Flyaway Question

Also, I NEVER take off without at least 7 sats and I also have a GPS locator attached to my bird in the unlikely event it needs to be recovered.
And have my name and number on it and "Reward if Found"
 
Yes, I too am sorry to hear about your fly away. Since I am color blind, I am very dependent on the DJI App readings to tell me my home point has been established. If I happen to be able to even see the flashing lights in the bright sun light of the day, I will occasionally see the fast blinking lights, which gives me a hint that I might have home lock. However, I never trust the LEDs alone, due to my color vision issues. I have learned to comments by doing the following, which is probably overkill.

1. Look for at least 7 SATs (I don't trust 6, as it is to close to 5).
2. Check the DJI App to make sure distance has reset to 0.
3. Check the find my Phantom location on the DJI app, to make sure my current spot is accurately recorded.
4. Now before taking off, I check my SAT count again hoping to still see 7 or maybe more.
5. Right after take off and a 10 sec stability hover, I fly out at an angle about 100 feet away at 50 feet off the deck. Hover, flip the S2 switch to home lock, and pull back on the right stick. If it flys back toward my understood home point, then I am good to go. Flip S2 all the way back up and enjoy what is usually a stress free flight.

All 5 steps only take no more than 2 minutes.

I never fly out of sight, unless I have at least 8 SATS. I had a bad experience, where I had taken off with 7 SATS, and unbeknownst to me during it feel to 5! I was 1,600 feet away and fortunately regained SATs for GPS flight home. There really needs to be an alarm in the DJI App that alerts us when we fall below 5 SATS when flying. I am now always aware of my SAT coverage at all times during my flight and use http://satpredictor.navcomtech.com, before I fly so I know what to expect.
 
Some overly certain people have suggested that taking off after 5 minutes when it was slow green blinking was pilot error, and that fast green blinking was required, but let's look at the documentation:

1) The DJI Quick Start Guide part #8 titled "Taking Off" says:
  • * Power on the remote controller, the range extender, and the flight battery mounted in the Phantom 2 Vision +. Make sure the DJI Vision App is working properly.
    * Start Motors by pulling both control sticks to the bottom corners.
    * Wait until the Rear LED Flight Indicators go from a slow blinking yellow to a slow green, indicating GPS locked." NOT TRUE
    * Slowly push the left (throttle) stick up to take off.
IMPORTANT:
  • 1) Beginning flyers are recommended to only fly when the slow green flashes.
    2) Rear LED Flight Indicators will go from slow yellow flashing to slow green flashing if more than 6 GPS satellites have been found.
    3) Never Stop the Motors during flight.
It doesn't even mention fast green blinking...
That's just the quick start guide you say? RTFM you say? Okay:

3.1 Take off/Landing Procedures:
  • 1. Place the Phantom 2 Vision + on open flat ground with battery indicators facing towards you.
    2. Power on the Remote Controller and Range Extender, then the Smart Flight Battery.
    3. Launch the DJI VISION App and start bind it to your smartphone then enter the camera preview page.
    4. Wait until the Rear LED Flight Indicator blinks green. This means it has initialized and is Ready to Fly. NOT TRUE. If it flashes yellow, it is Ready to Fly (non-GPS) mode and will require more careful flight. Execute the CSC command to start motors.
    5. Push the throttle up slowly to take off. Refer to Remote Controller Operation (Page 25) for more details.
    6. Shoot photos and videos using the DJI VISION App. Refer to DVI VISION App usage (Page 48) for more details.
    7. To land, hover over a level surface and gently pull down on the throttle gently to decend.
    8. After landing, execute the CSC command or hold the throttle at its lowest position for 3 seconds or more until the motors stop.
    9. Turn off the smart battery, Range Extender and Remote Controller.
Again, it mentions nothing about fast green blinking or needing to wait for it... Now for the juicy stuff:

4 Failsafe Function
The phantom will enter Failsafe mode when its connection to the Remote Controller is list. The Flight Control System will automatically control the aircraft to return to home and land to prevent injury or damage.

