Flyaway DJI P1

[danishdjipilot]

Hello guys

I create this thread in hope for help or useful advices. Thursday night I lost my DJI P1 in a so called "flyaway". I had prepared my DJI with new propellers, and a freshly full charged battery, because I've just ordered FPV equipment which will be here any day. Anyways, I wanted to show some of children in the neighborhood the drone returning to home by itself, so I flew about 150m up in the sky and 150m out and turned off my transmitter. The drone returned to home and started to land at the home point but we're 3-4 meters in the air while blinking yellow. Suddenly it gave full throttle to the left for 50 meters, and then back in the opposite direction until it was out of sight. I dont understand how it can flyaway like that, because I have used the return to home landing function for over one year - and I recalibrate the phantom once a month, I only fly in my garden, and I waited 2-3min for the drone to blink fast green 7 times in a row for two rounds. Before I turned the TX off I've checked that the home lock was locked in which it was.

Is this one of the flyaways that people are talking about, and do you guys have any tips for me to recover the drone? My phone number is on it, but no one called yet (I live in a area with lots of gardens and houses. The drawing on the attached picture shows my Homelock / flying start point, where I flew to when I shut off the TX, went home, and flew away again.

Is there anybody around here that experienced flyaways? How far away will they go? And is it possible to say anything about how they will react or which way they will go before they land / or crash?

Kind regards

 

[JKDSensei]

I'm really sorry to hear of this.
The one thing I hung onto with favor was the rarity of a P1 flyaway.

I do not know how that could happen with the transmitter off.

You probably were down to the last two or three minutes of battery charge so in a power climb at full throttle so I doubt it went more than a mile. Probably less?

We can safely assume you had the Home point set properly since it returned home THEN blasted off for parts unknown.

Almost as if someone else took control.......

I hope someone who knows more about this will chime in as now I'm not a comfy as I was

 

[danishdjipilot]

The drone was located after 4 days of looking everyday a few hours. As a help to this forum I attached a photo to illustrate where it was found, so people can have a idea how close a DJI actually can be to you when you think it is miles away! It had landed upside down in a some bushes. Nothing happened to the drone besides some green marks from plants. The distance from my house is about 200meters

As a explanination for the crash, the only thing I can come up with is my newly installed Apple AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi router which is located inside my house close 3 meters from the home lock - I will not do that again.

 

[JKDSensei]

So looks like you flew it toward your home, then it went left then doubled back and took off for 300m.
If it was a GPS issue, I wonder if you could have stopped the flyaway by switching to ATTI mode immediately when it started to take off to the left?

Maybe you could have switched off IOS (home lock) AND put it in ATTI mode at the same time?
Theoretically, that should have given you back control if it was a GPS issue?

I think switching to ATTI mode should be practiced as an instinct anytime control is lost if it's well within controllable visual range. That would take the GPS and any associated errors out of the picture quickly.

In my neighborhood, my WiFi discovery screen shows 10 - 15 strong WiFi sources nearby. These are neighbors routers. I fly from my yard often and have never had a problem so I'm not sure that could have done it.

Here's what Ol Photography had to say about flashing yellow light......
"Your NAZA isn't getting compass data. The compass could be faulty, the cable could bad anywhere between the compass and the GPS, or the GPS could be bad even. I would start with inspecting the cable and connections closely from end to end, and if you don't spot anything obvious then start with replacing the compass ($15)."

Maybe you have a faulty compass? You might want to check the compass connector and or replace the compass.

I don't see where you did a compass calibration. Maybe it was a compass error from not doing a compass calibration? I plan to do a compass calibration EVERY time I either change location, make any change to the Phantom and/or at the first flight of each day regardless of whether I did a compass calibration previously. Even if you fly from the same spot, the compass can be off if there is some change in the magnetic flux at the same site for some reason.....maybe underground power cables being activated for example.