How can I ever trust her again?

[rmb]

OK that's a bit dramatic, but I am now reluctant to fly my Mavic. Here is the lineage of events leading up to this.

So I sent my mavic back for the second time for a camera/focus issue. Both times DJI said that they repaired the camera and gimbal for a cost of $175 which they warranteed. Actually they just gave me a refurb unit back and said they fixed it. Today I received my "repair" back for the second time with the same description, but this time they actually replaced the unit with what appears to be a new one (why wouldn't they tell you that they were giving you a brand new one?) anyway I opened the box, turned it on and it wanted me to do a firmware update. I did, then restarted, then did a complete IMU calibration, then restarted. I brought it out side and did a compass recalibration. I flew 200ft away and 124ft up and as I was turning back around I got and IMU Exception error and a Compass error and a warning telling me to switch to anti mode. (see screen capture). I lost control and the bird just started flying away. Fortunately I was able to regain control and land it. I got on tech support chat with DJI (Generally useless) and after a half hour of no help, he tells be that I have to send it back. Now furious I call to get a supervisor and surprisingly I did. He was incredibly nice and got me on with a tech guy that told be that a software error during my firmware update was probably the issue and told me to do the following. Go into DJI Assistant and do a factory reset. Then downgrade the firmware to the previous version and restart the mavic. Then upgrade back to the newest version of the firmware. Then restart. Then go to the calibration tab and do a calibration. Then unplug from the computer and do an IMU calibration (something EVERYONE SHOULD ALWAYS DO after a firmware update as well as reset all of you settings especially you RTH settings) After IMU calibration restart. Lastly take it outside and do a compass recalibration. At that point it should fine. So I did all that and had one very close and cautious flight. Now the real problem for me is that I don't feel like I trust it anymore. It was terrifying! That said if I don't start flying up and away I will never know if it is fixed and, if it does it again and I can't get it back I could hurt someone. Remember unlike most in-flight issues without a GPS it can't RTH in a pinch as it has no idea where it or home is. And without compass you have no idea what direction it is pointing and you are flying in. On the positive side it is however a great reminder why EVERYONE should ALWAYS fly LOS.

Also here is a Vimeo link to a movie with the flight data (password is "mavic"). What you will notice is that as I am rounding the turn long before the warning I was ascending but the "height" on the left was not moving. Also when I regain GPS and I am approaching the Mavic I am within 15 feet of it and yet the distance is showing 180 - 190 ft.

 

[Cyberpower678]

Who said you should always calibrate the IMU? NEVER calibrate the IMU unless it tells you to.

 

[Doyleh13]

Who said you should always calibrate the IMU? NEVER calibrate the IMU unless it tells you to.

Agreed! Emphatically!

 

[TTFullTimer]

Flying with the bird in sight is a very good idea, once in a while I lose it against a background instead of the sky. Have been flying in mountains ever since I got it. Another thing I do is look at my flight area in satellite view on google maps before I fly. Then I have some idea of landmarks so that I can use FPV to get a general direction back home.

 

[BrAinZ]

.... Then unplug from the computer and do an IMU calibration .....

Unplug from the computer??

 

[rmb]

Unplug from the computer??

Yes I was told whenever possible to do all firmware updates with the assistant software hook to the computer with a USB. DJI tech person said that most problems that are experience after Firmware update occur as a result of updating through the Go App

 

[rmb]

Agreed! Emphatically!

OK. not sure what I should do know. Thats what the techs at DJI told me. They were insistent that I should recalibrate the IMU after each firmware update.

 

[Cyberpower678]

OK. not sure what I should do know. Thats what the techs at DJI told me. They were insistent that I should recalibrate the IMU after each firmware update.

Total crock. Those people couldn't give you proper instructions on how to swat a fly. They would probably tell you to send the fly swatter back, if it kept missing its target. It's explicitly stated in the manual not to mess with the IMU.

When my drone was suffering from video feed issues, they told me to recalibrate the IMU. I asked what the IMU has to do with the camera, and they told me it's the brain of the drone. I couldn't help but ROFL. I told them the IMU is the brain for inertia, but not for the camera. He insisted I recalibrate, and I told him I wanted his supervisor. Which he did give me. After that, the supervisor agreed with me and said that rep is an idiot.

 

[rmb]

Alrighty then. 1 bad habit fixed. Thanks. I will not. On that note here is there other piece of questionable advice that I have been doing now for years so please save me from myself if I am making a mistake. I was told every time you travel more than 10 miles from you last takeoff point that you should recalibrate your compass. Supposedly to make up for the degrees of difference btw true north and magnetic north. Thoughts?

 

[Nigpd]

Alrighty then. 1 bad habit fixed. Thanks. I will not. On that note here is there other piece of questionable advice that I have been doing now for years so please save me from myself if I am making a mistake. I was told every time you travel more than 10 miles from you last takeoff point that you should recalibrate your compass. Supposedly to make up for the degrees of difference btw true north and magnetic north. Thoughts?

