All these fly away's!?!?

[Steve LaBranche]

Reading all these reports of fly away's has me concerned. I bought my M2P last April. To date, I have 174 successful takes offs and landings. I read about these fly away's and advice about calibrating compuss, IMU etc. Out of the box, other than Software Updates, I haven't had a single problem. Never calibrated anything. Also have only flown within 25 miles from my home.

My concern, how do I know my M2P needs calibrating anything?

 

[new2mavic]

how do I know my M2P needs calibrating anything?

The drone will tell you.

 

[Steve LaBranche]

The drone will tell you.

in my pre flight check list, once I got a magnetic interference msg telling me to calibrate compass. I moved 10ft away from what was once a railway platform, and everything was fine. You saying the drone will tell me I have a calibration issue doesn't explain the unexpected fly aways.

 

[new2mavic]

in my pre flight check list, once I got a magnetic interference msg telling me to calibrate compass. I moved 10ft away from what was once a railway platform, and everything was fine. You saying the drone will tell me I have a calibration issue doesn't explain the unexpected fly aways.

This has been experienced by many and indeed no calibration was required because the problem was caused by nearby steel objects, not miscalibration of the compass. There are many reasons of fly aways and compass miscalibration is NOT among the common causes. Check out the sub forum " Mavic crash & flyaway asisstance " if you are interested in knowing more about the causes.

 

[Meta4]

You saying the drone will tell me I have a calibration issue doesn't explain the unexpected fly aways.

Unexpected flyaways?
If you are looking at "flyaway" posts, look for the ones where they post flight data for analysis and see what really caused the problem.
The term flyaway is used way too much in forums.
It suggests that drones are likely to get a mind of their own and zoom off.
But really all it indicates is that someone lost their drone and doesn't understand why.

Don't worry about recalibrating things.
It's not a normal thing that you need to do.
And if you think the drone is telling you to, as you found out, it is often just poor wording in DJI's warning message.

 

[RayOZ]

You'll also notice a lot of these 'flyaways' happen to be from new owners. Some might be due to inexperience, not understanding the drone's capabilities and limitations, etc.

 

[Steve LaBranche]

I've never crashed or lost control of my M2P and I'm a new pilot too. I'm a very cautious flyer as to me this fantastic drone is an aerial camera platform. I'm a retired Hughes Aircraft engineer. It's possible I read all the manuals. So far, no problems. The attached pic is where I live. Still freaks me out when when I hear of fly away's. Yes, maybe inexperience was the cause.

 

[Meta4]

Still freaks me out when when I hear of fly away's. Yes, maybe inexperience was the cause.

It's definitely a big contributing influence.
I've investigated hundreds of alleged flyaways and I don't think I've yet seen one where the drone flew away without a cause that could be logically explained.
Flyaway just means: I lost my drone and don't understand why.

 

[Camino Ken]

Hi Steve - We have a bit in common. I live about 3 hours east of you, also in a small rural town, and am a retired electronics engineer previously from Silicon Valley. I also have been flying my M2P for about a year without a single issue. I would not be concerned one bit about all the stories you hear because they are not very common. For each problem you hear about there are probably thousands of people like us that have no issues. On top of that, almost 99% of the problems ultimately are proven to be pilot error. Just keep flying safe like you have been.

 

[msinger]

My concern, how do I know my M2P needs calibrating anything?

That and more can be found here:
Prevent a Crash or Flyaway with Your DJI Drone (The Complete Guide)

 

[Mavic Air Head]

Come on now, everyone knows all these fly-aways can't possibly be pilot error. These are all drones trying to meet up with the Mothership Mystery Drone Fleet making news in Colorado. And they'd make it too if only DJI had better battery technology.
Beautiful screen shot BTW.

 

[ff22]

Come on now, everyone knows all these fly-aways can't possibly be pilot error. These are all drones trying to meet up with the Mothership Mystery Drone Fleet making news in Colorado. And they'd make it too if only DJI had better battery technology.
Beautiful screen shot BTW.

Actually, based on a USA centric drone story, it is DJI (aka front for China) directing the drone to more interesting national security points of interest and uploading the data, gps coordinates and films to that mothership. Apparently, the US is trying to foster more drone development in the US to move away from relying on a Chinese company that has really cornered the market.

 

[Bramavic2]

In my first time flying my m2p I choose a fenced basketball court, taking off and landing 3ft from the ground.
I kept having messages do calibrate the compass almost every other take off (I didn't know that wasn't normal) .
One of the times I flew closer to the fence the drone speed towards it by itself. Good that I was low and had purchased guards.

Now I understand that what I thought as the safest place was probably the worst as the fence was made of metal.

 

[Thomas B]

In my first time flying my m2p I choose a fenced basketball court, taking off and landing 3ft from the ground.
I kept having messages do calibrate the compass almost every other take off (I didn't know that wasn't normal) .
One of the times I flew closer to the fence the drone speed towards it by itself. Good that I was low and had purchased guards.

Now I understand that what I thought as the safest place was probably the worst as the fence was made of metal.

...and the court, if concrete, had reinforcing steel. Concrete, in my experience, is a poor choice of TO location.

 

[Bramavic2]

That my point, as a noobie I didn't know there were poor places to fly magnetically speaking.

It scared me (as all this posts). It was only reading sar104 sticky post in the crash part of the forum that made me realize that magnetic interference is really the only real threat we should worry about.

 

[Thomas B]

That my point, as a noobie I didn't know there were poor places to fly magnetically speaking.

It scared me (as all this posts). It was only reading sar104 sticky post in the crash part of the forum that made me realize that magnetic interference is really the only real threat we should worry about.

As far as calibration and magnetic interference, I find that if my M2P asks for compass calibration, even when I don’t see an obvious source of the problem/message, that moving it 10-15 feet and restarting it resolves the problem.
Of course, never recalibrate compass when there appears to be a source of the message apparent.

 

[charliesRig]

And one day Steve your M2P will look like a fly away.!
DON’T panic.!
When it loses signal for what ever reason
It will fly back to we’re the last place it had signal and then if it cannot squire the signal it Will Return home (at agony ing pace) ... it happens it is amazing to watch
If you can calm down enough to injoy
The RTH

....cR

 

[Vegasdad]

Reading all these reports of fly away's has me concerned. I bought my M2P last April. To date, I have 174 successful takes offs and landings. I read about these fly away's and advice about calibrating compuss, IMU etc. Out of the box, other than Software Updates, I haven't had a single problem. Never calibrated anything. Also have only flown within 25 miles from my home.

My concern, how do I know my M2P needs calibrating anything?

Oh you MUST beee talking about those toy airplanes DJI just came out with...lol

 

[Dakarenduro]

Yeah. I have noticed a rash of Mini loses. I suspect it is a triple whammy. A brand new pilot with no experience making novice mistakes, possible odd software bug in the Mini, and novice flyers being reckless.

On the M2 platform, I have something around 70 flights in 3 months and zero problems reported. Loving it!

 

[new2mavic]

My understanding is that magnetic interference will only cause the drone to fly in a circular path when it attempts to hold position ( "toilet bowling" ). It will not cause flyaway or the drone dropping out of the sky.