Phantom 4 CRASH PLEASE HELP!!!

[JB63]

I found the information below in the P4 manual. Apparently DJI lists the NFZ on their website

DJI - Fly Safe: No Fly Zones

 

[pete923]

DJI, the world’s leading maker of unmanned aerial vehicles, Tuesday introduced an improved version of its geofencing system in the latest update to the DJI GO app that controls its Phantom and Inspire aerial platforms.

 

[AlecW]

It does seem to me the TRFs are automated:

DJI GEO System - Up-to-date Information On Where to Fly

 

[Donald Christie]

Simple question: Could OP have switched to ATTI mode when signal was regained and manually fly back up and home?


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[MrTommy]

DJI - Fly Safe: No Fly Zones

Just perusing the No Fly Zones near me. It lists our airport in Carson CIty, NV but does NOT list the Fallon Naval Air Station in Fallon, NV (current location of Top Gun). That's almost like missing Area 51- which they DID miss. They did list Creech Air Force Base (home of Air Force drone testing and flying) north of Las Vegas.

I wonder how they do their research.

 

[Skyler King III]

Took my Phantom 4 out this afternoon. Did my preflight checks, and all seemed good. I waited for the aircraft to warm up, and once it did, the DJI GO app told me that I couldn't take off because I was in a no fly zone. I didn't understand this warning because I had flown at this site multiple times before without issue. I restarted the Phantom, went through my checks again, and finally got Safe to Fly (GPS). I had 16 satellites. I manually checked the home point on the map, took off, hovered, flew back and forth to make sure my controls were working, and off I went. I was flying around 2,000 feet away from me when the aircraft lost signal. I patiently waited to regain signal. When the phantom was about 1700 feet from me, I regained signal and let the drone come back to me. When it got to about 1400 feet away from me, auto land was suddenly triggered. I hadn't done anything to trigger this, but didn't freak out yet. I tried to cancel the auto land procedure, and DJI go gave me a notification that the outlined had been canceled, but the drone continued to descend. Frantically, I tried to cancel auto land two more times, but to no avail. The drone crashed into some trees and I completely lost signal. I went to look for it, and found it lying face down in some mud. There was fog in the area. I know that was a bad idea but I was itching to get out and fly.

The damage looks pretty bad. There are two cracks in the shell near the motors and two cracks in the landing struts. Worst of all, the gimbal is tilted to one side and the camera is facing completely inward. Not sure if this is supposed to do this to protect the camera? The electronics look ok. Attempted to dry it off and will let it sit for a few days before attempting to power on. Battery was lying right next to the drone but had obviously come out. I believe this happened up in the trees, as the log cuts off while the drone is still 108 feet in the air. I will attach some pics.

My first question is why in the world would the drone have auto landed where it did. Why wasn't I able to cancel auto land? Any chance that the warranty covers this? The drone is less than six months old. Also, how do I upload my flight log? Do I do it off of DJI GO?

Based on the pictures, what how extensive do you think the damage is? How could I go about making repairs? Estimate cost?

Will answer any questions, just want to know what happened to my bird. Really appreciate any help I could get. Thanks guys.

I am very sorry for the loss, especially after you were so anxious to get out and fly. Unfortunately those are frequently heard famous last words. I hope DJI provides you with a replacement quickly. Since you didn't know about B4UFLY, I thought I ask if you knew to register the bird/yourself with the FAA?

Happy future landings.

 

[KS Drone.]

No to digress but, is there a resource (iPad app or else) that shows no-fly zones on a map?

 

[KS Drone.]

No to digress but, is there a resource (iPad app or else) that shows no-fly zones on a map?

Nats drone assist is a very good app.

 

[JCP10]

Took my Phantom 4 out this afternoon. Did my preflight checks, and all seemed good. I waited for the aircraft to warm up, and once it did, the DJI GO app told me that I couldn't take off because I was in a no fly zone. I didn't understand this warning because I had flown at this site multiple times before without issue. I restarted the Phantom, went through my checks again, and finally got Safe to Fly (GPS). I had 16 satellites. I manually checked the home point on the map, took off, hovered, flew back and forth to make sure my controls were working, and off I went. I was flying around 2,000 feet away from me when the aircraft lost signal. I patiently waited to regain signal. When the phantom was about 1700 feet from me, I regained signal and let the drone come back to me. When it got to about 1400 feet away from me, auto land was suddenly triggered. I hadn't done anything to trigger this, but didn't freak out yet. I tried to cancel the auto land procedure, and DJI go gave me a notification that the outlined had been canceled, but the drone continued to descend. Frantically, I tried to cancel auto land two more times, but to no avail. The drone crashed into some trees and I completely lost signal. I went to look for it, and found it lying face down in some mud. There was fog in the area. I know that was a bad idea but I was itching to get out and fly.

