I had a compass disconnect + flyaway... craft recovered

[ceschulz]

I was flying yesterday while my mavic had a compass error and started flying fast backwards and right fast. The remote wouldn’t let me use the sticks as it was disconnecting and reconnecting. While it was connected I killed the motors and it came down about a quarter mile away. I recovered the craft using the newer find my drone feature. Works great! I suggest all people make sure they know how to kill their motors and have it enabled. Also, only fly your mavic in line of sight in case something goes wrong.

 

[Montypaks]

but the mavic has a backup compass... where you flying next to a cell tower or any other tower that could have interfered with it?
did you do calibration checks before flying?
was the mavic damaged when it came down?
could you have switched to atti mode and manually controlled it back home

thanks... I'm about to get my mavic and still trying to learn as much as i can before committing

 

[mlash]

Sorry to hear about your crash. You must have flown into some heavy interference for that to happen! It does have a backup compass so both must have went at the same time. How long have you had your Mavic and have you flown in that area before? If you upload your data.txt file into airdata.com it will give you some information that might help you determine what happened.

could you have switched to atti mode and manually controlled it back home

The Mavic does not have an atti switch. It atomaticaly switches to atti mode when the software detects an error or loses gps.

 

[Montypaks]

Thanks for that info!
What's the best way to handle a situation of both compasses going down then... Killing the motors does not seem like a viable option or solution

 

[mlash]

Thanks for that info!
What's the best way to handle a situation of both compasses going down then... Killing the motors does not seem like a viable option or solution

When this happens the first thing to do is to remain calm. Because the Mavic is now put into atti mode automatically (flying totally by the pilot input) (and now is very susceptible to wind) every stick command should be very slight and purposeful until you regain control. You can use the telemetry to determine what direction your going in by checking to see if the distance away is get closer or farther away. When it is getting closer (300 feet away drops to 200 feet away) you will know that you are coming toward the home point and just keep remaining calm.

If you just started flying this mavic, until you are familiar with the bird you should only fly on days with little to no wind and keep it close. Same if you just started flying in a new area.

Fly safe!

 

[Montypaks]

Thanks a lot... Sound advice!!

So @ceschulz, Why did you decide to kill the motors risking your thousand dollar investment, instead of guiding it home manually

 

[ceschulz]

Thanks a lot... Sound advice!!

So @ceschulz, Why did you decide to kill the motors risking your thousand dollar investment, instead of guiding it home manually

Yaw stick malfunctioned and wouldn’t make the craft move

 

[mlash]

So @ceschulz, Why did you decide to kill the motors risking your thousand dollar investment, instead of guiding it home manually

when you are flying it is very nerve racking and there is always that fear of the unknown! In this video if I did not take the time to find out what was happening I would have immediately tried to land 3 miles away (anytime something happens your first thought is to "get the bird on the ground"). I kept my cool and figured out what was going on. Instead of moving the bird forward I was going straight up in the air. I thought that there was a problem with the bird but it was an error on my part! This is mostly the case (something wrong with the bird) and we don't take the time to figure it out because we feel safer on the ground.

However, if all else fails and it's safe to do so "Ditch-It!"

I'm not saying that this video is what happened in @ceschulz case but it is a good experience to learn from. I try to keep my bird in the air and figure out what's going on now, instead of immediately trying to land. Every time I have had a problem (knock on wood) it has been something that I was doing but at first I blamed it on the bird.

 

[Jacknet007]

I took my Mavic on a practice run where I flew till I could not see it. Disconnected the app from the RC flew around randomly and then used the Mavic RC to determine distance so I could figure out how to get it back towards me. @mlash has some wise advice there. I would advise anyone to do a training run like that if you first get a Mavic.

 

[ceschulz]

but the mavic has a backup compass... where you flying next to a cell tower or any other tower that could have interfered with it?
did you do calibration checks before flying?
was the mavic damaged when it came down?
could you have switched to atti mode and manually controlled it back home

thanks... I'm about to get my mavic and still trying to learn as much as i can before committing

There was a cell tower half a mile or more away. My mavic is slightly damaged but it would be operational if I chose to test me luck with the compasses again.