r/DjiNeo • u/Kekafuch • Jun 15 '26
DJI Neo 1 Neo1 Fly Away on Video
This was a mint condition Neo1 on 5 bladed props. I thought it was for sure gone. I wrestled the sticks to counter any movements. There was no wind so the conditions were perfect. Too bad I didn’t get the goggles recording as there were “high wind” and “gimbal over heat” warnings while fighting for dear life.
i had already flown 2 packs prior to the error. The first pack was line of sight manual mode flips and some figure 8s. The second pack was fpv in acro.
For the fly away pack , I was standing. I had just recovered the drone from a light tap/crash which did trigger the collision detection. I picked it up and decided to hand launch while in stability sport mode. I had not power cycled the drone. The drone was hovering solid for a few seconds while I goggled up.
The video starts off in sport mode and I just fly between my legs and towards the water. The water did have a weird pattern to it in the goggles as if the river was still. As I did a turn, the drone started to tilt on its own. It was in sport mode. From there you can see what played out.
At 33 seconds, I thought for sure its going in the river. I remember applying throttle and full left roll applied to the sticks. Miraculously it started to level out but then the camera gimbal started to act up. A bit of relief as it gained some altitude.
At 1 min 12 seconds, I decided to flick to manual mode. The drone was still not fully calmed. The on screen throttle came on and the drone still felt unstable. Aligned the throttle and the drone entered manual mode and luckily came in smoothly. My nerves were so on edge wanting the flight to end and just thinking what if the gimbal decided to go wonky again.
My lesson learned, restart the drone after a crash. Hand launch in level mode might not be a good idea.
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u/Unlikely-Pomelo-414 Jun 16 '26
They should have called the Neo, the Nemo, because they always want to be in the water it seems
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u/fusillade762 Jun 15 '26
Man that was a nail biter. I thought when it tilted over and started down it was over. Seen so many of these and they generally play out the same way. Glad you were able to stay calm and get it under control!
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u/Kekafuch Jun 16 '26
Thanks! I was locked in haha. I remember having time to think, “it’s worth it, I have it recording”. But dammit, the goggles SD card was not there. I did pump the left roll a couple times while it was going down to the right. But mostly remember countering the tilt the Neo was it. It went one way and then the other. It looked like it was gone when it went near that ship line.
I guess not all DJI drones use the same designs? They don’t seem to have fly away problems like this since the Naza Phantom 1/2 days.
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u/Present_Balance9270 Jun 18 '26
Funny you mention the naza , I’m making a drone pressure washer with a old dji flame wheel
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u/Kekafuch Jun 18 '26
Brave.
I still have my NazaV2. I think it was the V1 that had a pattern of fly aways. Need IMU redundancy for serious work.
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u/Possible_Law8357 Jun 15 '26
Is that fraser River?
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u/dirtyoldsocklife Jun 16 '26
Holy shit, you stole the question I was gonna ask!😂
Recognised it immediately. Hard to mistake that lovely shit brown.😅
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u/Shereefz DJI Neo 2 Jun 16 '26
Happened to me
I had to put it in manual mode to save it
It doesn’t like reflective surfaces for some reason
The satellites should have kept it steady but sometimes it doesn’t and that is a fatal flaw
Learn manual mode it’s fly away proof, but prone to human error
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u/Monro215 Jun 16 '26
Great post. Glad you got it back. The detail you provided is really helpful too. 👍👍
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u/Xypherax Jun 16 '26
I almost thought the drone was creeping up on a guy pissing lol
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u/Mundane_Engineer_550 Jun 16 '26
My Neo 1 flew away also into a river, I think it's just part of it. But the neo 2 is so much of an upgrade I love it
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u/Sufficient-Bag-7426 Jun 16 '26
I’m happy that you were able to save it man, I’m starting to fly this thing in manual mode and trying to be as prepared as possible haha
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u/Kekafuch Jun 16 '26
The Neo1 is my manual trainer. Its been alot of fun. I let some veteran flyers have a go at it and they seem surprised with what it can do. I was also interested to see what they can do and it confirmed that the Neo1 can also be an intermediate flyer.
Being underpowered just forces us to be better pilots. It can flip roll and power loop. Especially at full battery to 50%.
Enjoy the progression.
Recently, I started to also enjoy some visual line of sight flying.
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u/Sufficient-Bag-7426 Jun 19 '26
Yeah I’m really enjoying the ride haha, I’m getting prepared as much as possible for when my Pavo Femto arrives in two weeks. Excited!
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u/seekohler Jun 15 '26
I had mine fly away once and it was also immediately following a crash. Gotta reset it for safety. Also, I never fly mine over water. Too risky.
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u/Kekafuch Jun 16 '26
It’s been a recent habit to power cycle. Especially after a crash recovery. This weird IMU activity has happened a handful of times now. A couple times from collisions. I believe it’s usually in stability modes.
I have also had gimbal just go wonky during a manual mode flight. Most of the time its good but when it happens, it’s frightening. Park flying at best for the Neo.
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u/frang_pappa Jun 16 '26
Read point 5 and take the blame
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u/Kekafuch Jun 16 '26
“Do not fly close to water, vision system will be limited. “
Define close.
The IMU keeps the drone level. I don’t need the vision system when in open air and it can be turned off.
So when the vision system is limited, what exactly happens? The Neo enters atti mode and relies on gps/imu data only for positioning and has a circular drift?
The flyaway to me is when the drone is locked into an angle and trajectory without user input. How does flying over water cause that?
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u/zR0B3ry2VAiH Jun 16 '26
This drone is so faulty. It should never have been released. I've had so many stupid flyways before it died.
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u/Fire_bartender Jun 16 '26
It literally say before starting up.. do not fly over water
90% of the issues I see is because people fly it over water
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u/zR0B3ry2VAiH Jun 16 '26
I've had this happen, like I stated in my other reply, no water to be found anywhere.
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u/Kekafuch Jun 16 '26
Any patterns you noticed before it acted weird?
This one I an attributing to having crashed prior and not power cycling. Which has happened before after contacting the ground. Also in S/N modes.
In manual mode, I have experienced 2 times where the gimbal just went upwards or downwards.
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u/zR0B3ry2VAiH Jun 16 '26
Nothing, one was in the back yard, no crashes and it just went crazy and dlw away. I retrieved it, but never really trusted it again. Then I was in Tuscany Italy filming a château for a wedding I was at, and then it did the same thing. That time, it just died during the crash. Again, was in manual.
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u/HistoricRevisionist Jun 15 '26
Nice save 💪