Here are some top tips on how to recover your Phantom should you experience a fly away. I also list some tips and precautions you can take to ensure your Phantom 2 is as reliable as can be and to minimize the chance of a fly away.
So you're flying your P2V on a nice or not so nice day. enjoying your flight and suddenly the worst happens. It begins to do things it's not supposed to do and or takes off on its own. Following these helpful tips should set you straight.
1) Take a deep breath
2) Don't panic
3) If it begins to fly away you can panic now. (just kidding) please refer back to steps one and two.
4) If you have Naza mode enabled and your bird begins flying erratically that could be a GPS lock and or a compass problem. Switch to Atti mode to help stabilize your plane and bring it back IMMEDIATELY to land.
5) Even if Atti mode isn't available but you see your bird behaving in any other way that feels out of the "norm" for you then immediately fly your bird back, if you have control. Even if your bird is far away, just land it wherever you can in a safe place and walk to it.
6) Your Phantom 2 Vision will keep a log of it's last known GPS position as long as you have stable wifi. Keep the flat base of the Wifi range extender pointed as directly as possible towards your Phantom to Maintain WiFi and thus GPS location within the DJI app. Also make sure your transmitters antenna is pointed straight up and not sideways as seen in many peoples videos.
7) Reference how much battery life is remaining before the crash so you can have an idea of how far it may travel should it be in the process of flying away from you. Also note the Radar screen of where it's current position is relative to you, should you not have an actual Visual of your Phantom. Again making sure to try to keep your Wifi repeater pointing in it's direction to maintain connection as long as possible.
8) Turn off transmitter as last resort to activate the failsafe return to home function. Keep in mind that if you're below 66 feet when hitting RTH and their are obstacles between you and your Phantom that your Phantom WILL run into said obstacles as by default it flys in a straight line above the home position before descending.
Your bird is on the ground now. Steps for recovering a downed Phantom once you believe it's on the ground. It is of vital importance you begin your search IMMEDIATELY to take advantage of certain features of your Phantom that you can use as a means to locate it.
1) If you had a Visual of your Phantom as it reached the ground run to it immediately.
2) call some friends to help you search.
3) If you didn't have visual range but had a Wifi connection, refer to the last known position within the DJI app and go to that location as a starting point for your search. On full charge I believe the range of the Phantom is around 10 miles give or take.
4) Provided you've not lost power to the Vision Camera in your fly away or crash event, you can take advantage of the Visions Wifi connection as a means to track it from greater distance. It would also have been helpful if the vision's Wifi itself wasn't hidden as it would make this process a bit easier. But what you will do is circle the perimeter of the last known location and cycle the power on the Wifi repeater from time to time, then try to make a connection to your Phantom. Keep doing this at set intervals and with the Wifi repeater antenna pointing in different directions. Wait about 30 seconds to a minute after each power up and then try to connect with your smart phone. If you make the connection it's a simple matter to find your Phantom by using the Find you Phantom function in the app.
5) Continue searching in a grid pattern, fanning out if you have more than one person looking. You should be constantly trying to regain a wifi connection as you do this. Also ask any bystanders if they saw your Phantom flying and or landing anywhere.
Additional things you can add to your Phantom to aid in a recovery should you loose your bird.
1) Use a label maker and print your Name and Number and affix it to the Phantom. Add reward if found, if you feel it's appropriate.
2) You can add a cell phone based GPS tracker. They come in many sizes, makes and models. They use GPS for location data and Cellular service for internet access to the device so you can find the location by searching an internet web site associated with the device. Price plans for these devices can be as little as $10 a month or upwards of $30 a month, not including the cost of the cellular service. I'd suggest using a pre paid plan for the cellular portion.
3) A relatively free way you can use Cell GPS tracking. Get a second phone that supports cellular based GPS tracking. You can do this with android phones and the right apps like Trustgo though I don't know how reliable those are. I highly recommend going with an older iPhone such as a 3G or 3GS using the "Find my iPhone" function. If you have a GSM based cell service all you'd have to do is pop your SIM card into the phone you'll be using for tracking. And have the phone attached with velcro to your Phantom. That way you can have cell tracking without having to pay additional monthly or yearly service plan costs. Just the initial cost of a second phone for the use of tracking.
4) Add a "clapper" like device to your Phantom that can cycle the power on something or create a horn effect. That may help you in your search should you not have a visual and you can't attain wifi connection to your Phantom.
5) Consider adding a TP-Link 9 or 14dDB high gain antenna to your built in repeater to extend your Wifi FPV range to the DJI app.
Steps to take to minimize a fly away from happening at all.
1) Update all Firmware on both your Phantom and the Transmitter before you fly.
2) Calibrate your Phantom's compass before your initial flight in an open field away from metal or power lines or concrete floors to get the best possible calibration
Watch this great video from DJI's CIO Colin Guinn on calibrating your Compass for first flight as well as flight basics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... osbWTHLfQQ
3) Do not calibrate your compass before every flight, this is not necessary and may actually increase your chance of having a problem.
4) Make sure all of your batteries are charged. (silly, but some may forget
)
5) Try to avoid flying near cell towers, over head power lines or areas were you believe their may be heavy interference from other 2.4 and or 5 ghz signals.
6) Make sure your S1 and S2 three way toggle switches are both in the UP position.
7) Before you take off make sure your Phantom has a good GPS lock. After power on the tail lights of your Phantom will quickly flash green then followed by a slow blinking green. This means you have marked your GPS home location. BUT it doesn't mean you will still have a solid GPS signal as sometimes you may need to let your bird sit for another minute.
8) Reference your DJI app on your device. Make sure that you maintain GPS satellite lock of the Minimum 6 satellites or more for at least about a minute to be on the "safe" side. I've seen the satellite lock drop in and out sometimes until finally it staying stable. If you take off while your signal is dropping off and on you may experience erratic flight behavior.
That's mainly it for now. If anyone would like to add to this please feel free. Good luck and safe flying!
my PV2 is here with me but just checked last known GPS location....
