Landed on ground, Props still spinning, turned off controller, drone took back off and "flew to home" over water

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Phantom I frequently fly near the ocean, here in Waikiki.

In many cases, I have to fly around a bit before it locates and sets the "Return to Home" coordinates. Usually, I just fly out over the water and it eventually assigned the home point. That is what it did in this case. The home point was about a hundred yards offshore.

When I eventually brought the drone back in, I landed it back on the ground in front of me. I did not notice, but the props were still spinning after it had landed and I had just turned off my remote.

I then turned the remote back on to shut off the props. Before I knew it, the drone had autonomously taken off by itself and proceeded out to sea to it's "home point".

After a couple of very stressful moments waiting for the remote to get signal again before my water landing, and repeatedly canceling return to home, I was able to get control and landed without a problem.

So, I guess the lesson learned here is to be sure your home point really is where you would want to set it down - and don't turn off your controller if the props are still spinning while on the ground.
 
Phantom I frequently fly near the ocean, here in Waikiki.

In many cases, I have to fly around a bit before it locates and sets the "Return to Home" coordinates. Usually, I just fly out over the water and it eventually assigned the home point. That is what it did in this case. The home point was about a hundred yards offshore.

When I eventually brought the drone back in, I landed it back on the ground in front of me. I did not notice, but the props were still spinning after it had landed and I had just turned off my remote.

I then turned the remote back on to shut off the props. Before I knew it, the drone had autonomously taken off by itself and proceeded out to sea to it's "home point".

After a couple of very stressful moments waiting for the remote to get signal again before my water landing, and repeatedly canceling return to home, I was able to get control and landed without a problem.

So, I guess the lesson learned here is to be sure your home point really is where you would want to set it down - and don't turn off your controller if the props are still spinning while on the ground.
Lucky and good read,apparently it sets it's home point on take off even if it not say but I always wait,sometime I take off and hover or land again for it to speak to me,,I don't trust it if it not say home point set
 
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Waiting to acquire a sufficient number of satellite connections is "standard" procedure to safely/accurately use the designed features of any DJI drone, with the Return To Home feature being one of the most crucial for safest flying.

Establishing a "home point" is setting the memory of the device. Setting a memory point over water gets predictable results.

Flying in optical sensing mode, with the YELLOW caution band at the top of the screen BEFORE getting "The Homepoint has been updated" and the GREEN, is risky without setting homepoints above water. Disrupting the communication between the blade spinning Phantom and the RC will also get very predictable results. RTH.
Works as advertised. Ref: DJI Owners Manual.
 
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Well I see a few lessons learned here in terms of what to do when flying and landing. Always rules I follow:
  • Verify all RTH settings before starting the flight.
  • Never leave the ground until you have a good GPS lock and the home point is set.
  • When landing, the flight is never over until after the motors stop spinning.
  • Everyone says it doesn't matter but when starting a flight I always power up the remote first and the drone second. When ending a flight I always power off the drone first and the remote second. I always thought that it's good practice to make sure the drone is under direct control of the remote whenever it is powered on but never had a concrete example of why. Now I do.
Very glad you managed to recover and not lose your P4. It could have ended very badly.
 
I do as above, power up remote, then power on drone. When I land, always power off drone first then the controller. If the drone loses signal from the controller, RTH mode is activated. So if you turn off your controller first, the drone loses its signal and wants to return home. I’ve flown RC planes/ helis since a kid and that was always the procedure.
 
I cannot think of myself stopping the RC in a hurry-hurry procedure before the AC shuts-down.
@aquajoc this is the very order I’m closing down the suite:
1. land well, stop the motors and shut-down the AC
2. notice how the Go App displays the Disconnected message, then close the app too
3. shut-down the RC

If for any reason you move with your RC from the take-off point (which is the AC home point), go into the necessary Go App section and update the home point to your new location (this is for the case the phone/tablet you operate with, has the GPS module)
 
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Phantom I frequently fly near the ocean, here in Waikiki.

In many cases, I have to fly around a bit before it locates and sets the "Return to Home" coordinates. Usually, I just fly out over the water and it eventually assigned the home point. That is what it did in this case. The home point was about a hundred yards offshore.

When I eventually brought the drone back in, I landed it back on the ground in front of me. I did not notice, but the props were still spinning after it had landed and I had just turned off my remote.

I then turned the remote back on to shut off the props. Before I knew it, the drone had autonomously taken off by itself and proceeded out to sea to it's "home point".

After a couple of very stressful moments waiting for the remote to get signal again before my water landing, and repeatedly canceling return to home, I was able to get control and landed without a problem.

So, I guess the lesson learned here is to be sure your home point really is where you would want to set it down - and don't turn off your controller if the props are still spinning while on the ground.
This is your main mistake. Do NOT “fly around over water” before getting your GPS LOCK & Homepoint.
If anything, just go straight up and hover until you get your Homepoint.
I learned this early on in flying- if you can’t get a Homepoint over a safe area near you, you shouldn’t be launching there.
Patience usually is the solution though.
 
If you don’t power up the drone, then there is no Homepoint to establish, because this is a parameter related to the bird, not to the phone/tablet and its GPS module.
So the correct statement should be:
I won't take-off with the bird until
1) Homepoint has been established, and
2) I have confirmed it on my map.
 
A whole lotta NOPE - I won't even start the props until 1) Homepoint has been established, and 2) I have confirmed it on my map.
Let me clarify- If I don’t get a lock immediately, I go up about 10’ and hover until I get the Homepoint lock. I don’t leave the landing area or go any higher in case it throws a compass error.
I like to hover about 30 sec anyway before going anywhere to give it a chance to stabilize, make sure there’s no issues.
THEN I go...
 
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If I don’t get a lock immediately, I go up about 10’ and hover until I get the Homepoint lock. I don’t leave the landing area or go any higher in case it throws a compass error.
I like to hover about 30 sec anyway before going anywhere to give it a chance to stabilize, make sure there’s no issues.
THEN I go...

I think that is not as safe as waiting on the ground until you get homepoint. I've never gotten 'lock immediately' and I usually wait for 30 to 40 seconds until it acquires a dozen satellites and homepoint has been announced. I'm not inclined to rush it.
 
Probably right. But I’ve never had a problem doing it this way.
And there’s been a few times when I had green lights on the ground, but then in the first 30 sec after liftoff either threw a compass error or a bad battery cell - and just lowered it down.
It’s never taken off from a stationary hover.
I suppose it Could happen...
 
".....and homepoint has been announced".. I've never heard my P4P controller announce that. Do you mean a verbal message to me? That would be nice..
 
A whole lotta NOPE - I won't even start the props until 1) Homepoint has been established, and 2) I have confirmed it on my map.
Hmmm. Maybe it's just me, but I don't hear the "Homepoint has been updated..." announcement until AFTER I start the props. I never take off without hearing it first, but it's always after I spin up the props.

In any event, I always turn off the A/C before the remote. The second that sucker's flight is over, it needs to be powered off. Can't do anything wonky without power.
 
@aquajoc,
Thanks for sharing!

Only thing I'm going to add to this thread....
Some flyers don't get a lock until they are in the air. ;)


Rod
 

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