Bodd said:Hello,
I see so many topics on fly-aways that I am now concerned. I was wondering if setting up a "geo-fence" would help limit the distance in the event of a fly-away.
Thanks
Buckaye said:I'd say don't get overly concerned, have fun... but be diligent about your pre-flight routine and think about risks etc before you take off... and I bet you'll be fine.
+2Buckaye said:Bodd said:Hello,
I see so many topics on fly-aways that I am now concerned. I was wondering if setting up a "geo-fence" would help limit the distance in the event of a fly-away.
Thanks
I'll be honest... I haven't seen many fly-away threads that didn't have some element of Pilot-error or post-crash factor involved. I have seen everything from - I switched to ATTI and the wind took it... to... I just crashed a few days ago and when I powered up everything looked fine and then it suddenly lost GPS and flew off... to yes a couple of really hard to explain issues where an apparent reason wasn't available.
I am sure there are instances of it - but frankly, stuff happens with other RC aircraft (and cars) too. But you have to remember - human nature is to post stuff when something goes wrong - not the 1000's of times things go right
The problem with your Geo-fence idea is that it assumes "when" a fly-away happens the "brain" of the Phantom is in a state where it will recognize the distance and behave in some way. I guess that's possible... but, on the other hand... if something fails on the Phantom it's possible that it won't know where it is in the first place
I too was a little alarmed when I first came on this forum with a couple of recurring topics. 1. the "fly-away" (and I address my observation with that and 2. Battery early land (which I honestly still can't get a sense for how prevalent that is) - but I can tell you this - I have crashed three times with the Phantom - 2 of which I "could" characterize as a "fly-away" to make myself feel better... but BOTH were caused by me being a little too quick with my programming in my groundstation and not really thinking about how I was using the feature.
Just my 2 cents - I am sure others will disagree... but I'd say don't get overly concerned, have fun... but be diligent about your pre-flight routine and think about risks etc before you take off... and I bet you'll be fine.
bclemms said:I didn't have a fly away but last week was flying my p2 with gimbal on gopro black. Perfect weather, was about 100' away and 30' in the air when suddenly the quad violently went inverted and at full speed went upside down into the water. I was shooting some video of some ducks and almost stationary when it happened. No wind, bluebird skies and very subtle flying. I calibrate the compass every time I fly, always wait for home lock GPS. Was over open clear area. Dunno. Sucked watching almost $2k drop into the drink though. It was only 6 weeks old. I still haven't recovered it but doubt it does any good to get it back.
I want to get another but as hard as it was to pull the trigger 2 months ago to buy the p2, it is almost impossible for me to do it again.
I haven't even contacted DJI, after reading what others have posted about their support and without the quad I already know what they are going to say.
bclemms said:No. I never turned the wifi on the gopro and checked before every flight.
I really am just extremely unlucky when it comes to buying products. I was hesitant to get the first because of fly away issues but spoke with multiple people who have the P2 and none had ever had any problems or even heard of anyone having problems other than stuff they read online. Finally a friend of mine who has two told me I was being paranoid and that less than 3% have issues. I told him I have lived 35 years in that 3%. Now the odds of me getting a second one that malfunctions is so slim on paper but I know in reality it is unrealistically high.
Probably not.Bodd said:Hello,
I see so many topics on fly-aways that I am now concerned. I was wondering if setting up a "geo-fence" would help limit the distance in the event of a fly-away.
Thanks
Definitely, you should try to recover it. DJI may replace it especially if you can recover video from the event.bclemms said:I didn't have a fly away but last week was flying my p2 with gimbal on gopro black. Perfect weather, was about 100' away and 30' in the air when suddenly the quad violently went inverted and at full speed went upside down into the water. I was shooting some video of some ducks and almost stationary when it happened. No wind, bluebird skies and very subtle flying. I calibrate the compass every time I fly, always wait for home lock GPS. Was over open clear area. Dunno. Sucked watching almost $2k drop into the drink though. It was only 6 weeks old. I still haven't recovered it but doubt it does any good to get it back.
I want to get another but as hard as it was to pull the trigger 2 months ago to buy the p2, it is almost impossible for me to do it again.
I haven't even contacted DJI, after reading what others have posted about their support and without the quad I already know what they are going to say.
Bodd said:Hello,
I see so many topics on fly-aways that I am now concerned. I was wondering if setting up a "geo-fence" would help limit the distance in the event of a fly-away.
Thanks
Well, I did see my P2V take a dive nearly straight down from 330' in 10.2 seconds. (Flytrex)Buckaye said:Yeah - sometimes I feel like my luck is like that. Dude... I would retrieve it and try to get a replacement from DJI - assuming everything happened the way you described it, it seems like one of the first stories I have heard that sounds like a legit in flight failure of the Phantom. For instance - I have never heard of anyone having the their Phantom suddenly invert.
worst case scenario they say no right? Then you are no worse off than you are now.