Fly away risk ?

[jengo]

I have only had my PV2 for a few days now and finished my 3rd flight today. I am totally loving it, but I am also scared to death of having a fly away. Are there any precautions I can take to reduce my risk ? Are there any warning signs ? Has DJI responded about the issue ? Does anyone know what is causing it ?

 

[Mo-Quad]

I am sorry to say that I had a fly away in July of this year.

I am only able to advise you that you absolutely will want to have your contact information on the Phantom, in case. I did not and I lost the bird and a Hero2. I had over 10 good flights with mine, had tested (successfully) the RTH feature many times. On this day, it just left home.

I just received my new Phantom for Christmas.

Good luck.

 

[Elginet]

Read through this forum pretty good. I think, if you do everything right....it's gonna come home. I've had a transmitter (remote) issue since I've had it (3 weeks now) and I'll inevitably lose control somewhere near 150', but I'll be patient and wait for it to come back and hover over me, then I'll flick the S1 button and see the visual confirmation that I've regained control, and we'll repeat that exercise until I get my new radio. :lol: (should be tomorrow!)

MAKE SURE you do the compass calibration each and every time you fly. It takes but 5 seconds. Then go put it down, take off and just hover it near you for a minute or 2 (you'll see when all of a sudden the GPS kicks in). Then....have some fun. Just be sure that you're in an open area and keep in mind that when it comes back, it's going to hover for about 30 seconds before descending. Try and get control back at that point but it will land itself. Sometimes a few feet off the mark...but the Going Home function works well (or has for me anyway).

Good luck!

 

[dronesetc]

Calibrating the digital compass is not necessary nor is it recommended. The suggestion to hover and allow your P2V to acquire GPS satellites is OK but even better is setting your P2V in an open area, turning it on, and leaving it there without moving it until you get green lights and you see that you have sufficient satellites for a home lock. Remember proper start-up procedure (this assumes you have already performed the first-time set up digital compass calibration properly):
1- Turn on radio/transmitter
2- Turn on wifi range extender
3- Set P2V in open area, turn on and allow it to initiate start up and acquire sufficient satellites for a 'home lock'

One other safeguard is to make sure you have updated firmware. DJI addressed the fly away issue with a firmware update. CEO Colin Guinn explains it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bxjL7wFyb8 It's actually a pretty interesting and clever fix.

 

[jengo]

Calibrating the digital compass is not necessary nor is it recommended. The suggestion to hover and allow your P2V to acquire GPS satellites is OK but even better is setting your P2V in an open area, turning it on, and leaving it there without moving it until you get green lights and you see that you have sufficient satellites for a home lock. Remember proper start-up procedure (this assumes you have already performed the first-time set up digital compass calibration properly):
1- Turn on radio/transmitter
2- Turn on wifi range extender
3- Set P2V in open area, turn on and allow it to initiate start up and acquire sufficient satellites for a 'home lock'

One other safeguard is to make sure you have updated firmware. DJI addressed the fly away issue with a firmware update. CEO Colin Guinn explains it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bxjL7wFyb8 It's actually a pretty interesting and clever fix.

That video was very informative. During my last flight, I was experiencing the toilet bowl affect and didn't think much of it. I am going to recalibrate my compass during next outing.

I really hope that the interference fix was the fix for fly aways.