The damage looks pretty bad. There are two cracks in the shell near the motors and two cracks in the landing struts. Worst of all, the gimbal is tilted to one side and the camera is facing completely inward. Not sure if this is supposed to do this to protect the camera? The electronics look ok. Attempted to dry it off and will let it sit for a few days before attempting to power on. Battery was lying right next to the drone but had obviously come out. I believe this happened up in the trees, as the log cuts off while the drone is still 108 feet in the air. I will attach some pics.

My first question is why in the world would the drone have auto landed where it did. Why wasn't I able to cancel auto land? Any chance that the warranty covers this? The drone is less than six months old. Also, how do I upload my flight log? Do I do it off of DJI GO?

Based on the pictures, what how extensive do you think the damage is? How could I go about making repairs? Estimate cost?

Will answer any questions, just want to know what happened to my bird. Really appreciate any help I could get. Thanks guys.

 

[JCP10]

Ok, let's talk about No fly zones. 've now gone through this more than seven times as (I live near an airport). First, you HAVE TO UNLOCK beforehand.

Here's what you need to do BEFOREHAND, hopefully (it's hard to see the screen when you are out flying).

Login to your DJI account. Then find your way to: Home/flysafe/GEOSystem/Advance Unlock. Find the area (yellow zones only, red cannot be unlocked without a lot of difficulty). Find the area you want to fly, click it (it puts in the lat/long), and put in your aircraft # (found in the DJI software when you are connected.

Failure to do this: your bird will be forced to land.

 

[JCP10]

Looks like a got a warning that said I was in a no fly zone but don't understand why this could be.

Go to: DJI GEO System - Unlock Areas For Authorized Access And look at the map. There are: 1) red, 2) yellow, and 3) green "no fly zone's.

your aircraft operates on a 2.4ghz wifi frequency. The GEOFENCING system tells you aircraft on that frequency what to do. It (GEOFENCING) can make the aircraft turn around, and RTH.

 

[JB63]

Ok, let's talk about No fly zones. 've now gone through this more than seven times as (I live near an airport). First, you HAVE TO UNLOCK beforehand.

Here's what you need to do BEFOREHAND, hopefully (it's hard to see the screen when you are out flying).

Login to your DJI account. Then find your way to: Home/flysafe/GEOSystem/Advance Unlock. Find the area (yellow zones only, red cannot be unlocked without a lot of difficulty). Find the area you want to fly, click it (it puts in the lat/long), and put in your aircraft # (found in the DJI software when you are connected.

Failure to do this: your bird will be forced to land.

Hopefully a legitimate question: If these are so easy to unlock, why are they there in the first place?
Also, what are the implications (legal or else) of unlocking a NFZ?

 

[JCP10]

Hopefully a legitimate question: If these are so easy to unlock, why are they there in the first place?
Also, what are the implications (legal or else) of unlocking a NFZ?

In my case, I live near large regional airport. We have several UAS owners in my large neighborhood. The airport tower told us "stay under 400 feet and you'll be fine". I am finding this NOT to be true. Small aircraft touch and gos, corporate and law enforcement helos WELL under the 400 feet limit at all hours.

At first it made me nervous--now I have more confidence, and of course I unlock. I think in cases where there was an airshow or something (we have them periodically) it might not be ok [I understand it]. And I've seen the corporate helicopter at 50 feet on the apron just hovering for 15 minutes or so (impressive, but my p4 can do this too ), so in my area, there's a lot of activity. Of course I live just outside the Air Defense Zone of Washington DC, and they are very nervous around here as well. .

 

[JCP10]

Looks like a got a warning that said I was in a no fly zone but don't understand why this could be.

Not trying to be rude or impolite, but a no fly zone can extend well out 15 miles or so from a place (doesn't have to be an airport). Could be a detention center, a government facility, a nuclear facility, etc. Did you check the DJI flysafe map for what it was?

