HELP! Aircraft disconnected twice in flight and don't want to fly again

[PHANTOM_PILOT13]

So before I left to go on vacation, I decided to get a flight or two in before I left. Before I started my flight, I calibrated my compass and waited till I got my home point recorded and my satellites. So I take off and fly about 300m away and then all of a sudden aircraft disconnected on the app and I clicked rth on the app and it said connection timeout. Failsafe Rth did not kick in so I panicked and ran towards the location where my phantom got disconnected. Luckily, I got my drone to Reconnect and got my signal back so the first thing I did was click rth on dji go and it flew back. Scared to fly again and do not know what to do when I get back from vacation

 

[BigAl07]

Check and TEST your RTH failsafe settings. Don't assume it's set as you want confirm it and then test it under safe conditions.

 

[solentlife]

"Before I started my flight, I calibrated my compass"

Why ? Was it not calibrated already ?

"and waited till I got my home point recorded and my satellites."

Strange .. my P3S records Home Point as soon as I initiate Take Off. I don't get P-GPS unless enough Sats are locked in.

"So I take off and fly about 300m away and then all of a sudden aircraft disconnected on the app and I clicked rth on the app and it said connection timeout. Failsafe Rth did not kick in so I panicked and ran towards the location where my phantom got disconnected. Luckily, I got my drone to Reconnect and got my signal back so the first thing I did was click rth on dji go and it flew back. "

As long as you have default RTH set in your Apps programming ... which actually sets the aircraft failsafe action ... when it disconnected - the aircraft should have automatically started RTH. BUT ONLY IF IT WAS COMMAND 5.8GHZ SIGNAL disconnected.
If as I suspect - it was 2.4GHZ Video signal disconnected on your machine...quote"aircraft disconnected on the app" - then what you observed is what will happen - then the aircraft will not RTH as it waits for your next command. Trying to give command via Go will do nothing - the 2.4GHz link has disconnected but the 5.8GHz control link is still active.. You need to flick S2 switch to give Command signal to RTH.

Anyone I meet who is new to the Phantom ... I always show them S2 / S1 switch use ... its your lifeline to saving a Phantom ... your display is really a convenient tool but only additional to the real control which lies with the controller itself.
I also spend time with them to explain the difference of Control Disconnect 5.8Ghz and Video / Telemetry 2.4Ghz disconnect. To basically teach them not to panic and just revert to using S2 switch etc.

Nigel

 

[PHANTOM_PILOT13]

Check and TEST your RTH failsafe settings. Don't assume it's set as you want confirm it and then test it under safe conditions.

I already set it to rth

 

[PHANTOM_PILOT13]

"Before I started my flight, I calibrated my compass"

Why ? Was it not calibrated already ?

"and waited till I got my home point recorded and my satellites."

Strange .. my P3S records Home Point as soon as I initiate Take Off. I don't get P-GPS unless enough Sats are locked in.

"So I take off and fly about 300m away and then all of a sudden aircraft disconnected on the app and I clicked rth on the app and it said connection timeout. Failsafe Rth did not kick in so I panicked and ran towards the location where my phantom got disconnected. Luckily, I got my drone to Reconnect and got my signal back so the first thing I did was click rth on dji go and it flew back. "

As long as you have default RTH set in your Apps programming ... which actually sets the aircraft failsafe action ... when it disconnected - the aircraft should have automatically started RTH. BUT ONLY IF IT WAS COMMAND 5.8GHZ SIGNAL disconnected.
If as I suspect - it was 2.4GHZ Video signal disconnected on your machine...quote"aircraft disconnected on the app" - then what you observed is what will happen - then the aircraft will not RTH as it waits for your next command. Trying to give command via Go will do nothing - the 2.4GHz link has disconnected but the 5.8GHz control link is still active.. You need to flick S2 switch to give Command signal to RTH.

Anyone I meet who is new to the Phantom ... I always show them S2 / S1 switch use ... its your lifeline to saving a Phantom ... your display is really a convenient tool but only additional to the real control which lies with the controller itself.
I also spend time with them to explain the difference of Control Disconnect 5.8Ghz and Video / Telemetry 2.4Ghz disconnect. To basically teach them not to panic and just revert to using S2 switch etc.

Nigel

I calibrate my compass mostly every flight because I feel a little safer and I stay away from metal objects. One thing I thought I did wrong was keep my antenna completely straight at 180 degrees. I never knew about the switches until now so I'll try it once I return. Tnx

 

[grin factor]

If your'e not happy with it, give it to me,

 

[PHANTOM_PILOT13]

If your'e not happy with it, give it to me,

MMM...
SRRY I can't I love the drone but just scared to lose it

 

[RodPad]

I calibrate my compass mostly every flight because I feel a little safer and I stay away from metal objects. One thing I thought I did wrong was keep my antenna completely straight at 180 degrees. I never knew about the switches until now so I'll try it once I return. Tnx

Check out this thread on compass.
Compass Calibration, A Complete Primer

This one on RTH
Best Method to RTH?

Rod

 

[PHANTOM_PILOT13]

Check out this thread on compass.
Compass Calibration, A Complete Primer

This one on RTH
Best Method to RTH?

Rod

K I will Tnx

 

[solentlife]

Calibrating compass is one of those items so misunderstood and DJI's poor wording is mostly to blame.

But anyway - my post about disconnect explains why you experienced the incident and apparent RTH fail. Because it was most likely 2.4ghz disconnect - what happened is normal. The aircraft is waiting for you to give a command via 5.8ghz controller.

The solution is to learn what to do with the S2 and S1 switches.

Taking description of incident - it is unlikely anything wrong with gear - just lost video connection .... Go is not so good in its warning wording ....

Nigel

 

[PHANTOM_PILOT13]

Yea true and Tnx I'm coming back today from vacation and will test it

 

[hutch]

Magic power it and it won't do it again

 

[solentlife]

Or Icarus .....

Nigel

 

[DARLAK]

LOL, i lose connection multiple times almost every time i fly...

once for about 8 minutes and of course it was well out-of-sight....thought for sure it was a gonner....nope finally came back on its own.

 

[solentlife]

I was doing a Town City video from the park car-park. Took off and at about 1:50 into flight - the tablet shut down ! I stood there thinking I should have worn my brown trousers ! I couldn't see the aircraft.
Then fighting panic .. thought it through and while rebooting tablet - flicked S2 ... She re-appeared and I flicked S1 .. relocked tablet to controller and continued the flight ...

Nigel

 

[Tim Dawes]

You'll feel more comfortable when you understand that you DON'T need the app to fly. You won't have telemetry etc but you can fly the P3. I use to freak out when I lost wifi or, worse yet, the phone would disconnect the app altogether. The RC still has control of the bird.
I always use the S2 switch to initiate RTH. It's simple and direct. Especially important if you need to initiate RTH quickly. Fumbling around to find the rth button on a hard to see screen doesn't make sense to me.

 

[DanMan32]

Disconnected means app to RC, not between RC and AC.
I know what you mean though. I have a P3A connected to RC by AC. Problem is that Galaxy's have issues connecting to the RC without rebooting and sometimes the USB connection briefly disconnects if you move the wire. When that happened while the AC was quite a distance away, I hit RTH on the RC to get back near me, cancelled RTH and manually landed, then messed with the tablet connection.

 

[PHANTOM_PILOT13]

Hey guys Tnx so much for all of the help, gave my drone a nice flight and loved it I tried the s2 switch and that rth itself. Tnx guys so much you are the best

 

[RodPad]

Been There



Rod