Fly away yikes!

[xtampa]

Well I went out to do a film of our local water tower and as I sent my Mac air 2 up to 200 ft it took off straight up until it disappeared. I tried all the controls to reduce height but no response from the drone. I hit the home button on the remote but still nothing. As I was about to give up I heard my drone close by and turned and saw it behind me above a tree about 100 ft high. I took control of it and landed it. Scared the life out of me, I saw $1000 flash before my eyes. I’m going to do a bunch of test flights before I try the water tower again.

 

[Meta4]

Well I went out to do a film of our local water tower and as I sent my Mac air 2 up to 200 ft it took off straight up until it disappeared. I tried all the controls to reduce height but no response from the drone. I hit the home button on the remote but still nothing. As I was about to give up I heard my drone close by and turned and saw it behind me above a tree about 100 ft high. I took control of it and landed it. Scared the life out of me, I saw $1000 flash before my eyes. I’m going to do a bunch of test flights before I try the water tower again.

The thing to do is have someone check your recorded flight data to see if the cause of the incident can be determined.

Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
That will give you a detailed report on the flight data.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.

 

[Platinum 4 ever]

Well I went out to do a film of our local water tower and as I sent my Mac air 2 up to 200 ft it took off straight up until it disappeared. I tried all the controls to reduce height but no response from the drone. I hit the home button on the remote but still nothing. As I was about to give up I heard my drone close by and turned and saw it behind me above a tree about 100 ft high. I took control of it and landed it. Scared the life out of me, I saw $1000 flash before my eyes. I’m going to do a bunch of test flights before I try the water tower again.

Wonder if the water tower caused any interference ? Well it ended well. Stay safe.

 

[LifesShort]

That had to be scary, but glad your story had a happy ending!

 

[Meta4]

Wonder if the water tower caused any interference ? Well it ended well. Stay safe.

Interference doesn't send a drone anywhere.

 

[BikerBuster]

Well I went out to do a film of our local water tower and as I sent my Mac air 2 up to 200 ft it took off straight up until it disappeared. I tried all the controls to reduce height but no response from the drone. I hit the home button on the remote but still nothing. As I was about to give up I heard my drone close by and turned and saw it behind me above a tree about 100 ft high. I took control of it and landed it. Scared the life out of me, I saw $1000 flash before my eyes. I’m going to do a bunch of test flights before I try the water tower again.

Sounds like it was playing Hide and Seek with you...[emoji1787]

 

[topspin1241831]

yikes, wow, so lucky not to hit something

 

[AMRE2ME2]

Please download the files and post them so Meta4 can look at them. So we all can learn more.

 

[LoganAir]

I'd really like to know how this happened also. Please consider providing the files so we can see the details. There has to be a lesson here for us to learn from. Thanks and really glad you recovered from this without any damage.

 

[xtampa]

I checked the log and it climbed from my desired height of 52m to 265m before I was able to get it to return home. Only message on the log was “gimbal overload”. Entire flight lasted only 8 min but it felt like an eternity when you lose visual of your drone. It only ventured 106m horizontally away from me but 265m vertical is exceeding my limit of 140m I programmed into it. It says it was connected at all times but I never asked it to go that high nor would I because of aircraft concerns. Just glad it came home when requested. I’m still freaked out! I’m nervous about launching it again without tieing a kite string to it (kidding).

 

[Paul2660]

Still if possible post the logs. They will be in your smart device. iPhone android etc. lot can be learned from them.

Paul C

 

[Deleted member 103366]

If you have not fiddled with the phone since then, can you check and see what the maximum height and RTH height are set to? And I do mean check what they are/were set to, NOT what you think or are sure you set them to. There is a reason for the emphasis on checking.


That said until you post the flight logs, both txt and DAT, all anyone can really do is make guesses.

 

[xtampa]

I’ve tried loading the log from my iPhone ant the response is that it’s not the right file type?

 

[xtampa]

Oh I think I’ve got it now, weird it wouldn’t accept it twice but third times a charm

 

[Deleted member 103366]

OK can you please check the RTH and max ceiling height in the app?

 

[xtampa]

Loading to where and what exactly was the name of the file you were trying to load?

It’s on my post

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Oh ignore that post, we were typing at the same time and my/that post has been deleted or over written.

but

can you please check the RTH and max ceiling height in the app?

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Ok attached is output data from the CsvView software that I used to process your txt flight log.
As I understand the naming of the various bits of information this chart presents
1) your RTH height in red text and 246m
2) in the green plot the height of the drone above the homepoint
3) various flying 'states' shown as bands of colour
light blue = "gentleGPS" I do not know what that means.
pink = "GoHome" which I think means RTHing
light green = "AutoLanding" which I assume is the landing phase of the RTH

If I have understood this correctly this means your RTH height was set to 246m and substantial part of the flight was in multiple RTH's.

Hence my asking you to check what is showing in the app now.
Hopefully one of the log guys will confirm whether or not I am correct, or up a gumtree

 

[Airmaxx23]

Did you take off straight overhead?

 

[InvisibleName]

Well I went out to do a film of our local water tower and as I sent my Mac air 2 up to 200 ft it took off straight up until it disappeared. I tried all the controls to reduce height but no response from the drone. I hit the home button on the remote but still nothing. As I was about to give up I heard my drone close by and turned and saw it behind me above a tree about 100 ft high. I took control of it and landed it. Scared the life out of me, I saw $1000 flash before my eyes. I’m going to do a bunch of test flights before I try the water tower again.

It would REALLY help the analysis if you answered the simple request to check what you apps RTH height was actually set to.