My Phantom 2 Flew Away....

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Aug 12, 2014
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I am devastated. My precious, my baby that I've worked so hard on. Fine tuning and caring for it. Just up and leaves.

I had brought my drone to Tennessee for a bachelor party to get some amazing river and mountain shots. They were amazing. It just began flying away and I could no longer see it. Then I looked for it in the woods for about 4 hours with a search party. I always calibrate the compass before each flight, it wasn't returning to home to a different location.

I contacted DJI and explained everything to them. It was purchased 14 months ago.

Will they replace it? I'm waiting on the edge of my seat for a reply from them. I've heard horror stories about their customer service but the person I dealt with was one of the best customer service reps I've spoken to ever. If anyone has any idea on what will happen please let me know.

- Sad.
 
DJI rarely replaces Phantoms. It is not uncommon for them to offer a discount on a new one though.
 
Do you know how much of a discount? I'm 100% sure it was a GPS issue that caused this. Sucks so hard that they wouldn't replace it.
 
I'm not certain. I see 30% off mentioned a lot though.
 
If you want a discount, you'll have to come up with a lot more details than .. It just began flying away and I could no longer see it.
You'll have to explain exactly what happened, what indications there were and how it might be a DJI problem rather than operator error.
 
Sorry to hear, but please explain the issue you have 100% confidence in.
(so others may learn)

It helps to be as technical as possible.
 
Basically the home beacon (the diamond) on my video downlink began to change position. I was looking in my monitor at a still image of the mountains but the home beacon was moving around.

I did not have visual on the craft at that point so I couldn't return to home manually either.
 
Always terrible to read this news. Did you have you name / phone written on yr phantom? That's why I only fly on line of sight. Don't trust to lose eye contact with the machine.
 
Nah, I didn't. DJI just offered me 30% off of a Phantom 2.....It's an insult. I could see 50% off a Phantom 3 or 30% off an inspire 1 but why would I PAY them again for another phantom 2 with the same known GPS issues...
 
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I still haven't seen what caused this . You in GPS mode or naza ? Did ya try HL or RTH ?
I have had 2 P2's and the only real issues I've had with GPS's were one's I caused .
Sure do hate ya lost your bird as I do know how you feel .
 
I still haven't seen what caused this . You in GPS mode or naza ? Did ya try HL or RTH ?
I have had 2 P2's and the only real issues I've had with GPS's were one's I caused .
Sure do hate ya lost your bird as I do know how you feel .

I'm sorry I should have mentioned earlier. I immediately shut off the remote to activate RTH. The home beacon remained erratic and I never saw it again. I've had about 75 flights with this and I've never seen anything like it.
 
Basically the home beacon (the diamond) on my video downlink began to change position. I was looking in my monitor at a still image of the mountains but the home beacon was moving around.

I did not have visual on the craft at that point so I couldn't return to home manually either.

Am I understanding this correctly?

You were flying BLOS using FPV, but you were looking at a photo you took of the mountains instead of where you were flying? Seems, um, risky.

Forgive me if I have it wrong. You haven't said what P2 you have (assuming a Vision something) or what if anything your system recorded.

Did you try home lock?

I'm also interested in the known GPS issue since I have one.
 
OK ..your only other post is from the Vision section so I take that's what you had . Why you had it in GPS mode is beyond me as you could have maybe saved it with HL . A tracker would have helped you also possibly had you had one .The picture Marlin I bet he was seeing is the one we see sometime when we lose contact . Not really sure just what happened to your baby but find it strange it shut down like you say it did in the post about pulling the left stick back and it doing a CSC at 100'
Never had any GPS issue's with mine and am like Marlin there also .
100% sure it was GPS ...?
Anyway I truly do hate ya lost it as I bet ya had some nice pictures on your card !
 
Flew behind a mountain, lost GPS signal, flew away on the breeze in ATTI?
 
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The home beacon being erratic is not an indication of a GPS issue. There's not enough information to draw any conclusion.
 
I concur with da Flying taco !! :):D:):D.. not enough information
Still hate he lost his bird :(
Think we still good with our GPS's Marlin ;)
 
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Sorry to hear you lost your bird. I'd be devastated if mine flew off. I've put a lot of time and money into it.
In regards to your comment about the diamond moving around a lot, I've had the diamond move around quite a bit on the screen as it tries to find the best place to put it to indicate where I am in the equation. The further away I am the less reliable that really seems to be as a good indication of where I am. I've flown towards the diamond, only to find it slowly move to one side or the other as the bird gets closer, and the unit recalculates where to put it to indicate my location. It really is only an indication until you're relatively close. The good thing is that at larger distances, it only needs to be a rough indication, it will still have the bird headed generally in your direction sufficiently for it to be getting closer not further away.

I've procrastinated far too long putting my name on my bird. I'd hate to have it fly away and crash into something expensive, and have my name and details there for them to come hunting me for compensation, but I'd also hate to have the bird fly away, get found by someone, and then them not be able to locate the owner to give it back to. Now I'm licenced, it shouldn't be too hard to get insurance, so I'll probably do that and then have no fear of putting my name on it.
 
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Absolutely, the real reason is I'm too perfectionist. My bird is all decked out in black carbon-fibre effect, and has red dyed props one end, and black dyed props at the other, and even my prop-guards when used are red and black. It even has fancy printed decals on the battery face, etc etc.
I just can't bring myself to just go slap some texta all over it with my name, or even some dodgy looking sticker out of my home printer. I want to get nicely printed red vinyl cut lettering, but never seem to get around to arranging it.
 
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Bit late now......but if you get another and need some stickers this site make great quality ones

http://www.uavstickers.com/products-dji-phantom2.php

Ive gotten the 'reward' ones down towarss bottom of page. I live in Aus so kinda silly it saying tracked by US lol... but maybe it will make people more scared..was actually going to ask to have mine changed from "US" to "AUS" but eeeh doesnt matter.

Also arm band stickers are much better quality than stock DJI ones. You can peel them off/put back on 100 times and thry remain sticky/perfect for the most part.
 
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Absolutely, the real reason is I'm too perfectionist. My bird is all decked out in black carbon-fibre effect, and has red dyed props one end, and black dyed props at the other, and even my prop-guards when used are red and black. It even has fancy printed decals on the battery face, etc etc.
I just can't bring myself to just go slap some texta all over it with my name, or even some dodgy looking sticker out of my home printer. I want to get nicely printed red vinyl cut lettering, but never seem to get around to arranging it.
I have a Brother label printer that connects to my computer. It can print on all types, widths & colors of tape and you can design it on the computer. Label makers have come a long way. I use it for all types of things. It is not cut vinyl but it still looks pretty good.
 
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