Home Points: When the Phantom enters 'Ready to Fly' from the 'Ready to Fly status (non-GPS)', the GPS coordinates will be recorded and set as the home point. NOT TRUE.
  • 1. The Remote Controller is powered off.
    2. The Phantom has flown out of effective communication range.
    3. The Signal between the Remote Controller and the Phantom has been blocked.
    4. There is interference causing a signal problem with the Remote Controller.
The "Rear LED Flight Indicator Status" Appendix doesn't even mention fast green blinking. It says slow green blinking means "Ready To Fly".

The User Manual pages where Rear LED Flight Indicator are described (16, 41-45, and the Appendix 71) do not mention fast green blinking at all. No where in the Quick Start Guide or the User Manual 1.1 that were supplied with the Phantom 2 Vision Plus does it even mention fast green blinking AT ALL. Same goes for the "Earning Your Stripes v1.1" booklet which covers Return Home and Land Mode. It specifically says:

Be sure you are in a large open area. Before you take off make sure you have good GPS Lock by ensuring your LED indicators are flashing green. Fly the Phantom at least 50 ft away from your take off point. Turn off the Remote Controller. The Phantom will enter it's failsafe Return-To-Home Mode. NOT TRUE Let the Phantom finish it's routine and land itself within 2 meters of the takeoff point.
All those grammar errors (it's vs. its, etc) are verbatim. All these manuals are very poorly written, AND THEY DON'T MENTION FAST GREEN BLINKING ANYWHERE.

DJI has made a number of design mistakes in this product and documentation which I followed to the letter. The bottom line is the Phantom 2 Vision + failed to Register the Home Point as it says it will on page 41 of the User Manual v1.1. "When the Phantom enters 'Ready to Fly' from the 'Ready to Fly (non-GPS)'. the GPS coordinates will be recorded and set as the home point." I took off when it was slowly flashing green as the manual instructs, and it failed to operate as described and flew away to a target 300 miles away because it failed to register the home point as described. This product clearly does not work as documented and it cost me a $1500 drone. Until these errors are corrected I recommend people buy something else that operates correctly. These fly-away horror stories are true. Don't trust the product or the documentation. I followed their instructions exactly and now I have nothing because it started flying away to a target 300 miles away. This thing is buggy. If it can't get a GPS lock, it shouldn't blink green, it should stay in the red-blinking warm-up state. Furthermore, even if it blinks yellow (less that 6 satellites) the manual says on page 41 that it will return home and land with some wind drift.

The bottom line is the Phantom 2 indicated that it was "Ready to Fly" by slowly blinking green, it had 7 satellites, and yet it failed to register the home takeoff point as the manual says it does, and it flew off towards a target 300 miles away never to be seen again. This thing is buggy and unreliable. Wait for the Phantom 3 or buy something else.
 
Did you check your ground station app at the time you lost your Phantom? The only time I had mine take off on me, I had not set the compass correctly and I used the Ground Station app to try to fly a route. Without the compass setting (and likely my GPS sats were not ready), the bird took off but didn't know its altitude so crashed uphill of me so I couldn't find it easily. Only after realizing the Ground station app actually marked where the Phantom was, I found it exactly where it was on the map (it found its GPS connections after the crash within a minute or so. It sounds like you did not have GPS fully locked in before take off if it thought "Home" was 300 miles away from a previous flight. The fast 8 green blinks means it has set the home point at the new launch point. Without that, your last home point may still be where it will try to go - for the duration of the battery life. It has taken up to 2-3 minutes for the GPS home lock flashes to occur - a lot longer than I would have thought.

I agree that the sequences written in the manual are not clear on what actually needs to happen to have a secure home lock before you take off. I'd try to go to the Ground Station app and see if a position is marked on the map. Could be where it is resting right now.
 
I had successfully calibrated to compass and it wasn't flying a route. I was flying around well controlled in GPS mode (with 7 satellites) before it flew away. Before I took off it had been slow green blinking for about 5 minutes.

