Bad day to fly. Waypoints...... Never again.

[SmilingOgre]

So, I watch videos, read tutorials. Go for a flight and manually set four waypoints. I land. I take off again. Retrieve mission and hit go. Holy x#$%!!! The thing takes off like a bat out of hell and bounces off the neighbor's roof. Couldn't stop it in time. Landed the drone and replaced two beat up propellers. Noted a dent and crack in the top front cowling. Fire the drone back up. It goes through normal initialization routine to include gimbal but the gimbal settles limp off to one side. Thought I'd try to calibrate the gimbal but there is no longer a camera icon in the general settings menu. Contacted DJI, they are sending a return label.

I was hoping for a smooth flight but got a race to the ruins.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

So, I watch videos, read tutorials. Go for a flight and manually set four waypoints. I land. I take off again. Retrieve mission and hit go. Holy x#$%!!! The thing takes off like a bat out of hell and bounces off the neighbor's roof. Couldn't stop it in time. Landed the drone and replaced two beat up propellers. Noted a dent and crack in the top front cowling. Fire the drone back up. It goes through normal initialization routine to include gimbal but the gimbal settles limp off to one side. Thought I'd try to calibrate the gimbal but there is no longer a camera icon in the general settings menu. Contacted DJI, they are sending a return label.

I was hoping for a smooth flight but got a race to the ruins.

One thing i have found is that its really easy to make a mistake with Way Points. Add one , delete Two. its tricky.
I mirror them now on my computer so I can see what is really happening and that was a game changer.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic in the Rain

 

[skunky1]

One thing i have found is that its really easy to make a mistake with Way Points. Add one , delete Two. its tricky.
I mirror them now on my computer so I can see what is really happening and that was a game changer.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic in the Rain

How do you mirror them on your computer?

 

[VenomXts]

How do you mirror them on your computer?

yah how do you mirror them on your computer? I have been playing with them and almost leared the hard way to get the **** thing up in the air above the tree line before starting a set waypoint mission lol.

Also, i really wish i could label the **** things instead of date and number of points.

 

[SmilingOgre]

I mirror them now on my computer so I can see what is really happening and that was a game changer.

I'll join the crowd here. How do you do that? I don't feel comfortable yet with setting up waypoints on a map without flying. I really wanted to move from point to point, mark those point and have the drone move through them with a more fluid flight.

get the **** thing up in the air above the tree line before starting a set waypoint mission lol.

Ya, I can see that now. I wanted a fairly low flying approach with an assent and then a flight over what was revealed. Not trying that again.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

I use mirroring 360 on the iPhone this allows me to see a huge screen but u cannot use the mouse , you still have to use ur phone

 

[Meta4]

The thing takes off like a bat out of hell and bounces off the neighbor's roof. Couldn't stop it in time.

That sounds like it had nothing to do with waypoints and everything to do with your power up/launch spot.
Search for yaw error to get some ideas or post flight data.

 

[SmilingOgre]

That sounds like it had nothing to do with waypoints and everything to do with your power up/launch spot.
Search for yaw error to get some ideas or post flight data.

I guess, It had made it to the second waypoint when it went nuts. It was between waypoint 2 and 3 which included an acescent where it all went south.

 

[vindibona1]

One thing i have found is that its really easy to make a mistake with Way Points. Add one , delete Two. its tricky.
I mirror them now on my computer so I can see what is really happening and that was a game changer.

@skunky1 "How do you mirror them on your computer?"

I'm not sure of the context that the word "mirror" is being used, but I suppose "mirroring" is looking at an enlarged representation of the phone's screen. Is the "mirroring" done at home? I would imagine that is done with a streaming app or hardware attachment like Chromecast or FireTV stick.

Regardless of the context, I don't "mirror" my missions. I DESIGN my missions on the computer. With Litchi it's easy and it's not done in a rush in the field while you're drone is burning juice, sitting on the launch pad while in idle. How to do it?...There are four app components (apps) plus a computer involved: 1) Litchi app. 2) Virtual Litchi Mission App. 3) Google Earth Pro app (VLM and Google earth are installed on your computer).

