P4 fell from the sky like a rock

[cr8it]

Hi:

I am a new p4 owner who just had my first crash. I can not however figure out why.

I set the P4 up on level ground. I live out in the desert and there is lots of room to fly.I had a great flight. Took it up to the highest altitude 200'. After some flight time (still at 200'), I decided to return to home, and pushed that button and held it down until it engaged. At the time I had been shooting down on the roof of my house. Right after "return to home" engaged, rather than moving back to the home point (which I verified on the map before taking off) it literally came down directly onto my roof at a very high speed (as in almost falling out of the sky).

I have reviewed the playback and can not see anything I did that would have caused this. Would appreciate it if anyone can point out what I did wrong. The roof where it landed is at least 25 feet away from the home point. I had 17 satellites.

I was able to retrive the drone and everything seems okay with the exception of a broken prop.

Thanks

 

[alokbhargava]

You may check the logs for better analysis.


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[msinger]

The roof where it landed is at least 25 feet away from the home point.

If you initiate RTH when your Phantom is within 20 meters of the home point, it'll auto land at its current location instead of flying back to the home point and landing.

From the Phantom manual:

 

[Anthony Radford]

.

I was able to retrive the drone and everything seems okay with the exception of a broken prop.

Thanks

Is there a chance that somehow, the prop could have broken while in flight? On the video footage of the fall, did it just drop like a rock, straight down, or did it weave/bob/act crazy and out of control for a split second?

 

[IzzyP4]

Did you by any chance do this?

 

[cr8it]

Did you by any chance do this?View attachment 64026

Don't think so - I will relook at the playback.

 

[neven]

There is explanation of what happened in 3rd post by @msinger. No mystery. RTH within 20m (60ft) is basically auto land and with roof above your homepoint this is most probable outcome. There is really no need to use RTH when you are 25ft away.


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[jjpetroski]

RTH did me in when using Litchi and over my neighbors house. Thought it would return to the driveway, but noooo!. Came right down through their Oak tree. So now I only use RTH when I cannot see it, otherwise it's a manual landing.

 

[godsend1]

If you initiate RTH when your Phantom is within 20 meters of the home point, it'll auto land at its current location instead of flying back to the home point and landing.

From the Phantom manual:

View attachment 64021

Thanks for the reminder.

 

[RémyHeli]

Did someone notice OP mention it was descending with very high speed? Almost falling out, we know this one!

Hope we get soon firmware update to fix altitude readings issue.


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[neven]

Did someone notice OP mention it was descending with very high speed? Almost falling out, we know this one!

Hope we get soon firmware update to fix altitude readings issue.


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Yup, wrong altitude reading + rooftop above home point = **** hard landing


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[jeffgiff]

My P4 fell from the sky today. Can someone help me analyse flight data? Is it possible to post it on here?