Air 3 went rogue and flew on it's own into a building.....what would cause this?

[Phantomrain.org]

In the future , realize that how you take off , and where you take off from is critical because the Compass can get hammered wtih magnetic interference , likely from a metal bridge and or concrete , alwasy safer to take off from the grass when possible or hand launch . So its likely the drone went into Atti mode , an just drifted with the wind an crashed. The reality is this is part of the Learning curve , many of us have experienced it.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain.

 

[Meta4]

In the future , realize that how you take off , and where you take off from is critical because the Compass can get hammered wtih magnetic interference , likely from a metal bridge and or concrete , alwasy safer to take off from the grass when possible or hand launch . So its likely the drone went into Atti mode , an just drifted with the wind an crashed. The reality is this is part of the Learning curve , many of us have experienced it.

There was nothing at all wrong with the compass in this instance.
Your idea that a compass gets "hammered" is nonsense.

 

[Meta4]

Okay i see 3 files i can make out the other two and this was my last one, but it's strange it's not showing it, but also the coordinates are incorrect (gps wise) as I was on the other side of the river and it's about 2 blocks off from where i actually was and find it strange that it doesnt provide what actually happened.

So based on that flight log how do I avoid future issues, what to avoid? basically flying near tall buildings? or in the thick of it, is the outskirts better to fly from afar? what to check before take off, what warnings to look for?

If you fly in a place where the drone doesn't have a clear, unobstructed skyview, you will have problems getting full GPS reception.
In your third flight, you only had proper GPS reception for five seconds of the flight.
Without GPS, your drone won't have the ability to hold position and it will be affected by wind.
It won't have "brakes" and will continue to drift if you go hands-off on the sticks.

To avoid these issues, you need to keep out of urban canyons.

 

[slup]

Okay i see 3 files i can make out the other two and this was my last one, but it's strange it's not showing it, but also the coordinates are incorrect (gps wise) as I was on the other side of the river and it's about 2 blocks off from where i actually was and find it strange that it doesnt provide what actually happened.

here are the other 2 from today plus the original one

1st flight DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

2nd flight DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

3rd and last flight where it crashed but the location is off according to this. DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com


I find this strange, there are a ton of drone pilots in Chicago that fly downtown all around and closer to buildings than I get to, how is this not happening to them and how are their drones not crashing?

So based on that flight log how do I avoid future issues, what to avoid? basically flying near tall buildings? or in the thick of it, is the outskirts better to fly from afar? what to check before take off, what warnings to look for?

The data in the 3rd flight log doesn't show your drone go "full speed" into a building... the maximum speed reached shortly mid flight, is only 9mph, & in the end of the log only about 6mph. Furthermore, no abrupt change in either pitch roll or yaw is recorded. If a drone crash into a building it's always MAJOR back & forth movements in all axis.

The only really sketchy with the flight is that you disregarded that you mainly flew without GPS support & didn't have a recorded HP when you took off.

Without having any real data to look at I can only give you general recommendations...

GPS: Don't take off until you have a HP recorded, the app will loudly tell you when this happens. A good GPS quality is crucial for your drone in order to be able to hold position & brake when you release the sticks. If you lose the GPS assistance all you have is altitude hold but the drone will freely drift horizontally & the obstacle detection sensors will not work either. If low enough in good lightening above ground with a distinctive pattern the VPS sensors on the drone belly might save your day by locking on to the ground pattern & assist you with a horizontal positional hold instead of the GPS. You will not have a good quality GPS lock if the sky is covered to a large extent (as in flying in between high buildings)... it's as simple as that.

Yaw error: This is a kind of pilot preventable error that have similarities to your story... the drone hovers & then suddenly speeds away uncommanded either in a straight or in a curved flight path... you have all about this type of error & how to prevent it in the link in post #12.

 

[Julie_Jules]

The data in the 3rd flight log doesn't show your drone go "full speed" into a building... the maximum speed reached shortly mid flight, is only 9mph, & in the end of the log only about 6mph. Furthermore, no abrupt change in either pitch roll or yaw is recorded. If a drone crash into a building it's always MAJOR back & forth movements in all axis.

The only really sketchy with the flight is that you disregarded that you mainly flew without GPS support & didn't have a recorded HP when you took off.

Without having any real data to look at I can only give you general recommendations...

GPS: Don't take off until you have a HP recorded, the app will loudly tell you when this happens. A good GPS quality is crucial for your drone in order to be able to hold position & brake when you release the sticks. If you lose the GPS assistance all you have is altitude hold but the drone will freely drift horizontally & the obstacle detection sensors will not work either. If low enough in good lightening above ground with a distinctive pattern the VPS sensors on the drone belly might save your day by locking on to the ground pattern & assist you with a horizontal positional hold instead of the GPS. You will not have a good quality GPS lock if the sky is covered to a large extent (as in flying in between high buildings)... it's as simple as that.

