Out of control

[THX8612]

I had mine for less than a week and watched it fly straight up into the air until I could not see it any longer. I've been searching the woods around my house ever since.

SacD's Phantom was found over 2 miles away from original location. I would be yours is about the same distance away. Sorry to hear about yours and good luck.

Well sadly it was so new I had not even thought about writing my name and number on it. Thankfully the distributor is offering almost 50% off a replacement. I'm a quad addict for sure. The Phantom was the seventh addition in my collection. Yes it's a sickness, I lost one Phantom already plan to replace it with two more. It's a good thing I don't have kids or the might be going hungry this month.

 

[Roadkilt]

We all have a story! I tried to keep mine in sight but it strayed out over the ocean and up about 1000 feet. I couldn't tell what the orientation was so I powered off to put it in RTH. I could see it hovering and not budging, my 6 minute timer was beeping and no action from the DjI. So I powered up the transmitter again, reset the throttle down, nothing. powered off, on again, reset the controls to the initial throttle position, nothing, third time and the dji shook so I know it got the signal. Another three minutes had passed and I'm literally dropping it like a rock to get to me on land off the ocean. Four minutes past its 6 minute timer and I land it, rough, with all its low power red lights flashing. My adrenaline was soaring! It was either ditching into the sea or doing a controlled descent on low battery power...into the sea. My learnings: 1: it probably got confused with radio towers about a mile away overwhelming my signal, be aware of potential signal conflict, 2: get your name on it to possibly salvage the camera, or maybe the quad, 3: I cut some foam noodles used in pools as floats for the landing gear, they are 16 cm long on each side and I tested their floating power, they will keep the 998 gm quad/battery/gopro from sinking and give some hope of recovery of the camera, the electronics in saltwater of the dji will be shot. 4: connect it to the computer to recalibrate the imu after every flying session. each time I did it it said it was required, and I hadn't crashed or anything, although it never held its gps location rock slid, 5: enjoy the dji while you have it. One day, it will go free....

 

[Sac D]

We have a member that had a similar experience, but unfortunately he was unable to get it to come back... wind blowing, etc... out to sea it flew.

 

[howardmaryon]

Sorry to hear this - it is quite disturbing that these flyaway incidents keep happening in spite of recent firmware upgrades. It happened to me, a full on vertical climb from takeoff with no aparrent response. Being inexperienced I did not think that the failsafe was working, it was too high up for me to see if it was hovering or still climbing. It was still in contact with the tx though, I did a silly thing and pulled both sticks to bottom left! That did the trick alright, I now had a Phantom with gopro 3 attached, falling like a stone from higher than comfortable altitude. Luckily it landed 100 feet away in a rape field, with the only physical damage being a slightly distorted casing, which sprang back into shape immediately when I opened the case to check for internal damage. Pre flight checks of every parameter and frequent compass resets are my routine now.

 

[Deleted member 6917]

Out of Control - Happened to me today. Flew for 20 min. on first battery, switched to a fresh battery, flew for a few min. went up high to get a 360 view and I was coming down, when all of a sudden the craft started wobbling like crazy and coming down fairly quickly. I had no control what so ever. In panic I cut off the radio, and nothing changed, the craft just kept wobbling until it met the ground. I have flown RC for about 20 years, mostly gliders and some 1/4 scale bi-planes. This preplexes me? Flying at a ball field with large metal light poles? Could that have zapped my signal, what about the fly home, when you cut the radio off? Preplexing, Help.....yea I know it is like finding a needle in a haystack.....have crashed models many times before and the Phantom 2 Vision is no exception, I guess! Back in the old days, what the hell was GPS or a satellite?

 

[OI Photography]

Out of Control - Happened to me today. Flew for 20 min. on first battery, switched to a fresh battery, flew for a few min. went up high to get a 360 view and I was coming down, when all of a sudden the craft started wobbling like crazy and coming down fairly quickly. I had no control what so ever. In panic I cut off the radio, and nothing changed, the craft just kept wobbling until it met the ground. I have flown RC for about 20 years, mostly gliders and some 1/4 scale bi-planes. This preplexes me? Flying at a ball field with large metal light poles? Could that have zapped my signal, what about the fly home, when you cut the radio off? Preplexing, Help.....yea I know it is like finding a needle in a haystack.....have crashed models many times before and the Phantom 2 Vision is no exception, I guess! Back in the old days, what the hell was GPS or a satellite?

How fast were you descending? If you come straight down too fast, the aerodynamic effects will start to counter the thrust from the props, and it can start to drop like a rock. If that happens, the way to get control is to lower the throttle (as opposed to increasing), and pitch (or roll) a bit so the aircraft moves to the side and regains its footing.

 

[Deleted member 6917]

Thanks, for the heads up on decending-makes sense. I have no experience on quadcopters, just sailplanes - and guess I was honking it too much. Took it out tonight and did a test flight and thank God everything works fine. Also put back on the flex white plastic props. Maybe the carbon fiber ones helped with the problem?

 

[havasuphoto]

Answer here;http://www.phantompilots.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5965
You experienced "settling with power", also called Vortex Ring state.
I was a commercial helicopter pilot, instructor and check airman for over 20 years
next time, "fly out of it...."....moving forward usually does the trick. Helicopter aerodynamics are far more completed than fixed wing aircraft.
See if you can find a copy of the Basic Helicopter Handbook online somewhere......

 

[Barekiwi.com]

This just happened to me. But it never went up it just seemed to be possessed and started banking hard right taking off on me! I fought and fought like on a bucking bronco feeling like I had no options for a while, I sent it up gaining altitude to get it it away from the old building I was flying around, managing to get it away from people and buildings I somehow managed to get it down (hard).

This happened to me a week ago when I was flying in the forest, I thought it was because I had poor signal and once out of the canopy it took off because it found a signal. But today I was in the open with perfect signal. No wifi on the GoPro so no excuse. Anyone able to help?

Have a look at what we created in the Forest.[youtube] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0k3AzeA-nk[/youtube]