Worst flight ever with p4p I'm still shaking, no control but got it landed

[gr8pics]

So to update you guys I got my bird back. Some cool things to note. I opened the styrofoam box and found that the controller was wrapped. I'm think why the hell did they send me a new controller!!! I took the bird out and noticed that all the stickers were still on it as in the side sensors, top DJI logo as well. Also there was a black DJI prop back with 4 new props. So ultimately I did get a new bird and 4 new props. I just updated the firmware and now waiting for the battery to charge. Going to take it for a test flight shortly and see. The good news is that even in the house I was pulling 6 sats which is great!


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

Sure it wasnt just a new fuselage? Did you check the serial number?

 

[gr8pics]

This is exactly what happened to me. On the ground I'd have full sats take off with full sats. Hover and go down to 0. I'd then regain sats slower. Rock the drone left and right and lose sats and get a GPS exception. Recalibrated everything but to no avail. RMAd to DJI. They replaced the GPS module and will have it back tomorrow.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

+1
I had a flawless flight first at the same site, replaced battery, took off with 16 sats, climbed to 100ft, then "weak gps signal" appears, but sats still showed 16, and counting to 18. Ive been flying at that site hundred times before, a place in the middle of almost nowhere, flat landscape fields all around, almost no houses. Never experienced anything, rather the oposite, better range.
Ive had Trackimo for 1 year, never any issue with that either, so i doubt its that. If it was, it should have given you a compass warning on the ground.
Even in ATTI the gps is still running in the background, could it be a glitch in the software connecting/disconnecting?

Would love to hear the actual reason for this, but i guess Dji keeps their cards close and use another official vers, so i guess we will ever know, other than it gets replaced.
Im on my second P4P now, first also had a misaligned lens, which made it impossible to get picture in 100% focus, it was replaced directly at my local shop after just 4 flights, without further consulting with distributor or Dji, thats what i call great service.

 

[F3honda4me]

I don't know if p4p is the same but mavic are awaiting a fix for a known issue, where the motor noise confuses the rear compass, and the flight controller cannot make sense of conflicting readings, so the craft defaults to ATTI failsafe, yet gives a GPS error while having many satellites.

 

[Snowwolf]

Think my data was showing zero satellites at some point and very low satellites as well as up to 17 at some points, very odd

 

[DavidN747]

Feel your pain (op), I had a somewhat similar flight some time ago with my Phantom3 due to compass errors and it certainly isn't fun. Basically the wind starts to move it, so it tries to correct and does so in the wrong direction. Then everything just goes down hill from there. SCARY - my flight lasted maybe 7 minutes or so and it was one hell of a battle!

Lesson learned, never fly more than a low hover if everything is not absolutely a-OK.
Hopefully your replacement will be 1000% better.

Cheers and good luck.

 

[Snowwolf]

Feel your pain (op), I had a somewhat similar flight some time ago with my Phantom3 due to compass errors and it certainly isn't fun. Basically the wind starts to move it, so it tries to correct and does so in the wrong direction. Then everything just goes down hill from there. SCARY - my flight lasted maybe 7 minutes or so and it was one hell of a battle!

Lesson learned, never fly more than a low hover if everything is not absolutely a-OK.
Hopefully your replacement will be 1000% better.

Cheers and good luck.

Cheers David, it was horrendous and sounds exactly the same as your flight, still goes through my head even now, I don't think I will be able to fly with confidence ever again, but we will see, perhaps the fixed version will give me a nice steady surprise, I do hope so

 

[Jason Porembski]

They'll probably send you a new one like me.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[DavidN747]

Cheers David, it was horrendous and sounds exactly the same as your flight, still goes through my head even now, I don't think I will be able to fly with confidence ever again, but we will see, perhaps the fixed version will give me a nice steady surprise, I do hope so

You will, it will just take a while.

Baby steps as they say...

My DIL was on one of her very early flights with her Phantom4 and ignoring her hubby's advice (my son), she flew behind a mountain. BAD MOVE!!

