Flyaways are very rare with the Phantom 3. In most (all?) cases, it was probably due to pilot error (e.g. too much wind and/or confusion after auto flipping into ATTI mode). If you take the time to gain a deep understanding of how your Phantom works, this should never happen to you.
Well, it happened to me today and I don't think I made any error. My P3P had taken off from a big, empty parking lot near Fifth Street in Miami Beach and I flew it above and slightly off Alton Road toward the area of South Pointe, a distance of 2,389 feet (according to my flight log), less than half a mile, on a clear line of sight without obstructions. I had flown this route previously without incident. I lost RC signal and the aircraft initiated RTH a few seconds later. I was using the DJI Go app with the latest firmware (2.8.0) and had set it to Smart Return to Home. I was using Home Lock as the intelligent flight mode and, just in case, had set the failsafe altitude to 400 feet because there were buildings in the area and I know from experience that RTH does not always take place in a straight line. In any case, no building was in the flight path. I lost sight of the bird momentarily as it rose, but made eye contact again after I got the message "Aircraft Descending." Unfortunately, it was descending over the busy intersection of Alton Road and Fifth Street, about two hundred yards from the home point. I took over manually and cancelled RTH. However, no matter how much I tried, the aircraft would not move toward home. It kept drifting to the sides and toward a building. I managed to keep it away from the building and moved it toward the channel of Miami Beach Marina to prevent it from dropping on the McCarthur Causeway or on the boats in the Marina. Again, I had a clear line of sight without obstructions. From there, I kept trying desperately to bring it back, but it was as if there were an invisible barrier that it couldn't cross at about 200 yards from me. I could move it right or left on an arc, or away from me, but not toward me. The reactions to the stick were erratic, so that if I moved it to the right, it would turn left first, and then right, for example. The moment I let go of the controls, it wouldn't hover, but drift away fast. There was an 18 mph wind at 300 feet according to my UAV Forecast app, but only 10 mph at 30 feet according to my Drone Buddy app, and it was not blowing against the bird, but rather slightly across, and should have blown it closer to me, not farther. At that point, the bird was at a height of about 100 feet. I turned it to face every which way and moved the stick in every direction, but nothing worked. It just refused to return home. Eventually, the battery ran out and my dear, five-month old Phantom found a watery grave in Biscayne Bay. I am very upset and it seems that this is definitely a software problem, not pilot error. In fact, I had noticed a slightly different version of this problem before. I like to take control of any RTH maneuver toward the end for a softer landing; if you let the P3P land on its own, it tends to land too hard. Sometimes, when the bird was about 20 feet from me, it would refuse to come closer. I accounted for that eventuality by taking off only from areas with plenty of room to land. I thought that was quirky, but never imagined that the Phantom would refuse to get closer than 200 yards. There is definitely a factory problem. What a bummer!!!
