Lost Control P3 Pro

0000edgar0000 · Dec 10, 2015

I got my P3 a couple weeks ago. I have about 15 flights recorded on it. Tonight i decided to take it to the city (downtown). Chose a semi empty parking lot to take off. As soon as the P3 took off I almost lost control of it. Had to fight wind and some serious control on my part not to crash the P3. I went through the basic checks and was all greened up on the app before i took off. I noticed yellow lights instead of green while fighting it on the air.

I took it somewhere else without the traffic and went up without issues. Flew for about 10mins.

Again i moved to another location. This time closer to buildings and again as soon as i took off i had to land because it was about to lose control and again had the yellow LEDs and message telling me to stay away from magnetic fields (lost gps).

Went back home (semi country area) and flew for about 15mins without issues.

Is it not safe to fly in the city? Is the wind making it lose control?

I plan on flying it away in the country until im sure theres nothing wrong with it.

PCMacDr · Dec 10, 2015

City has too many interferences ( compass, GPS, Metal and so on ). Don't chance it ( but doable )

Wind does NOT make it lose control ( GPS = Good ). I've flown it in 20mph wind and it was steady within 1-2 ft
Atti Mode is a different story altogether

Enjoy and Fly Safe

Meta4 · Dec 10, 2015

0000edgar0000 said:
I got my P3 a couple weeks ago. I have about 15 flights recorded on it. Tonight i decided to take it to the city (downtown). Chose a semi empty parking lot to take off. As soon as the P3 took off I almost lost control of it.

Is it not safe to fly in the city? Is the wind making it lose control?

Hard to say much without more details.
Possibly compass related - but impossible to say without information.
You can review the flight log to perhaps get some idea or upload the flight data to HealthyDrones for some analysis.

btw .. interference doesn't make you lose control and cause crazy flight.
It can reduce your control signal and perhaps swamp it and cause the P3 to hover a while and RTH.

alokbhargava · Dec 10, 2015

Yellow lights flashing indicate a possibility of compass not set properly. The reason could be heavy metals around.

snowghost · Dec 10, 2015

I would suspect wonky compass as well. When I launched from concrete with rebar underneath it threw an error immediately in the air and went P-Atti. Launch from your case, away from buildings or other possible interferences.

0000edgar0000 · Dec 10, 2015

I was looking at the flight log and drone went from pGps at take off then pOpti and pAtti once on the air, once landed went back to pAtti. Looking at the map i was surrounded by tall buildings ~100ft high.

Nathan1994 · Dec 11, 2015

Sounds like a compass issue. Lots of rebar in a parking structure. ALWAYS calibrate your compass when flying in a new area. RTFM(Read The Flight Manual)

CactusJackSlade · Dec 11, 2015

PCMacDr said:
Wind does NOT make it lose control ( GPS = Good ). I've flown it in 20mph wind and it was steady within 1-2 ft
Atti Mode is a different story altogether

Enjoy and Fly Safe

I'm not sure if I'd agree with that, especially in the city if it is windy with high buildings etc. The turbulent, sometimes down draft air currents in a city (or anywhere for that matter) can play havoc with a multicopter.

I came in behind and down wind of a tree line in 15mph wind one time and I was forced down almost to the ground even at full throttle due to the unexpected rotor/down draft behind the trees.

On the yellow flashing lights, are you sure you were in GPS mode, when I go to ATTI mode (center position "A" on the upper left mode switch) I get yellow blinking lights. If you were in ATTI mode the GPS hold will NOT function and your copter will drift with the wind and you will need to control it's direction.

Meta4 · Dec 11, 2015

0000edgar0000 said:
I was looking at the flight log and drone went from pGps at take off then pOpti and pAtti once on the air, once landed went back to pAtti. Looking at the map i was surrounded by tall buildings ~100ft high.

If you are flying in an area surrounded by tall buildings, it could be possible to lose GPS coverage - this can happen if your Phantom doesn't have a clear view of the sky.
You then have a P3 in atti mode, vulnerable to being moved around by the wind as it has no position holding ability.
If you are new to flying, this may not be a good area to fly.
It's much safer to do your early flying in an open area well away fro obstacles like trees and buildings.

dirtybum · Dec 11, 2015

Its very simple, even with the amazing glonass gps, the tall buildings interfered once in air. Your bird went into atti which means when you move left,right,forward,backward, it doesnt stop on a dime like green lights, yellow means atti. Just dont fly there for about 12 reasons!

0000edgar0000 · Dec 11, 2015

Ive seen many vids of people filming and taking off from big cities surrounded by buildings. Is this just plain and simple not advisable? Once the P3 is up in the air and flying above buildings, do chances increase to lose control or at that point is that the safest gps view? I would love to get city aerial shots but not at the expense of safety.

WetDog · Dec 11, 2015

0000edgar0000 said:
Ive seen many vids of people filming and taking off from big cities surrounded by buildings. Is this just plain and simple not advisable? Once the P3 is up in the air and flying above buildings, do chances increase to lose control or at that point is that the safest gps view? I would love to get city aerial shots but not at the expense of safety.

If you are worried about safety, I'd stay away from inhabited areas. It's amazing how many videos you see here with drones flying over houses, streets and other places where humans just might be about. Coupled with the more-than-occasional misbehavior (as noted in the OP's complaint) you have a set up for human injury. Which is not such a good thing. Sure, they don't usually crash. But they do indeed fall out of the sky.

It's not going to take too many bystander injuries before UAVs are banished, period. Remember, in the US at least, laws are painted with broad, often pejorative brushes. Lawmakers don't tend to just stand there, they have to do something.

Shammyh · Dec 11, 2015

0000edgar0000 said:
I got my P3 a couple weeks ago.... TRUNCATED

As always... hard to give detailed feedback without flight logs.

However, it sounds like you lost GPS lock and the P3 defaulted to ATTI.
In ATTI, there is no "wind compensation" or "location hold" as the P3 doesn't have a reference location to try to stick to.

Be VERY careful flying in unfamiliar or otherwise new-to-you environments.
Start slow and low and gradually build up from there.

Also, if you haven't already, get used to flying in ATTI mode. It might save your butt some day.

stealthbomber · Dec 11, 2015

Did you double click C1 to put it in night mode?

0000edgar0000 · Dec 11, 2015

stealthbomber said:
Did you double click C1 to put it in night mode?

What do you mean? Nightmode as in camera mode?

Helijoc · Dec 11, 2015

On another post someone had similar issues when flying close to buildind put he had other errors that indicated motors spinning free or something . I'm a licensed helicopter pilot. Rotorcraft suffer from the dynamic of settling with power. Settling with power is basically descending to fast into your own down wash. The disturbed air is not dispersed when descending too fast and the rotors lose efficiency . I had read dji had and issue with decents and had fixed this. The up draft of a buildind on a hovering craft could cause the same situation. But I think your problem was magnetic interference .