Erratic flight characteristics. What needs calibration?

[Erik_JM]

I received my Mavic on Friday and had a couple of successful flights. Had to update firmware as per instructions once fired up for the first time. Also noticed a tilted horizon on my first flight. Recalibrated gimbal and it was still present so I manually adjusted the gimbal roll to horizontal. My third flight today was on a golf course. I flew from green to tee in GPS mode about 450 yds away and turned around. With 16-17 satellites indicated, I lost gps and went into atti mode. The mavic is out of sight due to the curve of the golf hole. Mavic starts drifting towards the trees to it's right. Full left stick to get away from trees only neutralized the drift. I instinctively climbed to get above the danger and sort it out. I regained GPS mode with 16+ satellites. When I pointed the Mavic in my direction and started forward flight, it drifted right again. I let go of the sticks and it's still clearly drifting right. I'm above the trees now so out of danger of hitting anything. I flew back to my location with 100% forward and 40% left stick input in order to just fly straight. The wind was below 5mph and oddly blowing the opposite direction of the aircrafts deviation. It was basically turning into the wind. I got it back to my location and hovered. Turned around to visually inspect the flight characteristics vs. control inputs. I flew it directly away from me with only forward stick input and it pulled to the right unable to fly in a straight line. All while in GPS mode with 16+ satellites. I own a PV2+ and haven't had any issues like this before. Is it a simple compass calibration or IMU calibration. Just thought I'd run it by the pilots with more seat time than me.
Thanks for the help,
Erik

 

[Raptorman]

Perhaps are resident engineer the Editor can comment but my guess is that the IMU needs to be calibrated.

Normally you need to perform an IMU calibration after every firmware update, but it's not clear if that rule still applies to the Mavic Pro -- it does on the other DJI drones.


Brian

 

[Erik_JM]

Thanks Brian. I wasn't prompted to do anything after the initial FW update. Thought I read that the IMU came calibrated and only to recalibrate if prompted. Guess that's still a gray area.

 

[kmaluo]

Sounds like you have the controller stick problem some guys are experiencing. Check out DJIs forum.

 

[BD0G]

If you read this thread you will see what the issue is

Mavic Crash

When observation started it was believed that it might just be a bad compass calibration , but as the issue was investigated further it turned out that one can not calibrate the control sticks on the controller for a neutral input when the sticks are vertical and untouched.

If you try and calibrate control sticks you will see the deviation.

 

[Erik_JM]

I ended up doing an IMU recalibration and the check flight went very well. No remnants of my earlier observations. All flights were very smooth and consistent with control inputs.

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[Raptorman]

I ended up doing an IMU recalibration and the check flight went very well. No remnants of my earlier observations. All flights were very smooth and consistent with control inputs.

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Did you stick fly this? If so the manual orbit at the end was near perfect!

BTW, glad the IMU cal appears to have worked.


Brian

 

[Erik_JM]

Did you stick fly this? If so the manual orbit at the end was near perfect!

BTW, glad the IMU cal appears to have worked.


Brian

Stick flew the fairway then used the POI mode for the orbit on the green. Love that mode!


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[Chris_Toronto]

Looks really nice. What video settings and video editing software did you use?

 

[Erik_JM]

4K video, AWB, then iMovie

 

[Erik_JM]

Well, I tried tripod mode indoors today. The Mavic flew left when I tried to go forward. Didn't go right at all and drifted into the ficus tree and a chair. 4 busted props. Only 2' high and landed on soft carpet. What the eff is going on with this bird? Replaced the props, took it outside and everything checked out in gps mode as well as tripod mode.

 

[Chris_Toronto]

Strange. If you were flying at only 2' indoors I wonder if ground effect was at play. But, still seems really unusual.

 

[Erik_JM]

Strange. If you were flying at only 2' indoors I wonder if ground effect was at play. But, still seems really unusual.

I'm a fixed wing and rotary wing pilot and this bird just wasn't doing what it was told. Full right stick and it slowly drifts left into my wife's freakin indoor tree.

 

[Zandian]

I'm a fixed wing and rotary wing pilot and this bird just wasn't doing what it was told. Full right stick and it slowly drifts left into my wife's freakin indoor tree.

I was hovering in my garage, not thumbs on the stick and it started drifting to the left. Didn't respond to the right stick, then suddenly jerked to the right and almost smacked into the wall. Didn't have it on tripod but was very lightly touching the stick. Didn't seem to be flying right...

Z

 

[Erik_JM]

I was hovering in my garage, not thumbs on the stick and it started drifting to the left. Didn't respond to the right stick, then suddenly jerked to the right and almost smacked into the wall. Didn't have it on tripod but was very lightly touching the stick. Didn't seem to be flying right...

Z

Hmmm, Similar. My bird hovered like a champ. Once I pushed the stick forward and it went 45 degrees left, I let go but it kept moving. I started making small inputs to see if the controls were reversed or something. Everything was going left. I thought about grabbing it once I realized I had no real control other than some vertical control. Grabbing a Mavic at 2' off the ground looked like reaching a hand into a running blender. So I tried to descend between a couch and the ficus tree. It doesn't do anything quickly in tripod mode and there were ficus leaves flying everywhere. I'm losing confidence in this thing a bit.


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[Zandian]

Hmmm, Similar. My bird hovered like a champ. Once I pushed the stick forward and it went 45 degrees left, I let go but it kept moving. I started making small inputs to see if the controls were reversed or something. Everything was going left. I thought about grabbing it once I realized I had no real control other than some vertical control. Grabbing a Mavic at 2' off the ground looked like reaching a hand into a running blender. So I tried to descend between a couch and the ficus tree. It doesn't do anything quickly in tripod mode and there were ficus leaves flying everywhere. I'm losing confidence in this thing a bit.


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Actually happened in my house as well but under WiFi. Thought just hadn't mastered the on screen controls well enough. But it seemed to do the same thing. Scared the crap out of me.

Z

 

[Erik_JM]

I've owned a Phantom 2 Vision Plus since it came out and it's never touched a thing. 3 different days flying the Mavic and 2 of the 3 had my pucker factor pegged.


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[gregw]

Well, I tried tripod mode indoors today. The Mavic flew left when I tried to go forward. Didn't go right at all and drifted into the ficus tree and a chair. 4 busted props. Only 2' high and landed on soft carpet. What the eff is going on with this bird? Replaced the props, took it outside and everything checked out in gps mode as well as tripod mode.

I hope you're reported the problem to DJI. They need as much data as possible so they can debug the firmware..

 

[Erik_JM]

I hope you're reported the problem to DJI. They need as much data as possible so they can debug the firmware..

What's the best way to do that? Sorry if that's a stupid question. Since I've had no issues with my PV2+, I don't know the best way to communicate with DJI.


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[gregw]

What's the best way to do that? Sorry if that's a stupid question. Since I've had no issues with my PV2+, I don't know the best way to communicate with DJI.


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