Air 2 hovering then started doing its own thing. Solved User Error.

[ace5112]

guys this is super weird. I just got my Air 2 and i was doing some testing in the house to make sure everything was proper before flying outside. I had it hovering and controlling with just the remote control (removed the connector from the iphone). I had it hovering then it started removing forward on its own. I noticed it and quickly grab the remote but it wasn't responding to the remote commands. It keep moving forward before the obstacle awareness kicked in then it went straight up and hit the ceiling before it responded to the control coming down.

Do you think the remote control went to sleep mode? I don't think I'll use this drone with just the remote controller only obvious but i hope it doesn't do this outside and fly away lol.

 

[Lastrexking]

Ok... firstly. Don’t use the controller without your phone. If you lose your drone, you’re stuffed. The phone stored the flights logs, data, and records the gps.

Now, your issue. Absolutely nothing wrong with your drone.
They’re not made for flying indoors. They rely on gps for stability and hovering, which they can’t get indoors. The sensors will only do so much. It probably went into rth mode, which is why it went up and hit your ceiling.
Highly recommend reading the manual.

 

[ace5112]

Yup. i was never planning to use the drone outside without connecting to a phone. The reason I was hover without the connecting to phone indoor was to quickly test the propellers to make sure i attached securely. strange that it would move on its own though and try to go up.

 

[Lastrexking]

Yup. i was never planning to use the drone outside without connecting to a phone. The reason I was hover without the connecting to phone indoor was to quickly test the propellers to make sure i attached securely. strange that it would move on its own though and try to go up.

Not really. It lost connection to the remote when you disconnect the phone. So, it went into return to home mode. The first thing it does in rth it go straight up to a predetermined altitude.

 

[ace5112]

OH that's Right! Good call! that's exactly what it did. You guys are drone genius. Thanks for your time and explanation!

 

[swooshdave]

Not really. It lost connection to the remote when you disconnect the phone. So, it went into return to home mode. The first thing it does in rth it go straight up to a predetermined altitude.

Actually I don't think that's the correct RTH behavior. I'm sure within the house the drone was near the home point. It would not rise to the minimum altitude rather it should have landed where it was. Test it next time you fly. Take it up and out a couple feet and initiate RTH and see what happens.

That being said flying inside is not how you learn to fly one of these things.

 

[sar104]

Not really. It lost connection to the remote when you disconnect the phone. So, it went into return to home mode. The first thing it does in rth it go straight up to a predetermined altitude.

I don't think that's what happened. Firstly - it doesn't lose RC connection just because the mobile device disconnects. Secondly, it will go into failsafe RTH if it has a GPS position and home point, but only ascend to the set RTH height if it is more than 20 m from the home point. The flight log will explain what actually happened.

 

[ace5112]

Ok to further explain and diagnose the issue... The iphone was never connected to the remote controller. I powered on the drone and powered on the remote. once connected i used the remote controller to lift the drone off the floor. Correct me if im wrong but don't you need the iphone to establish RTH spot? The drone hover then started moving on it's own.

I was not flying the drone around the house. just making sure basic things were functioning.

 

[Greekislandlover]

You don't need the phone to set the home point - it has a satellite receiver within the drone to work out where it is, and it uses that to register the home point.

When you first turn it on, the controller will say atti mode. Always wait until it has located enough satellites, the green GPS appears and it says home point registered before taking off.

Indoors it's not likely that the GPS will lock, therefore because it's in atti mode and does not have a home point registered or is using GPS to remain in place it can, and will drift about. As others have said it's not designed to fly indoors, and if it flips between atti and GPS modes a lot of fun things can happen.

I do take off in my lounge at times to test camera settings etc, but always with the phone connected.

 

[sar104]

Ok to further explain and diagnose the issue... The iphone was never connected to the remote controller. I powered on the drone and powered on the remote. once connected i used the remote controller to lift the drone off the floor. Correct me if im wrong but don't you need the iphone to establish RTH? The drone hover then started moving on it's own.

I was not flying the drone around the house. just making sure basic things were functioning.

No - you don't need the phone for RTH - the home point is set from the aircraft GNSS takeoff location and that is where it returns to.

