How many flights without a flyaway thread
- Thread starter gfredrone
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I've done 25+ full battery flights with ALMOST no issues.
I did have one flight, might have been the 20th flight, where it asked me to do a compass calibration before I took off. I was out on my boat at the time trying to get a sunset picture over a lake so I had to do the compass dance on the back engine cover. I got the light signals for a successful calibration but I think it was my fault for doing it on an unstable surface over a V8 engine with a subwoofer next to it. That did cross my mind while I was doing the dance but I just HAD to get that sunset pic. Bad idea. I took off to about 30ft above the water and the GPS hold was doing huge slow circles that got faster and bigger with each rotation. Then after about 20 seconds of flight and a few jitters, it took off full speed roll to the right. I countered it by doing full left roll. It was acting as if I was fighting a completely different signal that was telling it to go right. Next, it started to fly straight back, which I then countered by pushing the control stick forward. I was sure I was about to dunk my Phantom in the lake. After about 20 seconds of receiving mixed outside directional signals, me fighting against them, my Phantom Vision literally swarming over my boat, and my heart racing, I decided to take it up in altitude. When I got it up to about 150ft, it finally calmed down but was still trying to go in different directions with less power. It mostly wanted to roll right. I managed to get it down over my boat and kind of did a hard landing onto the floor of my boat just so I could save it from going into the lake. I landed straight on the gear but one of the props hit the inside wall of the boat and broke it. I went back to land, put on a new prop, and did a proper compass calibration in my backyard far away from anything electrical. After that, it took off and acted as if nothing had happened. Held rock steady with GPS hold just like it always had.
Moral of the story, do NOT do the compass dance anywhere other than a flat area away from everything. I found out the hard way how serious and sacred the dance is.
And no, I did not get the epic sunset shot.
I did have one flight, might have been the 20th flight, where it asked me to do a compass calibration before I took off. I was out on my boat at the time trying to get a sunset picture over a lake so I had to do the compass dance on the back engine cover. I got the light signals for a successful calibration but I think it was my fault for doing it on an unstable surface over a V8 engine with a subwoofer next to it. That did cross my mind while I was doing the dance but I just HAD to get that sunset pic. Bad idea. I took off to about 30ft above the water and the GPS hold was doing huge slow circles that got faster and bigger with each rotation. Then after about 20 seconds of flight and a few jitters, it took off full speed roll to the right. I countered it by doing full left roll. It was acting as if I was fighting a completely different signal that was telling it to go right. Next, it started to fly straight back, which I then countered by pushing the control stick forward. I was sure I was about to dunk my Phantom in the lake. After about 20 seconds of receiving mixed outside directional signals, me fighting against them, my Phantom Vision literally swarming over my boat, and my heart racing, I decided to take it up in altitude. When I got it up to about 150ft, it finally calmed down but was still trying to go in different directions with less power. It mostly wanted to roll right. I managed to get it down over my boat and kind of did a hard landing onto the floor of my boat just so I could save it from going into the lake. I landed straight on the gear but one of the props hit the inside wall of the boat and broke it. I went back to land, put on a new prop, and did a proper compass calibration in my backyard far away from anything electrical. After that, it took off and acted as if nothing had happened. Held rock steady with GPS hold just like it always had.
Moral of the story, do NOT do the compass dance anywhere other than a flat area away from everything. I found out the hard way how serious and sacred the dance is.
And no, I did not get the epic sunset shot.
While I don't keep a log of every flight, my v1.1.1 must have nearly 100 flights on it by now. Great craft!
YeeaaBoii said:
Great recovery story, you must have balls of steel to keep calm and think clearly about what you have to do to keep your phantom from the water.
I don't keep track - am I supposed to?
I have a P1 I bought in December that I've been flying everyday up til I got a P2 with gimbal two weeks ago. Got about five or six on it... so 20 or 30 or? I really don't expect a flyaway. If I did, I wouldn't fly. I know there are a lot of postings of these incidents but I also think they are in a smaller percentage of the real population. I do the expected things and I feel the craft is ready when it goes up so... if it flies away I'll be unhappy. ;-}
I have a P1 I bought in December that I've been flying everyday up til I got a P2 with gimbal two weeks ago. Got about five or six on it... so 20 or 30 or? I really don't expect a flyaway. If I did, I wouldn't fly. I know there are a lot of postings of these incidents but I also think they are in a smaller percentage of the real population. I do the expected things and I feel the craft is ready when it goes up so... if it flies away I'll be unhappy. ;-}
gfredrone said:
Until it happens to me, I'm saying it is in the minority. Until it happens to me... A positive thread would be nice!
Would be good to have this data. The problem with flyways is that even people with stable and lot of flights (even years) on their quads have experienced one.
I would love to think that say after 100+ flights the chances for a flyaway will decease, but I am afraid that is not the case. Until DJI addresses this issue, makes an statement or shares any data on this subject then the only known solution for a flyaway is not to fly at all and we all now how hard that is!
I would love to think that say after 100+ flights the chances for a flyaway will decease, but I am afraid that is not the case. Until DJI addresses this issue, makes an statement or shares any data on this subject then the only known solution for a flyaway is not to fly at all and we all now how hard that is!