 

[JCP10]

In my case, I live near large regional airport. We have several UAS owners in my large neighborhood. The airport tower told us "stay under 400 feet and you'll be fine". I am finding this NOT to be true. Small aircraft touch and gos, corporate and law enforcement helos WELL under the 400 feet limit at all hours.

At first it made me nervous--now I have more confidence, and of course I unlock. I think in cases where there was an airshow or something (we have them periodically) it might not be ok [I understand it]. And I've seen the corporate helicopter at 50 feet on the apron just hovering for 15 minutes or so (impressive, but my p4 can do this too ), so in my area, there's a lot of activity. Of course I live just outside the Air Defense Zone of Washington DC, and they are very nervous around here as well. .

I didn't fully answer your question: To me, the implications are: Get outta the way of traffic. I am retired AF, can't imagine causing an accident by operating that close to manned aircraft.

 

[AlecW]

Not trying to be rude or impolite, but a no fly zone can extend well out 15 miles or so from a place (doesn't have to be an airport). Could be a detention center, a government facility, a nuclear facility, etc. Did you check the DJI flysafe map for what it was?

If you read back a little some of us suspect it was the 30 mile TFR around Chicago when Obama was there for his goodbye speech.

 

[Henry Matias]

Took my Phantom 4 out this afternoon. Did my preflight checks, and all seemed good. I waited for the aircraft to warm up, and once it did, the DJI GO app told me that I couldn't take off because I was in a no fly zone. I didn't understand this warning because I had flown at this site multiple times before without issue. I restarted the Phantom, went through my checks again, and finally got Safe to Fly (GPS). I had 16 satellites. I manually checked the home point on the map, took off, hovered, flew back and forth to make sure my controls were working, and off I went. I was flying around 2,000 feet away from me when the aircraft lost signal. I patiently waited to regain signal. When the phantom was about 1700 feet from me, I regained signal and let the drone come back to me. When it got to about 1400 feet away from me, auto land was suddenly triggered. I hadn't done anything to trigger this, but didn't freak out yet. I tried to cancel the auto land procedure, and DJI go gave me a notification that the outlined had been canceled, but the drone continued to descend. Frantically, I tried to cancel auto land two more times, but to no avail. The drone crashed into some trees and I completely lost signal. I went to look for it, and found it lying face down in some mud. There was fog in the area. I know that was a bad idea but I was itching to get out and fly.

The damage looks pretty bad. There are two cracks in the shell near the motors and two cracks in the landing struts. Worst of all, the gimbal is tilted to one side and the camera is facing completely inward. Not sure if this is supposed to do this to protect the camera? The electronics look ok. Attempted to dry it off and will let it sit for a few days before attempting to power on. Battery was lying right next to the drone but had obviously come out. I believe this happened up in the trees, as the log cuts off while the drone is still 108 feet in the air. I will attach some pics.

My first question is why in the world would the drone have auto landed where it did. Why wasn't I able to cancel auto land? Any chance that the warranty covers this? The drone is less than six months old. Also, how do I upload my flight log? Do I do it off of DJI GO?

Based on the pictures, what how extensive do you think the damage is? How could I go about making repairs? Estimate cost?

Will answer any questions, just want to know what happened to my bird. Really appreciate any help I could get. Thanks guys.

Hi I would like to tell you that I also am in contact with support about the same thing that happened to me only I got lucky and I was able to return it back to me.

Took my Phantom 4 out this afternoon. Did my preflight checks, and all seemed good. I waited for the aircraft to warm up, and once it did, the DJI GO app told me that I couldn't take off because I was in a no fly zone. I didn't understand this warning because I had flown at this site multiple times before without issue. I restarted the Phantom, went through my checks again, and finally got Safe to Fly (GPS). I had 16 satellites. I manually checked the home point on the map, took off, hovered, flew back and forth to make sure my controls were working, and off I went. I was flying around 2,000 feet away from me when the aircraft lost signal. I patiently waited to regain signal. When the phantom was about 1700 feet from me, I regained signal and let the drone come back to me. When it got to about 1400 feet away from me, auto land was suddenly triggered. I hadn't done anything to trigger this, but didn't freak out yet. I tried to cancel the auto land procedure, and DJI go gave me a notification that the outlined had been canceled, but the drone continued to descend. Frantically, I tried to cancel auto land two more times, but to no avail. The drone crashed into some trees and I completely lost signal. I went to look for it, and found it lying face down in some mud. There was fog in the area. I know that was a bad idea but I was itching to get out and fly.

