Help! - Gone nuts; got dizzy and flew into a mountain

Do you still have confidence in DJI?


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Hi, deeply appreciate some expert opinion after a P3A 'flyaway'

Was my 1st flight post the DJI GO v2.9.1 update for android (5.0.2)

DJI GO crashed upon 1st opening (initiated from the controller)

Shutdown and restarted the controller - GO opened and my settings preserved with the exception of max altitude and RTH height; which had reset to 0 - set back to 120m

Drone took off and flew without issue until after 08m lost connection without warning (no image breakup as typical of a weak signal)

I frantically moved around trying to re-establish the connection for 5 minutes with no joy and had lost sight

After an hour or so of searching (expecting the worst) I found the drone upside down 'twitching' but otherwise with the exception of scuff marks - completely intact !

Upon my return; looking at the video the drone had gone 'nuts'; got dizzy - flew away out of control towards a cliff. Close to death it decided RTH might be a good idea (much later than expected) - however it was too little too late as it had already gone too deep into a ravine to make it back :(

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Upon a clean-up and close inspection one of the arms has a hairline crack as has a leg and the camera's ribbon cable appears to have suffered rendering the unit in my opinion unsafe to fly

Looking at the log files with healthy drones - it all looks fine; thus at a loss as to what happened
HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

Log attached if anyone is interested

Have to say after six months of near faultless ownership I have now lost confidence in the product :(
 

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Next time you lose contact and don't know where your AC is, you might consider turning your controller off. This will ensure RTH within a few moments.

Hope you get it fixed!
 
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Upon my return; looking at the video the drone had gone 'nuts'; got dizzy - flew away out of control towards a cliff. Close to death it decided RTH might be a good idea (much later than expected) - however it was too little too late as it had already gone too deep into a ravine to make it back
Have to say after six months of near faultless ownership I have now lost confidence in the product :(
I don't see much evidence that the Phantom "had gone 'nuts'; got dizzy - flew away out of control towards a cliff".
You flew it towards the lake and turned right at 6:50 - 7:20 with full control and continued down the valley which sent your Phantom behind a lot of rock and lost signal.
As HD shows, before that you had a lengthy period where only the downlink signal was lost and although you did not have video signal here, the Phantom still had control signal and you could have brought it back.
I'm wondering if this is the spinning at 8:00 and it was you causing the spin ?
At 9:07 in your video the Phantom had completely lost signal and initiated RTH 3 seconds later as it is programmed to do.
The biggest problem with that flight is that you were flying in an area of high mountains with your RTH height set at only 120 metres which proved to be insufficient to clear the obstacle you flew behind.
i-jb36Vbd-XL.jpg


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I'm wondering if this is the spinning at 8:00 and it was you causing the spin ?
...

Yeah I was kinda wondering that too.

At first I thought it might be a lot of iron in the rock all around, which messed up the compass, but the data shows no compass errors.

Bottom line is, I don't think we can blame DJI for this one...
 
I don't believe Dji is responsible due to a few factors that you stated.

1. The app crashed yet you continued the flight.

2. You lost line of sight.

3. The drone was not going nuts. It was upside down doing the funky chicken after it crashed.

Just my 2 cents.
 
Sorry for your loss, but it sure looks like pilot error to me. But I'm sure the app crashing didn't help matters!
The RTH height was already in the P3 itself, so when u rebooted the app it had not updated that parameter in the app yet.

Go back to vr. 2.83 of the Android go app.!

I've tried using all post 2.83 versions with no success ! Tablet reboots, video drops out and seems plain flaky. 200 meters out all of a sudden no video signal, then back again... With v2.83 I can take her out 4-6km without issue, only limit being the battery.

Back to v2.83 and she flies very well!
 
The K index has been up as high as 6 recently. For the last week it has been 5 and above but yesterday was 5 and 6 on the K index. What this means is that the Solar storms from the sun can adversely affect your signals of 2.4GHz and GPS signals. The same happened to me the other day. However, I didn't know I lost contact until I uploaded to HD's and then I saw that I had lost signal with the RC. Then I checked the K index and it was at least 6 at that time. This is why you do want to watch the K index and be careful. It can affect your signal and you won't even know it. I was fortunate, I was flying within only 95 feet of where I was. Below is a link to show you where we have been on the index.

Planetary K-index | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center

Especially if there have been solar storms for a whole week be especially careful as it takes sometimes a day or two for it to "calm down".
But then again, it could also be 2.9.1. K index is necessary to be aware of.
 
