PSA / WARNING: This Can Happen To You

[maxwell smart]

And you have to look at wind shear ? Around buildings there are winds.

 

[lake_flyer]

and do not come from a family of inbreeders.

That's it!

It's a well known fact that only inbreeders have massive problems with Walkera's and you don't, so that proves you're not an inbreeder.

You're definitely safe with Walkera, trust me.

 

[Hughie]

DJI FLY AWAYS ARE REAL!! Before I begin...here my credentials: I am an experienced RC pilot with well over 2000 hours flight time, half of which are dedicated to multi-rotor craft, I am sufficiently educated in the rules, regulations, procedures, standards, characteristics, protocols and aerodynamics of RC flight, and do not come from a family of inbreeders. Ok, my intention here is to share my story in an effort to save people from the indescribable financial, and psychological pain as suffering associated with DJI Fly-away's that have affected thousands of people around the world. After my beloved Walkera QR X350 Pro was murdered by a fire in my garage, i decided to see what all the hype was about with these DJI phantoms and how awesome they are, some professionals even claimed DJI was the best that money can buy. its all over the internet. So bury my walkera in a shallow grave, wipe away my tears.. and i jump on the DJI band wagon with the rest of the Jones's . I purchased two phantoms. First one i bought was the P330 V1, Crap...Second one was a P2,..also Crap. Both fly away's. P1 was not just a piece of crap, but a big heaping steamy nutty brown pile of elephant crap..Only a 6 minute flight time of mostly erratic behavior, 3 failed esc's, 2 failed motors and 2 failed receivers all within the first 12 flights. Both times the rx receiver failed and tx was lost, the RTH failsafe FAILED .First time it failed the P1 fell like a brick and hit the ground smashing the landing gear, battery, go-pro 3, zenmuse gimbal and compass. Second time the rx receiver failed and lost tx, it was about 50 meters up and 130 meters out when it began to fly in a tight circular pattern for 30 seconds or so...then, with a rapidly flashing yellow LED, it did a 180 and began hauling *** at full speed. Nearly inverted...it flew NW over the horizon of the pacific ocean. Spent $1500 on that piece of crap. Still confident, and willing to give DJI a second try, i purchase the Phantom 2 V2 for $2,500 with the idea that if i spend more, I'll get a more. For the most part, I was right. I did get more....more crap. It boasted several new upgrades including a more powerful Tx/Rx with stronger transmission signal and extended control range of 3,280'. Persuaded by this false sense of security and enticed by the claims of a more powerful Tx/Rx signal, I was convinced that DJI had resolved the issues with the P1 V1 and that my new P2V2 was immune to flyaway's. So I take the bait and shell out $2,500 for the top of the line P2 V2 with all the bells and whistles including a DJI 5.8GHz Video TX & RX Cloverleaf Antennas, 2.4G Datalink for DJI Ground Station, Autopilot, Go-pro Hero 4 black, Zenmuse H4-3D 3-Axis Gimbal, AVL58 5.8 GHz FPV video Link Kit, etc. So with the best DJI had to offer and sparing no expense, I launch my new P2 for the first time in the middle of the high desert of apple valley with nothing around me but a few tumbleweeds for at least 3 miles or more. 5 minutes into the first flight the P2 was 150 meters off the ground and 75 meters out when it suddenly it began to gain altitude until i could not see it anymore, i initiate a failsafe return to launch, grab my binoculars and finally i see this tiny speck in the sky...the phantom descended to 2,575 ft., did a 360 and began flying NW in an accelerated corkscrew pattern. All i could do is watch my $2,500 P2 fly NW over the horizon and out of my life for good. I was able to use GPS coordinates to track it down but there were not enough remains to identify the body. Another $2500 down the crapper. LESSON... FLY AWAYS ARE REAL. IF YOU THINK IT WONT HAPPEN TO YOU, YOU'RE WRONG. I spent top dollar on the best DJI had to offer to the tune of $2,500.00 and followed all instructions provided, performed all preflight procedures required, and complied with all precautions and requirements provided by DJI to ensure safe flight and still fell victim to controversial but very real, very expensive DJI Fly-Away. Thats when i decided to pack my bags folks, i cut my losses, bid farewell to the jones's,... jumped head first off the DJI hype wagon and onto the first wagon back to Walkera. I know walkera has had a shady past, but I had a good experience with the new QR X350. A good 300 flights and only issue i ever had was a motor and esc failure once while about 40m off the ground and still managed to land it with the 3 remaining motors by switching to manual mode and maxing out the yaw to get it spinning as fast as i could while working the throttle at the same time. it was a rough landing into the sand, but was repairable & for about $100 i was back in the sky for many many more trouble free flights. What lesson did i learn from all this?? Always go with what ya know,..And NEVER follow the jones's. Thats like the blind leading the blind. One thing that still bothers me to this day...what caused the P2 to fly away? I should not be worried about flyaway's with a two and a half thousand dollar aircraft. So that being said... Anyone got a QR x350 pro for sale??

