She's gone... Yep, another fly away. (UPDATE: FOUND!!)

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Gone, gone gone..

I went out for a quick afternoon flight. Did everything as normal. Waited for the home lock, took my time did everything ive done twenty times before.

I noticed immediately the craft was acting weird. it wouldnt keep elevation, started yawing, I immediately double checked all my receivers settings, GPS mode, Home lock/Course lock off. Nothing unusual and then - She takes off. Flys like a bat out of hell to my left without me doing a **** thing. Hovers, I try to take control - left, right, up, down nothing is responding.

So I throw her into manual mode trying to get anything from it. No response, now she takes off almost out of sight.

Ok, time for me to PANIC. Turn off the receiver and pray. ......... She starts to come back a little, then literly makes a circle and takes off again behind a building. Never to be seen again.

Guys, I did it all by the book. I took my time, checked everything, know the light signals, am familiar with my area. And it still happend to me.

I've been a huge booster to this Quad and my new found hobby. Spent thousands. Met lots of great people and really enjoyed my time here, but this is really depressing. I dont think I can get back into this. These things are clearly faulty with either their NAZA controller, compass or maybe even both. Ive heard to many stories and now Im another one.

Im sick about this.
 
Re: She's gone... Yep, another fly away.

Glockindahaus said:
Gone, gone gone..

I went out for a quick afternoon flight. Did everything as normal. Waited for the home lock, took my time did everything ive done twenty times before.

I noticed immediately the craft was acting weird. it wouldnt keep elevation, started yawing, I immediately double checked all my receivers settings, GPS mode, Home lock/Course lock off. Nothing unusual and then - She takes off. Flys like a bat out of hell to my left without me doing a **** thing. Hovers, I try to take control - left, right, up, down nothing is responding.

So I throw her into manual mode trying to get anything from it. No response, now she takes off almost out of sight.

Ok, time for me to PANIC. Turn off the receiver and pray. ......... She starts to come back a little, then literly makes a circle and takes off again behind a building. Never to be seen again.

Guys, I did it all by the book. I took my time, checked everything, know the light signals, am familiar with my area. And it still happend to me.

I've been a huge booster to this Quad and my new found hobby. Spent thousands. Met lots of great people and really enjoyed my time here, but this is really depressing. I dont think I can get back into this. These things are clearly faulty with either their NAZA controller, compass or maybe even both. Ive heard to many stories and now Im another one.

Im sick about this.

Sorry to hear that. That sounds nerve wracking. I would recommend sending it to DJI or authorized dealer repair center? I hear about these fly aways and would like to know what is happening - maybe defective compass? defective addon?
 
Re: She's gone... Yep, another fly away.

Great idea, but I have no idea where it is. When I say "it's gone". I mean gone for good.
 
Re: She's gone... Yep, another fly away.

Sorry to hear about the loss.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2
 
Re: She's gone... Yep, another fly away.

Glockindahaus said:
Gone, gone gone..

I went out for a quick afternoon flight. Did everything as normal. Waited for the home lock, took my time did everything ive done twenty times before.

I noticed immediately the craft was acting weird. it wouldnt keep elevation, started yawing, I immediately double checked all my receivers settings, GPS mode, Home lock/Course lock off. Nothing unusual and then - She takes off. Flys like a bat out of hell to my left without me doing a **** thing. Hovers, I try to take control - left, right, up, down nothing is responding.

So I throw her into manual mode trying to get anything from it. No response, now she takes off almost out of sight.

Ok, time for me to PANIC. Turn off the receiver and pray. ......... She starts to come back a little, then literly makes a circle and takes off again behind a building. Never to be seen again.

Guys, I did it all by the book. I took my time, checked everything, know the light signals, am familiar with my area. And it still happend to me.

I've been a huge booster to this Quad and my new found hobby. Spent thousands. Met lots of great people and really enjoyed my time here, but this is really depressing. I dont think I can get back into this. These things are clearly faulty with either their NAZA controller, compass or maybe even both. Ive heard to many stories and now Im another one.

