How real is the fear of Fly Aways?

[gusri.candra]

High wind is the most cause of flyaway, especially when you lost signal during high wind condition. The air craft drifting while you have no chance to switch sport mode to fight the wind.

 

[TGV401]

I'm going to piggy back on here. If you have flown any kind of hobby drone, the MP Pro is a dream! A year with the Pro and not one glitch. I always update firmware, IMU and compass calibration regularly, and I fly with confidence. ALWAYS take these forums with a grain of salt. Sort of like Yelp reviews... have a great day!

 

[maihem]

Respect the wind, complete calm at ground level is not an indication of conditions within the entire air column.
I started in 2014 with a P2V+, every crash was my fault. I flew the P2V+ until the Spark was released, then got the MA on the release date, and finally picked up a used MP right after getting the MA. I should have got a MP sooner, it's so nice to fly.
I've had my fair share of dancing around freak outs, none on video, sorry. I do a lot over water including boat launches and retrieval, suggest that you practice on land first. My idea of relaxing after work is to go to around 350'-380' and just cruise around the approximate 2 mile box of power lines of which I live about in the center around lots of farm land. No, I don't always have VLOS, and that is just a risk I take.
I don't cross power lines. I make sure the home point is set and don't take off if there are weird gps issues. I swear, there is an area around Lake Gaston that has freaky anomalies making flight impossible on some days and it has been experienced using multiple drones. Remember to check your RTH height when flying someplace like the mountains. Use an Apple product to fly, I used Android until I got the Spark when I also got an iPad mini. All the connection issues went away and I got so much happier with flying.
Practice FPV flying. My biggest freak out was in wind, within VLOS, trying to take a picture of an island on the leeward side. Got out of the protection of the trees, everything started beeping, I couldn't focus on the messages on the screen and I defaulted to VLOS to get the Spark back...but it wasn't where I last saw it. Once I got calmed down, read the messages, realized I wasn't in sport mode and had been blown way down wind. Switched to sport mode, GPS was then able to keep up with the wind, spun around looking at the screen until I figured out where I was and flew back getting the pic I wanted along the way.
Sorry this was so long.

 

[Bachi]

I'm a new flyer with an MPP since the middle of December. Given the weather in the NY area, I'm reading more than I'm flying. However, so far, all of my flights have been an absolute pleasure and I've experienced total control. I'm a photographer and I love the added dimension of aerial imagery.

But I'm reading here about all of these fly-aways! If I was to believe all that I've read, I'd have to anticipate that it's not a matter of IF I'll get a fly away, it's a matter of WHEN!

Is this true? Am I destined to lose my drone? Is there something I can do to mitigate the risk? I'd like to believe that if I don't fly in high winds, or near large metal structures, or anything else I can control, that I won't have to worry about the MPP failing to come back to me. I can't believe there'd be a market for $1000+ throw-aways.

I do have insurance (State Farm)...but that only protects me financially...it doesn't protect me from the anxiety each time I put it up in the air!

Is it really just a question of "when"?

I strongly recommend that you run a couple of safety drills.
Quite often the loss of a drone is a combination of poor signal and pilot panic. Practice will help you avoiding the second instance.....

Fly your drone in a safe, open area, at sight distance (keeping an eye on it) and disconnect or switch off your phone.
This will teach you how to behave if your phone runs out of battery, your screen goes crazy or the app crashes.
Take your time and fly it back with no phone, just using the remote control indicators. Try again the same drill but this time start with the drone further away (out of sight). You will need to try to "turn and advance forward" your drone just looking at the distance indicator in your remote control (aiming at decreasing the distance to you). Bring it closer to you until you can see it. Always keep it at safe altitude

For the second and most useful drill, just switch off the remote... and hold tight.
With your drone in sight you will build the needed confidence on that, when signal is completely lost, the bird returns home.
Many times the erratic "fly away" problem is interference and/or intermittent signal, meaning that you cannot control de aircraft but it would not start the RTH routine either. Switching off the remote control sounds crazy to us, control freaks, but is the best way to make sure that the link with the drone is completely lost and that the firmware "return to home" routine will actually work.