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YeeaaBoii said:
That was all in GPS mode? You didn't change to Atti mode? I suspect that might have stopped the misbehaving. This was possibly/probably caused by conflicting sensor input between the GPS and the compass. By taking the GPS out of the equation the conflict might have stopped and the bird would then have been controllable again, just without the benefits of GPS mode.
Big Ben said:
Yes, it was in GPS the whole time. It just happened so quickly and was flying so erratically that I honestly thought I was experiencing a flyaway. Once I figured out I still had some control over it, I just focused on getting it up away from the water.
When it calmed down I was afraid to change any settings because I thought I might lose it again. After I got it back, I realized I probably should have switched it to ATTI mode. I'm going to remember it so if anything like that happens again I'll be more prepared. I honestly freaked out for a good 10 seconds before I got enough control to get it back to me. Good point!
Flying over water has a certain frisson about it, for sure. If I was being indelicate I'd say there's quite a lot of clenching involved! Even just putting it over a flooded river in one of my recent videos was enough to get the heart racing and as soon as I had the shots of the bridge I wanted I tanked it back to dry land asap... Interestingly I don't have so many qualms flying at height over water, but putting it about 10ft above? Terrifying!
And to get back to topic I have had 12.5 actual flying hours without a flyaway (Flytrex makes it easy to keep track). But I have had one incident caused by calibrating in a stupid place (I was young and excited, what can I say?) which led to some erratic flying, and one where I had a minor crash from about 4ft that subsequently led to a slightly bigger crash on the re-launch because the initial bump messed up the IMU's view of the world. No physical damage from either bump, though, and an IMU calibration back at base sorted it out.
And to get back to topic I have had 12.5 actual flying hours without a flyaway (Flytrex makes it easy to keep track). But I have had one incident caused by calibrating in a stupid place (I was young and excited, what can I say?) which led to some erratic flying, and one where I had a minor crash from about 4ft that subsequently led to a slightly bigger crash on the re-launch because the initial bump messed up the IMU's view of the world. No physical damage from either bump, though, and an IMU calibration back at base sorted it out.
50+ flights on my P2.....compass recalibration a few times, but mostly it flies great. I often have noticeable left drift early in a flight that seems to get better as flight goes on. so far, only flown in GPS mode
130 and still going!!! Phantom 1.2, Futaba T8J RX/TX, FPV, iOSD Mini.....flown as far as 715 meters at 50 meters altitude. Been as high as 120meters-but won't go much higher, just because I don't need too.
Lost reception with transmitter twice(using a video TX antenna that interfered with 1 of my control transmitter antenna's). Both times, within less than 5 seconds, the aircraft entered Failsafe mode, stopped, did a beautifully smooth 180 degree turn, and started flying back to me at 10m/sec.
Both times, I waited a bit, flipped to Atti mode, regained control, put it back in GPS mode and landed safely. I've since stop using that antenna.
I still receive a good clear video signal out past 700 meters!! No real point in flying any further.
So far, no fly aways, or any bad behavior, whatsoever. But-you can never stop flying!!! Even while trying to land-fly the aircraft all the way down. Don't descend straight down(into your own down wash), don't panic-fly the aircraft. Always have an "out".
Altitude is your friend, and GPS mode too!!! Use both to get you out of a bind. Stop moving the controls-if you lose orientation. Switch to home lock, and smoothly pull back on the right stick-when you can see the aircraft's orientation, turn off home lock, and re-orient yourself.
Lost reception with transmitter twice(using a video TX antenna that interfered with 1 of my control transmitter antenna's). Both times, within less than 5 seconds, the aircraft entered Failsafe mode, stopped, did a beautifully smooth 180 degree turn, and started flying back to me at 10m/sec.
Both times, I waited a bit, flipped to Atti mode, regained control, put it back in GPS mode and landed safely. I've since stop using that antenna.
I still receive a good clear video signal out past 700 meters!! No real point in flying any further.
So far, no fly aways, or any bad behavior, whatsoever. But-you can never stop flying!!! Even while trying to land-fly the aircraft all the way down. Don't descend straight down(into your own down wash), don't panic-fly the aircraft. Always have an "out".
Altitude is your friend, and GPS mode too!!! Use both to get you out of a bind. Stop moving the controls-if you lose orientation. Switch to home lock, and smoothly pull back on the right stick-when you can see the aircraft's orientation, turn off home lock, and re-orient yourself.
100s
I did have a fly away early on in my Phantom "career" but this was caused by user error. I did the advanced calibration after a firmware upgrade while the Phantom was sat on the tailgate of my Range Rover. It messed up the compass and caused the Phantom to go mental once it was up in the air.
I did have a fly away early on in my Phantom "career" but this was caused by user error. I did the advanced calibration after a firmware upgrade while the Phantom was sat on the tailgate of my Range Rover. It messed up the compass and caused the Phantom to go mental once it was up in the air.
Pull_Up said:
Do you enjoy the illicit thrill of flying over water without some form of buoyancy or flotation,
or is it a case of not getting around to that yet - or possible a negative impact on its performance?
I'm ordering a Getterback float recovery system this weekend, and going to the foam & rubber
store to look for something I can turn into a professional-looking pontoons - to avoid condemning
the P2V to a watery grave if disaster strikes.
