Just brought a phantom 3 4k now a little concerned

[nzrocketman]

Hi,

Just brought a phantom 3 4k online. The last couple of days I've been reading a lot about them flying away etc.

My plan on use is for flying around 10m high to get photos of roof for inspection and photo of completed job for the website. There would be hardly any distance required so will be almost vertical flight.

Now I'm getting a little concerned that it will fly away by itself. Does this only happen when you are out of range.

Will I be safe if just my small flights that I will be doing

Cheers


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[msinger]

I'm getting a little concerned that it will fly away by itself. Does this only happen when you are out of range.

Phantoms rarely fly away on their own. Incidents like that are almost always a result of some kind of pilot error.

 

[Matts175]

Don't worry about it. I bought mine the week before Christmas and I've taken it out like 60 times since then. I have had absolutely ZERO issues. And.... I fly out of range, on purpose, just to see how far I can push it.

That's the problem with the internet. 100% of the ones having problems are going to come on looking for help, or just to complain. In the mean time, 5000 of these were sold at Christmas time, but you'll never read about the 4990 that had absolutely no trouble at all.

 

[JackA]

I think you are concerned about the DJI GO APP Android version 3.1.2 which had a problem resetting the Return Home Point so that if the P3XX lost communications and initiated the RTH it might fly off to some distant place. This entire issue was dealt with when DJI issued DJI GO APP 3.1.3 Android. In fact, I do not think you can even accidentally use GO APP 3.1.2 as there is a mandatory update message that will make it clear that you must use the newest version. There are no reported incidents of the RTH issue with the new release.

 

[KCadby]

The Fly away issue was with Android 3.1.2 Software...
First DJI came out with an updated version of 3.1.2 with the Bug fix, then they came out with 3.1.3...
I have flown several times 3.1.3 with ZERO issues...

 

[NorthWestPassage]

Sounds like commercial use, probably will need a 107 Lic.

 

[With The Birds]

I will assume you are looking at any commercial use issues separately. To answer your question I will suggest that you familiarise yourself with RTH operation and practice your general flight skills in an open area. You need to know how to fly if the unexpected happens, I.e. you loose GPS, compass issue etc. True flyaways are seemingly rare.

 

[rdtex103]

If a Captain's only goal was to keep the ship afloat, he'd never leave port.

 

[KCadby]

120+ Flights here since Xmas and no problems...
FYI if/when you fly out of range it will automatically RTH (you can actually turn the radio off and it will RTH) but from what your saying you'll never fly out of range...
Keep sight of it though because doing something like letting the building get between the radio and the drone could = lost signal

 

[DanMan32]

During roof inspection, RTH and flyaway is the least concern. Crashing into a tree, power or cable lines, antennas, etc would be more of a concern.
I almost backed into my outdoor antenna doing a casual inspection of my roof. Fortunately I was just above it.
When I watched the video, I said "Yikes! That was a close call". And that was I think a week after I got the P3A back from repairs after flying up into telephone wire three weeks before.

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[kchimera]

Quite a few fly away's online are also because of high wind speeds, sometimes if the aircraft is high and the wind is too fast the Phantom will struggle to fight it.

 

[Travisimo]

During roof inspection, RTH and flyaway is the least concern. Crashing into a tree, power or cable lines, antennas, etc would be more of a concern.
I almost backed into my outdoor antenna doing a casual inspection of my roof. Fortunately I was just above it.
When I watched the video, I said "Yikes! That was a close call". And that was I think a week after I got the P3A back from repairs after flying up into telephone wire three weeks before.

Sent from my HTC 10 using PhantomPilots mobile app

I second this notion. Although it's an interesting application, there are a lot of risks using a Phantom to do roof inspections. In addition to trees, power lines, and the risk of actually running into the structure, there is also the need to monitor battery life very closely. If the battery life gets critical, it'll just land where it is if you are that close to it while flying, in which case it could land on the structure and crash. Thankfully, you will likely be in line of sight of it for this application, so you should be able to take control manually and land it safely. But I would definitely suggest a LOT of flying practice before using the Phantom for your intended application.

