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I recently had an inflight problem with my Phantom 4. I took it out for a flight at a location that I had flown at multiple times before. This flight was around 4:00 PM Central Time (10:00 UTC) on Wednesday, January 11, 2017. After I started up my Phantom 4, I waited for the aircraft to warm up. As always, the top left status bar in DJI Go 4 read Safe To Fly (GPS). The app confirmed that the home point had been recorded, and I also manually checked it on the map. I took off, confirmed normal flight controls, and took the drone up to 400 feet and flew it about 2,000 feet from me over a forest preserve. At about 2,000 feet out, the Phantom lost signal. At about 1700 feet, I regained RC signal as well as video downlink and I continued to let the RTH procedure run. To my surprise, at about 1400 feet from me, the aircraft began to auto land. A warning appeared that read "You are in a No Fly Zone, Auto land initiated. Obstacle Avoidance will be disabled in landing, fly with caution." Confused, I attempted to cancel the auto land. I got a notification in DJI GO 4 that read "Auto land canceled", but the aircraft continued to descend. I tried to cancel the auto landing procedure twice more during the descent, but the aircraft would not respond. I had no control over the aircraft, as the auto land procedure was irreversible. At around 110 feet, the aircraft descended into a tree and fell to the ground in the forest preserve. I was able to retrieve the Phantom by using the last known location on the map in DJI GO 4.
I don't understand how the No Fly Zone Auto land procedure was triggered. As you will be able to see by the flight logs, I was not flying within five miles of any airport. Based of the US Federal Aviation Administration's website on Temporary Flight Restrictions, there were none at the time of the flight in my area. I checked sites such as knowbeforeyoufly.org that show all No Fly Zone's, and there was clearly not a No Fly Zone at this time. I also checked DJI's geo zone map, and found no No Fly Zone's. I was not flying in a no fly zone during the flight.
If there was a No Fly Zone in my flying location, I should not have been able to take off. DJI GO 4 should have given me a warning that I was about to fly into a No Fly Zone. Using DJI's geofencing technology, the software should not have let me fly into a No Fly Zone, with the exception of a GPS error. I had fourteen satellites at takeoff, and I had 17 satellites for most of the flight. I was connected to more than the minimum of 10 satellites for safe flight. I flew in P Mode for the entire flight.
Based on my research, I think that there was a software malfunction in either DJI Go or the Phantom 4 itself. The drone was purchased under six months ago, so the full warranty should still be available. I would like to shed some light on the situation. I attempted to attach flight logs, but the file format was not supported. Please advise on how to send the flight logs. I can also send the Phantom itself in if it needs to be looked at. I have attached the Proof of Purchase. The Phantom was purchased on Amazon through a DJI authorized dealer, Koozam.
Thank you. I hope the issue can be resolved quickly.