccid.net/document.php?id=1158657#axzz3Dlydqz31

Paul K · Sep 19, 2014

Ohary said:
I've never been too comfortable with the P1 battery door. If the battery were to come loose, I could envision what happened to you.

I keep velcro over my P1 door and it works well

IflyinWY · Sep 20, 2014

I'm new to the RC world.

Is it possible someone with a controller, who does not like our aircraft, could have had a stronger signal and taken your drone for a ride?

I won't have any issues with that since I fly about 15 miles from the middle of nowhere.

noiseboy72 · Sep 20, 2014

Very unlikely that your drone could get hacked from another R/C. It is possible if you use a very powerful TX (1000W or more) to swamp your signal and the receiver, but unless you are the Iranians bringing down a US drone, I doubt it would happen. Certainly another R/C cannot do this, as the units Pair and will only listen to their paired TX.

Old Gazer · Sep 20, 2014

Possibly signal interference from another source? If the Phantom was 200 ft. up and to your left, then the tx was not pointed in the direction of the Phantom causing a weak signal? Maybe allowing a stronger rogue signal to interfere? Who knows. I have upgraded both antennas on my tx and wifi extender. I don't care anything about breaking distance records, but want to keep a good strong signal between the controller and Phantom at all times, even when distances are close.

Mike · Sep 20, 2014

I encountered the same thing with my P2 a few months ago. It was flying normally when it suddenly rolled hard, beyond the max angle limit, and took off. Sticks didn't respond nor did RTH. I did regain control, however, by flipping into Atti mode. It was a very scary moment and thankfully it hasn't happened since. Of all the "fly aways" I've read or heard about, all were flying in GPS mode when things went south.