Practice these drills until you are sure you will follow your practiced rules in the event of a probleml

 

[James in the Desert]

Jayfdee you are so right. It comes down to fear. I have been flying about 9 months and you have to stay focused when flying. I have took baby steps to the point I still focusing on flying using Pre set video and photo setting. This isn’t a race to learn it all but a hobby I enjoy. FEAR = False Evidence Appearring Real.

 

[zorr0]

I strongly recommend that you run a couple of safety drills.
Quite often the loss of a drone is a combination of poor signal and pilot panic. Practice will help you avoiding the second instance.....

Fly your drone in a safe, open area, at sight distance (keeping an eye on it) and disconnect or switch off your phone.
This will teach you how to behave if your phone runs out of battery, your screen goes crazy or the app crashes.
Take your time and fly it back with no phone, just using the remote control indicators. Try again the same drill but this time start with the drone further away (out of sight). You will need to try to "turn and advance forward" your drone just looking at the distance indicator in your remote control (aiming at decreasing the distance to you). Bring it closer to you until you can see it. Always keep it at safe altitude

For the second and most useful drill, just switch off the remote... and hold tight.
With your drone in sight you will build the needed confidence on that, when signal is completely lost, the bird returns home.
Many times the erratic "fly away" problem is interference and/or intermittent signal, meaning that you cannot control de aircraft but it would not start the RTH routine either. Switching off the remote control sounds crazy to us, control freaks, but is the best way to make sure that the link with the drone is completely lost and that the firmware "return to home" routine will actually work.

Practice these drills until you are sure you will follow your practiced rules in the event of a probleml

I didn’t know u could fly without phone/pad. Is that true? How do u initiate it? Do u start with phone and unplug phone? I have a cheap android 7” pad. Don’t know who made it and I would like to use it so iPhone won’t be tied up. I was thinking that if pad died on me I would fall back on RC. Re flyaways....I mentioned earlier that it has happened to me but Never with Mavic. Never.

 

[jmfixitman]

I've been very confident with mine. However during an ATV ride in Utah I decided to launch and get some beautiful mountain scenery. Everything was dialed in, had GPS lock, compass was good, etc. So I launched... As soon as she took to the air she banked hard and fast to the right and I thought WTF?!?!. For some reason it suddenly lost gps. I throttled up and fought to keep her out of some trees. Suddenly it grabbed gps lock again and all was well. Talk about major pucker factor... Not sure how or why it happened. I had not the bird powered on for a while but I had not looked at how many satellites I was locked onto. So I assume it was minimal and I lost one or two for a brief moment. Big lesson learned.

 

[dvarapala]

This is nothing, you should have been around during the Phantom 1 and 2 days. There was a time when I actually considered tethering my P1 with fishing line.. lol

I've had my Mavic Pro for exactly one year this week and have never had any indication that I was not in full control or about to experience a fly-away.

That's actually a bit of a disadvantage, because on those rare occasions when it does happen you won't be prepared for it.

I've had a few issues with disconnects (both the aircraft losing connection with the controller and the controller losing connection with the Go 4 app) as well as other glitches (RTH overshooting the home point, gimbal resets in mid-flight). Each time the anomaly came completely out of the blue and caught me completely by surprise. The more these incidents happen the less you panic.

 

[WEOTN]

Had already read all but the last and just read that one. Thanks for the links.

I did notice that you didn't actually answer my question Coming from Mavic Help, I read that as a warning sign. I'll do whatever I can ... but not having you say, "Your chances are minimal if you follow these rules", makes me a little suspect Stuff happens...but does stuff happen to the best of us? Have YOU ever had a fly-away?

Fear is real for the beholder. The likelihood of a fly away is largely in proportion to your behavior. It's tempting to just fly assuming the MP is smart enough to do it right. There's a learning curve and your responsibility to climb it to know better to avoid the mistakes that can lead to a fly away situation. Many posts are guidelines on how to avoid fly aways, seek them and absorb their wisdom. Learn from the mistakes of others that are shared here.

My only mishap was in trying to land in cinematic mode. The controls were just too slow and I over corrected it into a ground loop of sorts. Nothing injured by my pride so to speak. I've learned to not use cinematic mode below tree top level now.

Being a HAM operator and small computer consultant, I'm very aware of the plethora of WIFI routers using the same frequencies as our MPs. It is possible to drown out control signals. One might buy a linear amp and use a high gain omni antenna on their chimney so they can surf the web from their boat miles out. Such a scenario exists near me, and I stay away from that lake.

