Money Pit Continues – GPS Tracker, Just In Case

I’ve been reading many stories about what are termed as “fly aways.”  In a fly away situation, the remote control quadcopter becomes uncontrollable and flies away.  Considering that the unit could probably fly 40 miles per hour, a fly away with a full battery (12-15 minutes of flight time), could mean that the unit could be 10 miles away before it crashes due to the battery dying.

The DJI Phantom is supposed to fly back to where it took off if something goes wrong, but some theorize that the fly aways are the unit trying to fly to its original home, China.

Because I now have so much invested in this setup with the copter, cameras and camera mounts, I decided to implement a little insurance policy.  No not real insurance, though that’s a good idea…

I ordered a small, lightweight GPS Tracker, similar to the ones one would put on their car, bike, child, pet etc.  I’ll mount this GPS to the quadcopter and should I ever lose control or experience a dreaded fly away, I’ll be able to locate the unit with my smartphone.