Danger! Odd Return to Home Firmware Issue After Update 01.01.0610 Mavic Air 2

[Swimmingpoollearning]

Just updated both of our Mavic Air 2 drones and there is an odd total loss of control before return to home actually kicks in. About 8-10 seconds of free flight.

Just after I lost signal, I hit the RTH button on my controller. Instead of the typical beep beep...beep beep, it went beep... beep... beep... beep. During all this time, my signal had not been regained. After 10-15 seconds, I regained my signal and saw the drone going up like a normal RTH.

The strange thing is that it didn't automatically RTH like it should have. It waited until it had connection with the controller and then it did RTH. In my advanced safety settings, I have RTH checked for signal lost behavior.

Here is the video of what happened and the free-flight. I lost connection 3 seconds into the video. So all of that flying is the drone on its own. Not me controlling it. So if it were lower and facing a house it would have crashed into it.

A real concern here. The same thing happened with our 2nd Air 2 drone today...

Here is the video footage. Remember after 3 seconds in I am no longer in control. Maci Air 2 Return to Home issue.mp4

 

[MarkusAtHome]

Just updated both of our Mavic Air 2 drones and there is an odd total loss of control before return to home actually kicks in. About 8-10 seconds of free flight.

Just after I lost signal, I hit the RTH button on my controller. Instead of the typical beep beep...beep beep, it went beep... beep... beep... beep. During all this time, my signal had not been regained. After 10-15 seconds, I regained my signal and saw the drone going up like a normal RTH.

The strange thing is that it didn't automatically RTH like it should have. It waited until it had connection with the controller and then it did RTH. In my advanced safety settings, I have RTH checked for signal lost behavior.

Here is the video of what happened and the free-flight. I lost connection 3 seconds into the video. So all of that flying is the drone on its own. Not me controlling it. So if it were lower and facing a house it would have crashed into it.

A real concern here. The same thing happened with our 2nd Air 2 drone today...

Here is the video footage. Remember after 3 seconds in I am no longer in control. Maci Air 2 Return to Home issue.mp4

The video does not say much, if anything. Providing the associated log file could be beneficial.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

I watched the video , the drone made the turn , and started coming back to you , looks ok to me.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Air 2 in the Rain and Land on the Water.

 

[Swimmingpoollearning]

I watched the video , the drone made the turn , and started coming back to you , looks ok to me.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Air 2 in the Rain and Land on the Water.

Hmm. Usually, it stops and starts ascending. I've seen my other footage prior to the update and the drone never moved forward like that on its own. Remember I lost the signal 3 seconds into the video. All of that flying is the drone on its own.

 

[dipnit]

I had a similar occurrence, only mine went into RTH due to low battery. It was only a few hundred yards away. I cancelled it to do it manually. Once cancelled it just sat there for awhile even though I was pushing the joysticks. Probably about the same amount of time, and it was first flight after update. Flying off an island in the Gulf of Mexico. Didn't give it a whole lot of thought until I read this.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

In loss of signal the doesn't the Air 2 wait 11 seconds before starting the loss of signal process. If the signal is not regained it then starts retracing the last 50 flown metres after which it goes into RTH proper?
The video appears to depict something like that though the 11sec delay seems absent.
This is detailed on P14 of the manual, or am I missing something?

If by "Just after I lost signal, I hit the RTH button on my controller" you mean after the controller lost connection with the drone then pressing the RTH button can not send a command, the drone is disconnected.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Hmm. Usually, it stops and starts ascending. I've seen my other footage prior to the update and the drone never moved forward like that on its own. Remember I lost the signal 3 seconds into the video. All of that flying is the drone on its own.

I had to watch it again, now I see the forward movement you were talking about , and the confusion that took place .
I missed that the first watch.

 

[Swimmingpoollearning]

The video does not say much, if anything. Providing the associated log file could be beneficial.

Here is the log but strangely Google Earth says there is an error. The other logs - the one before and the one after work fine. This leads me to suspect an issue here: DJIFlightRecord_2021-09-18_[17-29-19] (1).kmz

 

[Deleted member 103366]

The flight logs end in either txt or DAT,
you might like to read DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

 

[Swimmingpoollearning]

Sorry - here it is but it won't load in Google Earth.

DJIFlightRecord_2021-09-18_[17-29-19].txt

drive.google.com

 

[Deleted member 103366]

It isn't intended for Google Earth, it is data concerning various aspects of the flight.
But now that my brain is in gear, it cannot contain data sent from the drone whilst the drone was disconnected, so there will be gaps.
Rather than uploading to Google drive can you upload it to the Phantomhelp page? I can not, I have used my upload limit for the day.

 

[Swimmingpoollearning]

Thanks for the follow-up. I did try to upload it there and it does not show any map images because the log seems to be corrupt. That is why I gave Google Earth a shot since you can upload KML files there as well. It is strange that out of all the logs with several flights that day this one is not working and the drone had the free flight during this one.

 

[eEridani]

The video looks like a normal signal loss RTH to me. Drone backtracked 50 meters trying to find a signal, didn't, then initiated a normal RTH climb.

Also - the log is blank in PhantomHelp - probably corrupt or the wrong log.

 

[Kywon McCain]

It's fine. If you lose connection for more than 10 seconds it's just going to come back all by itself..

 

[dawgpilot]

If you fully lose signal, hitting RTH by itself does nothing, since your controller has no way to send that command to the drone. Instead the drone will proceed under the lost signal routine.

 

[bravezoo63]

There is a definite bug in the latest firmware update for the Mavic Air 2 (Version 1.00.07)
Upon activating RTH, the drone turns and points to home, but stops dead in it's track and will not return. It often increases in altitude as well, often up to my 393' limit. I have worked with it all afternoon and have had to manually fly home every time. Everything was working great before the firmware update. Any way to downgrade firmware anymore?

 

[dawgpilot]

There is a definite bug in the latest firmware update for the Mavic Air 2 (Version 1.00.07)
Upon activating RTH, the drone turns and points to home, but stops dead in it's track and will not return. It often increases in altitude as well, often up to my 393' limit. I have worked with it all afternoon and have had to manually fly home every time. Everything was working great before the firmware update. Any way to downgrade firmware anymore?

Was the drone possibly flying into bright sunlight? That can trip the obstacle avoidance and stop the drone from proceeding further. It would also possibly be trying to climb in that situation, which matches your report.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Have you checked the set RTH height?
Is the behaviour you are seeing during the initial part of the 'RTH' in accordance with that given in the manual?
Is there a restriction zone at the height? Temporary or otherwise.
With regards to down grading the firmware have you connected the drone to the computer running the relevant version of Assistant 2 and had a look to see if any downgrade options are offered?

 

[Tufargon]

There is a definite bug in the latest firmware update for the Mavic Air 2 (Version 1.00.07)
Upon activating RTH, the drone turns and points to home, but stops dead in it's track and will not return. It often increases in altitude as well, often up to my 393' limit. I have worked with it all afternoon and have had to manually fly home every time. Everything was working great before the firmware update. Any way to downgrade firmware anymore?

I do believe the newest firmware is 01.01.0700.

 

[Meta4]

There is a definite bug in the latest firmware update for the Mavic Air 2 (Version 1.00.07)
Upon activating RTH, the drone turns and points to home, but stops dead in it's track and will not return. It often increases in altitude as well, often up to my 393' limit.

Post #17 sounds like a possible cause.

The way to solve flight mysteries is to look at the recorded flight data to see what actually happened.

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 of the flight.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.
Or .. just post the txt file here.