Let us learn. Let us prepare. Let Us Drone. I don't know what's worse than seeing your new Phantom fly off under its own command, never to be seen again. Thus far, I've been fortunate enough *fingers crossed* to not have that happen to me…yet. I could imagine that the sinking feeling in your gut does not pass by with ease. What exactly is a flyaway? I see a flyaway as the event where you no longer have control of the aircraft. Although a flyaway can be caused by a mechanical error, pilot errors are the cause of about 99% of the time.

Here is a list of 14 steps you can take to prevent a drone flyaway:

1. Read the manual
2. Use a flight checklist
3. Inspec the drone and RC
4. Check the weather
5. Practice in beginner mode
6. Watch for compass and GPS interference
7. Monitor GPS strength in your location
8. RC signal lost instruction
9. Set home point
10. Set the appropriate RTH altitude
11. Hover for a minute
12. Update home point if you move
13. Keep the drone within VLOS
14. Stay calm in the event of a flyaway

#1 Read the manual

Read it! Pretty much everything I am going to talk about is in the manual, and taking the time to read it from digital cover to digital cover will close to eliminate your chances of having a flyaway. I get it, the manual is long and can be a bit dry, but in my opinion, it's the most important thing you can do to prevent a flyaway.

If you're more of the fly by the seat of your pants kind of guy/gal or you read the manual a year ago when you got your Spark and you need a refresher, read on for other steps you can take to keep that Spark returning home to you.

#2 Use a flight checklist

“I don't need a flight checklist because I'm flying a drone, not a commercial aircraft.” Ever see comments like these while perusing the forums? Yea, I have too. Sure, the lives of hundreds aren't in danger when you send up your drone without so much as a thought about the weather or airspace you're in (unless God forbid, your drone collides with a passenger aircraft), but you still run the risk of losing that new Mavic 2 Pro you just bought.

Having a checklist that you print out and store in your drone bag is a smart idea. Or, like me, you can keep one on your phone that you can glance at before heading out to fly. Often times, a flyaway can be prevented before you even leave your home. If you'd like to use the flight checklist that I created, download it for free here.

My checklist. Click image for PDF version.

#3 Inspect the drone and RC

Before sending the aircraft up, make sure all equipment is in good working order. Do the props have chips in them? What about the batteries for the drone and RC, are they fully charged? Check the integrity of the body and gimbal by looking for cracks or loose parts. Look to see if the motors are free of debris and other foreign objects that may cause in-flight problems.

Flying a drone is not like flying a fixed-wing aircraft in that if an incident were to happen where a motor was to stop unexpectantly or a prop were to break off, the drone will drop like a rock as it doesn't share the coasting capabilities with its fixed-wing cousin.

#4 Check the weather

Along with restricted airspace, inclement weather is usually a big obstacle for us drone operators. Checking the weather before you head out to fly is a must, especially if you live in those parts of the country where it can be sunny one minute and pouring rain the next.

Wind is a big one that we all seem to encounter on a regular basis. DJI recommends that you do not fly in winds greater than 10m/s or 22 MPH. Where wind will really be a factor is if you decide to do a range test and fly out with a tailwind behind your back, leaving with you with a headwind on your return flight which will surely drain the battery at a much greater speed.

If you are interested in learning about flying your drone in hot weather conditions, check out the article I wrote on that here. Flying your drone in the rain is not advised; look here for the article I wrote about the potential damage that moisture from rain, fog, and humidity may cause.

#5 Practice in beginner mode

We've all been beginners at some point. DJI realizes this and in an effort to keep the amount of returned drones that were crashed right out of the box to a minimum, they equipped their drones with a beginner mode that limits the drone's capabilities (range, speed, etc.).

Maybe you already own two DJI drones and just purchased your third. It wouldn't be uncommon for your initial thought to be “pssh, I'm way past beginner mode”; but at the end of the day, DJI is a technology company and in order to keep from getting passed up by competitors they have consistently added new features with each drone release. Even if just for a few minutes, it would behoove both the seasoned and new drone pilot to fly in beginner mode.

#6 Watch for compass and GPS interference

“Tall structures and large metal structures may affect the accuracy of the on-board compass and GPS system.” “Minimize interference by avoiding areas with high levels of electromagnetism, including base stations and radio transmission towers.”

The above quotes were taken straight from one of the DJI manuals. This is likely obvious for most, but the compass and GPS are both very crucial in the operation of a drone. With the GPS providing the exact location of your drone and the compass giving you a bearing (direction), these two systems work hand in hand to bring your drone back to you without error or deviation.

Calibrating the compass should be done if prompted by the DJI GO app, and should not be done around magnetic interference or metal structures. It's a quick process that could potentially save your drone from an incident, so don't ignore the errors and/or warnings!

#7 Monitor GPS strength in your location

The two satellite systems that DJI drones use are GPS and GLONASS, and the quantity of satellites in every location is different. You may regularly get 13-15 satellites in your location, whereas Tom gets 8-10 in Chicago and I get 11-13 in San Diego. If someone on a forum says “don't ever take off with less than 12 satellites”, well then poor Tom in Chicago would never experience the joy of flying with his measly 8-10 satellites.

DJI says that you need more than 6 satellites in order for the home point to be recorded. 

Be mindful of where you are flying and it may be wise to look up that specific location on the internet to see how many satellites other drone pilots in that area regularly get.

#8 RC Signal lost instruction

Did you know that you can give your drone preset instructions on what to do if you lose signal and the RC disconnects from the AC? You have three options: Return-To-Home (RTH), land, or hover.

One of the most important things you can do to prevent a flyaway is to set your Remote Controller Signal Lost setting to Return-To Home. To do this, go to settings > Main Controller Settings > Advanced Settings > Remote Controller Signal Lost > Return-To-Home. 