I have to say, you are either an extremely unlucky person.... or there is a pattern happening here when you fly

 

[landmannnn]

DJI FLY AWAYS ARE REAL!! ....not be worried about flyaway's with a two and a half thousand dollar aircraft. ??

Hearing your pain, one thing that should be considered, the Phantom is not a $2,500 aircraft. It is a $400 aircraft, dropping two grand's worth of f'pv kit on the budget airframe can't make it a better flier.

 

[Ezookiel]

DJI FLY AWAYS ARE REAL!! .....

Joined only today and it's your first post and it's a rant against Phantoms?
Why would you join a Phantom Pilots group? If you're so happy with your Walkera, go join a Walkera Pilots' group.

Oh, and please keep as far from other humans as possible, because you are clearly the most incredibly unlucky human being I've ever heard of to have had that many problems with that many Phantoms. A walking disaster area.

I guess DJI's phenomenal sales must be really hurting their competitors to lead to such behaviour as this

 

[Ezookiel]

... a Seagul crashed into mine and went down into the ocean.....

Hmmmm.... at the lake near my work, seagulls swoop very close to it at times. Enough that I was starting to become reluctant to fly there, but I kept flying because I thought it was rare for anything but Birds of Prey to have the balls to actually make physical contact.
Now I think I'll declare that area a No-Fly-Zone from my perspective.

 

[damoncooper]

I have one of pawelsky's older boards in my other P2. The guy is a genius. I will be trying my hand at soldering up some of his boards. Just ordered five from OSH Park.

The data is incredibly detailed. Key to diagnosing an incident like this, you get:

• All sensor raw and calibrated values
• All RC input values
• Control and flight mode
  
• All GPS data including DGPS, HDOP, VDOP
  
• Computed pitch and roll
• ATTi commanded pitch and roll
• Motor RPM (all motors)
• Individual cell voltage

Agreed having a black box logger is critical if manufacturers are going to be able to do root cause analysis on incidents like this.

They built one into the Inspire, which is good at least.

 

[ianwood]

I now have a CAN bus logger on both my P2s. 5 times per second, sensor raw data, values computed by the Naza, stick inputs, motor speeds, cell voltages, etc. are all written to a USB card. If it ever happens again, I'll have the data to figure out what caused it (if it doesn't fly into the middle of a lake).

 

[fastsmiles]

ianwood,
I had a similar fly away (after over 100 flights ) and I believe it was due to the loss of GPS as I flew between two buildings. The only difference is that it did not do the nose dive into the ground as yours did.
Will you be returning to the same area to fly again, now that you have the logger onboard?

 

[Ezookiel]

.... (if it doesn't fly into the middle of a lake).

Go one more step and add a "GetterBack" to one or more of the legs as well, then you'll be able to retrieve it even from a lake.

 

[shabba007]

Insane behavior. Where you in GPS? Why did you not get it back immediately or you couldn't ?

I was in NAZA, but using GPS. I completely lost control. In the end I turned the RC off forcing a failsafe when it evenually calmed down and headed back.

 

[Ezookiel]

Go one more step and add a "GetterBack" to one or more of the legs as well, then you'll be able to retrieve it even from a lake.

Scrap my "Getterback" idea. There's a much better option called a "Water buoy" which will bring the craft back to the surface, and has a built in flashing LED light in the inflated balloon, so you can even find it in the water if it goes down in the dark. Each buoy can lift 1kg, so you may need a couple on each bird, but they're small and light, and the greater chance of getting it back if it goes into water would make it well worth the tiny extra weight.

 

[Fyod]

Wow. I didn't notice this thread until now.
Which FW were you on?

 

[Fplvert]

Here ya go.

 

[Clipper707]

Dronejunkee: please consider using paragraphs.

