IMPORTANT - Another DJI Phantom Fly-Away

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http://youtu.be/dLRwOeeHdlg


This is a demonstration of what happens when a DJI Phantom suddenly looses it's control, and heads off. It's referred to as a Fly-Away because the Phantom just heads off in what ever direction it wants. Typically, it fly's as far as it's battery lasts, or until it hits something.

I lost one about 8 weeks ago, when this happened and it hit Lake Ontario in Canada, and sank. It cost me about $1,500.00.

This is my second unit, and on a windless morning, I decided to test a new Neutral Density filter. After about 1 minute of flight, the Phantom just headed off on it;s own.

I took the following steps

1. Did a pre-flight. Everything was OK

2. Got the 16 LED flash confirmation it knew where home was

3. Got just green LEDs indicating more than 5 GPS satellites.

4. Tried to get control with the throttle and the pitch and yaw. No response.

5. Turned off the transmitter, which is suppose to tell the Phantom to Return to Home - your launching point. Yes, I had the 16 green LED flashes before take off, and yes, I had just green LED's indicating 5 or more GPS satellites.

Fortunately, it headed for a golf course, and then hit a tree gently, causing it to fall to the ground.

Check out the video. Please help me make this video Viral in the DJI user community.

DJI doesn't seem to want to admit this issue and it is costing users thousands of dollars to replace cameras, the Phantom, and other accessories. Please send the link to this video to everyone you know who uses DJI gear. Your dealer, your flying club, your friends. Let's make this issue big enough that DJI takes Financial Responsibility and that they fix this issue.

Thanks

Darren Kelly,
CameraGuyTV
http://www.cameraguytv.com
http://www.dbkcreative.com
http://www.youtube.com/dbkcreative
 
Very worrying, Darren. Did you update your firmware before the incident? I have seen posts on other forums that seem to indicate yet another buggy firmware update from Dji.
 
As I said on the video, I was running 3.12.

Today, I tried to upgrade to 3.14, but the NAZA assistant 2.x wouldn't recognize it, so I couldn't do the upgrade.

What I have learned is that the TX/RX included in the package at a minimum is a piece of crap. You really need to purchase something else like the Futuba J8, which has 2 antenna, can channel hope and is more powerful. That's another $300 of my hard earned $$.

So, what I am saying is you can buy ANY OTHER QUAD ON THE MARKET, and have a better radio and have superior flying machine.

I am disapointed in DJI. I emailed them about this, with the link to the video and have not had a single response.

On Wednesday, I am going to sent this to ALL the major news outlets around the world. We'll see if Colin and DJI get the point then.

Darren
 

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