Only calibrate the compass if the controller indicates it is required

 

[Cyberpower678]

Alrighty then. 1 bad habit fixed. Thanks. I will not. On that note here is there other piece of questionable advice that I have been doing now for years so please save me from myself if I am making a mistake. I was told every time you travel more than 10 miles from you last takeoff point that you should recalibrate your compass. Supposedly to make up for the degrees of difference btw true north and magnetic north. Thoughts?

Not as bad as constantly calibrating the IMU, as long as you're not near metal doing it.

 

[Qoncussion]

Alrighty then. 1 bad habit fixed. Thanks. I will not. On that note here is there other piece of questionable advice that I have been doing now for years so please save me from myself if I am making a mistake. I was told every time you travel more than 10 miles from you last takeoff point that you should recalibrate your compass. Supposedly to make up for the degrees of difference btw true north and magnetic north. Thoughts?

This used to be the case for Phantom 2s, and other older models, but no longer applies, unless the app tells you to. I know many Litchi users don't ever load Go4 except to change settings and upgrade firmware. I use Litchi, but only after loading Go4 to check the craft's status - then I "kill" Go4 and fly Litchi (sometimes). The thing about calibrating the IMU that few ever talk about is that you must do it on an absolutely flat (perfectly level) surface... Not on a surface that you "think" is flat, but one that is truly flat and level. Use a bubble level to confirm. I use a square of plywood with adjustable feet to create a perfectly flat surface for IMU calibration (which you should not do very often). This matters in getting the craft flying straight.

Beyond that, stop being afraid to fly! You either have a $1000 paperweight, or a kick @$$ Mavic Pro. If you believe that you have the ladder, then fly-fly-fly. The decision was made to fly it when you bought it. It's better off stuck in the top of a tree, than sitting on the kitchen table.

 

[mlash]

Beyond that, stop being afraid to fly! You either have a $1000 paperweight, or a kick @$$ Mavic Pro. If you believe that you have the ladder, then fly-fly-fly. The decision was made to fly it when you bought it. It's better off stuck in the top of a tree, than sitting on the kitchen table.

Qoncussion = This is the best advise I have read yet on any forum.

Now the real problem for me is that I don't feel like I trust it anymore. It was terrifying! That said if I don't start flying up and away I will never know if it is fixed and, if it does it again and I can't get it back I could hurt someone. Remember unlike most in-flight issues without a GPS it can't RTH in a pinch as it has no idea where it or home is. And without compass you have no idea what direction it is pointing and you are flying in.

rmb = I think the reason you were able to bring it back down safely is because the Mavic recognized that their was a GPS Error and it switched over automatically to Atti Mode (I can see on your pic that it already switched over to Atti Mode for you). This should instill confidence that the Mavic is going to do everything possible to allow you to stay in control and bring it back safely without a flyaway. I say continue to fly and worry about failures that you have no control over when they rear their ugly head!

Of course this is just my opinion!

 

[normr]

And that's exactly why I purchased a policy from State Farm, if it decides to take off I'm covered, a huge weight off your chest

 

[rmb]

Qoncussion = This is the best advise I have read yet on any forum.



rmb = I think the reason you were able to bring it back down safely is because the Mavic recognized that their was a GPS Error and it switched over automatically to Atti Mode (I can see on your pic that it already switched over to Atti Mode for you). This should instill confidence that the Mavic is going to do everything possible to allow you to stay in control and bring it back safely without a flyaway. I say continue to fly and worry about failures that you have no control over when they rear their ugly head!

Of course this is just my opinion!

Great advice all. I have in fact been out flying conservatively (away from roads and homes) and so far so good! I have always been an almost overly cautious pilot and this spooked me a bit. Which was odd as I have been at this a while. And then the FFA 107 process made me even more so. I think early on it was the fear of loosing something that I couldn't afford. That turned into the knock to the ego if I crashed it and now at 55 yrs old its the possibility of hurting someone. Anyway I am back in the saddle and loving it. I will say as I did earlier, it's a good reminder to us all that without GPS and compass there would have been no way of recovering it or avoiding an accident if I was unable to see it. Again thanks for the words of encouragement and yes it did switch properly into atti which gave me a leg up.

 

[Srcrain]

OK that's a bit dramatic, but I am now reluctant to fly my Mavic. Here is the lineage of events leading up to this.

