Odd Flyaway...

[Alaska Phantom]

Have about 30 flights with this bird with great success. Last night was shooting video of the fall colors and was flying it home. I got into my drive way and while landing it, at about 30 feet it went nuts and flew straight up and then into a spruce tree. This was with the flight controls in a neutral position. Happened so fast I had no time to react. The recovered video cuts out at the moment of craziness. The battery was down to two bars and total flight time was 9 minutes.
The gimbal now makes an off and on buzzing noise but gets good video. Would not like this to happen again so any suggestions would help. Also is it better to get the camera repaired or replaced. Reading the forums it seems the gimbal is quite the delicate flower. TIA

 

[MapMaker53]

Sounds like maybe you lost signal for some reason and it went into RTH, shot up to the pre-set Return To Home altitude, but wasn't set high enough to make it over the tree. Was that tree between the Phantom and the Home Point you had set?

 

[Alaska Phantom]

Sounds like maybe you lost signal for some reason and it went into RTH, shot up to the pre-set Return To Home altitude, but wasn't set high enough to make it over the tree. Was that tree between the Phantom and the Home Point you had set?

You are right, my bad. Walking it across the street from where I loaded the home point was the cause! The battery got low and tried to return. Thanks!!

 

[RoyVa]

Always good to power off right after landing. Don't want it starting a RTH in your arms or in the car.

 

[MapMaker53]

Some of the apps give you the option of having a dynamic home point where the phantom will zero in on your phone or tablet location as the home point if you will be walking/moving around. Whichever type is used, it's important to carefully consider any path/altitude the Phantom might have to take to return to a current home point.

btw.. The method I use for hand catching is I hover the quad just above head-level with battery facing me, grab a strut with my right hand, initiate left stick shut-down with left hand, and then use my right thumb to shut off the battery before I walk anywhere with it. I've heard of quads trying to return home with a battery that is still on and the controller being turned off.