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I'm through taking chances

I'm confused as to why it didn't auto-shutoff when it went vertical. Normally when I hand catch I just flip it over and it shuts off immediately. Next time try that before looking for the power button, safer option.
Guessing here... but could it be because it was flying in atti mode
 

There is this beautiful girl I know, and she whispers to me….”The home point has been updated, please check it on the map” Until I hear those comforting words, all bets are off! 👍🏻🤣
Several members have made similar comments but it wouldn't have made any difference in this case.
He did get a home point just a couple of seconds after lifting off anyway.
But launching with no GPS won't cause the drone to do crazy things.
 
Not to sound like your Mother, but a wise man once said "Always wait for the Lady". The RTH function is a nice safety feature to have and has saved my butt more than once.

Also, It does seem something else caused your issue in the case, but I just think it is proper operating procedure to always wait for that home point update before you fly.....ok, that is the end of my PSA. 😁
I completely agree!

The Minis don't take that long to acquire their GPS signal; it's better to just wait.

If you get a warning while flying, unless you're certain that you can safely ignore it, it's best to land, and re-evaluate. I ignore warnings sometimes, but not when they seem...mysterious...
 
I echo spsphotos - if you have grabbed it without losing any fingers flip it upside down and it will immediately shut off. Trying to press the off button twice on the bottom of a drone which is still trying to escape your grasp is scary and dangerous, not to mention that pushing the button to shut it off essentially makes you have to hold on tighter.
 
Just a tip I learned from YouTube: The easiest way to do a compass calibration while holding the drone and the controller is to just turn your whole body -- it looks silly, but it works well.
 
Just a tip I learned from YouTube: The easiest way to do a compass calibration while holding the drone and the controller is to just turn your whole body -- it looks silly, but it works well.
He didn't need to calibrate the compass.
He just needed to switch off, move away from the problem and start up again.
 
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Yes, thanks. I've been flying for several years now and I'm still learning! 😉
lol - ya gotta learn to shrug off the "Captain Obvious" posts.
It happens but the folks are well-meaning. You did answer more gracefully than most. :)
 
Several members have made similar comments but it wouldn't have made any difference in this case.
He did get a home point just a couple of seconds after lifting off anyway.
But launching with no GPS won't cause the drone to do crazy things.
Did the drone have GPS when it was hovering between the buildings??? If not, those tall buildings could've blocked it. What about all of those WiFi signals from every floor? Wonder if the flight record showed any of that, interference and/or GPS loss.
 
He didn't need to calibrate the compass.
He just needed to switch off, move away from the problem and start up again.
Right before launching, I DID receive a warning to calibrate the compass. That's why I knelt down and put my remote/phone on the ground, while I rotated my drone as required.
 
Did the drone have GPS when it was hovering between the buildings??? If not, those tall buildings could've blocked it. What about all of those WiFi signals from every floor? Wonder if the flight record showed any of that, interference and/or GPS loss.
Yes, the flight record shows those things.
It shows good signal strength and good GPS until 0:56, with poor GPS for the last 10 seconds.
But none of those things could cause the incident which was due to incorrect initialisation of the gyro sensor in the IMU, because the compass was deflected by nearby steel.
 
Right before launching, I DID receive a warning to calibrate the compass. That's why I knelt down and put my remote/phone on the ground, while I rotated my drone as required.
Despite the badly worded warning message, compass calibration was not needed and couldn't have prevented the incident.
The correct action would have been to power off and move away from the problem that the compass was warning about.
 
I fly a lot at dusk. I too am in Mass. and we seem to have windy days but then at dusk the wind dies down. I also have a strobe that I put on steady when flying at dusk, I think this helps the drone when landing. I had the exact same thing happen to me several years ago. I launched in a tight area next to my house. Where I launched was open but when I flew into an area shadowed by my house, the drone became erratic and I crashed into my house. I just dinged up my props. I did not see anybody address this issue, but it sounds to me like your bottom sensor did not have enough light to know where it was. I think I remember the instruction manual said that the sensor operated between 0 and 3 meters. 3 meters is approx. 9 feet 10 inches, you said you were flying at about 10 feet, it may have been less which caused the drone to react erratically. This also happened to me when I was flying after a fresh foot of snow on the ground. The sensor has no dark and light to help it orientate. The manual also covers this and says it can also happen on water (flat calm) and a large freshly paved area. I bet that if you just went straight up it would have straightened out. Try it in an open field with the prop guards on.
 
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I had the exact same thing happen to me several years ago.
This incident had nothing common with what you describe.
It had nothing to do with light and dark and everything to do with launching from an area where magnetic interference caused the IMU to be initialised with incorrect heading values.
This was all explained earlier in the thread.
 
This incident had nothing common with what you describe.
It had nothing to do with light and dark and everything to do with launching from an area where magnetic interference caused the IMU to be initialised with incorrect heading values.
This was all explained earlier in the thread.
If you read my flight log, at 3.3 seconds into the flight it recorded:

Unable to take off (Code: 30064).; NLighting environment too dark. Visual positioning inaccurate. Fly with caution.
 
I did see that. It is one reason that i said it was a light issue. If it is too dark to take off that is the msg. you get. I am kina surprised that you could even launch. Magnetic interference had nothing to do with anything. I get that msg. almost every time I launch.
 
If you read my flight log, at 3.3 seconds into the flight it recorded:
Unable to take off (Code: 30064).; NLighting environment too dark. Visual positioning inaccurate. Fly with caution.
That was simply a notification that lighting was insufficient for the VPS system to assist with horizontal positioning.
It had nothing to do with the actual incident and couldn't have caused it.
 
I did see that. It is one reason that i said it was a light issue. ... Magnetic interference had nothing to do with anything.
And you were wrong.
Read the whole thread to find out what the actual issue was instead of guessing.
 
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