Hello folks,
First let me say I really appreciate all of the good information I have recived from this forum .. I have been lurking here for several months. Back in September my wife purchased a phantom 1 for me for my birthday. It's something I've been wanting for a long while. While waiting for it to arrive I watched all of the instrution videos on youtube and download the manual. I flew RC airplanes for years and was really excited to get in to this hobby.. When my phantom arrived I was excited to get flying . I did all of the pre flight checks .. Took her out for a first flight and I was like WOW! This is a lot harder than I expected. I only went up about 20 feet. Tried to hover and just fly around the yard for a bit. I was fighting the controls just to keep it steady but managed to land safely. Anyway, with my lack of knowledge I just assumed that is how these things are supposed to fly. Changed battery and then on the second flight I took up to about 40 feet. It just took off. It throttled up and was ripping through the trees like a chain saw. Once it cleared the trees it hit a power line and crashed in my neighbors yard. Ok, so I just chalked it up to pilot error and inexperience although I couldn't figure out what I did wrong. I brought it in the house and inspected everything. All looked good with no damage. I charged up the batteries and checked all calibrations. I decided to take the phantom to a place where I had more open space to fly. So that evening I took it to the parking lot where I work. I again, did all of the preflight checks. Calibrated the compass and waited for all of the proper lights. I took it up about 30 feet and it just took off at full speed. I had no control. I switched to ATTI mode and still had no control of the phantom so I shut off the controller hoping it would return home. Nope it just kept going flying wildly out of control. I watched it until it faded away in the distance. Talk about a sick feeling ! Well, Others that have lost their phantom know how I felt. Not only sick to the stomach but scared to death it would hit someone or cause an accident. Anyway, I sepnt 2 weeks searching for it with no luck. Yes it had a Hero 3 attached and wifi was off. So yesterday I get a call from the secretary at work, She told me she got a call and someone asked her if anyone there had lost a drone. Yippi! She gave me the guys number and after the phone call I went and picked it up. It was found by a farmer in a corn field. 2 months in the field and the GoPro not in a water proof housing survived. The Phantom looked to be in great condition too. I brought it home and took the shell off. To my suprise it was dry inside and all looked good. I put it back together then tried charging the battery. It would not charge so I threw it in the trash. I grabbed my spare fully charged battery and headed out the door . This time I tied a string to the phantom for the after crash test flight. I took it up about 15 feet and tried to hover . It was extremely hard to control. I did manage to land it. Now! Not PILOT ERROR ! This thing is defective . How do I know ? When I lost it I purchased another one and it flies great . I have no problems with it and have never had a crash . YET! So what in the hell is wrong with this thing? It just goes wild ! Check out the video .. All comments and suggestions are much appreciated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8gxH40 ... FFmkUWsPaQ
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XSuG2IGPrE&index=2&list=UUhO7hFq9BFxJ3FFmkUWsPaQ[/youtube]
First let me say I really appreciate all of the good information I have recived from this forum .. I have been lurking here for several months. Back in September my wife purchased a phantom 1 for me for my birthday. It's something I've been wanting for a long while. While waiting for it to arrive I watched all of the instrution videos on youtube and download the manual. I flew RC airplanes for years and was really excited to get in to this hobby.. When my phantom arrived I was excited to get flying . I did all of the pre flight checks .. Took her out for a first flight and I was like WOW! This is a lot harder than I expected. I only went up about 20 feet. Tried to hover and just fly around the yard for a bit. I was fighting the controls just to keep it steady but managed to land safely. Anyway, with my lack of knowledge I just assumed that is how these things are supposed to fly. Changed battery and then on the second flight I took up to about 40 feet. It just took off. It throttled up and was ripping through the trees like a chain saw. Once it cleared the trees it hit a power line and crashed in my neighbors yard. Ok, so I just chalked it up to pilot error and inexperience although I couldn't figure out what I did wrong. I brought it in the house and inspected everything. All looked good with no damage. I charged up the batteries and checked all calibrations. I decided to take the phantom to a place where I had more open space to fly. So that evening I took it to the parking lot where I work. I again, did all of the preflight checks. Calibrated the compass and waited for all of the proper lights. I took it up about 30 feet and it just took off at full speed. I had no control. I switched to ATTI mode and still had no control of the phantom so I shut off the controller hoping it would return home. Nope it just kept going flying wildly out of control. I watched it until it faded away in the distance. Talk about a sick feeling ! Well, Others that have lost their phantom know how I felt. Not only sick to the stomach but scared to death it would hit someone or cause an accident. Anyway, I sepnt 2 weeks searching for it with no luck. Yes it had a Hero 3 attached and wifi was off. So yesterday I get a call from the secretary at work, She told me she got a call and someone asked her if anyone there had lost a drone. Yippi! She gave me the guys number and after the phone call I went and picked it up. It was found by a farmer in a corn field. 2 months in the field and the GoPro not in a water proof housing survived. The Phantom looked to be in great condition too. I brought it home and took the shell off. To my suprise it was dry inside and all looked good. I put it back together then tried charging the battery. It would not charge so I threw it in the trash. I grabbed my spare fully charged battery and headed out the door . This time I tied a string to the phantom for the after crash test flight. I took it up about 15 feet and tried to hover . It was extremely hard to control. I did manage to land it. Now! Not PILOT ERROR ! This thing is defective . How do I know ? When I lost it I purchased another one and it flies great . I have no problems with it and have never had a crash . YET! So what in the hell is wrong with this thing? It just goes wild ! Check out the video .. All comments and suggestions are much appreciated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8gxH40 ... FFmkUWsPaQ
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XSuG2IGPrE&index=2&list=UUhO7hFq9BFxJ3FFmkUWsPaQ[/youtube]
