this is what happened to me.. be CAREFUL

[bucefalo]

guys what happened is really "crazy"..
in few lines:
1) turned on the drone..
2) wait for GPS.. i check compass and imu if they are just fine..
3)since I'm a newbie I check and over check the area I wanna fly..
4) ready i fly.. all good and 5 seconds later drone goes 100% crazy!
I get compass calibration error but I can't control mavic and it goes everywhere..
in those 20 seconds just panic, pure panic! suddenly it stops or I'm lucky enough to get control and I fly it back!
if there was ANYTHING around me.. i'd have hit it.. thank God was just an empty area and nothing happened..
so i started to think what was wrong(all in the preflight checks was fine.. so look at the picture :

I took off from this metal hatch and probably it did give all the calibration interference.. i was so lucky seriously!
do NOT take off from anything metallic.. don't or you might be not same lucky!

 

[4wd]

Usually being near a metal object will show compass error, but it clears as soon as you are away from it.
Calibrating compass near metal things is a bad idea though as that will be completely wrong further from it.
Your experience does sound like bad compass nonetheless.

 

[Piranha]

Newer take off from the large metal objects, hatches, car roofs and so

 

[bucefalo]

Usually being near a metal object will show compass error, but it clears as soon as you are away from it.
Calibrating compass near metal things is a bad idea though as that will be completely wrong further from it.
Your experience does sound like bad compass nonetheless.

well maybe I wasn't clear...(i didn't calibrate it there..) but i did check compass and imu status before take off from that metal and everything was good/green just few seconds after take off i've got mavic going crazy out of control and the calibration errors showing.. anyway i'm a very careful person but still not experienced in flying my drone.. so is a warning for others!

 

[msinger]

(i didn't calibrate it there..) but i did check compass and imu status before take off from that metal and everything was good/green just few seconds after take off

This issue still often occurs even when you don't calibrate before taking off. As noted above, never take off, land, or fly close to metallic metal objects.

 

[Jimmie Hanson]

I may a little dumb. When I got my drone a month or 2 ago, it was updated with 4 go. I simply charged the battery and flew 5 times on beginner mode. Then changed and flew another 10 times. Never calibrated nothing period. Drone flys wonderful no problem at all. So I watch and listen to the forum and say to myself. What is happening to some of these people. I am a former pilot so I am careful.

 

[bucefalo]

I may a little dumb. When I got my drone a month or 2 ago, it was updated with 4 go. I simply charged the battery and flew 5 times on beginner mode. Then changed and flew another 10 times. Never calibrated nothing period. Drone flys wonderful no problem at all. So I watch and listen to the forum and say to myself. What is happening to some of these people. I am a former pilot so I am careful.

Jimmie.. just exactly like me.. since I have the drone no problems.. i started in beginner mode for 3 days.. now im using it "normal" but with a big cap for altitude and distance! more or. less I flew 20 times not a single problem! only once and only today over that thing! after that I just took off from another place nearby and I had zero problems! I'm not trying to spread any sort of fear.. I read horror stories here and I was also wondering am I just too good? lol.. this happened to me and I'm warning others!
since Ive got the mavic out of box never made one single compass or imu calibration! just today one single calibrate compass after that issue!

 

[msinger]

I think the larger issue here is that many people do not know the Mavic manual exists and/or don't take the time to read it in its entirety. The manual touches on this issue in the following section:

 

[bucefalo]

I think the larger issue here is that many people do not know the Mavic manual exists and/or don't take the time to read it in its entirety. The manual touches on this issue in the following section:

View attachment 8759

another issue seems like many wanted to be a teacher in life.. big fail lol!
you don't get the difference between "hey this stupid drone made a crash by itself" and " hey guys today I didn't pay attention to this little detail.. since I was lucky enough I report this to you" now do you see the difference? end of the lesson? thank you

 

[msinger]

you don't get the difference between "hey this stupid drone made a crash by itself" and " hey guys today I didn't pay attention to this little detail.. since I was lucky enough I report this to you" now do you see the difference? end of the lesson?

No, I guess I didn't get it. If you're trying to be a teacher, then congrats on trying to be helpful.

 

[sdharris]

Glad you got it back under control.

The area you launched from obviously contains metal materials, but also worth remembering that metal may well be in an area and not visible, metal structure under a wooden pier for example, or rebar in concrete. Always have a good look around to assess whether it's a good location to use.

This is also another reason why constant compass calibrations are not a good idea.

 

[Strafe1]

well maybe I wasn't clear...(i didn't calibrate it there..) but i did check compass and imu status before take off from that metal and everything was good/green just few seconds after take off i've got mavic going crazy out of control and the calibration errors showing.. anyway i'm a very careful person but still not experienced in flying my drone.. so is a warning for others!

