my phantom 4 just flew away

[erkme73]

Or you can take the reports as accurate representations of what the claimant experienced. If you and others have not personally experienced relatively low probability events (just like owners of a Galaxy S7), that does not mean that the claimants' reports are not accurate or at least shared in good faith.

I am in no way saying it didn't happen. I'm only pointing out that the sudden and complete absence of further dialog from the "claimant" is suspicious. The level of experience and offers for help are second to none, and yet he remains quiet. At some point (i.e. the third page of posts w/o a reply) a healthy level of skepticism is justified.

 

[AnchorageAk]

I doubt if DJI would have gave me a new drone, and let me keep the old one, if it was my fault. There is some very good advice here and I will use it. Being new at any thing, it takes time to learn. Experience comes with time. That is why a high time pilot is usually better that a low time pilot. Maybe if a check ride was given to a new drone pilot ? DJI does, in my option, promote these as ready to fly. Simple, start it up, and go. What we do not need is more FAA. Would a group of people getting together an writing a real manual help? Also, a learning guide. As, it your drone goes past it's home point what would you do? Your losing signal, do you go lower, or higher? I try not to spend much time pointing the finger, but try to, "how do we solve and stop this from happening". I am far from perfect. When I tell people "I'm smart, just not real smart', there is way to much true to that.

 

[captainmilehigh]

Yeah, 4 days from original post without a peep from the OP is a bit strange. But as for me, I'm thankful to all those that tried to help this guy out with their wisdom and experience. We're all here to help and learn from each other, and I seem to learn something new every day. Old dog-new trick. Thanks all!


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[gsreinke]

after saving my money for the last 5 mts I was able to buy a Phantom 4 Dji drone from best buy ,I was flying the drone on Sunday November 6 around 12 in the afternoon on a clear sunny day here in California for some reason the pic went out on my ipad and the drone went out of the flight pattern and just flew away I immediately pushed the return to home button on the receiver however the drone did not come back I tried for hours looking for the drone but could not find it !

I contacted Dji support to see if they could help and they said to look for the flight patterns in the ipad to see where the last location was and search in that area.

I went to my account on the DJI app (USING MY EMAIL ADDRESS [email protected] pass word ''xxxxxx'') and it did not show any flight patterns or any other data , I tried to explain this to the support team and they seem to give me the run around then told me there is nothing they could do for me !
any suggestions ??

I certainly don't want to insult your intelligence or want you to take this the wrong way, but when you pressed RTH, did you HOLD the button and check for the green light?

 

[Mimoid]

Reading this and other fly-away stories makes me comprehensive in even attempting to fly the P4 when it arrives. I have never flown any drone before. Wondering if it was a smart decision to buy one. Common sense tells me that I should start with very small steps until confidence level is adequate for the more advanced (not even sure what that means) flights. I am so hyped about learning this new hobby, but the notion of spending ~$1K for a device that can "fly away" makes me somewhat nervous. Just sayin....

Don't worry, the Phantom will not fly away on its own. I can imagine that it might happen in extremely rare cases, but I would think that most of the so called "flyaways" are in fact because of the pilot flying way beyond his or her competence level and completely relying on the technology to control the aircraft.

If you lose the video feed, just STOP entering control commands. The Phantom will then hover in place, hold its position and can do so for many minutes. Remember where it was oriented, and simply fly home without video. It is actually pretty simple, you can hear it from hundreds of meters away.

/// Tom

 

[Meta4]

Or you can take the reports as accurate representations of what the claimant experienced. If you and others have not personally experienced relatively low probability events, that does not mean that the claimants' reports are not accurate or at least shared in good faith.

After looking into many accounts of lost Phantoms and Phantoms that were described as flying away, I know that flyers don't always have a good understanding of what really happened.
They are often disoriented and sometimes lack basic skills necessary to control the Phantom.
Fortunately the app is a black box recorder that allows a good understanding of what really happened in most incidents.
Looking at actual flight data can be much more reliable that what the flyer thought was happening.

I had P4 flyaway as well! Occurred after engaging RTH when my mobile failed. Drone returned overhead and just kept going. Disengaging RTH did not return manual control to me even though the drone was in plain sight overhead.

If you upload your flight record to Phantomhelp as has been suggested above, the cause of your incident might be explained.

Also, no flight record. If your app or mobile fails midflight, you very well may have no record. That was my experience as well. DJI was willing to do absolutely NOTHING - not even give me a discount on a replacement! Given that I calibrated before flight, and that when I engaged RTH the drone did return - but then kept right on going over HP - I can see no explanation other than a design/programming/technical problem with the drone itself. DJI is happy to gather all the info it can from you for its own purposes, but will deny any responsibility under almost any circumstance. I hate to stereotype, but in my experience, most American companies would make more of an effort to work with you under these circumstances.

It would be very unusual for the flight record to be missing.
Given that the cause of the majority of lost Phantom incidents are due to operator error rather than hardware and programming, you can't expect DJI to give everyone a free Phantom if all they have to show is a story about losing the Phantom.

Please upload your flight record and post a link so we can help you find out what happened to your Phantom.

 

[audboi]

This is mostly due to pilot error I imagine, all pilots should have a checklist that is strictly adhered to....if this is done, I can guarantee your craft will always return...mostly common sense if you ask me!

 

[audboi]

Were you in an urban area?

 

[iSilentP]

Don't worry, the Phantom will not fly away on its own. I can imagine that it might happen in extremely rare cases, but I would think that most of the so called "flyaways" are in fact because of the pilot flying way beyond his or her competence level and completely relying on the technology to control the aircraft.