Where is this fast 8 blink stuff you are talking about mentioned in the documentation? It clearly says the opposite. Slow green blinking means it has locked and is ready to fly. Page 41 clearly says:
When the Phantom enters "Ready to Fly" from "Ready to Fly status- (non-GPS)" the home location is recorded and set as the home point and it is ready to fly.
Given that "Ready to Fly" is documented multiple times as slow green blinking, and "Ready to Fly (non-GPS)" is documented multiple times as slow yellow blinking, that says that when it goes from slow yellow flashing to slow green flashing it sets the home point. The diagram on page 41 clearly indicates this as well. The documentation doesn't even mention rapid green blinking (other than on page 20 to do with the camera LED). If you actually read the documentation and you will see what I mean. This product when operated as per the documentation sometimes just flies away never to be seen again.
 
During those 5 minutes of sitting there looking at the green led, did you notice the readouts on the app ? the distance reading should have been way out if it was still thinking it was 300 miles away, also the radar would show the phantom way off screen. Either one of them would have me worried enough not to take off.
I have not had a single issue with my phantom, and I use the app to see if its ready to fly as I am too old to be crawling around on my hands and knees to look for flashing lights.
Once I have sat lock, blue icon with 7 or more, distance reading correct and radar icon centred, I know its safe to fly.
A quick burst of throttle and a stable hover at 6 feet lets me check the lights and controls, then I know its all ok and off we go on a new adventure. :)
 
murraymacdonald said:
Some overly certain people have suggested that taking off after 5 minutes when it was slow green blinking was pilot error, and that fast green blinking was required, but let's look at the documentation:

You should have looked at the documentation before shoving that left stick forward, it would have saved you lots of heartache.
On page 2 of the User Manual:
Before Flight
The following tutorials and manuals have been produced to ensure you to make full use of your Phantom 2 Vision+. (1) Disclaimer
(2) Phantom 2 Vision+ Quick Start Guide
(3) Phantom 2 Vision+ User Manual
(4) Phantom Pilot Training Guide
Watching all the tutorial videos and reading the Disclaimer before flight is recommended. Afterwards, prepare your first flight using the Phantom 2 Vision+ Quick Start Guide. Improve your flying skills in subsequent flights using the Phantom Pilot Training Guide. Refer to this manual for more comprehensive information. Experienced users, particularly those with DJI Phantom 2 Vision experience should skip to the Phantom 2 Vision+ Quick Start Guide to begin preparing for flight.
1) The DJI Quick Start Guide part #8 titled "Taking Off" says:
  • * Power on the remote controller, the range extender, and the flight battery mounted in the Phantom 2 Vision +. Make sure the DJI Vision App is working properly.
    * Start Motors by pulling both control sticks to the bottom corners.
    * Wait until the Rear LED Flight Indicators go from a slow blinking yellow to a slow green, indicating GPS locked." NOT TRUE
    * Slowly push the left (throttle) stick up to take off.
IMPORTANT:
  • 1) Beginning flyers are recommended to only fly when the slow green flashes.
    2) Rear LED Flight Indicators will go from slow yellow flashing to slow green flashing if more than 6 GPS satellites have been found.
    3) Never Stop the Motors during flight.
It doesn't even mention fast green blinking...
That's just the quick start guide you say? RTFM you say? Okay:

3.1 Take off/Landing Procedures:
  • 1. Place the Phantom 2 Vision + on open flat ground with battery indicators facing towards you.
    2. Power on the Remote Controller and Range Extender, then the Smart Flight Battery.
    3. Launch the DJI VISION App and start bind it to your smartphone then enter the camera preview page.
    4. Wait until the Rear LED Flight Indicator blinks green. This means it has initialized and is Ready to Fly. NOT TRUE. If it flashes yellow, it is Ready to Fly (non-GPS) mode and will require more careful flight. Execute the CSC command to start motors.
    5. Push the throttle up slowly to take off. Refer to Remote Controller Operation (Page 25) for more details.
    6. Shoot photos and videos using the DJI VISION App. Refer to DVI VISION App usage (Page 48) for more details.
    7. To land, hover over a level surface and gently pull down on the throttle gently to decend.
    8. After landing, execute the CSC command or hold the throttle at its lowest position for 3 seconds or more until the motors stop.
    9. Turn off the smart battery, Range Extender and Remote Controller.
Again, it mentions nothing about fast green blinking or needing to wait for it... Now for the juicy stuff:

4 Failsafe Function
The phantom will enter Failsafe mode when its connection to the Remote Controller is list. The Flight Control System will automatically control the aircraft to return to home and land to prevent injury or damage.

