Looking for help to figure out a Fly-away.

[Abdinhk]

Fortunately it had a happy ending and I recovered the drone after wading into thick brush and getting very cut up. I had only flown the drone a short distance above me and in front of me, when it suddenly flew forward about 20 to 30 yards, didn't seem to respond to the sticks and the RTH button on the controller didn't seem to respond either. It flew up and forward. I don't think I brought it down and it certainly didn't return to home. Fortunately it was only about 30 yards in front of my when it landed and like I said, I got it back. But I am a newbie and trying to figure out how to avoid further scares like this in the future. Here is the flight log. Thanks


DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[InvisibleName]

Would probably help if you said what your drone is??

 

[choo choo]

Fortunately it had a happy ending and I recovered the drone after wading into thick brush and getting very cut up. I had only flown the drone a short distance above me and in front of me, when it suddenly flew forward about 20 to 30 yards, didn't seem to respond to the sticks and the RTH button on the controller didn't seem to respond either. It flew up and forward. I don't think I brought it down and it certainly didn't return to home. Fortunately it was only about 30 yards in front of my when it landed and like I said, I got it back. But I am a newbie and trying to figure out how to avoid further scares like this in the future. Here is the flight log. Thanks


DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

A couple of things you need to check before you fly. If the drone is new out the box, have you correctly calibrated the compass?
Did you initially calibrate it over an area containing rebar or with some metal such as a watch nearby?
If you have correctly calibrated the compass, were youtaking off from concrete that might contain reinforcement bars, you would normally get a ‘mag interference’ warning on your remote, if so, move the aircraft away from the area before taking off.
When you powered up the aircraft did you wait till it was ‘ready to fly with ‘gps mode’ showing on the display and the home point correctly recorded. (You would normally get a voice prompt telling you it is recorded but to check the map to see if it corresponds with where the aircraft is and more importantly, which way it is pointing.
Did you know that RTH doesn’t work if the craft is already near to the home point?
I’m sure others will respond in more detail and correct me if I’ve missed out on a couple of pointers.

 

[Abdinhk]

The drone is a Spark. Not new out of the box, i had been flying it for a week before the incident and yes the compass was calibrated for where I was flying. I was flying in the countryside and while there was a stone house about 10 meters behind me, everything else was grass and trees. And yes the home point had correctly recorded.

Others have mentioned the RTH not working if drone is close to Home Point. How close does it have to be before RTH doesn't work?

 

[choo choo]

The drone is a Spark. Not new out of the box, i had been flying it for a week before the incident and yes the compass was calibrated for where I was flying. I was flying in the countryside and while there was a stone house about 10 meters behind me, everything else was grass and trees. And yes the home point had correctly recorded.

Others have mentioned the RTH not working if drone is close to Home Point. How close does it have to be before RTH doesn't work?

The RTH won’t work if the aircraft is within 20 metres. It will just land if activated either by accident or some aircraft operational irregularity and if it deems the landing area safe.
If it thinks it isn’t safe, it will try and find a safe place.
Have a look what your RTH settings are if you lose signal. It might be that it lost signal and went into RTH depending on your settings.
It’s hard to tell what happened by just getting drip fed information. Your flight logs will show one of the expert guys what went wrong and maybe help you. You say you pressed RTH and nothing happened, this might be because it was already in RTH mode, it might be better pressing the ‘stop’ button next time (the one with the red X).
99% of fly aways are pilot error either the settings are not set/checked before flight or take off was too fast for it to have recorded ‘home point’ correctly, compass settings have not been checked, or they’ve been upset by outside influences such as rebar, underground pipework or wrist watches. Wind conditions are sometimes not favourable with safe flying causing drifting.
Another point to consider. What setting have you got your battery levels at? ie. At what percentage of battery level have you set the aircraft to RTH? All things to consider before you take flight.

 

[Tesadorn]

Interesting... I have a spark and that same thing happened while a buddy was flying it right in front of me.. Not sure if I still have the log... HEHe bought a mavic and the spark has been lonely....

 

[dbyantis]

Fortunately it had a happy ending and I recovered the drone after wading into thick brush and getting very cut up. I had only flown the drone a short distance above me and in front of me, when it suddenly flew forward about 20 to 30 yards, didn't seem to respond to the sticks and the RTH button on the controller didn't seem to respond either. It flew up and forward. I don't think I brought it down and it certainly didn't return to home. Fortunately it was only about 30 yards in front of my when it landed and like I said, I got it back. But I am a newbie and trying to figure out how to avoid further scares like this in the future. Here is the flight log. Thanks


DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

I Noticed that you did not wait for home point lock, before taking off, according to the log the HP was set while in the air. I doubt that had anything to do with the outcome, but I always wait for the drone to get HP set prior to take off.