P3P Flyaway

[msinger]

I'll gladly pay you 1% of my purchase price if you refund my drone when it flies away and you can not demonstrate user error.

One thing is certain -- if you review all of the fly aways posted in this forum, almost all of them were caused by some type of user error and/or could have been recovered had the pilots known what was occurring.

Other companies charge around 35x more for a year extended warranty.

That makes sense since most of the cases they are covering involve user error. If they only had to cover unexplainable fly aways, they would hardly ever have to pay out.

 

[kdrak]

i once had a flyaway with my p2 at the beach. I ran and chased after it as it flew away, then i realized I was chasing a seagull I mistook for my drone. My drone was hovering in position the entire time.

That is as close as I got to a flyaway and Ive been flying phantoms for 3 years.

Recently Ive been noticing that the GPS compass would fail but lock back on, I think the latest FW is overly sensitive

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TOP POST !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Vertigo]

That makes sense since most of the cases they are covering involve user error. If they only had to cover unexplainable fly aways, they would hardly ever have to pay out.

Draw up a contract, and I'll take it. Seriously. Im sure Im not alone. I dont need insurance against my own stupidity (and thus pay for other people's stupidty), but it sure would be nice not having to worry (financially) about fly aways. Especially at 1% - its a no brainer.

 

[msinger]

Vertigo, in order to make this thread helpful and not just a bunch of posts based on unfounded fears, let's talk about some facts:

Insurance

• People usually buy insurance because they fear they will crash their Phantom
• There is no need to buy/sell insurance to solely cover unexplained fly aways since DJI has a track record of replacing those Phantoms for free
• For most Phantoms that were crashed due to user error, DJI has offered to sell the owner a new Phantom at a 20-30% discount (very generous of them)

Fly Aways

• Meta4 and/or I have spent countless hours reviewing nearly every Phantom 3 fly away thread in this forum
• Meta4 and I are speaking from experience -- and, not personal opinions that cannot be backed up with data
  
• Nearly all of the fly away threads in this forum were either cases of user error or could have been avoided if the pilot had a better understanding of their aircraft
• The average Phantom owner does not take the time to read the Phantom manual in its entirety and understand everything within
• Nearly all of the fly away threads in this forum were posted by average Phantom owners
• Very few members of this forum have posted a thread about a fly away

 

[Vertigo]

I no longer have warranty on mine, so when I say I would buy this insurance, Im not joking, and Im sure Im not alone. Whether you really want to do that for 1% ('much much more' than the actual probability according to Meta4) , thats for you to decide, but I'll certainly take it.

 

[msinger]

I no longer have warranty on mine

DJI's warranty does not cover damage due to fly aways caused by user error. It never has.

 

[Vertigo]

I dont want insurance for user error. I want insurance for the thing you say almost never happens: a fly away that is not attributable to user error.

 

[msinger]

I dont want insurance for user error. I want insurance for the thing you say almost never happens: a fly away that is not attributable to user error.

Insurance is insurance. Insurance carriers don't care how you crashed. Here are some commonly used options:

• DJI Care
• Nearly Aerial Media

Some people are also getting coverage through the insurance company they use for their home/car. So, that's another option you can look into.

 

[m0j0]

Why would you buy any insurance that is about 50% of the replacement cost of your unit annually. Secondarily, why would you buy insurance for a fly-away when you buy your Phantom. Seriously, that's like buying a one year motor warranty for an appliance when you have a one year motor warranty included in the purchase price.


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[Wayne Kinne]

Humm, I guess i'm surprised no one has mentioned the fault that caused my fly-away. And I guess there will be debate on if this is a true fly-away or operator error, but here goes.

I was flying my P3P when I clipped a tree branch and after it hitting the ground and me brushing it off some, I lifted off only to watch my drone spun south and fly off out of site, nothing I tried had any affect. I stood there trying to think of how I was going to tell my wife, my $1000 toy just few away, when I heard the whir of my beloved toy and spotted it about 1/4 mile east of me, north bound and descending it the woods. First came the big bang, then the search, then $50 for a new shell and a job I never want to repeat.

