Phantom 4 Fly Off and Broken Remote

[DJI Phantom 4 Jeju]

Hey guys,

Just looking for a some feedback from the community. I really respect the professional and informed perspectives most people leave here so trying to be patient and balanced.
First time drone owner. Took phantom 4 on second flight. Fully charged battery. Fully charged phone. Fully charged remote.15 satellite connections.

I was extremely delicate with it considering the serious investment. I was in an open valley taking the drone to the top of a hill. Was going for second time on a similar flight path 496 meters away when I had the drone disconnect. I ran towards the drone and reset the antennae's but ended up with a return to home failure. Went to the location of last known and searched in a 100 meter area around it. But couldn't find the drone anywhere.

In the heart break and shock and desperation of looking for the drone I slightly noticed the remote was acting funny. Disconnecting to the phone, beeping and flashing as others have said except it wouldn't power on or respond. I have uploaded a youtube video specifically for this group showing the remote and what it does. Perhaps this is normal after a return to home failure. But the power button doesn't work at all after 26 minutes.

I bought the drone in America but lost it in Korea. Korea DJI didn't ask to see the remote and say they can't offer anything but the 30%

"However, from the video you provided, we found the mountain behind the aircraft was higher than the aircraft, so we assume the signal was lost and your aircraft started operating failsafe RTH. The setting for RTH height was at 30m, and this probably resulted aircraft to get crashed.
In this case, we will offer 30% discount and suggest you to purchase a new set of product."

26 minutes, 15 gps satellites linked, drone wasn't in the area and the remote is clearly not working. The hill was not higher and I had just done a similar flight. But it doesn't seem like DJI is trying to recognize any fault of a product I had for 12 days.
Ive opened up an investigation with DJI America to avoid language barriers but the process has been slow.

So, I am here to learn and answer any question people might have to help me understand what is fair for these circumstances. There are pictures in the file I've attached as I am sure you already know

 

[msinger]

Here's the last location recorded in your TXT flight log:

As you can see, your Phantom flew behind the mountain. When that occurred, your remote controller signal dropped and your Phantom started returning home. Since your RTH altitude was set to 30 meters (98 feet) in DJI GO and your Phantom was at 193 feet at the time, it flew back home at its current altitude. I'm assuming it crashed into a tree at the top of the mountain. If you're able to hike up the mountain or fly another drone up in that area, you should be able to spot it close to 33.43881335,126.5606916.

As for your remote controller, it clearly does not seem to be working as designed. That did not cause your Phantom to crash though. I'm assuming DJI will cover your remote controller under warranty if you send it back to them.

 

[silver_surfer]

There are quite a few very good instructional videos on youtube concerning phantoms , I just got my first one a month ago and considering the investment the first thing I did was look at all the videos , thanks to the tips I am still flying without any problems , in your case it's too late but for other new pilots I would say check out all the tips on youtube first , it will save a lot of heartache and MONEY !

 

[PrettyFlyGuy]

I bought mine mainly for taking my bait out, but after flying it, it's a pretty cool toy. I calibrate the compass before each flight, and go through all the checklist and so far zero problems


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[DJI Phantom 4 Jeju]

Wow,

Msinger thanks for your incredible explanation. I understand now why I lost connection. I am a little confused because based on your picture, (which is incredible! How do you do that?) that drone doesn't look like it is behind the mountain. And it terms of finding it, the drone lost connection pretty much on a trail (its in blue). After a few minutes of the drone not returning I went up the trail but the drone was not at the last dot. I looked for maybe 20 hours in the red circled area over a few days and the drone crashed somewhere outside this circle or within the circle and someone else found it where I wasn't looking.

I dont know much about it but the reason I went with the 4 over the 3 was it's incredible auto detection system and range of up to 5000 meters without losing connection (lets say 2500 meters). This video and others like it (4:20 mark)

show that auto detection works great. But because the drone didn't return to home, for some reason when the software took over this auto detection system didn't work on my drone. I understand if I was flying through trees or around electrical lines but I was above the trees by 10 meters or so and there are no lines. I am wondering why the auto detection system wouldn't work? Is the auto-detection not as accurate as others portray or did my drone have a faulty detection system? I mean if I owned the 3 then I can understand the drone taking over control and running into a tree but I paid $500 more so that this exact scenario wouldn't happen. If this isn't a faulty product is there something in the default settings that DJI would turn off auto detection in return to home setting and take it into the trees in an area well outside its last location. I guess I am wondering why I paid more for auto detection only to find out it doesn't work. Is it possible that the auto detection was much like my remote, a faulty product?

 

[msinger]

I am a little confused because based on your picture, (which is incredible! How do you do that?)

My log viewer builds a KML file (it's linked here). I loaded the KML file into Google Earth.

drone doesn't look like it is behind the mountain.

At the time the downlink was lost, your Phantom was flying at 22 MPH and heading directly over top of the mountain. At that speed, it couldn't have taken more than a few seconds to make it from the point shown in my image above to a point where the remote controller lost contact.

I understand if I was flying through trees or around electrical lines but I was above the trees by 10 meters or so and there are no lines.

It's sometimes tough to make an accurate judgement from a photo alone, but the photo below shows your Phantom was very close to the top of the treeline at the top of the mountain.

Here's another view from Google Earth:

If this isn't a faulty product is there something in the default settings that DJI would turn off auto detection in return to home setting and take it into the trees in an area well outside its last location.

Here are some possible explanations for why it did not return home:

• Obstacle avoidance was turned off (the default setting is on).
• Obstacle avoidance was turned on, but it failed to recognize the obstacles (it's not 100% perfect).
  
• Your Phantom was setup to auto land or hover when the remote controller signal is lost (the default setting is return to home).

 

[DJI Phantom 4 Jeju]

Thanks msinger for the thorough response. Was much more indepth than DJI.

 

[DJI Phantom 4 Jeju]

There are quite a few very good instructional videos on youtube concerning phantoms , I just got my first one a month ago and considering the investment the first thing I did was look at all the videos , thanks to the tips I am still flying without any problems , in your case it's too late but for other new pilots I would say check out all the tips on youtube first , it will save a lot of heartache and MONEY !

Which ones did you find the most helpful?