DJI FLY AWAYS ARE REAL!! Before I begin...here my credentials: I am an experienced RC pilot with well over 2000 hours flight time, half of which are dedicated to multi-rotor craft, I am sufficiently educated in the rules, regulations, procedures, standards, characteristics, protocols and aerodynamics of RC flight, and do not come from a family of inbreeders. Ok, my intention here is to share my story in an effort to save people from the indescribable financial, and psychological pain as suffering associated with DJI Fly-away's that have affected thousands of people around the world. After my beloved Walkera QR X350 Pro was murdered by a fire in my garage, i decided to see what all the hype was about with these DJI phantoms and how awesome they are, some professionals even claimed DJI was the best that money can buy. its all over the internet. So bury my walkera in a shallow grave, wipe away my tears.. and i jump on the DJI band wagon with the rest of the Jones's . I purchased two phantoms. First one i bought was the P330 V1, Crap...Second one was a P2,..also Crap. Both fly away's. P1 was not just a piece of crap, but a big heaping steamy nutty brown pile of elephant crap..Only a 6 minute flight time of mostly erratic behavior, 3 failed esc's, 2 failed motors and 2 failed receivers all within the first 12 flights. Both times the rx receiver failed and tx was lost, the RTH failsafe FAILED .First time it failed the P1 fell like a brick and hit the ground smashing the landing gear, battery, go-pro 3, zenmuse gimbal and compass. Second time the rx receiver failed and lost tx, it was about 50 meters up and 130 meters out when it began to fly in a tight circular pattern for 30 seconds or so...then, with a rapidly flashing yellow LED, it did a 180 and began hauling *** at full speed. Nearly inverted...it flew NW over the horizon of the pacific ocean. Spent $1500 on that piece of crap. Still confident, and willing to give DJI a second try, i purchase the Phantom 2 V2 for $2,500 with the idea that if i spend more, I'll get a more. For the most part, I was right. I did get more....more crap. It boasted several new upgrades including a more powerful Tx/Rx with stronger transmission signal and extended control range of 3,280'. Persuaded by this false sense of security and enticed by the claims of a more powerful Tx/Rx signal, I was convinced that DJI had resolved the issues with the P1 V1 and that my new P2V2 was immune to flyaway's. So I take the bait and shell out $2,500 for the top of the line P2 V2 with all the bells and whistles including a DJI 5.8GHz Video TX & RX Cloverleaf Antennas, 2.4G Datalink for DJI Ground Station, Autopilot, Go-pro Hero 4 black, Zenmuse H4-3D 3-Axis Gimbal, AVL58 5.8 GHz FPV video Link Kit, etc. So with the best DJI had to offer and sparing no expense, I launch my new P2 for the first time in the middle of the high desert of apple valley with nothing around me but a few tumbleweeds for at least 3 miles or more. 5 minutes into the first flight the P2 was 150 meters off the ground and 75 meters out when it suddenly it began to gain altitude until i could not see it anymore, i initiate a failsafe return to launch, grab my binoculars and finally i see this tiny speck in the sky...the phantom descended to 2,575 ft., did a 360 and began flying NW in an accelerated corkscrew pattern. All i could do is watch my $2,500 P2 fly NW over the horizon and out of my life for good. I was able to use GPS coordinates to track it down but there were not enough remains to identify the body. Another $2500 down the crapper. LESSON... FLY AWAYS ARE REAL. IF YOU THINK IT WONT HAPPEN TO YOU, YOU'RE WRONG. I spent top dollar on the best DJI had to offer to the tune of $2,500.00 and followed all instructions provided, performed all preflight procedures required, and complied with all precautions and requirements provided by DJI to ensure safe flight and still fell victim to controversial but very real, very expensive DJI Fly-Away. Thats when i decided to pack my bags folks, i cut my losses, bid farewell to the jones's,... jumped head first off the DJI hype wagon and onto the first wagon back to Walkera. I know walkera has had a shady past, but I had a good experience with the new QR X350. A good 300 flights and only issue i ever had was a motor and esc failure once while about 40m off the ground and still managed to land it with the 3 remaining motors by switching to manual mode and maxing out the yaw to get it spinning as fast as i could while working the throttle at the same time. it was a rough landing into the sand, but was repairable & for about $100 i was back in the sky for many many more trouble free flights. What lesson did i learn from all this?? Always go with what ya know,..And NEVER follow the jones's. Thats like the blind leading the blind. One thing that still bothers me to this day...what caused the P2 to fly away? I should not be worried about flyaway's with a two and a half thousand dollar aircraft. So that being said... Anyone got a QR x350 pro for sale??

 

[Clipper707]

ianwood: Condolences. Almost the same thing happened to me in Laos. I had just flown a full battery. After landing, I replaced the battery, waited for satellite acquisition and then launched. I was in GPS mode.

