kamikaze mode

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Some members here suggest that manual mode is the only certain way to stop a Phantom from flying away. If this is true, what does it mean for those of us who are still learning to fly in GPS and ATTI? Surely switching to manual will cause a crash, won't it?

I'd certainly rather crash and pick up the pieces than lose the entire Phantom (and camera, FPV, etc.) but I wonder if there is some simple maneuver in manual mode that might result in a gentler, softer crash? Or do we just pull the right stick down and close our eyes, praying we don't completely crater the darned thing?
 
GearLoose said:
Surely switching to manual will cause a crash, won't it?

I'd certainly rather crash and pick up the pieces than lose the entire Phantom (and camera, FPV, etc.) but I wonder if there is some simple maneuver in manual mode that might result in a gentler, softer crash? Or do we just pull the right stick down and close our eyes, praying we don't completely crater the darned thing?

yah.. under most situations, a crash-and-retreival is preferable over a fly-away-forever.

As scary as a flyaway is,. they're not THAT common tho. otherwise you'd really, really hear about it.
and some can be attributed to operator error, or previous crash damage.
that's not to say that they don't occur,. but the key is being able to recognize one when it's actually happening and knowing what to do.
I've never had one myself, but I imagine that if the Phantom is nearby,. putting it into manual mode and then lowing the throttle might be the best thing to do.
I'm actually doing to try out manual mode sometime myself soon, figured it cant hurt. Keeping a finger on the GPS switch of course!
 
If you are a long way from the Phantom then manual mode will pretty much result in a crash unless flying FPV, it can flip or roll easily so to stick it into manual mode when its a fair way away from you should be the absolute last resort. I think first you should try atti mode as most likely a fly away is due to compass or GPS issues and switching to atti makes the naza work like a basic gyro. This doesnt use GPS or compass in any way but just uses the sensors to auto level and avoid over pitching so you cant flip.

I think many peoples fly aways could also be caused by accidently flicking on the IOC switch to home lock or course lock. If you do this without realising you would think you have lost control as it no longer flies relative to the nose direction so best to get used to flying in all possible modes and double check your mode and IOC switch position if it does something you dont expect.

Also for flying LOS try and make orientation as easy as possible to see because being a quad its very easy to lose orientation and then it will again fly in a different direction to what you expect. From my long range LOS flights I found I can find orientation even 800m or so away by being in either GPS or atti mode and fly forward then slowly yaw left or right. Once is see the phantom flying side on to the left or right I can easily tell where the nose is and bring it back from there without needing IOC home lock. Always make sure you maintain LOS to the phantom and make sure startup is completed properly and there are no red flashes before take off. Also make sure the 8 fast greens come on before take off so you have saved a new home lock position, I dont know what happens if it doesnt record home but it could use your last known home position.

If you ever lose radio reception and home position wasnt saved prior to takeoff you can wave your phantom goodbye because it will just takeoff to wherever it thinks home is or was.

Just after take off hover and make sure you still have no red led's then you can continue our flight and have fun, best to learn somewhere nice and open and practice all modes. If trying manual mode make sure throttle position is at 50% so when you switch it wont descend or takeoff too fast.
 
martcerv said:
If you are a long way from the Phantom then manual mode will pretty much result in a crash unless flying FPV, it can flip or roll easily so to stick it into manual mode when its a fair way away from you should be the absolute last resort. I think first you should try atti mode as most likely a fly away is due to compass or GPS issues and switching to atti makes the naza work like a basic gyro. This doesnt use GPS or compass in any way but just uses the sensors to auto level and avoid over pitching so you cant flip.

I think many peoples fly aways could also be caused by accidently flicking on the IOC switch to home lock or course lock. If you do this without realising you would think you have lost control as it no longer flies relative to the nose direction so best to get used to flying in all possible modes and double check your mode and IOC switch position if it does something you dont expect.

Also for flying LOS try and make orientation as easy as possible to see because being a quad its very easy to lose orientation and then it will again fly in a different direction to what you expect. From my long range LOS flights I found I can find orientation even 800m or so away by being in either GPS or atti mode and fly forward then slowly yaw left or right. Once is see the phantom flying side on to the left or right I can easily tell where the nose is and bring it back from there without needing IOC home lock. Always make sure you maintain LOS to the phantom and make sure startup is completed properly and there are no red flashes before take off. Also make sure the 8 fast greens come on before take off so you have saved a new home lock position, I dont know what happens if it doesnt record home but it could use your last known home position.