Your post sounds like you didn't know that it was wrong to take off near metal objects. I think if you knew that, you wouldn't have taken off from there. As it turns out, you are posting to everyone that through your own experience, you have learned that this is a bad idea. I get that you already know this now, and don't want to be told otherwise. But the truth remains......as @msinger stated and you so rudely admonished.....if you had read the manual, you would have known this already. Bad manners on your part for chastising a post that clearly fits in with what the majority of pilot errors comes from....Not reading the manual.

 

[bucefalo]

Your post sounds like you didn't know that it was wrong to take off near metal objects. I think if you knew that, you wouldn't have taken off from there. As it turns out, you are posting to everyone that through your own experience, you have learned that this is a bad idea. I get that you already know this now, and don't want to be told otherwise. But the truth remains......as @msinger stated and you so rudely admonished.....if you had read the manual, you would have known this already. Bad manners on your part for chastising a post that clearly fits in with what the majority of pilot errors comes from....Not reading the manual.

yes.. but one thing to point is that.. there are too many teachers here.. also when they are "not needed" i'm posting an experience and sorry but I did read the manual but when I was in that location I didn't find a "better spot" and in the "excitement" of the moment I just was totally blind and even though when I checked to imu/compass I had all green then suddenly things changed! just an experience to share with others newbie like me [emoji4] [emoji111] [emoji111] [emoji111]

 

[Oingo Boingo]

another issue seems like many wanted to be a teacher in life.. big fail lol!
you don't get the difference between "hey this stupid drone made a crash by itself" and " hey guys today I didn't pay attention to this little detail.. since I was lucky enough I report this to you" now do you see the difference? end of the lesson? thank you

But thats the point. Read the manual... Its in there... Then youbwouldbt have to dicover "these little problems just by chance "

 

[Kate]

I may a little dumb. When I got my drone a month or 2 ago, it was updated with 4 go. I simply charged the battery and flew 5 times on beginner mode. Then changed and flew another 10 times. Never calibrated nothing period. Drone flys wonderful no problem at all. So I watch and listen to the forum and say to myself. What is happening to some of these people. I am a former pilot so I am careful.

Sure sounds like you were careful, lol

As a former pilot you know that if you crash your plane, just like Air crash investigation, the reasons don't matter, the point is that the plane is broken and someone got hurt

 

[Wacker2611]

another issue seems like many wanted to be a teacher in life.. big fail lol!
you don't get the difference between "hey this stupid drone made a crash by itself" and " hey guys today I didn't pay attention to this little detail.. since I was lucky enough I report this to you" now do you see the difference? end of the lesson? thank you

The reason you're getting hammered is that this has been pointed out and discussed time and again on all the forums, and is in the manual and scattered all over YouTube, so it's common knowledge and difficult to miss. People are getting vexed with you as you just didn't do your due diligence in the first place. Fair play to you for trying to point others in the right direction though.

 

[oferlaor]

on my first flight EVER (with a phanton 3 pro), I couldn't lift off because I was in a field and there was a manhole cover - which I was trying to lift off of. Bad idea, although it was the cleanest spot in the area, you have to remember how much the unit relies on the compass, so anything metal or magnetic will severely impact the drone's ability to autocorrect for drifting.

 

[GerdS]

Just one more hint in case something like this or a TBE will happen: It shall be helpful yawing the Mavic for at least one or more 360° turns for getting control back. Had no chance to test yet by myself, but is sotred as an emmergency procedure here.

 

[AnzacJack]

yes.. but one thing to point is that.. there are too many teachers here.. also when they are "not needed" i'm posting an experience and sorry but I did read the manual but when I was in that location I didn't find a "better spot" and in the "excitement" of the moment I just was totally blind and even though when I checked to imu/compass I had all green then suddenly things changed! just an experience to share with others newbie like me [emoji4] [emoji111] [emoji111] [emoji111]

Yes there are lots of teachers here. It's why most of us are here....to learn. As for your defence that you DID read the manual, but still flew from a bad location because you were excited...I think this is worse than not reading the manual.

I'm actually a teacher and a commercial pilot with 35 years experience in both military and civil. But I'm still here to learn from others

 

[JLane]

I think a lot of you need to lighten up a little. @bucefalo is just trying to help others by openly sharing a mistake that he made, in the hope of helping others learn from that mistake. This type of information can be invaluable, and it's part of what makes these forums great.

Yes, the manual does state not to fly near large metal structures, but it doesn't elaborate on just how badly it can mess things up. Many people probably don't realize this kind of thing can happen.

For example, the preceding warning in the manual says not to fly in winds over 10 m/s. Can all of you honestly say that you've never had your Mavic up in 10 m/s winds? Not even by accident? The manual seems to place the same amount of importance on both of these warning. So, given just the warnings in the manual, would you assume that anything over 10m/s would be catastrophically dangerous? I certainly wouldn't. DJI's manual is notoriously lacking in a lot of ways. Without the added information available from other people's testing and experiences, a lot of us would be lost. So please, let's not give people a hard time for sharing useful information with the best of intentions.