Yaw error: This is a kind of pilot preventable error that have similarities to your story... the drone hovers & then suddenly speeds away uncommanded either in a straight or in a curved flight path... you have all about this type of error & how to prevent it in the link in post #12.

Thanks for all the tips, I'll definitely have to take this into consideration for future flights, again not sure why that log doesn't show it which is strange and also the location off about 2 blocks and across the other side of the river. In any case what's done is done and just need to get it repaired now.


another question, how do i know if i have full gps signal? I just turned on the controller and drone to transfer files before sending in and i swear my controller always says "remote ID error" and sometimes says "no gps signal" and then goes to "take off permitted".

is that the normal sequence it goes through?

 

[Meta4]

not sure why that log doesn't show it which is strange and also the location off about 2 blocks and across the other side of the river.

This was because you had very sketchy GPS reception which gave approximate location data.
There was only 5 seconds of the flight where the flight controller had any confidence in the location data.

another question, how do i know if i have full gps signal?

Seeing the Takeoff Permitted message does not ensure that you have full GPS reception.
You need to wait until the satellite icon near the top of your screen turns white.
If it's red or yellow, you don't have full GPS reception and location data is unreliable.

 

[JimSteadman]

Interesting chain of questions and responses. Likely I am being naive, but did you, for some reason, have obstacle avoidance turned off?

 

[Julie_Jules]

Interesting chain of questions and responses. Likely I am being naive, but did you, for some reason, have obstacle avoidance turned off?

I did not have it turned off. let's say it was an incident of yaw error, would that even prevent it from crashing?

 

[Meta4]

Interesting chain of questions and responses. Likely I am being naive, but did you, for some reason, have obstacle avoidance turned off?

I did not have it turned off. let's say it was an incident of yaw error, would that even prevent it from crashing?

Obstacle avoidance cannot work without good GPS reception.
Lose GPS = Lose Obstacle Avoidance.

 

[slup]

I did not have it turned off. let's say it was an incident of yaw error, would that even prevent it from crashing?

And to answer your specific question... (somewhat theoretical, bundled with experience from this kind of incidents).

In a yaw error scenario the FC is well on it's way to get a major brain fart which will end with ATTI mode (if the drone haven't crashed by then). All due to that it desperately tries to close the initial positional error that's rapidly growing & come back to position... unknowingly using the wrong motors as it have the wrong info about how the drone points in reality.

If the FC, in this moment, have any spare time to listen to the OA sensors (not likely)... their data input will likely also result in applied thrust from the wrong motors & just make a bad situation even worse (think pinball game).

But as I've never seen any evidence of them working in a yaw error case & that stick commands only get through after a major delay (if at all)... it's very likely a priority built into the firmware that places the positional error first.

 

[Julie_Jules]

Thank you all, this has been tremendously helpful in my learning curve (although an expense one, but nonetheless a learning experience).

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Thank you all, this has been tremendously helpful in my learning curve (although an expense one, but nonetheless a learning experience).

That's the thing with these forums, reading threads for troubled flights can be a great education.

 

[StevenBrodsky]

Let me preface and say I'm not expert, this is an upgrade from the original mavic I bought years ago and upgraded to the air 3 when it came out. Today I drove to the city knowing it'll be very empty with the holidays. Flew it in a few locations and the last one was by the river and bridges. Flew it for a few and landed. Next walked about 1/4 mile down and took off, it was hovering and I looked up and before i could spot it I heard it and then caught it in the corner of my eye and saw it go at full speed into a building. My fingers were off the toggle so I was not controlling it so I'm wonder how in the heck would make it go nuts and just go full speed in one direction when I did not ask it to do that? One of the arms is completely damaged and the camera has now now fallen out from the space it needs to be in, its basically out of commission, which is sad. I do did not by the DJI Care, which I now regret, but prob should see what it would cost for repairs.

I'm trying to see how I can download my flight records to see what went wrong, but still trying to figure it out. Any advice or input would help in order for me to avoid something like this again, losing a drone after investing thousands into it at no fault of my own stings a bit.

TIA!

if you have had it less than a year and it's still under warranty, contact DJI support. They will instruct you on what to do. If it was the drones fault , they will replace it for free. why do I know this?

I had a flyaway on a mavic 3 enterprise. I took off and got to 50 feet. The drone suddenly flew sideways and down into a marsh and was unretrievable. DJI asked for the flight logs and found it was a computer glitch in the drone . They replaced it for free after reviewing the logs.