Anyway, it worked as it should and climbed to RTH altitude, then tried to fly home. Only trouble is her RTH altitude wasn't high enough :-(

Thankfully as it headed towards a vertical cliff, it stopped thanks to the P4 collision avoidance, then slowly climbed much higher, (again luckily no overhanging trees or other obstacles) then over the top of the mountain and headed home successfully.
Again, lesson learned, loss of pride but spectacular video was the bonus. She edited out the actual "almost hit the mountain" bit and the resultant video is just soo good. (She has a superb natural skill in video editing.) I've seen it all including pre-editing.

Have a look here if you want to see how I can only WISH I could put video together:

ottomomo


And have a look at "Glasshouse Mountains", and see if you can pick where she nearly lost her P4.
(Her early videos were just GoPro, later ones also have her P4 video.)

Anyway, despite the close call, she got her confidence back and continues to film and edit absolutely fabulous videos. (Even National Geographic have now used some of her video!!)

Cheers
David

 

[Vexed]

Hi all
I decided to have a fly today, lovely bright sunny day very minimal wind, before flight it was taking its time finding satellites but eventually it did and said I could take off, once up in the air the bird was totally out of control, it was the worst 10 minutes flight I have ever had, all sorts of warnings were coming up on the screen but I could not take my eyes off the drone as I was having great difficulty keeping it from flying away, sometimes I was full throttle from keeping it drifting away, then all of a sudden it would accelerate fast and needed to full throttle in opp direction, lots of things were happening on screen and with the drone, I did eventually get it back down on the ground, how I don't know, luckily I have flown planes for many years and always fly atti mode with the drone very often in case of flights like I just had, I had a P4 previous to the p4p and have done 160 full flights with no issues, 140 flights being with the P4 so I am pretty good and check everything before a flight.

I have the data log of what has happened in the link below and hoping someone can have a look at it to find out what went wrong.

I have had a look at the flight I done on the iPad Pro which I use, I am running the latest software and firmware, I have taken a few snap shots from the flight, one warming was un paved airport but that is untrue, here are is a snap shot of the screen, I had 14 satellites on take off but looking at the flight on iPad it kept losing them, also it looks like it has only recorded half the flight and only recorded from when I walked to a new position I was getting a lot of warnings of gimbal yaw reached end point
Here is the flight data file folder link and a video from my ipad on how it was flying.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jomjd ... I6KAvSoRn3iDEa?dl=0

I'm a professional and I can tell you from what I've seen. You have no idea. Flown planes lol. Please keep your bird in the ground before you learn the basics.

 

[Bruce Hammond]

You will, it will just take a while.

Baby steps as they say...

My DIL was on one of her very early flights with her Phantom4 and ignoring her hubby's advice (my son), she flew behind a mountain. BAD MOVE!!

Anyway, it worked as it should and climbed to RTH altitude, then tried to fly home. Only trouble is her RTH altitude wasn't high enough :-(

Thankfully as it headed towards a vertical cliff, it stopped thanks to the P4 collision avoidance, then slowly climbed much higher, (again luckily no overhanging trees or other obstacles) then over the top of the mountain and headed home successfully.
Again, lesson learned, loss of pride but spectacular video was the bonus. She edited out the actual "almost hit the mountain" bit and the resultant video is just soo good. (She has a superb natural skill in video editing.) I've seen it all including pre-editing.

Have a look here if you want to see how I can only WISH I could put video together:

ottomomo


And have a look at "Glasshouse Mountains", and see if you can pick where she nearly lost her P4.
(Her early videos were just GoPro, later ones also have her P4 video.)

Anyway, despite the close call, she got her confidence back and continues to film and edit absolutely fabulous videos. (Even National Geographic have now used some of her video!!)

Cheers
David

Wow David! Some video, you are right! I am guessing the mountain she almost flew into was Mt Coonowrin where she gets close enough to the rocks that she could have Carbon-14 dated them. Fantastic composition and color!