One further piece of advice - don't fly these things indoors. The intermittent and poor GNSS reception combined with VPS positioning can cause all kinds of problems.

 

[swooshdave]

Ok to further explain and diagnose the issue... The iphone was never connected to the remote controller. I powered on the drone and powered on the remote. once connected i used the remote controller to lift the drone off the floor. Correct me if im wrong but don't you need the iphone to establish RTH spot? The drone hover then started moving on it's own.

I was not flying the drone around the house. just making sure basic things were functioning.

My first rule is no GPS lock, no take off. So far it has worked for me.

 

[sar104]

When you first turn it on, the controller will say atti mode. Always wait until it has located enough satellites and the green GPS appears before taking off. Indoors it's not likely that the GPS will lock, therefore it can and will drift about.

No - what generally happens indoors is that the VPS system takes over, unless it has been disabled, but intermittent GNSS data can cause unexpected movement as the isGPSused flag switches back and forth.

 

[StubbornSwiss]

".......... moving forward before the obstacle awareness kicked in then it went straight up "

Could it be it went straight up trying to avoid the obstacle?

Remember, there is no obstacle avoidance sensor on top.

Just a thought!

 

[swooshdave]

".......... moving forward before the obstacle awareness kicked in then it went straight up "

Could it be it went straight up trying to avoid the obstacle?

Remember, there is no obstacle avoidance sensor on top.

Just a thought!

I don't think so, I don't think with APAS that it will go up and up to avoid an obstacle. It will rise if it thinks it can clear it but if it doesn't think it can go up or around it will just stop.

I think it just didn't know where it was and got lost. It's called an aircraft not a housecraft.

 

[InvisibleName]

If nothing else comes from this than the OP realises they have a lot to learn, and any other new drone flyer takes note not to fly indoors.... RESULT!

 

[ace5112]

I think so. either that or it was at RTH mode and started to go to the designated height as mentioned by previous member.

Anyways so sorry for wasting everyones time. No one here will be flying this thing indoors or without a phone attached. I just wanted to make sure that this is not an issue once im outside with everything connected properly. Like everyone here I'm scare to death of a fly away. lol

But i do appreciate the responses and the knowledge here on this forum. I'm a newbie and glad to find this site!

 

[InvisibleName]

There’s no reason to be “scared to death of a fly away”, just read the manual, watch videos on YouTube, and take the advice given by the more experienced on here (e.g. No / low GPS ..... NO FLY!)

 

[swooshdave]

I think so. either that or it was at RTH mode and started to go to the designated height as mentioned by previous member.

Anyways so sorry for wasting everyones time. No one here will be flying this thing indoors or without a phone attached. I just wanted to make sure that this is not an issue once im outside with everything connected properly. Like everyone here I'm scare to death of a fly away. lol

But i do appreciate the responses and the knowledge here on this forum. I'm a newbie and glad to find this site!

You're not wasting time, we're all here to learn from each other.

And you should be less concerned about fly aways if you take the necessary steps. GPS lock is one. Light enough for obstacle avoidance. Making you don't go shooting off until the home point has been set. Things like that.

 

[z28lt1]

The problem here without the phone is we don't even know what mode the drone was in. As noted, in and out of GPS can be bad. If it had a good look and something to look at with the vision sensors it should be ok and not drift much -- but we don't know if it was in vision mode or ATTI mode. What was the floor like? In ATTI mode it can drift with the currents, even those it makes itself, so holding a position won't happen and it could be jumpy. If obstacle avoidance was on and it thought it saw an object , it could jump a bit as well. If you really want to know, you could probably pull logs of the drone. (Corrected by sar104 below)

 

[sar104]

I realize that everyone is just trying to be helpful, but this thread has become a complete mess of misinformation. It is most unlikely to have been an RTH event because (1) it is unlikely to have disconnected from the controller at such close proximity and (2) because RTH that close to the home point doesn't include ascending. It is unlikely to have been ATTI mode because (1) indoors it will always try to use VPS and (2) it will not use obstacle avoidance or climb uncommanded in ATTI mode. It is likely to have been some combination of VPS and GPS positioning - this kind of issue has been seen many times when flying indoors and getting an intermittent and unsteady position lock.

And also note that the aircraft flight logs will not be readable except by DJI.