 

[Meta4]

I had a flyaway on a mavic 3 enterprise. I took off and got to 50 feet. The drone suddenly flew sideways and down into a marsh and was unretrievable. DJI asked for the flight logs and found it was a computer glitch in the drone . They replaced it for free after reviewing the logs.

DJI analysis isn't what it used to be.
Your incident wasn't "a computer glitch in the drone" at all.
Your description is classic yaw error caused by powering up where magnetic interference upset the compass that the gyro sensor gets its initial values from.
Your flight data will almost certainly confirm this.

 

[slup]

...If it was the drones fault , they will replace it for free.

I had a flyaway ...The drone suddenly flew sideways and down into a marsh...They replaced it for free

Now we haven't seen your log, but out from your description it could have been either of 2 thing's...

-A genuine IMU or Flight controller failure which is very very rare, but it isn't a pilot error & should be covered by a warranty.

-A Yaw error, which is much more common & we see cases here on a regular basis. This is a clear pilot error, but it's also very sparsely mentioned in the DJI user manual. Over the years we have seen that DJI sometimes takes the blame as goodwill. The problem here is that the pilot doesn't get to know why this happened & what they should do to avoid it in the future.

As said... we don't know anything about your mishap, but if it really was a yaw error & not a "computer glitch in the drone" ... it's important that you know how to avoid it in future flights, otherwise it will likely happen again.

If you read this post you will get the necessary knowledge --> Yaw errors

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Now we haven't seen your log, but out from your description it could have been either of 2 thing's...

-A genuine IMU or Flight controller failure which is very very rare, but it isn't a pilot error & should be covered by a warranty.

-A Yaw error, which is much more common & we see cases here on a regular basis. This is a clear pilot error, but it's also very sparsely mentioned in the DJI user manual. Over the years we have seen that DJI sometimes takes the blame as goodwill. The problem here is that the pilot doesn't get to know why this happened & what they should do to avoid it in the future.

As said... we don't know anything about your mishap, but if it really was a yaw error & not a "computer glitch in the drone" ... it's important that you know how to avoid it in future flights, otherwise it will likely happen again.

If you read this post you will get the necessary knowledge --> Yaw errors

Not arguing but does a yaw error explain a descent?
I have the impression that most yaw errors result in more or less horizontal flight.

 

[slup]

Not arguing but does a yaw error explain a descent?
I have the impression that most yaw errors result in more or less horizontal flight.

It's not unlikely that a yaw error "fly away" that continues for a longer time without crashing the drone, gets a descending path... this possibly due to that the max specified tilt angle is breached so much that max motor rpm's can't counteract the gravity vector anymore.

But if you mean a otherwise fully maneuverable drone that can hold position when a quality GPS lock is achieved... no, a yaw error consequence isn't only a uncommanded descent.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

this possibly due to that the max specified tilt angle is breached so much that max motor rpm's can't counteract the gravity vector anymore.

Good point

 

[StevenBrodsky]

Now we haven't seen your log, but out from your description it could have been either of 2 thing's...

-A genuine IMU or Flight controller failure which is very very rare, but it isn't a pilot error & should be covered by a warranty.

-A Yaw error, which is much more common & we see cases here on a regular basis. This is a clear pilot error, but it's also very sparsely mentioned in the DJI user manual. Over the years we have seen that DJI sometimes takes the blame as goodwill. The problem here is that the pilot doesn't get to know why this happened & what they should do to avoid it in the future.

As said... we don't know anything about your mishap, but if it really was a yaw error & not a "computer glitch in the drone" ... it's important that you know how to avoid it in future flights, otherwise it will likely happen again.

If you read this post you will get the necessary knowledge --> Yaw errors

Now that you mention it. never mind, i'm mistaken. This is what they said, "
The data analysis has been finished and the unfortunate incident that occurred to your aircraft has been confirmed as a warranty case according to our data analysis.

If the aircraft cannot be recovered, we would like to offer you a replacement, DJI Mavic 3E aircraft (without the remote controller and battery charger).

 

[StevenBrodsky]

DJI analysis isn't what it used to be.
Your incident wasn't "a computer glitch in the drone" at all.
Your description is classic yaw error caused by powering up where magnetic interference upset the compass that the gyro sensor gets its initial values from.
Your flight data will almost certainly confirm this.

This is all DJI had to say,
"The data analysis has been finished and the unfortunate incident that occurred to your aircraft has been confirmed as a warranty case according to our data analysis.

If the aircraft cannot be recovered, we would like to offer you a replacement, DJI Mavic 3E aircraft (without the remote controller and battery charger)."