Distance problem Mavic Air

[Nick Nack]

Hi Guys

Took my new Air out today for its first proper flight (had a couple of tests in my garden) When I take off it the Air rises to about 4m then hovers in the garden test flights then it was about 1m in the Park
I have calibrated the IMU twice have have calibrated the compass nearly every flight (the controller was asking me too)
Now the Air thinks it’s 30m away when it’s 2m even on the floor no rotors 20 from controller it says 5m
Firmware is up to date I’m using an iPhone X (in flight mode) and flying the drone in beginners mode
Help please

Many Thanks

Nick

 

[Mantra]

Take it out of beginner mode. It limits many things.

 

[Nick Nack]

Hi Mantra

Thanks checked the manual and the drone will only fly 30m from the launch point hence the warnings so bye bye beginners mode
Should the distance from the controller to the drone vary by upto 5m even when grounded and does it really matter?

Cheers
Nick

 

[InvisibleName]

Is it really asking you to calibrate the compass, ie the top left ribbon states calibration required, or the drone won’t start because it demands a compass calibration? Or, is it that the startup screen shows compass calibration with a white box around it? If it’s the later, then that isn’t asking for a cal, it’s just a shortcut in case you do want to do one.

 

[Nick Nack]

Unfortunately yes have to calibrate every take off and it takes at least two attempts for the calibration to take

 

[Mantra]

I've calibrated my compass on my Mavic Pro once in over a year. Not a single problem.

 

[MattGenefaas]

Unfortunately yes have to calibrate every take off and it takes at least two attempts for the calibration to take

I also have to calibrate my compas before every flight. I thought it was because I am traveling and am often on flights, with my drone packed in its own case inside my bigger camera bag. I just assumed it was due to it’s compas getting ‘mixed up’ from the planes etc but it does seem odd, and it is frustrating. I only calibrated my old Phantom 3 standard once or twice from memory.

 

[ChrisW81]

In my experience, I always make sure I “Recalibrate” the drone for the respective zone that I am traveling to.
The compass is more accurate if you calibrate it within the zone travelled to. The “Declination” variance will be taken into consideration with respect to the True North vs the Magnetic North.

One could argue that it may or may not pose any serious problems if the drone is never recalibrated for the different zones. However, for the sake of ultimate accuracy I have always took a couple minutes to recalibrate the compass and have never had a problem.
The deviation has very little variance in the numbers. Here is a picture of the North America Zone Map:


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