So I sent my mavic back for the second time for a camera/focus issue. Both times DJI said that they repaired the camera and gimbal for a cost of $175 which they warranteed. Actually they just gave me a refurb unit back and said they fixed it. Today I received my "repair" back for the second time with the same description, but this time they actually replaced the unit with what appears to be a new one (why wouldn't they tell you that they were giving you a brand new one?) anyway I opened the box, turned it on and it wanted me to do a firmware update. I did, then restarted, then did a complete IMU calibration, then restarted. I brought it out side and did a compass recalibration. I flew 200ft away and 124ft up and as I was turning back around I got and IMU Exception error and a Compass error and a warning telling me to switch to anti mode. (see screen capture). I lost control and the bird just started flying away. Fortunately I was able to regain control and land it. I got on tech support chat with DJI (Generally useless) and after a half hour of no help, he tells be that I have to send it back. Now furious I call to get a supervisor and surprisingly I did. He was incredibly nice and got me on with a tech guy that told be that a software error during my firmware update was probably the issue and told me to do the following. Go into DJI Assistant and do a factory reset. Then downgrade the firmware to the previous version and restart the mavic. Then upgrade back to the newest version of the firmware. Then restart. Then go to the calibration tab and do a calibration. Then unplug from the computer and do an IMU calibration (something EVERYONE SHOULD ALWAYS DO after a firmware update as well as reset all of you settings especially you RTH settings) After IMU calibration restart. Lastly take it outside and do a compass recalibration. At that point it should fine. So I did all that and had one very close and cautious flight. Now the real problem for me is that I don't feel like I trust it anymore. It was terrifying! That said if I don't start flying up and away I will never know if it is fixed and, if it does it again and I can't get it back I could hurt someone. Remember unlike most in-flight issues without a GPS it can't RTH in a pinch as it has no idea where it or home is. And without compass you have no idea what direction it is pointing and you are flying in. On the positive side it is however a great reminder why EVERYONE should ALWAYS fly LOS.

Also here is a Vimeo link to a movie with the flight data (password is "mavic"). What you will notice is that as I am rounding the turn long before the warning I was ascending but the "height" on the left was not moving. Also when I regain GPS and I am approaching the Mavic I am within 15 feet of it and yet the distance is showing 180 - 190 ft.

View attachment 15682

Can anyone tell us exactly what those errors mean? I get them to after taking off when it looked like everything was fine. No errors pre-flight.

 

[rmb]

And that's exactly why I purchased a policy from State Farm, if it decides to take off I'm covered, a huge weight off your chest

Yeah, unfortunately I believe that State Farm only covers you for personal use, not commercial. In other words if you do it for a living it falls into a commercial policy.

 

[geigy]

I had a similar issue. Going into ATTI mode with 16 satellites. DJI asked me to send the unit back, but I did not want to because the bird was only a few days old, and I was hot to trot. I think it was due to a Loc8tor I put too close to the GPS antenna. Have not had the problem since then.

As for confidence, it's a good sign that you want to be careful. Stay within your comfort zone, if you are cautious enough to have one, that is! Some people pull their Mavic out of the box and fly it right into a downtown high rise area and into oblivion. Others need to try things out before believing that they will work. I am one of the latter.

GPS side reflections are the enemy. Start out in an open area with no trees or buildings, and work your way out from there. Be careful that your phone's H location matches the triangle for the drone at takeoff time - sometimes they can be significantly off and this will trigger a "try-away", where it flies a finite distance, ignoring the controls.

It also helps to be reasonably confident about flying in ATTI mode. Get a quad for $50 or $100 drone and practice with that until you can do figure 8's, flying toward yourself, returning when all you can see is a dot in the sky, and you will be ready next time your Mavic drops into ATTI mode (which has not happened to me since that first time).

 

[rmb]

I had a similar issue. Going into ATTI mode with 16 satellites. DJI asked me to send the unit back, but I did not want to because the bird was only a few days old, and I was hot to trot. I think it was due to a Loc8tor I put too close to the GPS antenna. Have not had the problem since then.

As for confidence, it's a good sign that you want to be careful. Stay within your comfort zone, if you are cautious enough to have one, that is! Some people pull their Mavic out of the box and fly it right into a downtown high rise area and into oblivion. Others need to try things out before believing that they will work. I am one of the latter.

GPS side reflections are the enemy. Start out in an open area with no trees or buildings, and work your way out from there. Be careful that your phone's H location matches the triangle for the drone at takeoff time - sometimes they can be significantly off and this will trigger a "try-away", where it flies a finite distance, ignoring the controls.

It also helps to be reasonably confident about flying in ATTI mode. Get a quad for $50 or $100 drone and practice with that until you can do figure 8's, flying toward yourself, returning when all you can see is a dot in the sky, and you will be ready next time your Mavic drops into ATTI mode (which has not happened to me since that first time).

Thanks geigy. Yes I am flying now many years and although I don't spend much time in atti mode I can do in a pinch. My big concern was simply loosing all sense of direction and getting back. Since my first post I have keeped in within a 150 ft away and and 100 ft up and I have not had it happen again so I am regaining confidence. My biggest issue was/is that in 4 years and 4 different models of phantom, and inspire1 and a mavic, nothing really bad has ever happened, so I am not very use to the heart in the throat feeling.

 

[rmb]

Total crock. Those people couldn't give you proper instructions on how to swat a fly. They would probably tell you to send the fly swatter back, if it kept missing its target. It's explicitly stated in the manual not to mess with the IMU.

When my drone was suffering from video feed issues, they told me to recalibrate the IMU. I asked what the IMU has to do with the camera, and they told me it's the brain of the drone. I couldn't help but ROFL. I told them the IMU is the brain for inertia, but not for the camera. He insisted I recalibrate, and I told him I wanted his supervisor. Which he did give me. After that, the supervisor agreed with me and said that rep is an idiot.

Funny I was just watching the DJI inspire 2 orientation video and they stating again that you should calibrate your compass before each flight. wonder if the inspire 2 is different or if they are giving out more bad advice...