Almost had a flyaway this morning

[dmcgrew]

Hey guys, not 100% sure what happened yet. I need to analyze the data. But I can tell you with 99.9% certainty that I did not cause what happened. I was flying this morning during sunrise. Drone was stationary in the sky. I stopped to take a photo. Then a few seconds later I tried moving to a different spot. I pushed the sticks... no response. Then suddenly the image on the RC Pro was tilted like the gimbal was locked and I could tell my M3 was now flying dead left as fast as possible with no input from me. Luckily I had read a post about someone having a similar issue on these forums (honestly not sure if it was an M3 or not) and I remembered them saying going into Sport mode gave them control back. I was able to go into Sport mode and regain control and fly back home. I'll get the flight data loaded up a little later today, maybe that will tell me what happened.

 

[msinger]

You can upload your TXT flight log here. If you need help reviewing it, post a link back here after you upload it.

 

[dmcgrew]

Here's the flightrecord file. Anyone able to tell what happened? Here's a link to the viewer that I used.. DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

You can see at 2:23.1 it tilts to the side and starts moving across the river.

I'm seeing ambient light was too weak. I also flew lower than my take off altitude. Not sure why those things would be a factor though.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Did you actually see it descend and climb like that with your own eyes?
It will be very interesting to see what is made of this, as far as I can see the logs say there was NO stick input to the flight at all. That seems contrary to you story but I can see nothing in the logs to indicate why it returned nor what brought it down to land, which is also odd......or me being blind.
If you can find the corresponding DAT file, probably named something like
2021-11-12_17-5m-ss_FLY01.DAT
and likely in the MCDatFlightRecords folder in the folder where you found the
DJIFlightRecord_2021-11-20_[07-00-53].txt flight log,
then save a copy of that log to computer.
DO NOT sync you flight logs if you wish to keep your DATs, I believe sync'ing deletes the DATs.

If on one can come up with an explanation for the drone's behaviour DJI may be interested in the DAT.

 

[dmcgrew]

To be honest I looked at the screen and saw it moving left. I didn't notice it climbing or descending. I thought the no stick input was odd too. I am using the RC Pro though, maybe the Phantom Help site just doesn't know how to read that data yet? This is my first time reading this data, not really sure what VPS Altitude means but it says N/A right around the time it starts to go left on its own.

 

[dmcgrew]

I also seeing 2 big gaps in the data before and after 24.7 sec. Is that normal? Seems pretty weird to me.

 

[msinger]

I thought the no stick input was odd too. I am using the RC Pro though, maybe the Phantom Help site just doesn't know how to read that data yet?

Yes, that was the case. I fixed that issue and uploaded the log again here.

 

[msinger]

I also seeing 2 big gaps in the data before and after 24.7 sec. Is that normal?

The data beneath the map will cut out portions of the flight where no notable changes occurred (like changes in speed/height/location). The CSV will show all available flight data.

 

[fguthrie]

That looks pretty scary! Good thing you remembered going to Sport mode, you may have lost your M3P otherwise.

 

[ProStreetCamaro]

Mine did the same. Stopped to hover and happened to notice it was suddenly drifting away! Regained control flipping the switches around and brought it home.

 

[dmcgrew]

Mine did the same. Stopped to hover and happened to notice it was suddenly drifting away! Regained control flipping the switches around and brought it home.

Do you have your flight record? Curious if there are any similarities to mine.

 

[ProStreetCamaro]

Do you have your flight record? Curious if there are any similarities to mine.

I don't I actually exchanged that unit at best buy for another due to the weak gimbal. It wouldn't hold a steady horizon at all.

 

[msinger]

I don't I actually exchanged that unit at best buy for another due to the weak gimbal

The TXT flight log should still be on your mobile device (assuming you weren't using the DJI RC Pro).

 

[ProStreetCamaro]

The TXT flight log should still be on your mobile device (assuming you weren't using the DJI RC Pro).

I've flown a bunch since but later this evening when I get a chance I'll take a look and see if I can find it. I think at the time I was using my old S7 edge so it should be there. Tuesday I have a Tab S7+ arriving. Should be amazing to fly with! Couldn't pass it up new for $345!!!!

 

[Meta4]

I'm seeing ambient light was too weak.

That would just mean that obstacle avoidance might not work.
It should not cause uncontrolled flight.

I also flew lower than my take off altitude.

That won't have any negative influence on your flying.

 

[zeusfl]

Airdata from the flight.

 

[Meta4]

Hey guys, not 100% sure what happened yet. I need to analyze the data. But I can tell you with 99.9% certainty that I did not cause what happened. I was flying this morning during sunrise. Drone was stationary in the sky. I stopped to take a photo. Then a few seconds later I tried moving to a different spot. I pushed the sticks... no response. Then suddenly the image on the RC Pro was tilted like the gimbal was locked and I could tell my M3 was now flying dead left as fast as possible with no input from me. Luckily I had read a post about someone having a similar issue on these forums (honestly not sure if it was an M3 or not) and I remembered them saying going into Sport mode gave them control back. I was able to go into Sport mode and regain control and fly back home. I'll get the flight data loaded up a little later today, maybe that will tell me what happened.

There is something unusual happening from around 2:12.
Although you give full aireron input, the drone's speed never increases past 5 mph and the pitch and roll angles remain <5°.
The reason for this is not obvious.
Later at around 2:25, the pitch and roll angles do not match the joystick inputs and the speed accelerated.
This is where you thought the drone was flying away.
Things appear to have returned to normal at 2:25 when you engaged Sport Mode.

I can't see any obvious reason for the incident or why SPort Mode brought things back to normal.
Perhaps @slup has some ideas?

 

[slup]

...If you can find the corresponding DAT file, probably named something like

Unfortunately the mobile device DAT logs from the Mavic 3 is of no use for us ... they are encrypted.

...Perhaps @slup has some ideas?

Will try to take a look this evening.

 

[Korrd]

There is something unusual happening from around 2:12.
Although you give full aireron input, the drone's speed never increases past 5 mph and the pitch and roll angles remain <5°.
The reason for this is not obvious.
Later at around 2:25, the pitch and roll angles do not match the joystick inputs and the speed accelerated.
This is where you thought the drone was flying away.
Things appear to have returned to normal at 2:25 when you engaged Sport Mode.

I can't see any obvious reason for the incident or why SPort Mode brought things back to normal.
Perhaps @slup has some ideas?

Sport mode disables avoidance sensors, and this flight happened with the sun in the horizon. Maybe it's the old "detecting the sun as an obstacle" issue popping up?

 

[dmcgrew]

Sport mode disables avoidance sensors, and this flight happened with the sun in the horizon. Maybe it's the old "detecting the sun as an obstacle" issue popping up?

Would the drone move itself to avoid an obstacle if I am not putting any input in? I know there's that new avoidance mode that you can set to have it fly around obstacles or set it to stop. I believe mine is still set to fly around.. but I would think it shouldn't try to fly around anything if I'm not making it move. Or is it smart/dumb enough to move when it thinks something is moving towards it when its stationary?

As far as the sun goes when I was flying it was still before the sun was over the horizon so it wasn't even like blinding sunlight was hitting it.