Joystick flight mode?

[fguthrie]

First, I've attempted to do my own research on "Joystick Mode" and found most people don't really know what it is or what puts the AC into it. My goal here is to understand why the AC would go into this mode and does it mean there is an issue with the M2P or is it some DJI safety mode? Yesterday I was playing with "TapFly" (Side note: I have found "TapFly Free" to be very useful when shooting video. The ability to navigate the drone in any direction and have it still fly straight is pretty much amazing to me. If you have not tried it, I highly recommend it).

The M2P was in TapFly Free and it went into "Joystick Mode". As I study the log more, I have theory. Take a look at 6 minutes 23.3 seconds in the log (see link below). As I remember, I did not think the M2P was moving and may have pressed the right stick to get it to move. I quickly realized I had no control over the sticks at all. The good news was I did not panic (something I am good at when flying my M2P). The AC was not that far away from me and I could see it hovering. I tapped the "X" to cancel "TapFly" and after a bit regained control and continued the flight. My theory is that when you are in "TapFly" you do not have the ability to use the joystick to modify the speed and touching it may have put the AC into "Joystick Mode". That is just a theory - my hope is that someone here really knows what joystick mode is all about and can explain it.

Here is a link to the uploaded log file: DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

Thank you.

 

[sar104]

That's an interesting situation. The problem wasn't Joystick mode (whatever that is) - it was only in that mode very briefly:



Looking more closely at the end of the "Tap to fly" control period:



The real problem is visible in the control device record (green trace), where the aircraft control was not properly returned to the RC after the fluctuation between "Joystick" and P-GPS - it went back to the aircraft (OnboardDevice).

However, looking at the aircraft motion after 400 seconds, it does appear to have responded just fine to stick inputs. Here is the elevator, pitch and forward speed:



That leaves me puzzled both by the control device record and your comment that it did not respond.

 

[fguthrie]

Thank you for taking a look at this. If you are puzzled ... I'm concerned! lol I am going to take it out this weekend and see if I get a repeat performance. I have never had the M2P do that before, but then again I have not played with TapFly before either. As I mentioned, at one point I definitely had no control over the sticks, that was a new experience. I'm hooping I don't see the "Joystick Mode" again. Have a great weekend Sar.