Once you have all the components, go to flylitchi.com . Then go to "mission hub" in the menu. Make sure you're signed in before you start designing your mission. Once you have it down, save the mission. Then you can go to "open", select that mission to make sure it's populated. Then you can "export" the mission eithe KLM or VLM. If you don't have the Virtual Litchi Mission app you'll only be able to export KLM. KLM will open Google Earth so you see what your mission looks like. VLM will allow you to actually fly the mission virtually. If you do that and see any corrections needed, go back to the mission hub and make any edits in the mission and then save it again with the changes. Rinse and repeat until you get it right. If you've signed in on the Litchi app on your phone you can check the missions to make sure the one you've worked on is in your phone. Once you're in the field all you have to do is dial up Litchi, load the mission and press "start' when you're ready for it to go. The basics of Litchi are described in the free tutorials found here: Litchi course and other stuff

 

[Repaid1]

@skunky1 "How do you mirror them on your computer?"

I'm not sure of the context that the word "mirror" is being used, but I suppose "mirroring" is looking at an enlarged representation of the phone's screen. Is the "mirroring" done at home? I would imagine that is done with a streaming app or hardware attachment like Chromecast or FireTV stick.

Regardless of the context, I don't "mirror" my missions. I DESIGN my missions on the computer. With Litchi it's easy and it's not done in a rush in the field while you're drone is burning juice, sitting on the launch pad while in idle. How to do it?...There are four app components (apps) plus a computer involved: 1) Litchi app. 2) Virtual Litchi Mission App. 3) Google Earth Pro app (VLM and Google earth are installed on your computer).

Once you have all the components, go to flylitchi.com . Then go to "mission hub" in the menu. Make sure you're signed in before you start designing your mission. Once you have it down, save the mission. Then you can go to "open", select that mission to make sure it's populated. Then you can "export" the mission eithe KLM or VLM. If you don't have the Virtual Litchi Mission app you'll only be able to export KLM. KLM will open Google Earth so you see what your mission looks like. VLM will allow you to actually fly the mission virtually. If you do that and see any corrections needed, go back to the mission hub and make any edits in the mission and then save it again with the changes. Rinse and repeat until you get it right. If you've signed in on the Litchi app on your phone you can check the missions to make sure the one you've worked on is in your phone. Once you're in the field all you have to do is dial up Litchi, load the mission and press "start' when you're ready for it to go. The basics of Litchi are described in the free tutorials found here: Litchi course and other stuff

All fine and good for Litchi, but I am guessing we are talking MM or on the outside MA2 and Litchi isn't a player, so none of that is relevant to discussion at this juncture. But while your on about it...I suppose there is no Virtual Litchi Mission for PC...seems odd that I could use Mission Hub, but have to switch to a dinky phone to view my mission after

 

[SmilingOgre]

All fine and good for Litchi, but I am guessing we are talking MM or on the outside MA2 and Litchi isn't a player, so none of that is relevant to discussion at this juncture. But while your on about it...I suppose there is no Virtual Litchi Mission for PC...seems odd that I could use Mission Hub, but have to switch to a dinky phone to view my mission after

Wow! I apologize. I left out the fun fact that it is a Mavic pro 2. Don't get old. The brains ooze out your ears.

 

[Jeff A]

So, I watch videos, read tutorials. Go for a flight and manually set four waypoints. I land. I take off again. Retrieve mission and hit go. Holy x#$%!!! The thing takes off like a bat out of hell and bounces off the neighbor's roof. Couldn't stop it in time. Landed the drone and replaced two beat up propellers. Noted a dent and crack in the top front cowling. Fire the drone back up. It goes through normal initialization routine to include gimbal but the gimbal settles limp off to one side. Thought I'd try to calibrate the gimbal but there is no longer a camera icon in the general settings menu. Contacted DJI, they are sending a return label.

I was hoping for a smooth flight but got a race to the ruins.

Sorry for your bad experience. A smooth flight begins with a lot of careful flight planning.