As to the fly-aways, most of the high-profile ones you'll be reading about here are the ones from the Android Go App bug, which has now been fixed. And since you'll be in line of sight of your Phantom for this application, you can always cancel RTH anyway if it did encounter that bug.

 

[nzrocketman]

Is the video footage good enough to say fly 10m or less above the roofs. Then crop the video down to make close ups photos?


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[KCadby]

Is the video footage good enough to say fly 10m or less above the roofs. Then crop the video down to make close ups photos?


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Believe me... The 2.7K video is PLENTY Good
You can use Point Of Interest (POI) to automatically fly around a Home that has a kind of square-ish foot print if you want to but the P3S flies/hovers plenty Stable enough that it's easy/safe to go lower for a closer look (again making sure you/RADIO doesn't loose sight of P3)... I did a POI Flight around a friends Home/Property and we joked about "wow, Free Roof Inspection" when we watched the video on his 15" LapTop...
We could have counted the Pine Needles if we wanted to...lol (from video where I was maybe 15Ft above the roof)...
My LapTop has HDMI-out and the picture/video is amazing when I connect to a 32" TV...

 

[nzrocketman]

Thanks for the feedback. I decided to go with the 4k just to be on the safe side for better video/photos.


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[KCadby]

OK but here's a couple of pictures (Screen Shots) for you
Sorry I don't have better examples but I deleted the videos I took a week before this video (at lower Altitude) because of complete cloud coverage = terrible lighting that day...
These are Screen Shots from Original 2.7K video, on a 15.6" LapTop...
First picture speaks for itself as far as Altitude = just above gutter height... Data says the second picture was 84Ft Altitude so you can imagine how much better 30Ft would be...
Also FYI that it was VERY WINDY this day = 20+mph wind gusting to 30+ (not kidding) so I concur that DJI info is correct about Max recommended being 22mph = when I went up to 100Ft where some wind gusts were over 30mph, it took FULL Forward Stick to not have my P3 Blow AWAY...LOL...


Adding a very short video I just uploaded...
Original Camera File was uploaded so can watch @ 1440P res. if you want to connect to large Monitor or TV...

 

[Truthworks]

I was flying last week on my old college campus when I lost orientation and couldn't figure out where my drone was. Then I got a low battery signal and panicked a bit. When I thought I had lost my bird, it appeared overtop a building and I tried to bring it down. The RTH actually took over my drone because the battery was so low and it landed itself within a foot of where it took off.

This gave me more reason to always set your GPS orientation before every flight. That's the only time I've ever lost sight of my Phantom. I was thrilled to know that the RTH worked like it should.

I also set my RTH altitude to 300 ft just to make sure I avoid any trees or power lines in the event it returns on its own.

 

[toegema]

Just make sure you have a good compass calibration.
If not you could experience a "compass error - exiting GPS mode".
In that case it will enter ATTI mode which means it will immediately drift with the wind giving the impression of a fly away, but it just means your have to take control of the sticks immediately and fly manually. Practice ATTI mode so you don't get caught by supprise.


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[KCadby]

I was flying last week on my old college campus when I lost orientation and couldn't figure out where my drone was. Then I got a low battery signal and panicked a bit. When I thought I had lost my bird, it appeared overtop a building and I tried to bring it down. The RTH actually took over my drone because the battery was so low and it landed itself within a foot of where it took off.

This gave me more reason to always set your GPS orientation before every flight. That's the only time I've ever lost sight of my Phantom. I was thrilled to know that the RTH worked like it should.

I also set my RTH altitude to 300 ft just to make sure I avoid any trees or power lines in the event it returns on its own.

Glad that turned out OK for you...
Something I didn't think of several times (right away) is to tap on the Map to make it big so you can see where the Drone, Home and You are...
I say You because if you walk away from the place/point you took off from there will be Blue Dot on the map where the radio/GPS is...
I backed into a Tall Tree one time and that wouldn't have happened if I looked at the map (Drone trace "ended" at the TREE)