Speaking of lakes, I bought a set of floats for my MP so I can feel better about flying over water, and increase my odds of recovery in the event it goes down over water. It looks stupid but I find it sensible. I spray painted the floats with Hi Viz paint just in case.

Be patient, learn, take steps sensible to you so you can better enjoy and protect your investment. It'll go a long way to abate your fear.

 

[BigRray]

I'm a new flyer with an MPP since the middle of December. Given the weather in the NY area, I'm reading more than I'm flying. However, so far, all of my flights have been an absolute pleasure and I've experienced total control. I'm a photographer and I love the added dimension of aerial imagery.

But I'm reading here about all of these fly-aways! If I was to believe all that I've read, I'd have to anticipate that it's not a matter of IF I'll get a fly away, it's a matter of WHEN!

Is this true? Am I destined to lose my drone? Is there something I can do to mitigate the risk? I'd like to believe that if I don't fly in high winds, or near large metal structures, or anything else I can control, that I won't have to worry about the MPP failing to come back to me. I can't believe there'd be a market for $1000+ throw-aways.

I do have insurance (State Farm)...but that only protects me financially...it doesn't protect me from the anxiety each time I put it up in the air!

Is it really just a question of "when"?

I have been flying for 4 years and the only one I had problems with was the P-2 vision V1. I never lost it but came close. If it didn't hit a try an it way to RTC I think it would be gone for good. I have a inspire that flys flaelessly for 2 years and now a mavic that I also have no oroblem with. I anways fly fully chnnged, check sensor status and fix if not normal, anways updated and if in a new area do a compas calabration. never out of site and I always have a spotter. ceck yopr eguiptment befor each flight make sure nothing is loose or just looks wrong. I think somewhere out there thers a check list. good luck and many happy flying hours

 

[don26812]

I'm a new flyer with an MPP since the middle of December. Given the weather in the NY area, I'm reading more than I'm flying. However, so far, all of my flights have been an absolute pleasure and I've experienced total control. I'm a photographer and I love the added dimension of aerial imagery.

I am pretty much like you, except I live in Southern CA. I started with a P2V+ in 2014. No flyways, but finally one of the boards gave out - a common P2V+ problem. I have had my Mavic just about a year with no fly-a-ways. BUT, I am pretty much a park flyer, but getting braver as time goes on. Living in the US, I adhere to the VLOS requirement. Not really knowing where each poster is from, I sense from the comments that most flyers are not adhering to the law regarding that and/or the 400 ft altitude.

That is my big fear, losing VLOS, not only because of the law, but becoming disoriented and needing to rely on the video feed. Because of this I generally fly in CL mode. But as you know, you must exit this mode to fly the other Auto Modes. I know this is my problem. I am slowly beginning to use these other modes. Not a flight mode, but shooting auto Panos, because the drone is just sitting still.

I am probably not adding much value to this discussion, but I do have a question. Given the Mavic Pro's size/color, I find maintaining VLOS harder than the P2V+. I was wondering if adding prop guards would help?

 

[dennyc39]

But I'm reading here about all of these fly-aways! If I was to believe all that I've read, I'd have to anticipate that it's not a matter of IF I'll get a fly away, it's a matter of WHEN!

Is this true? Am I destined to lose my drone? Is there something I can do to mitigate the risk?
Is it really just a question of "when"?

I'm a newbie myself, with about 80 flights. I have the same fear and have read and surveyed this forum for a while. Result was that I found "almost" no instances where an MP flew off when it "Shouldn't" have --- that is, in disagreement with all of its settings and ignoring all pilot input, with one exception: those where the flight path was overwhelmed by wind.

On the other hand, I have seen probably a couple of dozen instances where the machine flew off because it was following its own (sane) mind --- for example, Returning to Home, with an inappropriate Home Point has been set. Other losses have happened when it went into ATTI mode (probable loss of GPS) and the pilot could not successfully deal with that.

My habit is to think about the flight and the drone before each takeoff. What things could happen that might cause it (and me) to become confused or to start making its own decisions? Things like loss of signal, weak GPS, low battery, etc. What will it want to do in each case? Can it do these things without hitting obstructions or landing in a tar pit? Review your settings with these questions in mind. The AI in the drone is your copilot, and it is important that you agree on decisions made in advance.