 

[eaglegoaltender]

We post here in the assumption we will get help, not judgement. Please be helpful, ask for help, leave a considerate comment or be quiet.

Well said - the OP has offered full disclosure of the events and provided a video etc of same in order to not only get answers for himself but to pass on same to the community here and doesn't deserve these kind of comments.

I'm a professional and I can tell you from what I've seen. You have no idea. Flown planes lol. Please keep your bird in the ground before you learn the basics.

How do you know the OP isn't referencing RC planes - your assumption and comment doesn't sound like one of a "professional" at all.

 

[eaglegoaltender]

Have a look here if you want to see how I can only WISH I could put video together:

Wow - thanks for posting that link David - incredible videos, just finished watching them. You are correct she does have a wonderful, incredible talent not only with editing but also with flying & filming with the Phantom. Great eye with the camera. Fantastic work!

They look like a great couple enjoying life as it should be with travel and adventure - good for them. As far as picking out the spot where she may have went around the back of the mountain - no idea, if I had to guess it would the flight around the 1:00 min mark - but that's just a wild guess.

 

[Snowwolf]

Well said - the OP has offered full disclosure of the events and provided a video etc of same in order to not only get answers for himself but to pass on same to the community here and doesn't deserve these kind of comments.



How do you know the OP isn't referencing RC planes - your assumption and comment doesn't sound like one of a "professional" at all.

Perhaps I should have mentioned it was RC planes, what I was trying to say was flying RC planes you are constantly on both sticks to keep the plane heading where you want it to go, when I was trying to get the P4P back it was exactly like that, same as in atti mode in a gale force wind, that's what it felt like even though there was no wind

 

[eaglegoaltender]

Perhaps I should have mentioned it was RC planes

Ya I kinda figured that - regardless there was no need for the negative comment left by another toward you - not deserved at all.

I never checked all the recent posts - have you heard anything back on your Phantom? I am sure you will get a replacement and I still think it was a defective on board compass module.

You will be fine despite some shaken confidence after that nightmare flight you had - just treat the next flight as your first and carry on the same way you did with your first Phantom. Best of luck.

I mentioned it before and will say it again - that is a great pic of you and "your best friend" - love it.

 

[Snowwolf]

Ya I kinda figured that - regardless there was no need for the negative comment left by another toward you - not deserved at all.

I never checked all the recent posts - have you heard anything back on your Phantom? I am sure you will get a replacement and I still think it was a defective on board compass module.

You will be fine despite some shaken confidence after that nightmare flight you had - just treat the next flight as your first and carry on the same way you did with your first Phantom. Best of luck.

I mentioned it before and will say it again - that is a great pic of you and "your best friend" - love it.

I just checked out veexed other posts on the forum and they are all sort of negative line to them.
DJI sent me the UPS returns label on Wednesday and just tracked the bird and should be with them on Tuesday and will keep you all posted on here when I hear back from them, they only asked for the drone and remote control to be sent back.

Thanks for the best friend remark, she is a great dog and a best friend too, she is nearly 11 years old bless her but still very agile

 

[IIIDaemon]

Hi all
I decided to have a fly today, lovely bright sunny day very minimal wind, before flight it was taking its time finding satellites but eventually it did and said I could take off, once up in the air the bird was totally out of control, it was the worst 10 minutes flight I have ever had, all sorts of warnings were coming up on the screen but I could not take my eyes off the drone as I was having great difficulty keeping it from flying away, sometimes I was full throttle from keeping it drifting away, then all of a sudden it would accelerate fast and needed to full throttle in opp direction, lots of things were happening on screen and with the drone, I did eventually get it back down on the ground, how I don't know, luckily I have flown planes for many years and always fly atti mode with the drone very often in case of flights like I just had, I had a P4 previous to the p4p and have done 160 full flights with no issues, 140 flights being with the P4 so I am pretty good and check everything before a flight.

I have the data log of what has happened in the link below and hoping someone can have a look at it to find out what went wrong.

