Lost GPS problems, left me high and dry!

Phantom 4 Pro/Adv
1

My Phantom 4 Pro has been behaving erratically for the past few flights. I have had it for over half a year and have had no issues like this flying anywhere on the ranch that I work. I have flown over our power lines with no interference or issues in the past. On March 30, I flew in an area we have flown before. The drone had GPS and took off like normal, and shortly thereafter the GPS errors began and then it completely disconnected. It flew about a mile away with me trying to control it the best I could. I am fortunate that I got a last image of a landmark it landed near before it went down or else I would not have been about to find it. I double checked to make sure everything was up to date and ran a test flight in an open vineyard at the ranch yesterday. It worked seamlessly. I re-launched it in area about 400’ from power lines (and I have flown it here before with no issue). It operated normally and then the GPS disconnected and it entered ATTI mode. I luckily knew to land it immediately. I am terrified that this will keep happening until it crashes one day without my control.

Also, I thought ATTI mode was supposed to retain altitude, but my first traumatic GPS error flight (first link below) had the altitude descending unless I fought it. I also watched as imagery appeared and disappeared so I thought it had crashed several times but it had just stopped transmitting imagery even though it was within range of the remote.

First flight when GPS errors started and drone went into ATTI and left me high and dry: https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/NP1XJI9II1UMI8T93XI1/

Link to seamless vineyard flight: https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/7JZP4C7A2VTF22R1ORGT/

Link to last flight mentioned: https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/JN96GGHREY2VF61I0VQA/

2

The Phantom will retain the altitude when flying in ATTI mode. In your case, the remote controller disconnected from the Phantom for more than 3 seconds – causing RTH to initiate. Since the Phantom was flying in ATTI mode at that time, that caused it to auto land at its current location (since it couldn’t locate the home point). Instead of fighting the descent, you should have cancelled RTH when the remote controller reconnected.

3

Thank you for that info! I guess I hadn’t realized my remote disconnected. So that would have been responsible for the imagery leaving and then coming back I assume. What reasons would a remote disconnect? I am using my iPad connected with an Apple cable. And my flights after that bad flight, one was amazing over the vineyard with no issues and then the next that was 400 or so feet from the power lines was bad. It seems the power lines are having a huge effect (and had ZERO in the past). Would that seem correct? And would that be able to disconnect my remote?

4

Here are some common things that normally resolve poor connection issues:

  • Enable airplane mode on your mobile device

  • Make sure you don’t have any other Wi-Fi/cellular devices near the remote controller

  • Make sure the remote controller antennas are positioned like this

  • Make sure there are no obstacles between the Phantom and remote controller

  • Try flying in a location where you know there are no other nearby Wi-Fi signals (e.g. don’t fly in a neighborhood that’s packed with homes)

I don’t normally fly near power lines, but I have flown within 400 feet of powers lines a few times. Never ran into any connection issues.