Also; check your autopilot sensors before each takeoff (Quad menu, Advanced settings). Abort the flight if any of the IMU's, Accelerometers, or Gyros are showing any yellow or red. Verify that 10 or more GPS birds have been acquired.

And for you: think about what you will do if the DJI GO app or smartphone becomes disconnected (as it sometimes does.) Or, if sunlight blinds you to the display. What will you do if it switches into ATTI mode? (The MP gives you no opportunity to practice this.) What is the wind possibility at flight altitude (speed and direction, towards you or away from you)? How can you detect that wind is becoming a problem? Have a plan for either getting home or getting it on the ground in this event. Finally: be ready to hit the Pause button on the RC if the drone ever does something that is causing alarm. With battery, this can give you time to think. The RC pause button is more positive than touching Pause on the screen. Sometimes I have to tap my screen a couple of times to get it to take.

There are answers to these questions, but this post is already getting long. One last suggestion is to carefully practice or demonstrate things like flight modes, using the map to navigate, etc., and especially to identify limitations and anything that doesn't work as expected. If you can cover these questions, it appears that the risk of completely unexplained flyaways is very low.

 

[jedburgh01]

I'm a new flyer with an MPP since the middle of December. Given the weather in the NY area, I'm reading more than I'm flying. However, so far, all of my flights have been an absolute pleasure and I've experienced total control. I'm a photographer and I love the added dimension of aerial imagery.

But I'm reading here about all of these fly-aways! If I was to believe all that I've read, I'd have to anticipate that it's not a matter of IF I'll get a fly away, it's a matter of WHEN!

Is this true? Am I destined to lose my drone? Is there something I can do to mitigate the risk? I'd like to believe that if I don't fly in high winds, or near large metal structures, or anything else I can control, that I won't have to worry about the MPP failing to come back to me. I can't believe there'd be a market for $1000+ throw-aways.

I do have insurance (State Farm)...but that only protects me financially...it doesn't protect me from the anxiety each time I put it up in the air!

Is it really just a question of "when"?

Fear is ever present but in reality very low risk. I've had controller disconnects and she came home automatically and safe.
I have a lot of faith in her

 

[jedburgh01]

I have no fear of them. I always make sure home point is recorded and know how to control drone when app crashes.
I avoid situations that cause them. Like ignoring warnings of compass abnormality or high interference.

Yep make sure home point is recorded and you're golden

 

[Amarand]

You NEED to share this video!!!!!

Sadly, I only pay Google (Nest) for the 7-days worth of storage, it’s already dropped off the end, and I forgot to save it out.

Plus I was in my robe. No one needs to see that.

 

[normr]

Having insurance on your drone certainly would help that fear of a flyaway

 

[Just_nick]

If you have insurance, it doesn't really matter. Set your drone's app up properly and if anything goes wrong, you are saved by the insurance.

 

[Mattw996]

I've had mine 8 months and it's never flown away. Put a GPS tracker on it if it's stopping you enjoying it.

 

[brilock1]

Had already read all but the last and just read that one. Thanks for the links.

I did notice that you didn't actually answer my question Coming from Mavic Help, I read that as a warning sign. I'll do whatever I can ... but not having you say, "Your chances are minimal if you follow these rules", makes me a little suspect Stuff happens...but does stuff happen to the best of us? Have YOU ever had a fly-away?

A lot of fly a-ways are due to pilot error, not checking the windspeed at higher altitudes being one of them. so my advice to you is download uav forcast which will help you to decide if its safe to fly where you are. this will lessen the risk of losing your drone.

 

[Amarand]

My first "weird" fly-away (when it went straight up), was me not reading the "more accurate home location" feature, which says right in the teeny tiny type that it will ascend to 20 ft. I wasn't expecting it to do this, but I should have known, because it did warn me.

Today, I took off and landed a bunch of times. Flew around, had fun, no issues. The Mavic Air is a delight to fly! I just wish I knew how to turn down the proximity beeps.

OH! And I did a little tree trimming today as well. Broke off the end of one of my props. Luckily, I bought the Fly More kit with additional props.