Home Points: When the Phantom enters 'Ready to Fly' from the 'Ready to Fly status (non-GPS)', the GPS coordinates will be recorded and set as the home point. NOT TRUE.
  • 1. The Remote Controller is powered off.
    2. The Phantom has flown out of effective communication range.
    3. The Signal between the Remote Controller and the Phantom has been blocked.
    4. There is interference causing a signal problem with the Remote Controller.
The "Rear LED Flight Indicator Status" Appendix doesn't even mention fast green blinking. It says slow green blinking means "Ready To Fly".

The User Manual pages where Rear LED Flight Indicator are described (16, 41-45, and the Appendix 71) do not mention fast green blinking at all. No where in the Quick Start Guide or the User Manual 1.1 that were supplied with the Phantom 2 Vision Plus does it even mention fast green blinking AT ALL. Same goes for the "Earning Your Stripes v1.1" booklet which covers Return Home and Land Mode. It specifically says:

Be sure you are in a large open area. Before you take off make sure you have good GPS Lock by ensuring your LED indicators are flashing green. Fly the Phantom at least 50 ft away from your take off point. Turn off the Remote Controller. The Phantom will enter it's failsafe Return-To-Home Mode. NOT TRUE Let the Phantom finish it's routine and land itself within 2 meters of the takeoff point.
All those grammar errors (it's vs. its, etc) are verbatim. All these manuals are very poorly written, AND THEY DON'T MENTION FAST GREEN BLINKING ANYWHERE.

Except where it describes how to tell when home lock has been established
Page 27 and 28 of the user manual. I will not quote it, look it up and read it yourself. Also had you followed the manual you would have watched the videos and tutorials which also cover properly setting home point
DJI has made a number of design mistakes in this product and documentation which I followed to the letter. The bottom line is the Phantom 2 Vision + failed to Register the Home Point as it says it will on page 41 of the User Manual v1.1. "When the Phantom enters 'Ready to Fly' from the 'Ready to Fly (non-GPS)'. the GPS coordinates will be recorded and set as the home point." I took off when it was slowly flashing green as the manual instructs, and it failed to operate as described and flew away to a target 300 miles away because it failed to register the home point as described. This product clearly does not work as documented and it cost me a $1500 drone. Until these errors are corrected I recommend people buy something else that operates correctly. These fly-away horror stories are true. Don't trust the product or the documentation. I followed their instructions exactly and now I have nothing because it started flying away to a target 300 miles away. This thing is buggy. If it can't get a GPS lock, it shouldn't blink green, it should stay in the red-blinking warm-up state. Furthermore, even if it blinks yellow (less that 6 satellites) the manual says on page 41 that it will return home and land with some wind drift.

The bottom line is the Phantom 2 indicated that it was "Ready to Fly" by slowly blinking green, it had 7 satellites, and yet it failed to register the home takeoff point as the manual says it does, and it flew off towards a target 300 miles away never to be seen again. This thing is buggy and unreliable. Wait for the Phantom 3 or buy something else.

The manual isn't the best I've seen, in regards to being easy to understand, but it certainly is far from the worst and it is accurate. Your claim of "design mistakes" is simply not true and what you experienced was 100% operator error. The bottom line is that you failed to properly set/verify home position. Why it didn't automatically record its home position, I don't know and can only speculate. The fact that the home position was showing 300 miles away tells us all that you did not verify it prior to launch which is an error on your part. When you got into trouble and initiated RTH, the craft did exactly what it was designed to do, and attempted to return to its last recorded home position. Shifting the blame for this incident claiming that the P2V+ is buggy and unreliable is just being dishonest to yourself and everyone you tell the story to.
Again, I'm sorry for your loss, but all points to operator error. This one's on you pal.
 
But why didn't it record a home position soon after takeoff even if the OP didn't wait on the ground for home position? He said he was hovering stable with green lights. Even on the ground with green lights. It should have recorded a home somewhere near him. Agreed that home should be verified but it should have recorded a new one regardless.
 