If you lose the video feed, just STOP entering control commands. The Phantom will then hover in place, hold its position and can do so for many minutes. Remember where it was oriented, and simply fly home without video. It is actually pretty simple, you can hear it from hundreds of meters away.

/// Tom

Thanks for the reply, Tom. I can't wait for it to arrive so I can begin to get to know it better than just watching all the Youtube videos that I have been gobbling up the last few days.

 

[captainmilehigh]

Thanks for the reply, Tom. I can't wait for it to arrive so I can begin to get to know it better than just watching all the Youtube videos that I have been gobbling up the last few days.

If you haven't yet, jump on msinger's site PhantomHelp.com for more information on everything Phantom. Be sure to select the Phantom model you have(or will have shortly) at the top of the page.

Msinger is a vital part of this Forum also. His posts and insights are a wealth of knowledge to seasoned pilots and to new pilots.

Fly Safe !


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[Pharm]

I'm guessing that "David Johnson" wasn't really interested in a solution or that his "flyaway" never actually happened?

 

[chazzm]

After reading through the whole post, I get the feeling that he was playing everyone, mainly due to the fact that he never responded after being ask aa direct question maybe realized the fact that people on here are to intelligent to believe what was said,,,, (and I didn't mean "me" being intelligent haha,


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[eaglegoaltender]

It's tough to help when neither one will answer direct questions

There's an old saying "msinger" - you can lead a horse to water - but you can't make it drink"! "The boy(s) who cried wolf" also comes to mind.

Two separate yet identical incidents and two people who refuse to respond to your repeated requests for further info tells me these two, or, perhaps the same person are/is just playing a game here! Not a very smart or funny one at that. Or they/he have the txt file but are/is too embarrassed to post it since it shows "pilot error". Nothing to be embarrassed about if that is the case - pure speculation on my part. However what other conclusion can one realize under the circumstances!

Since there is no response to the question that very likely would resolve the issue they/he is having and perhaps even get a "free" replacement of the P4 - it's not likely the event ever happened. So boys, maybe you will answer this question............."does a one legged duck - swim in a circle"?

Tip of the hat once again to you "msinger" for at least trying to help - I will add patience now as one of your attributes to go along with assistance with Phantoms be it hands on or pointing others in the proper direction for same.

 

[MacCool]

This thread is kind of amusing. The OP hasn't been involved in it since page 1, six days ago. I admire everyone's desperate desire to solve the riddle, but in the absence of further participation, at what point do we conclude that his proposed story was either made up or markedly embellished?

 

[eaglegoaltender]

but in the absence of further participation, at what point do we conclude that his proposed story was either made up or markedly embellished?

I think we can safely say that "point" has come and gone. I found it overall to be more ridiculous than amusing. I'm with ya however on some forum members desire to help - that's always such a plus here.

 

[Erised]

Well David, if you are reading your post and figured out that maybe it was your fault that you lost your bird, don't think that the majority of the pilots here will put you down. Most of us know that in many casses we are the week link in the system. Most of us had close calls and learn from our mistakes, being in this forum we also learn from others mistakes(my preferred method). Being new at this addiction it is very easy to panic the first time you lose communication with your AC, the first reaction is to press RTH, but if your craft is already in RTH by itself and you have regained com, you just cancelled it and it hovered there waiting for new instructions or in atti maybe just floated away. I know I have done this my first time, Twice! Go was froze also, and I panicked, I regained composure and remembered the RTH button has to be lit and the green lite on the RC means you have connection. The sound of the bird coming home is soooooooooo good. The video from the bird showed I cancelled twice, then I kicked myself in the head. Live and learn, now if this is a hoax, karma is a *****.

 

[cmplx_pttrn]

after saving my money for the last 5 mts I was able to buy a Phantom 4 Dji drone from best buy ,I was flying the drone on Sunday November 6 around 12 in the afternoon on a clear sunny day here in California for some reason the pic went out on my ipad and the drone went out of the flight pattern and just flew away I immediately pushed the return to home button on the receiver however the drone did not come back I tried for hours looking for the drone but could not find it !

I contacted Dji support to see if they could help and they said to look for the flight patterns in the ipad to see where the last location was and search in that area.

I went to my account on the DJI app (USING MY EMAIL ADDRESS [email protected] pass word ''xxxxxx'') and it did not show any flight patterns or any other data , I tried to explain this to the support team and they seem to give me the run around then told me there is nothing they could do for me !
any suggestions ??

ooooooo shnaps!!! the same thing happened to me i was flying on active track mode in an open field while jogging , i placed down the rc and after about 5mins my drone just took off, i ran bak to my rc hit and done a manual return, confused i tried to carry on and the bloody thing done it again and flew straight into a big *** tree. luckily i found my bird and it hasnt happend since. i tred to investigate but i found no answers, its like something just called her out the air..... sorry bout your bird bro, hope she turns up

 

[t2adze]

Sounds like a BS to me. Especially when neither one of them are answering msinger's question regarding flight logs.
Probably competitors trying to create this mess. I dunno.

Sent from my SM-G900FD using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[GFields]

Or do they just not know how to find the TXT files? I cannot decide.

I think "how to find" the txt file has been explained very well. Sounds to me like one is not willing to look.

 

[GFields]

Someone mentioned Litchi earlier on. If I have such an incident using Litchi will DJI cover me?

No! DJI will repair but not replace when using 3rd party apps. And the repair will need to be paid for.