The damage looks pretty bad. There are two cracks in the shell near the motors and two cracks in the landing struts. Worst of all, the gimbal is tilted to one side and the camera is facing completely inward. Not sure if this is supposed to do this to protect the camera? The electronics look ok. Attempted to dry it off and will let it sit for a few days before attempting to power on. Battery was lying right next to the drone but had obviously come out. I believe this happened up in the trees, as the log cuts off while the drone is still 108 feet in the air. I will attach some pics.

My first question is why in the world would the drone have auto landed where it did. Why wasn't I able to cancel auto land? Any chance that the warranty covers this? The drone is less than six months old. Also, how do I upload my flight log? Do I do it off of DJI GO?

Based on the pictures, what how extensive do you think the damage is? How could I go about making repairs? Estimate cost?

Will answer any questions, just want to know what happened to my bird. Really appreciate any help I could get. Thanks guys.

Hi Pete what happened to you also happened to me also with my P4 and I'm worried. I got lucky though.
Please see a copy below of my story that I sent to DJI Support!

Manicha 1

1月7日 HKT18:23

Name:Henry Matias
Location: Ontario Canada
Product Serial Number:
Briefly describe your problem:：

I had an almost disaster occur
In my flight 5 days ago.
I was flying around a very tall building under construction.
My son bought a condo at that building.
While during line of sight I was flying the P4 quite high when suddenly I lost sight of it and looked down to the screen on my IPad Air tablet to notice a rapid descent occurring.
It was not directly over me where I was flying, it was horizontally quite aways.
My question is, do we while flying and on the screen (Moniter) have a spot where we can accidentally touch to cause or initiate an Auto Landing where it is? Meaning if it's many yards away. Okay not my case here but say your 1 mile away? Is there such an option to Press something even by accident on the screen or controller that would start an Auto Landing right where it is? I don't mean a RTH press and hold to initiate a return to home and auto land.
I lost sight of my Drone cause while a rapid descent had began I didn't notice it disappear at first and when I looked down to my screen I noticed the rapid descent and panicked so I pressed and held the RTH button where the P4 Drone initiated its return back to home and all was well.
The auto landing Vertical rapid descent it some how engaged in, would have been a disaster if I was not high at the time. I was able to still recover with the RTH.
Please tell me if there is such an option to initiate an Auto Land far from where you are standing? My DJI app is set to Return Home if I press RTH. But remember what I wrote above I had not pressed RTH anyway when my Drone Disappeared and I noticed on the screen the rapid descent.

 

[Dean807]

I bought a phantom 2 that had been crashed . Most likely your esc's are broken in tje 2 that are busted up. Your camera cable could be trashed you might be lucky on camera and gimbal. May need to be reset for position. The landing struts of course. Lucky battery came out I think. May have saved mb, you said landed in mud was there water that could have gotten to MB and internals? Make sure before powering it up. Water could still de in it.

 

[Wayne Kinne]

I love the video my P3P takes but I hate how the thing takes control. I have had it return to home maybe 20 times and less than 5 of those times did it land within 500' of home. I live in a very rural location so there are no metal buildings or anything to mess with signals, it just seems to have a mind of its own sometimes. My controller warns me when my battery is low, I would prefer to have 100% control of my $1000 toy, let me decide to land it or let it be my fault if I fail to to so and it crashes. I have 5 racing drones and have never had one crash due to a low battery.

jmho

 

[PapaQ]

Pull it down and visually inspect the boards for danage. If all looks good power up on the bench and see what happens.

If the camera mount is damaged I understand that the replacement is the whole gimbal/camera and electronics and it costs 399 from DJI. I am in the process of doing a DIY repair after a drone crash into a tree and I can attest that it is not something that you want to do unless you have the skills and the tools. I am replacing the shell top and bottom and the legs as a result of the crash. I am replacing the power board as a result of my lack of DIY tools and skills. God willing it will fly this weekend. In the meantime I decided to buy a refurbished unit which arrives Monday. Hopefully will have two to fly by then.