 

[vindibona1]

All fine and good for Litchi, but I am guessing we are talking MM or on the outside MA2 and Litchi isn't a player, so none of that is relevant to discussion at this juncture. But while your on about it...I suppose there is no Virtual Litchi Mission for PC...seems odd that I could use Mission Hub, but have to switch to a dinky phone to view my mission after

Of course VLM is available for PC. You can find the downlad from this thread: VLM download thread and link
Litchi has a beta out for the MM and should have a real version out soon. They're waiting for the SDK for the MA2's but that shouldn't be too long down the road.

 

[Meta4]

I guess, It had made it to the second waypoint when it went nuts. It was between waypoint 2 and 3 which included an acescent where it all went south.

It doesn't matter how badly you program the waypoint mission, I don't think you could accidentally mis-program it to take off like a bat out of hell and bounce off the neighbor's roof.
That incident description sounds exactly like a yaw error caused by your launch spot, particularly if the course was more or less straight ahead and then turned to a different course after Wpt 3.
Can you describe the spot you launched from?
What was the surface where it took off?

 

[SmilingOgre]

It doesn't matter how badly you program the waypoint mission, I don't think you could accidentally mis-program it to take off like a bat out of hell and bounce off the neighbor's roof.
That incident description sounds exactly like a yaw error caused by your launch spot, particularly if the course was more or less straight ahead and then turned to a different course after Wpt 3.
Can you describe the spot you launched from?
What was the surface where it took off?

Very interesting. You'll have to walk me through "yaw error caused by launch point" can't wrap my head around that. The launch point was an area with trees to sides and rear maybe 20' - 25' lateral distance. There was also a maybe 15' overhead obstruction. Launch was manual if I remember correctly. Air craft hovered after launch @ approx 3' vertical. The drone was launched from a round orange launch pad. Activated mission and drone moved to first way point being maybe 5' away staying at about 3'. Second way point was about 15' away from the first, still at about 3' vertical. Third way point was supposed to be straight up for about 120'. It was almost as if the drone skipped the assent and combined it with the course to the 4th way point also 120' altitude and maybe 400' distance. It was during this angular assent that the drone met the neighbors roof. No indication of obstacle avoidance during this segment.

Hope that helps. Best I got.

 

[Meta4]

Hope that helps. Best I got.

Thanks ... more detail than I needed .. I'm confused.
Was there any/no steel or concrete close by?

Perhaps your flight data would reveal more.
Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
That will give you a detailed report on the flight data.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.

 

[SmilingOgre]

Thanks ... more detail than I needed .. I'm confused.
Was there any/no steel or concrete close by?

Perhaps your flight data would reveal more.
Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
That will give you a detailed report on the flight data.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.

There was no steel or concrete close by. This was in my back yard. it's about 1/4 acre of grass and a few trees. I will try the log viewer over the weekend and see what I can make work. I did watch the flight from my flight records and that was accurate. Went from one point to another and when it hit the roof the drone spun in circles for a bit then continued on to the last waypoint. Looked like me getting out of bed in the morning.

 

[OFAP]

yah how do you mirror them on your computer? I have been playing with them and almost leared the hard way to get the **** thing up in the air above the tree line before starting a set waypoint mission lol.

Also, i really wish i could label the **** things instead of date and number of points.

if you're referring to the waypoints "tasks" created using DJI GO4, you can label them within the task library.

you should see a tiny "pen" icon which provides this feature for each generically titled task.

 

[cb4ishoot]

With waypoints, make sure the home point you are starting from has a high enough altitude to clear anything enroute to "waypoint 1". Otherwise, the drone will still be climbing to "eaypoint 1" altitude... and hit anythin lower than than that (between home and first waypoint).

if you're referring to the waypoints "tasks" created using DJI GO4, you can label them within the task library.

you should see a tiny "pen" icon which provides this feature for each generically titled task.

 

[Jack43]

I was hoping for a smooth flight but got a race to the ruins.

Oh holy smoke that sound creepy, sorry for your loss! I also was thinking about Litchi or red waypoint, but after reading your "horror-story" I give up! Good luck with the new drone...They will replace it I think!
cheers Paul