After investigation I decided the cause of my "fly-away" was the fact that one of my props had lost its tip when it hit the tree branch. I then decided I would never fly with a damaged prop, even if it was only a small piece broken away.

 

[msinger]

After investigation I decided the cause of my "fly-away" was the fact that one of my props had lost its tip when it hit the tree branch.

I doubt a chipped prop would cause a Phantom to fly away. It could make it unstable when hovering though.

 

[JamesG2571]

+1

Sounds more like a [near] 'give-away'!

Define a fly away then?


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[N017RW]

Flyaway ways are verbs not nouns IMO.
I have been flying r/c for about 4 decades. Regardless of aircraft type or radio tech. I have experienced and witnessed my share of crashes due to human error and equipment failure.
What has changed is the on-board stability capabilities which allow, in some circumstances or failures, quads to flyaway as opposed to just fly into the ground.
It's the same old same old manifested in MRs.

 

[Wayne Kinne]

I doubt a chipped prop would cause a Phantom to fly away. It could make it unstable when hovering though.

I was figuring that it wobbled so bad that trying to stabilize its self made it fly off.

 

[JamesG2571]

Flyaway ways are verbs not nouns IMO.
I have been flying r/c for about 4 decades. Regardless of aircraft type or radio tech. I have experienced and witnessed my share of crashes due to human error and equipment failure.
What has changed is the on-board stability capabilities which allow, in some circumstances or failures, quads to flyaway as opposed to just fly into the ground.
It's the same old same old manifested in MRs.

So a "flyaway" is a term used for a wide range of examples where a quad flys off in one direction without the operator telling the device to? Correct?


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[msinger]

I was figuring that it wobbled so bad that trying to stabilize its self made it fly off.

I doubt that's what happened. If you want us to take a look at your log, please start a new thread and include a detailed explanation of what happened in your post.

 

[Bill S]

As mentioned a few times above. Stay involved with the flight throughout and don't be afraid to manually fly back home. Learn to fly. I have never had a 'fly away' but I did have some weird departure on a waypoint mission where I decided to abandon the mission and fly home. Somewhat of a challenge when the quad is out of sight. First thing is to stop the flight and hover. Then get the bird up a few hundred feet and visually find your home destination through the tablet. Fly home. Land. Have a beer. Always an adventure.

 

[houldsworth1]

That is what I usually hear.... But I only wonder why we dont hear the same about APM or Multiwii

People flying APM, Pixhawk, MultiWii etc. usually build them themselves. This means that they actually understand. Compare the APM/Pixhawk pages on Facebook with the Phamtom pages and you will find a very different mindset. One group is about problem solving, understanding how things work and blaming themselves when things go wrong the other...is the Phantom group.

Phantoms are great machines and, honestly, so reasonably priced and fully functional now that I have stopped building them. But I can't tell you how many times I have seen people post about their flyaway and how they can get DJI to give them a refund and then people ask questions that unearth how little they know about flying a quadcopter.

Read the manual (the full manual), watch videos, and start small. Learn to fly in ATTI mode.

If you really are too scared to fly buy a $35 Syma X5 and learn to fly that. Once you can fly that comfortably and are confident on the controls the P3 will be ridiculously easy to fly.

 

[BKHill]

Hi everyone,

I am new to the forum and also to phantoms.. I have a p3p on the mail and was really excited until I decided to youtube for flyaways. I was under the impression this was something of the past, but it seems to be an ongoing issue for what I saw in youtube.

How often does it happen? and what triggers the flyaways? It really scares me, 1. potentially hurting someone, 2. losing quite a bit of money if it is lost or damaged.

Looking forward to hearing from you guys.

Thanks

If you consider that there are millions of Phamtons out there flying. I'd say the odds are you won't have an issue.

 

[GeoffJ]

RTH where the compass wasn't calibrated properly.