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first flyaway attempt with gps active not shut off

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well this is a twist .last time I had a semi flyaway caused by me turning off gps. that's was purely my fault when I say semi I was able to bring it down hard and save the drone minus camera. this time I was flying 800 miles wsw of where I was . this flight was in lamar mo in a wide open area sw side of the local park devoid of any other persons in the immediate area Taking the distance between flights into account I recalibrated the compass and the accelerometer no issues there waited for good gps fix lifted up hold about 7 ft above ground watch for drift none then flew around a little and doing a bit of recording then suddenly less than 250 ft lost video feed lower the h to 80 ft and got video back but about 4 min later things started going south unit started drifting in a manor that indicated pending control issue went to land and that where it broke loose obstacle advoid system was turned off. the flight was in angle mode entire time unit swayed left then to the right to full speed a head this time I was able to pull the unit back and again force land with the landing gear down this time. no damage to the drone o camera this time. I had 13 to 14 gps sats during this situation. and yes this time gps was on constantly. packed up the drone went back to my van turned my laptop on and checked the wifi for any routers and found one a open Linksys with 2 bars
 
well this is a twist .last time I had a semi flyaway caused by me turning off gps. that's was purely my fault when I say semi I was able to bring it down hard and save the drone minus camera. this time I was flying 800 miles wsw of where I was . this flight was in lamar mo in a wide open area sw side of the local park devoid of any other persons in the immediate area Taking the distance between flights into account I recalibrated the compass and the accelerometer no issues there waited for good gps fix lifted up hold about 7 ft above ground watch for drift none then flew around a little and doing a bit of recording then suddenly less than 250 ft lost video feed lower the h to 80 ft and got video back but about 4 min later things started going south unit started drifting in a manor that indicated pending control issue went to land and that where it broke loose obstacle advoid system was turned off. the flight was in angle mode entire time unit swayed left then to the right to full speed a head this time I was able to pull the unit back and again force land with the landing gear down this time. no damage to the drone o camera this time. I had 13 to 14 gps sats during this situation. and yes this time gps was on constantly. packed up the drone went back to my van turned my laptop on and checked the wifi for any routers and found one a open Linksys with 2 bars
The first thing to try is copy the telemetry from the flight log on the ST16 and then upload it to exmaps. That will help determine if there were errors in the telemetry.
The 800 mile difference is significant. It would take the bird about 12.5 minutes to get an exact GPS fix after moving that far since the previous flight. Whenever you travel a great distance between flights it's a good idea to let the bird sit after boot with the motors off. This will give the GPS the time it needs to refine the precise location. I would normally expect to see 16-20 sats after 12 minutes.
 
You are relaying one of most drone pilot's greatest fears, the dreaded flyaway. I'm sorry this happened to you, but thank you for sharing your ordeal as it gave the forum Moderator an opportunity to pass on some more relevant knowledge the rest of us can benefit from. I did not know about allowing time for a better GPS "lock" when flying in a new area miles away from where you last flew. I knew to always look at your sat counts before takeoff and do a compass recalibration when relocating, but I had no idea the satellite number, alone, is not definitive proof that you are flying GPS protected.

One would think a compass recalibration would do the trick, but apparently not. But when you think about, there is an awful lot of sky out there with amazingly few satellites providing GPS coordinates to millions of people at the same time, ranging from heavy duty military use to everyday cell phones and car GPS units, all demanding GPS information and signal locks, too. Quite a complex, intricate network that we need a piece of to fly drones as we do. It makes sense that time would be a big factor to consider when trying to slip into that incredible flow of information to maintain your place in all of that.

Better luck to you in your future flights, and glad you didn't crash during your emergency landing. Sounds like you kept your head and your flight experience came in very handy to get you out of a very bad situation. Like my Father used to say when he had his private pilot's license, "Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing!"
 
I would normally expect to see 16-20 sats after 12 minutes.

Indeed this sounds like the key to his bad experience. Don't think I've personally had to wait more than 6 minutes, but if I don't get more than 14 on the drone and 10 on the ST16 I try to figure out the problem. At times I have shut down the drone and double-checked GPS Sats with my phone (Wi-Fi on phone turned off). May be a faulty GPS board involved here.
 
The video feed should not have cut off at 250 feet. Perhaps this is a separate issue but control issues started shortly after the loss of video. Hopefully the telemetry will provide some answers.
 

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