There are special circumstances where you don't want the drone to RTH when the RC signal is lost, but 99% of the time you're going to want that bird to come back to you. Imagine that you're flying over water and the RC suddenly disconnects. If you have “Landing” or “Hover” selected you're going to be doing your best Michael Phelps impression in an effort to catch the drone before it meets a watery grave.

#9 Set Home Point

Setting the home point is in class 101 of flying a drone. I know that sometimes you may be in a hurry to launch that bird so you can capture the last remaining cinematic shots of the setting sun, but I'd strongly advise not passing up the moment to ensure the home point is set to your location and not somewhere out in the ocean.

If the volume is up on your phone or tablet, the DJI GO and GO 4 app will audibly tell you the “the home point has been updated”, at which time you can glance down to see if it has indeed been updated to your location.

It's also very important to periodically check to make sure that the home point has not been changed without your knowledge while in-flight, especially right before you hit that RTH button. If you're flying along and the aircraft suddenly disconnects, a sinking feeling in your gut will arise if you look down to see that the home point was updated without you knowing, somewhere along the way. A quick Google search on this topic will reveal more than a few sad stories about people who either lost or almost lost their drones because of accidental home point changes.

#10 Set the appropriate RTH altitude

This is one that often gets overlooked. I have to admit that I'm guilty of not always setting the RTH altitude to match my environment. Julian is a small, rural town about an hour East of San Diego that I love to fly at. Tall, beautiful trees, lakes and snow in the winter make for some epic videos and pics.

Since I live in San Diego and most of my flying is done around the beach, my RTH altitude is using set at about 150′ or so. I have had times where I'll be flying in Julian and it will dawn on me that I hadn't set my RTH altitude any higher than usual, making an emergency RTH trip a potentially hazardous one. Fortunately, I have yet to experience any mid-air collisions due to altitude heights that were improperly set.

To set the RTH altitude in the DJI GO 4 app, go to settings > Main Controller Settings > Return-To-Home Altitude.

#11 Hover for a minute

When you first launch the drone it can be tempting to dart off in a hurry and get some pics of the waterfall that you hiked five miles to see. Resist that urge. If there is a problem with the drone, it will most likely present itself within the first few seconds of being airborne.

Look and listen for anything out of the norm that doesn't seem right. If all is well after a few seconds, then proceed to the roaring waterfall. Additionally, if your signal isn't great while the drone is 5′ in front of you, then it's not likely going to get any better when it's 300′ away from you.

#12 Update home point if you move

As most of us know, you have two options when recording the home point. Option one is to set the home point to the takeoff location of the drone, and option two is to set the home point location to your RC. If after launching you don't intend to move around then setting the home point to the takeoff location is generally advised, but there are certainly times when option two is a must.

An example of a time when setting the home point to your RC's location is necessary is when you're on a moving boat. I recently read about a guy who launched from a cruise ship, and he had his home point set to the takeoff location. You can probably guess what happened next…the ship moves and he helplessly watches as his drone descends to its watery grave after having signal issues that caused an AC disconnect.

To recap, if you are launching from a boat or plan to move around once the drone is airborne, then set the home point to your RC, and update it each time you move. 

Lastly, if you are flying from a boat and the thought of having the drone try to land on such a tiny spot is unnerving, then consider launching from the shore (setting the home point to that location), and you won't have to worry about the drone attempting to land on the one dry spot that is surrounded by death water.

To manually update the home point in the DJI GO 4 app, go to settings > Main Controller Settings > Home Point Settings.

#13 Keep the drone within VLOS

There is something about flying the drone so far out that you can no longer see it that is enthralling to so many. It seems that the newbies tend to do this a bit more than most. I have to admit that I have had my fair share of range test flights. Maybe it's our amazement with technology or the novelty that we can control something that is so far away. Unfortunately, having the drone so far away that you can no longer see it is one of the riskiest things you can do.

First off, it's a no-no in the FAA rule book to fly without line of sight, and we're all rule followers here…right? If while a mile out the drone starts behaving erratically or there is a flock of seagulls, you may not notice such things from the image transmission on your phone. And what if the image on your screen gets laggy or disappears altogether?

People often conduct range tests without much consideration for the environment that they are in. Telling yourself that you can fly thirteen minutes out and thirteen minutes back works in theory, but what happens when you have a tailwind on the way out? The realization that the drone isn't going to make it all the way back is going to hit you at some point, and all I can say is that I hope that range test is conducted in the middle of the desert and not the ocean.

#14 Stay calm in the event of a flyaway

Your heart rate speeds up, the sticks get slippery because of the sweat on your thumbs, and you realize there's no way that your spouse will let you get another drone; you're panicking. There's a difference between panicking and having a sense of urgency, and the company commanders were quick to identify this while I was in boot camp. If you panic, all rational thought tends to fly out the window.

If your drone begins to behave oddly, pause and think about what the cause may be. Is it a mechanical issue? Maybe you're flying in extreme cold and ice is beginning to form on the props, or the batteries are overheating because it's too hot out. Signal issues might be causing your aircraft to disconnect. Whatever your situation is, pause to think about what course of action would be best to safely get that bird on the ground. By being smart and using your head, 99% of these “flyaways” that people talk about can be avoided.

Trevor's Take

I have never lost a drone, by I sympathize with those who have. DJI has done their best to make drones that will always come back to you in one piece, and they've done a pretty darn good job at it. These high-tech drones are still relatively new on the scene, which means that there are about a million newbies all learning together how to operate these things. Thanks to blogs, forums, and YouTube, we can learn from other peoples mistakes so we don't have to repeat them. Have you had a flyaway? Comment below what happened on that fateful day.