Im sick about this.


I am so sorry to learn about your flyaway experience. Were you flying in a city? Or, were you flying out in a field in the country somewhere?
 
Re: She's gone... Yep, another fly away.

that does suck. It rather sounds like a release of control issue [to something else] as opposed to a GPS problem. If you switch it to manual and the thing still flies away then the receiver is under the control of a signal source, even a simple strong carrier wave....... There's not much you can do about that, its happened to R/C'ers since day one.

It seems to me that the fly aways I have read are limited to the stock radio tx/rx pairing. I have yet to hear of one with a quality radio, and even then I am prepared to overlook a small number of those as legitimate Nazza failures.
 
Re: She's gone... Yep, another fly away.

I'm really sorry to hear that
As the saying
Every time you take it up it could be your last


I just I stalled new motors on mine today and simply doing testing I was sketched
I have done the same thing over and over and every now and then it simply acts like never before

Ok I will chop it up to solar flares or the Syrian army but the reality is these things are not 100% stable at any time due to its reliance on GPS

Put it this way I witnessed someone altering GPS coordinate via command line on auav he should not have had control of now that's the paranoid version but the simple version is it simply not locked down as a technology. I will admit I'm no old timer flyer dude but I would bet I understand more about the underlying tech than most of you and all I'm saying is

I'm hooked
Not going away
But there are some serious "bugs" but we will for now tow the company line and call them "issues"
 
Re: She's gone... Yep, another fly away.

With that said I have already gotten into the firmware and discovered some possible future functionality that if works like planned should blow everyone's mind

Haha who needs sdk's
 
Re: She's gone... Yep, another fly away.

The area is a large lot. Maybe the size of a few football fields. Next to it is a mostly vacant business office type building. I've been flying pretty exclusively over here testing my batteries, FPV etc.

This was just completely out of left field. The craft was erratic after take off. Hovered about 20ft up but it was not holding position and drifting . I actually tried to immediately take it down, but it was just unresponsive. I thought I was in manual or atti, but that was not the case.

I suspect it was the compass. I did check it the night before, but honestly don't know if the NAZA could have done this.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
 
Re: She's gone... Yep, another fly away.

I have yet to be convinced that the GPS and Compass have anything to do with Att mode although they certainly have nothing to do with Manual mode.

Att mode is all IMU right.....

Did the Phantom respond to anything at all, like, you know when you go into Manual and the height kicks a bit..... Was there any physical acknowledgment that the modes were changing?
 
Re: She's gone... Yep, another fly away.

eckoner said:
With that said I have already gotten into the firmware and discovered some possible future functionality that if works like planned should blow everyone's mind

Are you using IDA? Can you provide your dump? I can help with disassembly and commenting.

Glock: Really sorry about your flyaway... that seriously sucks :(

I had a similar situation where it was acting really oddly right from takeoff while in GPS mode (drifting, not stable), and then doing strange things in ATTI (doing 30 degree dives without touching left stick) and I almost lost it. I managed to recover mine, and IMU calibration etc all checked out fine. If the compass is toast, IMU calibration should fail right?

I have yet to fly it again since.. almost scared to try. I'll find a big field and take baby steps I guess.
 
Re: She's gone... Yep, another fly away.

I am GUTTED to hear about this Michael - i know how much work time and money you've plowed into this.

I am really hoping it might turn up somewhere - i think you would be wise to post some pics of it on this thread incase people see it appear on ebay or something as it is quite distinctive.

I hope u manage to find your way back into the hobby somehow. You've been an excellent customer of mine with my Shapeway parts and a true pleasure to deal with.
 
Re: She's gone... Yep, another fly away.

I suspect when their camera equipped version comes out there will be changes to their RX/TX. There is no way DJI hasn't had their own flyaways in testing & realizes that not solving it will at least hurt their sales, & at most result in a large lawsuit.
 