Why would you say that?
I've been studying crashes in great detail here for a few years. None have been caused by the K index. It's just another fantastic urban legend.
 
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I've been studying crashes in great detail here for a few years. None have been caused by the K index. It's just another fantastic urban legend.

You may be right about the crashes, however, the K Index does affect High Frequency radio waves in the ionosphere. This is the area that 2.4 and 5 GHz flows through as well as GPS. It can also disrupt cell phone signals. I'm not saying I'm right, or you are wrong, I'm just saying that is definitely something of which to be aware. Thanks for your input.
 
Point noted. However, my point is the K index does not affect Phantoms. I can be persuaded with evidence though ;)
 
Point noted. However, my point is the K index does not affect Phantoms. I can be persuaded with evidence though ;)

Here is an pdf file that will help explain what happens up there in the ionosphere with our radio waves versus the geomagnetic issues relating to solar storms etc. Below is the government sight that pertains to all of the geomagnetic interruptions etc.

Homepage | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center

I found this information interesting and informational. UAV Forecast also uses this information to alert uav pilots of geomagnetic disturbances and uses the KP index (same as K index). UAV Forecast I hope you find this helpful.
 

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While that information is interesting, I do not see any indication that it has an effect on Phantoms specifically. Until some type of solid evidence turns up, I wouldn't feel good about recommending something that has never actually happened. And, as you can see above, it seems Meta4 already cracked the case.
 
While that information is interesting, I do not see any indication that it has an effect on Phantoms specifically. Until some type of solid evidence turns up, I wouldn't feel good about recommending something that has never actually happened. And, as you can see above, it seems Meta4 already cracked the case.

Wow, you read really fast.The page from UAV Forecast, it talks more about flying. They also have an app for checking the weather and many flying conditions no matter where you are at. I use this all the time when before I fly. This is not something that can be proven in a crash. It is just something that happens and has been a problem for aircraft the world over forever since radio communications were invented. There is nothing we can do about it except be aware of it. The fact that the government studies it and has an entire department relegated to it tells me that something is up. True, we may not be effected very much, but if we get a really high geomagetic solar storm and it knocks out our cell phones, satellites, and HF communications, many of us could be adversely effected. There is nothing wrong with making people aware of something that is real. That was my original point.
 
I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one ;)
 
Wow, you read really fast.The page from UAV Forecast, it talks more about flying. They also have an app for checking the weather and many flying conditions no matter where you are at. I use this all the time when before I fly. This is not something that can be proven in a crash. It is just something that happens and has been a problem for aircraft the world over forever since radio communications were invented. There is nothing we can do about it except be aware of it. The fact that the government studies it and has an entire department relegated to it tells me that something is up. True, we may not be effected very much, but if we get a really high geomagetic solar storm and it knocks out our cell phones, satellites, and HF communications, many of us could be adversely effected. There is nothing wrong with making people aware of something that is real. That was my original point.

HF comms can be affected due to the fact that these radio waves travel through the ionosphere. Cell phones? Not so much. Drones? Nah.
This is a quote from NASA:

"The K-index, and by extension the Planetary K-index, are used to characterize the magnitude of geomagnetic storms. Kp is an excellent indicator of disturbances in the Earth's magnetic field and is used by SWPC to decide whether geomagnetic alerts and warnings need to be issued for users who are affected by these disturbances.

The principal users affected by geomagnetic storms are the electrical power grid, spacecraft operations, users of radio signals that reflect off of or pass through the ionosphere, and observers of the aurora."
 
HF comms can be affected due to the fact that these radio waves travel through the ionosphere. Cell phones? Not so much. Drones? Nah.
This is a quote from NASA:

"The K-index, and by extension the Planetary K-index, are used to characterize the magnitude of geomagnetic storms. Kp is an excellent indicator of disturbances in the Earth's magnetic field and is used by SWPC to decide whether geomagnetic alerts and warnings need to be issued for users who are affected by these disturbances.

The principal users affected by geomagnetic storms are the electrical power grid, spacecraft operations, users of radio signals that reflect off of or pass through the ionosphere, and observers of the aurora."

The fact that the solar storms effect GPS and High Frequency communications goes against what you are saying. Our drones use GPS signals from the satellites. We use 2.4GHz signals which are passed through the ionosphere. What I am talking about does affect those signals which could effect our drones. Can you explain why our drone GPS signals would not be effected if our aircraft in the skies could be effected. And please provide a link for the NASA statement above. Here is the NOAA site showing the severity of solar storms, what they effect and when they happen. The most severe storm happens once each 11 years. NOAA Space Weather Scales | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center Thanks.
 

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