Against the advice of my wife, I decided to take the Phantom for a spin yesterday despite the 16mph winds. I've had quite a few successful flights and suppose I got a bit cocky with it.
I got the Phantom off the ground, had it hover for a bit while showing it to my nieces then I ascended a bit to get some aerials. A gust of wind and what I assume was an up-draft took the Phantom out up and out of my sight-line. At first, I could still hear the motors spinning and I tried to navigate it towards me but then the sound drifted away. I was about 6 minutes into the flight.. waited about another minute then switched off the Tx.
I thought I had done everything to the book with calibration, setting home lock, etc.. but the Phantom did not 'return to home'. My question that I ask.. as I go over the perimeter of wooded area that I need to start searching is: If home lock was in fact not set properly, what will happen when the Tx is switched off? Will it drop out of the sky like a stone?
My second thought was that after I switched off the Tx, the Phantom attempted to return to me but it could not fight the wind. Second question, if that were true - would it attempt to reach me until the battery was completely dead?
I've had a day to come to terms with losing a $700 Phantom and a $400 Hero 3 Black, but I can't erase the memory from my 4 year old daughter's memory who watched her favorite new hobby with her dad fly into the atmosphere and never return. I'm sure that our Phantom is somewhere in the woods, lodged high atop a tree, but I'll still put in the effort of trekking through the woods to look.
Has anyone had any experiences like this?
I got the Phantom off the ground, had it hover for a bit while showing it to my nieces then I ascended a bit to get some aerials. A gust of wind and what I assume was an up-draft took the Phantom out up and out of my sight-line. At first, I could still hear the motors spinning and I tried to navigate it towards me but then the sound drifted away. I was about 6 minutes into the flight.. waited about another minute then switched off the Tx.
I thought I had done everything to the book with calibration, setting home lock, etc.. but the Phantom did not 'return to home'. My question that I ask.. as I go over the perimeter of wooded area that I need to start searching is: If home lock was in fact not set properly, what will happen when the Tx is switched off? Will it drop out of the sky like a stone?
My second thought was that after I switched off the Tx, the Phantom attempted to return to me but it could not fight the wind. Second question, if that were true - would it attempt to reach me until the battery was completely dead?
I've had a day to come to terms with losing a $700 Phantom and a $400 Hero 3 Black, but I can't erase the memory from my 4 year old daughter's memory who watched her favorite new hobby with her dad fly into the atmosphere and never return. I'm sure that our Phantom is somewhere in the woods, lodged high atop a tree, but I'll still put in the effort of trekking through the woods to look.
Has anyone had any experiences like this?