Re: She's gone... Yep, another fly away.

r u using firmware 3.16 theres a bug in that even if you do all the safety procedures calibrate everything etc,, mine fly away after i upgrade and i do all i mean all 100% procedure to perfect my flight with
a brand new zenmuse,carbon fiber props,go pro3, TO ALL PHANTOM PILOTS PUT YOUR NUMBER ON THE SIDE OF THE QUAD **** HAPPENS... i recover my quad from that, but with all brand new stuff broken.on the edge of going pro on aerial videography now my dream just fly away... heres the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIvzLANYU1g
 
Re: She's gone... Yep, another fly away.

killthe5pairs said:
r u using firmware 3.16 theres a bug in that even if you do all the safety procedures calibrate everything etc,, mine fly away after i upgrade and i do all i mean all 100% procedure to perfect my flight with
a brand new zenmuse,carbon fiber props,go pro3, TO ALL PHANTOM PILOTS PUT YOUR NUMBER ON THE SIDE OF THE QUAD **** HAPPENS... i recover my quad from that, but with all brand new stuff broken.on the edge of going pro on aerial videography now my dream just fly away... heres the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIvzLANYU1g

Flyaways have been happening since the Phantom first came out. Every firmware version that comes out leads to posts that maybe this time the flyaway issue is solved. Only to be followed up with other posts that the latest firmware is the cause of the problem.
 
Re: She's gone... Yep, another fly away.

Ok Sooooo first post but I have a idea.... what if you attached a string to the landing gear and tested your lift off making sure fly away does not happen then you could release after a successful test??? what are your thoughts?
 
Re: She's gone... Yep, another fly away.

mikrob said:
I suspect when their camera equipped version comes out there will be changes to their RX/TX. There is no way DJI hasn't had their own flyaways in testing & realizes that not solving it will at least hurt their sales, & at most result in a large lawsuit.

The vision uses 5.8ghz for the tx/rx and 2.4ghz for the FPV. I think the issue is 2.4ghz congestion - there is soooo much traffic on this band now and it may simply be that the stock RX is really poorly shielded to it (no surprise when u see the chip!). Problem with quads is that people are flying them literally everywhere. A good test is to get your phone out and see how many wifi zones u can pick up where u fly - if it is more than 0 then u have 2.4ghz bouncing around in your air space. Given Dji tell people to avoid using Hero3 wifi it shows there is a risk (and why DJI have now flipped to 5.8ghz for flight). No good to poor people like Glock here but something to look out for.
One last thing - google 'wifi jammer' or 'wifi interceptor'.... Countless products in the mass market that screw with 2.4 and even Gps. Who knows who is using these or where (or why!!).
I shall be charging my GTU10 up today before flying thats for sure.
 
Re: She's gone... Yep, another fly away.

mikrob said:
marcus_canada said:
It seems to me that the fly aways I have read are limited to the stock radio tx/rx pairing. I have yet to hear of one with a quality radio, and even then I am prepared to overlook a small number of those as legitimate Nazza failures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=HL137 ... W0hqzixwsk

That is one [old] video I overlook entirely ! Those guys already had a number of "Fly aways" that day in another location but decided to fly anyway - why not right :roll: Clearly a genuine issue with their phantom or, most likely, the compass setup due to the widening circles in GPS mode the Phantom was executing..
 
Re: She's gone... Yep, another fly away.

DeweyAXD said:
I am GUTTED to hear about this Michael - i know how much work time and money you've plowed into this.

I am really hoping it might turn up somewhere - i think you would be wise to post some pics of it on this thread incase people see it appear on ebay or something as it is quite distinctive.

I hope u manage to find your way back into the hobby somehow. You've been an excellent customer of mine with my Shapeway parts and a true pleasure to deal with.

Thanks D3wey - Yea, Im bummed. I plan on going back out to the area tomorrow. (being a holiday) and take a ladder with me. It might help to get some perspective.
 

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