If you ever lose radio reception and home position wasnt saved prior to takeoff you can wave your phantom goodbye because it will just takeoff to wherever it thinks home is or was.

Just after take off hover and make sure you still have no red led's then you can continue our flight and have fun, best to learn somewhere nice and open and practice all modes. If trying manual mode make sure throttle position is at 50% so when you switch it wont descend or takeoff too fast.

Great advice, especially the IOC modes and accidentally hitting that switch. It can take a few seconds to realize that the craft isn't flying relative to the nose of the craft.

I also think that a lot of the "flyaways" can be attributed to users flying too far away. It is extraordinarily difficult to orient which way is the front of the craft at distance. I almost never, ever fly in either the CL or HL IOC modes. I also really never let the craft get more than 150 yards away from me. I don't have an FPV rig so I play it very safe and enjoy the craft relatively close. 3-400' max for me as well, at that height, you can't see the orientation lights agains the sky.

I really feel like folks buy a Phantom expecting a toy like the AR drone. It's not, and it will not protect you from doing something stupid that will cause you to lose the Phantom.
 
My phantom simply stopped responding. it crashed and was lost, along with my gopro with modified lens, transmitter etc.
needless to say i was quite pissed off.
i went out and bought an entire new rig - phantom, gopro, lens mod, transmitter.. this time adding the zenmuse gimble and install at dronefly.com. (the non-gimble system was useless in terms of "pro video")
Now the gimble has stopped working after a mere 5 flights.
starting to seriously question the validity of DJI and it's "groundbreaking" products.
Nothing they make seems ready for the market place.
 
martcerv said:
If you are a long way from the Phantom then manual mode will pretty much result in a crash unless flying FPV, it can flip or roll easily so to stick it into manual mode when its a fair way away from you should be the absolute last resort. I think first you should try atti mode as most likely a fly away is due to compass or GPS issues and switching to atti makes the naza work like a basic gyro. This doesnt use GPS or compass in any way but just uses the sensors to auto level and avoid over pitching so you cant flip.


ATTI mode doesn't use GPS but it must use the compass because the CL function is available for ATTI. Also don't forget the altitude sensor. What would happen if altitude sensor reported bad data to the Naza?
Also the GPS and compass are some how interrelated because a user reported some kind of "GPS error" while connected to the Assistant. In fact what I remember was that the Phantom and the Assistant didn't think there was a GPS installed. The problem turned out to be a bad compass cable.
So I agree ATTI mode should be tried first before Manual but Manual mode might be the only way to cut out the dependency on the external sensors that normally make the Phantom so easy to fly.
 
martcerv said:
If you are a long way from the Phantom then manual mode will pretty much result in a crash unless flying FPV, it can flip or roll easily so to stick it into manual mode when its a fair way away from you should be the absolute last resort. I think first you should try atti mode as most likely a fly away is due to compass or GPS issues and switching to atti makes the naza work like a basic gyro. This doesnt use GPS or compass in any way but just uses the sensors to auto level and avoid over pitching so you cant flip.


ATTI mode doesn't use GPS but it must use the compass because the CL function is available for ATTI. Also don't forget the altitude sensor. What would happen if altitude sensor reported bad data to the Naza?
Also the GPS and compass are some how interrelated because a user reported some kind of "GPS error" while connected to the Assistant. In fact what I remember was that the Phantom and the Assistant didn't think there was a GPS installed. The problem turned out to be a bad compass cable.
So I agree ATTI mode should be tried first before Manual but Manual mode might be the only way to cut out the dependency on the external sensors that normally make the Phantom so easy to fly.
 
If you are out of range to clearly see orientation and switch to manula without using FPV even the most experienced pilot will crash. I dont think its possible to fly manual mode for very long without clearly seeing orientation, in LOS this means you need to be very close to you but FPV distance is no issue. Use manual as an absolute last resort but avoid flying LOS in ways where you may get yourself in big trouble, if your pretty close and it starts to act up then try atti and if you are familiar with manual switch to it. If your not familiar with manual mode it will crash and if you use big stick movements it will crash very hard so do it as an absolute last resort if you would prefer a crash over a flyaway.
 

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