I have had a look at the flight I done on the iPad Pro which I use, I am running the latest software and firmware, I have taken a few snap shots from the flight, one warming was un paved airport but that is untrue, here are is a snap shot of the screen, I had 14 satellites on take off but looking at the flight on iPad it kept losing them, also it looks like it has only recorded half the flight and only recorded from when I walked to a new position I was getting a lot of warnings of gimbal yaw reached end point
Here is the flight data file folder link and a video from my ipad on how it was flying.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jomjd ... I6KAvSoRn3iDEa?dl=0

.
..Snow, its been awhile since you've made this post, I'm wondering if you'd mind posting the DJIFlightRecord*.txt file, or you could
email it to me at the following email address, thx in advance..
.
VaData(at)YaHoo(dot)com
.
IIIDaemon

 

[Beebeach]

I had the same issues with my P4Pro, with multiple calibrations on four different locations away from anything except grass and trees:

• 17–20 GPS satellites on the ground, then "Weak GPS signal" at 45 meters altitude and automatic switching to Atti mode.
• It could never fly in a straight line. Sometimes it was worse than others.
• "Toilet bowl" hovers, sometimes 10–15 meters in diameter.

I flew my P4 over 50 hours without a single problem, so I was hoping the P4Pro would give me the same experience.

Unfortunately I waited more than 15 days after activation before contacting DJI, so they wouldn't accept it as a DOA. However they have now agreed to fix it free of charge under warranty, and I expect to get it back tomorrow via UPS.

Intermittently it worked, as you can see in this video but even then it couldn't fly straight...

 

[DavidN747]

I just checked out veexed other posts on the forum and they are all sort of negative line to them.
DJI sent me the UPS returns label on Wednesday and just tracked the bird and should be with them on Tuesday and will keep you all posted on here when I hear back from them, they only asked for the drone and remote control to be sent back.

Thanks for the best friend remark, she is a great dog and a best friend too, she is nearly 11 years old bless her but still very agile

Funny, I thought I had posted re "vexed" and his comments, TOTALLY uncalled for and unreasonable. Maybe it was moderated, though what I said wasn't nasty....

What I said on my original reply to him, which seems to have disappeared into cyber space somewhere, was:
"If you can't post something constructive or helpful, post nothing at all.
..and Professional what? I'm a professional airline pilot, what's that got to do with flying a Phantom, totally irrelevant."

Anyway, ignoring him, (probably the best thing to do) you'll get some confidence back and then have a lot of fun. I drowned my P3 some months ago, totally my fault, (flying sideways doing a panaroma shot and hit some low hanging tree leaves) in a fresh water river, luckily no harm done and it continues to work perfectly after a thorough clean and partial disassembly and long dry out. Yes, it smashed my confidence for a while, but part of the learning curve and still love flying my drone and have plenty of spectacular footage since then. Hopefully you'll have a new one soon and get back to it.

Cheers
David

 

[DavidN747]

Wow - thanks for posting that link David - incredible videos, just finished watching them. You are correct she does have a wonderful, incredible talent not only with editing but also with flying & filming with the Phantom. Great eye with the camera. Fantastic work!

They look like a great couple enjoying life as it should be with travel and adventure - good for them. As far as picking out the spot where she may have went around the back of the mountain - no idea, if I had to guess it would the flight around the 1:00 min mark - but that's just a wild guess.

Glad you enjoyed!

I just love her work, makes my editing look so boring and amateurish. They both come up with the imagination for the various shots, then she does all the editing, with a few ideas and constructive criticism from him. Sadly some can't be uploaded to Vimeo because of copyright on soundtracks- she has plenty more on her hard drive.

And yes, you picked the right spot
.... just past the one minute spot where it climbs vertically before continuing home.
She knows how lucky she was, has taken a while to live it down.

;-)
Cheers
David

 

[Snowwolf]

.
..Snow, its been awhile since you've made this post, I'm wondering if you'd mind posting the DJIFlightRecord*.txt file, or you could
email it to me at the following email address, thx in advance..
.
VaData(at)YaHoo(dot)com
.
IIIDaemon

Sent