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DJI Phantom flyaway

31K views 57 replies 19 participants last post by  casey5347 
#1 ·
Not happy.

I just sent this to DJI:

I purchased my DJI Phantom in late August. After around 10 flights in GPS mode, I flew it this afternoon after checking all settings via the NAZAM Assistant. The compass was calibrated successfully, and failsafe was set to Go Home & Landing and IOC was on.

Prior to flight it went through the boot up process, including getting around 11 satellites. After it gave the OK to fly, I flew it with no problems for around 2 minutes on the fully charged battery.

After approximately 2 minutes after takeoff, I started bringing it in towards me to land, where upon it started ascending, then veering away. Whilst it was doing this, the green LED was still flashing green as per normal ( twice, then off, twice then off etc). After around 10 seconds of trying to get it under control - at which I discovered my Tx was simply not providing any inputs to the Phantom. I tried different flight modes, to no avail. After around 40 seconds, it crashed into the water. This was all in front of around 40 kayakers who witnessed the entire event.

They went out to try to locate it however it was not visible.

All batteries were charged, the compass was fine, fail safe was on, and this has resulted in the loss of one DJI Phantom and one Replay XD camera.

I have flown helicopters including CP, and have a variety of quadcopters, so have plenty of experience flying, and this was absolutely a case of a fly away to the extent that even the fail safe did not respond.

I have now lost over $1000 worth of effectively brand new products

Is there anything that can be done? I still have the Tx & the receipt.
 
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#32 ·
I have approached the store I purchased it from to speak with the Suppliers, and they have advised they are following up.

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#36 ·
Not as yet. I requested follow up yesterday...

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#38 ·
In all the cases I have read they were using the stock Tx. That being said, it should have still been capable of going into fail safe after the Tx was switched off, which it didn't.

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#40 ·
Aparently they are 2.4g and good for 300 metres, which is not very far at all.

I bought a Phantom today and a Spektrum DX9. I have flown the phantom a couple of times today around the house, but tomorrow if I get the time I am going to install the spektrum radio and rx in the phantom and no longer use the stock tx and rx
 
#44 ·
Make sure you go into the Naza assistant software and change the mode from DBUS to PWM (Think that's right) then map your channels and all should be good. The stock radio gear is crap, first thing I did with my phantom was to remove it and use a Futaba R7008SB. Originally I had to use it on PWM but a recent firmware release has made the Naza compatible with SBUS so now I'm running that. I use the Futaba 18MZ which is overkill for the Phantom but it enables me to have telemetry and logging which in the event of a flyaway gives me an indication that I didn't screw up.
 
#41 ·
Awesome matt, I was curious if u could chuck a spektrum in and still have all the features of the phantom

I thought u was building a quad? What made u also get a phantom

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#42 ·
Where did you get yours?

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#43 ·
Diamonds camera store in adelaide. They r a authorised seller I found through the DJI website. $699

Phantom is so easy to fly compared to the quad I built. In gps mode it just hovers by itself and you can take both hands off transmitter! Thats why I bought it
 
#45 ·
On another note, whilst the Phantom can support the H3 gimbal I don't recommend it if doing any sort of sport flying. The forces send the gimbal into safety hibernation mode cause it can't handle the loads so shuts down. I swapped the mainboard of the Phantom to the one with built in GCU and bolted a H3 to it. Quality is outstanding with virtually no vibration, with a 200mw 5.8Ghz VTX I'm still getting 8-9 mins of flight time. Works great for gentle flying but next to useless if you're a bit aggressive on the sticks.
 
#48 ·
I've set my sticks up as spring loaded 'cause it's how the stock tx was configured and I'm used to it. On the DX7s I originally had the throttle stick normal but found it didn't climb until I went over half way, and then I had trouble keeping hover while on the yaw.
 
#51 ·
Still no response.......

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#53 ·
Time will tell.....

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#54 ·
Me and my brother have one each, his did the same thing and dji didn't replace any thing for him, it was 2 weeks old, dji tec just blamed him.
I have the 1.2.1 model he had 1.0.0 model. I've upgraded my motors to T motors installed a gimbal and never had a problem just poor battery life. Upgraded motors with stock battery gets 15 mins fly time with a go pro hero 3 plus camera compared to 7 mins with the upgraded battery ????. I found wooded props are a battery saver and preform better than carbon fiber or plastic props
My advise is buy the new phantom vision 2. 25 mins fight time. And DJI have upgraded the warrenty as well, the price is nearly the same as a normal phantom plus gimbal and go pro camera, the phantom vision 2 is $1300 I have spent $2000.
But to answer your question NO DJI will not replace nothing in this case as they will blame you.
I must be charmed with over 100 flights over water the sydney harbour bridge and other famous land marks and never crashed or have had a problem.
 
#55 ·
I meant to respond to this post some time ago, however have recently relocated interstate, had a new job etc etc, so have been flat out.

Thanks to Metro Hobbies, the Phantom was replaced. They spent a huge amount of effort following up with DJI, who came back with a partial replacement offer, and Metro Hobbies came up with the rest.

At no point did Metro sway from owning the outcome, and I am very grateful as to their consideration given the circumstances.

Ridiculously, DJI told them that because there was no evidence (e.g - the actual Phantom itself) to check for malfunctions, they were not able to accept full responsibility for providing a faulty product. Given the fact that (a) It flew away and (b) it was submerged under salt water whilst connected to a near fully charged LiPo, I am not sure what their evidence would have found.

Even had we have been able to find it, I cannot understand how they would expect to be able to ascertain the initial point of failure.

As to all the other unfortunate consumers that have had fly aways and have never located the Phantom, they in my opinion have every right to pursue against DJI...

Regardless, Metro Hobbies have great staff, and whilst I am sure it was a painful process, have made me a very grateful customer. I can't say thanks enough....
 
#57 ·
Hi, I too experienced a DJI flyaway. I took the matter up with consumer affairs and was awarded a full refund by the NCAT (National Civil and Administrative Tribunal). Although the retailer has appealed the decision I am confident that the judgement will stand. I refer you to my new post and am prepared to assist with case notes and advice. Jonathan Barton Wollongong NSW.
 
#58 ·
warrenty

https://store.dji.com/guides/dji-care-refresh-get-replacements-crash/


What does DJI warranty cover?
Under the limited warranty, DJI guarantees that the products you purchased
from there are free of defects due to the manufacturing process and the materials that were used. ... Any repair or replacement service will come at no cost as long the problem falls within
the scope of the limited warranty.Jul 30, 2018

Does DJI care cover crashes?

DJI Care Refresh is an accidental damage service plan. Repairing your drone after a crash can be costly and time-consuming, and standard DJI product warranties don't cover accidental damage. Refresh does cover accidental damage, and you can avoid repairs altogether



Hope this help a little
 
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