Immediately my P2V+ heeled over and flew a ballistic trajectory into a bamboo fence about 120 meters away. I was lucky it didn't go into the Mekong River. I'd never seen my Phantom so far from flying level before; it looked almost sideways.

Less than 150 meters away, a concert venure was being set up with all kinds of wireless microphones and other equipment. An electrical engineer friend of mine (who works for a spectrum analyzer manufacturer) believes this may have been a factor, especially in a country where there's no equivalent to the FCC and signals are often overpowered. It's a theory.

To this day I really don't know why this happened.

 

[ianwood]

I don't think any sort of RF can send a Phantom flying off in one direction. I am pretty confident the IMU pooped itself and this has happened to others. The 3DR SOLO has 3 IMUs for this reason.

Total damage for me was about $1k and an undermined confidence. Thankfully, the whole unfortunate event is a distant memory and I'm back in the air.

 

[wkf94025]

Just found this thread tonight. Condolences. The nature of your crash, as well as F6Rider's, sound remarkably similar to two I had last year. In both cases, I was hovering in GPS mode, rural environment with little chance for RFI, mid shoot, repositioning myself for the rest of the shoot. Suddenly P2 gets a mind of its own, absent any stick inputs, and exits the scene hard left, high rate of speed, tilted attitude, linear flight path, shallow descent angle. Crash. In the first such wreck in July, which I posted here, I think you and others reviewed the flight video and diagnosed as likely IMU error, based on horizon tilt despite H3-3D. Major $$ lost on that one. Second wreck in the fall was less expensive, but equally disconcerting.

Ticking bomb...

Kelly

 

[OnTheTrent]

I used to scoff at fly-aways too. I'm not so sure now...

Today was a holiday Monday in Canada. I was as at the construction site for a new dome field house soon to go up at the edge of a rural community. I'm part of a volunteer group documenting its rising. However for today, other than my son and I, the construction site was empty. It was very windy with strong gusts.

To make a long story short, my P2V+ was in a hover about 400ft away at 150 feet and at the far corner of the construction site. It was pointing almost at us. I was just tweaking the pan to take a good still photo when the P2V+ just took off. I mean it suddenly accelerated at full speed horizontally (the nose was dropped) in what seems to be a course perpendicular to the line drawn from my position to the location where the P2V+ was hovering. Full control deflection didn't effect it in the least. I quickly cycled S1 and S2 and left S2 in OFF (up) and S1 in GPS (up). I regained control for a few seconds and then it started twitching about the sky and then suddenly entered a near vertical dive. I cycled S2 and S1 again, put S1 into ATTI, S2 off and gave it full throttle. It came out the dive, I got it somewhat stable, and then I moved S1 to the Fail-safe position (full down) and it stabilized and, after several seconds, started to fly back to the home point.

When it was about 100ft away I moved S1 to the GPS mode and was able to fly it for a few seconds until it suddenly went into a nose dive again. I cycled S1 and S2 again, left S1 in ATTI and gave it full throttle again. I recovered about 5ft above ground. (I'm pretty sure S2 was moved back into OFF.) I flew back in ATTI fine but it was extremely windy with gusts so my son grabbed it when it was in a relatively stable hover.

Every event happened in a couple of seconds and although I'm pretty sure what my recovery control inputs were I'm not 100% sure. Things happened so fast.

I follow a check list and prior to heading out for the flight, I keep the P2V+ close so I can listen to its sound and run through all the controls to make sure everything is working. I had 12 satellites, all batteries were fully charged. The K-index was 3 at the time. The flight started off completely normal. I was about 10 minutes into the flight.

Now, I realize that the winds were likely too strong to fly and maybe down drafts and wind shear caused some problems but what threw me was the way my P2V+ buggered off from a hover. And entered into a vertical dive twice. Talk about a WTF moment. I've had about a 100 flights and always had the “fly away” problem in the back of my mind so I was ready for it in a way. Stunned but aware. (I'm not a complete noob to aviation as I used to fly for a living.)

Was this a fly-away or just some really weird local weather?

 

[SteveMann]

I now have a CAN bus logger on both my P2s. 5 times per second, sensor raw data, values computed by the Naza, stick inputs, motor speeds, cell voltages, etc. are all written to a USB card. If it ever happens again, I'll have the data to figure out what caused it (if it doesn't fly into the middle of a lake).

Can you share the link to the logger? If it's not too heavy I would like to add one to mine as well.