DJI Phantom
Video Reviews
How to avoid "fly aways" with the DJI Phantom and phantom 2 vision quadcopter
Graphic crash scenes of DJI Phantoms on the internet would have you believe these drones are no good, but there seems to be 2 things in common with nearly 80% of all fly aways.
A simple checklist that we hope will minimise any chance of a "fly away" for you
Will my mobile phone upset the Phantom?
Will my GoPro wireless upset the Phantom?
Can I use a GoPro with my DJI Phantom?
Do not set home position from high rise balconies! It will land on the roof!
Do not set home position from a moving boat! It will land where you were!
Do I have to update my Phantom firmware?
Today we are going to discuss the much feared "fly aways" that seem to pollute the internet with horror stories and graphic crash scenes. When we first heard about Phantom "fly aways" I jumped on the internet and was horrified at what I saw!
I spoke with DJI and searched the internet extensively and found that there seemed to be 2 things in common with nearly 80% of all fly aways.
The first one was recent firmware upgrades and the second was pilot error!
Nearly 70% of all fly aways I read, seem to occur after a firmware upgrade and as for pilot error, well that is what it is! Looking at some of the You tube videos, I don't know how some people aren't in jail!
In our opinion, the Phantoms are reliable, very reliable if set up properly, so we have compiled a simple checklist that we hope will minimise any chance of a "fly away" for you
OK so number one is Compass calibration - your compass may need to be reset at times.
If it starts doing weird things and flying off on a tangent when moving forward or weird little circles its hunting for North and needs to be reset.
Make sure your home point is set correctly!
This is a fantastic feature of the Phantoms that is really reliable if set properly.
But you must set a GOOD & SOLID home position, not from tucked away behind obstacles
where she never got a good bearing or from a high rise building balcony or a moving boat ....
Don't rush your take offs. Enjoy them. I think rushed take offs with partially set home positions account for a huge number of fly aways.
Close enough is not good enough!
Flying near Electromagnetic Interference can upset the Phantoms, so if you see
power lines, phone repeaters, radio transmitters or the like, stay away!
Keep your "good quality" batteries fresh in your controller, something that seems to be often overlooked, it shouldn't cause a fly away, but it may weaken your signal when competing against another interference sources.
So the final thing is Firmware Upgrades.
They are important but this is where a lot of it seems to go wrong, if you don't know what you're doing, don't do it!
Please see the video for more information......
Please check out for our other Phantom Tips, tricks and comparisons
Happy flying guys!!
DJI Phantom - The ultimate tutorial
DJI Phantom - Tricks and tips
DJI Phantom - Comparisons
DJI Phantom - Can you change the fail safe height?
DJI Phantom - Compass calibration
DJI Phantom - Fail safe explained
DJI Phantom - How not to crash in fail safe
DJI Phantom - How to avoid your phantom flying away
DJI Phantom - Expert and professional tips
DJI Phantom - Beginner tips
DJI Phantom - Using alkaline batteries
DJI Phantom - Quad copter fail safe
DJI Phantom - Using my Gopro with the phantom
DJI Phantom - Will wireless make my phantom crash?
DJI Phantom, Phantom 2, Phantom Vision