I just spent $1148 and am now nervous!

[Deathcode]

All the advice here is good. You have pro-active measures and re-active measures.
As a re-active measure, I'd suggest to get a tracker if you're nervous about fly aways.
Now, I've had a P2, a F450, and now a P3P and never ever experienced a fly away. Why?
My best answer to that is "procedures"
Create your procedures based on your experience, and follow them EVERY SINGLE TIME!!!!
Create a checklist about the things you SHOULD do before each flight....
tighten the props correctly, removing the gimbal lock, check the app settings, check LED's, check satellites (even if the app says Safe to fly), hover for 30 seconds at 10 feet and ensure you have GPS lock and it won't stray away from position, check the compass doesn't require calibration (the only times a compass should be calibrated are when you move your phantom more than X amount of miles in longitude IMO, or if you performed a firmware update).
Those are some of the things included in mine. I have a pre-flight, flight, post flight, and emergency check list.
If you get used to follow process and practice those procedures, then you'll be much more prepared in case of a problem, AND you will avoid problems altogether.
Flying a UAV is not much different than flying a real airplane, you're just not sitting in the cockpit, and that will give you a false sense of safety.
The bird is still in the air and accidents can still happen!

 

[SteveMann]

Consider that DJI was selling Phantoms at the rate of 30,000 per month last year (source), a few reports of fly-aways doesn't sound much like an epidemic. Besides, people don't usually take the time to post that they had another spectacular yet uneventful flight today.

If you worry about a fly-away, get a tracker.
Marco Polo is fine if you know approximately where your Phantom went in the case of a flyaway, but since a fully charged battery can take your Phantom more than five miles in hopefully a straight line, that's a lot of guessing where to look.
Trackimo uses GPS and Cellphone access to report your location. If your Phantom goes away, just call your Trackimo by cellphone and it will tell you where it is. I don't have one but it looks like there's an app that locates the device on Google Maps. The downside is that the tracker must be in reception range of a cell tower. If you go down in a pond, you will never find it. The Trackimo has its own internal battery and would outlast your Phantom battery.
Flytrex 3G is the most expensive of the trackers, but it also is a flight data recorder. The flight track is recorded on their server in real time. You can watch the flight in real-time or review it later. As with Trackimo, it does have to be in range of a cell tower, but even if it lands in a pond, you can still retrieve the flight path up to the point that cell tower contact was lost. The Flytrex 3G is powered by the Phantom battery. When the Phantom battery dies, the Flytrex 3G stops transmitting. Which is not an issue because the last known location is just a browser away. On the other hand, I don't have to remember to start the Flytrex. When the Phantom is powered, the Flytrex is sending data.

Personally I use the Flytrex 3G.I paid full price for mine but you can find discounts from time to time. The SIM card is an additional device on my family plan with T-Mobile, so I pay only $5 per month for it. For a $2,000 purchase, the $200 investment was considered as reasonable insurance.

Also, put your contact information on your Phantom. It's the responsible thing to do.

 

[SteveMann]

Flying a UAV is not much different than flying a real airplane, you're just not sitting in the cockpit, and that will give you a false sense of safety.
The bird is still in the air and accidents can still happen!

This is true, but flying the personal drone is much safer than flying a personal airplane. In the US there is an average of one fatality per day in General Aviation aircraft [cite], but despite approximately a million flight hours, there is not one reported accident by a personal drone that resulted in a serious injury as defined by the FAA and NTSB [cite] to someone not involved in the flight. Accidents do happen that include lacerations, but they are usually to the operator. So use common sense when you fly.

 

[rockhoundrob]

I agree with most of the replies here. Some are over kill ( like calibrate compass EVERY TIME, but in a way you have nothing to lose by doing this). When I got my Phantom 2, I was nervous. In fact I was a member of this forum for 2 months asking all kinds of questions before I finally bought my Phantom 2. I flew maybe 200 flights so far and only had 1 fly away at about flight #175, but was able to get it back using Homelock and RTH. I panicked and threw both switches down when I saw what was going on. At least, it came back, but I really have no idea why it flew away.

Bottom line, better to know what you are doing and be prepared and know what to do if the Phantom starts doing something funny.

 

[vgt]

View attachment 27076 Dude really ? Quit trashing Toads thread

I didn't start trashing it, you and your ilk did. I provided a very important piece of information that is routinely parroted around here, likely leading to many of these 'flyaways'.

 

[MDR]

You have nothing to contribute at the moment
You have been reported to the mods as requested.

 

[Skyler]

Been flying P3P for about 2 months, do like they mention read and don't be in a big hurry. I flew my the first time about 20 feet away and 5 feet off the ground to get used to all the controls. Did have my first scare this weekend. Beautiful day with some very white clouds. Was up about 300 feet and 1/2 mile out. Looked down at iPhone then up and couldn't find it. Look for a few minutes and still no luck against the white clouds. Hit the return home and waited. Finally here she came. Make sure you have a home port acknowledge before going up. Made a believer out of me. Enjoy - very nice bird !!!

 

[dirkclod]

I have contributed to this thread. Thanks for also bringing that to the moderators' attention, and providing yet another useless reply to this thread. Hopefully you've scratched that itch, and will stop ruining this thread.

 

[BlackOpsTeamster]

I have contributed to this thread. Thanks for also bringing that to the moderators' attention, and providing yet another useless reply to this thread. Hopefully you've scratched that itch, and will stop ruining this thread.