Air 2s First Flight Stutters

Sartori42 · Jan 2, 2023

Hello and Happy New Year,

I upgraded from a Mini2 to an Air2s at Christmas (thanks Santa Honey). Of course it's winter here in the Midwest, so I figured I wouldn't be able to test fly my new drone until Spring. However, temps were in the upper 30s today and relatively calm winds, so I decided on a quick test flight. I learned the hard way about having the wrong propellers on the wrong corners. LOL. With that sorted out, I took took to the air. Basic stuff on the first flight. Up and down the street at reasonable altitude. I was at about 75' AGL running in a straight line up and down the tree-lined street. I could see that the aircraft wasn't flying smoothly. It would pitch nose-up and nose-down a bit, speeding up and slowing down without any change in my control input. I'm not sure why. I felt like it was "thinking"; purposefully changing its attitude in response to something. I'm wondering if it could have sensed the trees just below its line of flight and was considering the need for avoidance? I'm just wondering if I should be concerned or try again when I have another chance.

Thank You.

Steven

FLDave · Jan 2, 2023

Didn't it come props already installed corectly?
How much wind while flying?
If you're really concerned about flight stability why keep flying? Better to land before a crash.

old man mavic · Jan 2, 2023

@Sartori42 sounds very much like you had the APAS system activated in Bypass mode which will cause the sensors to detect obstacles around the drone and cause its erratic behaviour

Sartori42 · Jan 2, 2023

FLDave... No, the drone came in the factory package without propellers installed. Not much wind at all. Probably less than 5mph. I didn't keep flying after I observed the odd behavior. I flew back and forth twice to verify what I was seeing, and landed immediately.

old man mavic... Actually, in the settings, the "Obstacle Avoidance Action" setting was in the "Brake" position. That's why I have the question I do. It seems like it was sensing the trees below... maybe 20 to 25 feet lower. I'm not sure. Just something I noticed.

Phantomrain.org · Jan 2, 2023

A good rule to test a drone is to fly in sport mode, if you see any issues there, than you can start to to look into things , but that would be my Go to .

Phantomain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain, Land on the Water.

FLDave · Jan 2, 2023

I have an Air 2s and I didn't remember if it came with props installed or not.
I assume you had the right stick forward when this strange behavior occurred, or was it in hover mode with both stick untouched?
Next step would be to get the .txt log files and upload to AirData. This is a good time to learn how to use the .txt files and analyze all of your flights before you have a problem.

Meta4 · Jan 2, 2023

Sartori42 said:
It seems like it was sensing the trees below... maybe 20 to 25 feet lower.

More likely is that it was reacting to the sun or reflection of the sun.
Obstacles 25 ft below the drone shouldn't make any difference.
The simple way to confirm is to test fly in the same direction, with and without obstacle avoidance.

WanderLost · Jan 3, 2023

Sartori42 said:
FLDave... No, the drone came in the factory package without propellers installed. Not much wind at all. Probably less than 5mph. I didn't keep flying after I observed the odd behavior. I flew back and forth twice to verify what I was seeing, and landed immediately.

old man mavic... Actually, in the settings, the "Obstacle Avoidance Action" setting was in the "Brake" position. That's why I have the question I do. It seems like it was sensing the trees below... maybe 20 to 25 feet lower. I'm not sure. Just something I noticed.

My Air 2S seems quite sensitive to trees and other obstacles up to 25-30 feet away. It slows or stops if they are ahead. If you are passing trees on both sides of the street, I could see the avoidance sensors causing a wobbly flight. Mine always starts beeping at me when it senses obstacles, even if they are not directly in the flight path, or I'm closer to the ground.
Was your 2S talking to you as you flew? If so, that's probably the issue.