From page 27 of the manual, under the Failsafe section: "After successfully record the home point, read LED indicators blink fast green". I will agree with OP that this is not emphasized enough in the manual, but it is there.

I can say from experience that there are many things in the manual that are not crystal clear and need stronger emphasis. Having said that, one thing I always make a point of doing before taking off is verifying home point. As discussed in this thread, there are multiple ways of doing it.
 
It is also covered in the videos referenced in the manual.
Totally agree that the manual isn't laid out well. Just after that when the manual is discussing the app, it also demonstrates how to identify HP on the app.
Regarding not registering HP, it could be that there wasn't strong enough GP signal possibly due to solar issues. At times mine takes a while to set HP. Also the OP stated that he had just done a calibration which may have jacked up the setting of the HP. I always power cycle after a calibration and let the copter initialize and grab HP on level ground.
In 1 spot in my driveway, I'l only get 5 sats but if I move it 3' I get 8 sats on the ground. What's up with that? Once it's in the air, I usually lock 13 sats
 
I am far from an expert, as my Phantom does not arrive till next week, but. Based on a lot of research on this board and others I have ordered this http://eurekaproducts.com/ marcopolo. It uses radio not cell phones so there is no monthly charge. It has a range of up to two miles. If you are too far away you can walk or drive to the direction you think it went and it will ping when you get close enough. It will then direct you to the units exact location by the inch. It can be had for about $199.
 
Did anybody here have any confirmed occurrence where the home location was not automatically set once 7 sats had been acquired? To this date I haven't experienced such a thing, it sets the home point like clockwork once enough Sats are there and it will not change unless i manually reset the home point.
All I can read out of the OP is that the unit was out of LOS, FPV and telemetry was lost, the unit didn't return and I guess was never found so for all I know it could have been shot down, hit by a bird or whatever. Technical issue or pilot error cannot be ruled out but it's all pure speculation with the limited data available
 
The OP confirmed after losing the unit that the HP was set at the last place he flew, 300 miles away.
Mine usually grabs HP lock after attaining 7 sats but I have noticed that after a calibration, it may not.
This is why I power cycle after a cal and let it initialize on level ground without moving it.
I do know if std drop below 5 and then come back up, it will not reset its HP.
I am wondering if performing a compass cal immediately after powering up keeps it from grabbing HP. With many of the reported flyways, the posters claim they just did a calibration prior to the flight.
 
I do not often do a compass calibration but as of now when I did it confirmed orientation lock and home lock short after the unit was set back down after compass calibration was done. However it's a possibility, now it has to be tested and proven ;)
 
I only cal when needed. Basically when the app or quad tells me to or if it seems to be flying a little "squishy". And I always power cycle afterward.
If you are going to test it, do it in an area near but not exactly where the last HP was set so if it does decide to go, it won't go far. there could have been a lot of solar noise the day the OP lost his bird too which could contribute to not grabbing HP right away
 
nah I don't buy into the solar noise being a cause.
I got right now have a P2 with the V+ part broken after a wobble of death on a mountain at almost 10k feet elevation and not enough space to slide out of it while in sight and control range. In my mind it was a total loss at the time but lo and behold 30 seconds later it came back into sight on it's RTH course (correct home :) ) with the poor camera tangling on the ribbon cable ( it did not rip the cable but still a very sad sight to see, i had tears in my eyes) and once landed found one prop badly damaged. Amazing that it still returned like nothing happened.
Does telemetry still work with the camera gimbal removed? If it works then it is a very good time to test some theories.
 
Latest firmware. I updated it last week. I read all the manuals, watched their videos, and followed their instructions exactly. As I had moved my flight location 300 miles I re-calibrated the compass. It flew well in GPS mode for the first 2 minutes, then it flew away never to be seen again. I had not power cycled it since calibrating the compass as the documentation doesn't tell you to, but I think you might be right that this may be part of the problem. When flashing slow green, don't trust it to operate as documented. Clearly it does not always record the home point when it enters "Ready to Fly" mode. It had worked correctly on many previous flights, but not this time. Obviously it has an intermittent problem registering the home point and falsely enters "Ready to Fly" mode (slow green flashing) without having done so. Too bad this thing isn't open source. I'd check the code and fix it.
 

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