blackbirdsr72 · Jan 3, 2023

Sartori42 said:
Hello and Happy New Year,

I upgraded from a Mini2 to an Air2s at Christmas (thanks Santa Honey). Of course it's winter here in the Midwest, so I figured I wouldn't be able to test fly my new drone until Spring. However, temps were in the upper 30s today and relatively calm winds, so I decided on a quick test flight. I learned the hard way about having the wrong propellers on the wrong corners. LOL. With that sorted out, I took took to the air. Basic stuff on the first flight. Up and down the street at reasonable altitude. I was at about 75' AGL running in a straight line up and down the tree-lined street. I could see that the aircraft wasn't flying smoothly. It would pitch nose-up and nose-down a bit, speeding up and slowing down without any change in my control input. I'm not sure why. I felt like it was "thinking"; purposefully changing its attitude in response to something. I'm wondering if it could have sensed the trees just below its line of flight and was considering the need for avoidance? I'm just wondering if I should be concerned or try again when I have another chance.

Thank You.

Steven

Hopefully, you are updated on the latest FW and Fly app. The ideal scenario would be to test fly in wide open areas just to get to know the flying behavior of a new aircraft. GPS count, OA mode selection, Lighting conditions, Sun flares, etc all play a role or two when it comes to non-stable flight. You will get over this hopefully eventually. Happy flying

a2tomm · Jan 3, 2023

Sartori42 said:
Hello and Happy New Year,

I upgraded from a Mini2 to an Air2s at Christmas (thanks Santa Honey). Of course it's winter here in the Midwest, so I figured I wouldn't be able to test fly my new drone until Spring. However, temps were in the upper 30s today and relatively calm winds, so I decided on a quick test flight. I learned the hard way about having the wrong propellers on the wrong corners. LOL. With that sorted out, I took took to the air. Basic stuff on the first flight. Up and down the street at reasonable altitude. I was at about 75' AGL running in a straight line up and down the tree-lined street. I could see that the aircraft wasn't flying smoothly. It would pitch nose-up and nose-down a bit, speeding up and slowing down without any change in my control input. I'm not sure why. I felt like it was "thinking"; purposefully changing its attitude in response to something. I'm wondering if it could have sensed the trees just below its line of flight and was considering the need for avoidance? I'm just wondering if I should be concerned or try again when I have another chance.

Thank You.

Steven

all DJI drones with avoidance systems will act like a horse ,try flying close to the ground it will give you the same result

hiflyer201 · Jan 3, 2023

Sartori42 said:
maybe 20 to 25 feet lower. I

could you possibly be wrong about the height above the trees. I video from start to finish and I've surprised myself more than once as to distance from trees. As A2 sez..if the drone wants to whoa up, there could be a good reason.

Sartori42 · Jan 3, 2023

Lots of responses. Thanks everyone....

FLDave.... Yes, right stick fully forward. Not in hover. I'll have to research where these text files are stored. Haven't known about this option.

Meta4.... My plan when the weather gets better its to fly in an area without obstacles anywhere near the flight path and see if I still observe this behavior. Unfortunately, I was in our neighborhood the other day and there's lots of trees.

WanderLost.... No. No messages about obstacles on the display.

blackbirdsr72.... The first thing I did was update the app and firmware. I double checked to make sure all software was up to date.

hiflyer201.... Absolutely. The trees, of course, are a variety of heights. I plan to do more testing when the weather is better. Just wondered if anyone else had experienced this behavior.

aaarke · Jan 3, 2023

Sartori42 said:
Hello and Happy New Year,

I upgraded from a Mini2 to an Air2s at Christmas (thanks Santa Honey). Of course it's winter here in the Midwest, so I figured I wouldn't be able to test fly my new drone until Spring. However, temps were in the upper 30s today and relatively calm winds, so I decided on a quick test flight. I learned the hard way about having the wrong propellers on the wrong corners. LOL. With that sorted out, I took took to the air. Basic stuff on the first flight. Up and down the street at reasonable altitude. I was at about 75' AGL running in a straight line up and down the tree-lined street. I could see that the aircraft wasn't flying smoothly. It would pitch nose-up and nose-down a bit, speeding up and slowing down without any change in my control input. I'm not sure why. I felt like it was "thinking"; purposefully changing its attitude in response to something. I'm wondering if it could have sensed the trees just below its line of flight and was considering the need for avoidance? I'm just wondering if I should be concerned or try again when I have another chance.

Thank You.

Steven