Loss of Control in Flight - MAVIC PLATINUM PRO

[South-West-Skies]

Hi,
I am new to the flight log analysis having not had to understand them before and would appreciate some help if possible.

On a flight earlier this evening my Mavic Pro decided to appear to lose control resulting in the drone turning and ended up having to make an emergency landing in a field, fortunately no damage was caused due to a soft landing in grass.

I've downloaded the flight logs and would appreciate any advice as to what went wrong or if it was a weather related issue due to wind or other factors.

There was no warnings, the drone appeared before the emergency landing to judder and move around as if I had lost control, decided the safest solution was to land and retrieve the drone from the field.

Many thanks in advance for any help.

 

[-MavicMiniPilot]

When you picked it up was there any damage?

 

[Don Testme]

Hi,
I am new to the flight log analysis having not had to understand them before and would appreciate some help if possible.

On a flight earlier this evening my Mavic Pro decided to appear to lose control resulting in the drone turning and ended up having to make an emergency landing in a field, fortunately no damage was caused due to a soft landing in grass.

I've downloaded the flight logs and would appreciate any advice as to what went wrong or if it was a weather related issue due to wind or other factors.

There was no warnings, the drone appeared before the emergency landing to judder and move around as if I had lost control, decided the safest solution was to land and retrieve the drone from the field.

Many thanks in advance for any help.

Today, my Mavic 3 went out of control. But I quickly realized the cause and corrected. I was on land holding my drone when I saw a dolphin. I put the drone on some hard packed sand and took off. All was going smoothly for about 5 minutes. Then, suddenly my drone started spinning or flying in a very small circles and wouldn't stop. I was in N mode. I suddenly got a "Sensor Warning" appearing on the screen. So, I quickly pressed return home, which it responded to, but I was not in that location any longer. I switched out of return home and it started circling again. Then I switched to sport mode, because I knew this would turn the sensors off. It stopped circling and I flew it back to my location. I inspected the sensors and noticed hard water stains on 2 of the sensors and body of the aircraft. The day was hot and I had been sweating significantly. My sweat had actually dripped down my arm and onto the drone and 2 sensors.. As the drone was flying, the sweat dried over the sensors leaving salt and oil residue on them. I retrieved the drone and cleaned the dirty sensors and all the others as well. Who knew, just a little dried up sweat could cause such a scary scenario.

 

[Meta4]

On a flight earlier this evening my Mavic Pro decided to appear to lose control resulting in the drone turning and ended up having to make an emergency landing in a field, fortunately no damage was caused due to a soft landing in grass.

I see two times in the flight data where the drone appears to turn without corresponding joystick input.
At 3:08.7 for 1 sec (43° anticlockwise) and 2:27.8 for 2.5 sec (142 ° anticlockwise).

I'm curious about where you powered on/launched and what direction the drone was facing when you launched it.
What was the surface you launched from?
Were there any steel objects within a few feet?
Was the drone facing to the east (parallel to the road) when you launched?

 

[South-West-Skies]

When you picked it up was there any damage?

None that I would see, all looked ok

 

[South-West-Skies]

I see two times in the flight data where the drone appears to turn without corresponding joystick input.
At 3:08.7 for 1 sec (43° anticlockwise) and 2:27.8 for 2.5 sec (142 ° anticlockwise).

I'm curious about where you powered on/launched and what direction the drone was facing when you launched it.
What was the surface you launched from?
Were there any steel objects within a few feet?
Was the drone facing to the east (parallel to the road) when you launched?

I launched from a tarmac surface, parking area outside a house, with no steel objects apart from cars parked there, never had any problems flying from the same location in the past.

Yes launched facing east and parallel with the road, a concrete private farm track access.

As a point of interest a temporary mobile phone mast is sighted to the west of the launch site by 130m line of sight.
Did wonder if it might have effected the flight in someway due to RF interference.

I'll try to edit and post the video on youtube with a link to here.

 

[Meta4]

Yes launched facing east and parallel with the road, a concrete private farm track access.

Was the drone on concrete or was there concrete under the tarmac surface?

As a point of interest a temporary mobile phone mast is sighted to the west of the launch site by 130m line of sight.
Did wonder if it might have effected the flight in someway due to RF interference.

A mobile phone tower 130 metres away should have not had any effect on the flight.
RF interference might cause slight glitching in the screen video but is unlikely to have caused control issues.

 

[South-West-Skies]

Was the drone on concrete or was there concrete under the tarmac surface?

A mobile phone tower 130 metres away should have not had any effect on the flight.
RF interference might cause slight glitching in the screen video but is unlikely to have caused control issues.

The launch surface us tarmac and the drone was not under this at any point.

Video of the incident where you can see the drone move without input from the controller.
https://youtu.be/jMl7rPK4mXA

 

[FLDave]

What's with the gimbal control problem? At one point your forward acceleration tilt shows the propellers.

 

[Meta4]

The launch surface us tarmac and the drone was not under this at any point.

Was there concrete under the tarmac you mentioned?
How close was the drone to the concrete of the road?

 

[FLDave]

I also assume there was no steel under the field where you had a problem. I don't think any magnetic field caused your problem--or compass calibration.
On the other hand, I suspect the drone was too far away for you to see what was actually happening and you were only relying on the erratic gimbal video feed to know there was a problem.

 

[Meta4]

I also assume there was no steel under the field where you had a problem. I don't think any magnetic field caused your problem--or compass calibration.

You can safely fly over even a large steel object without it having any effect on the drone.
No-one suggested anything like this.

On the other hand, I suspect the drone was too far away for you to see what was actually happening and you were only relying on the erratic gimbal video feed to know there was a problem.

There is flight data that shows what happened.

 

[FLDave]

Your AirData report does not show any inflight wind data, just local wind forecast. If you had been close enough to the drone you could have observed any buffeting from the wind as the problem areas. You would need to upgrade to next AirData level to see estimated wind during flight.
On the other hand there should be no reason to suspect sudden wind changes if you experienced calm wind at takeoff and landing.

 

[Meta4]

Your AirData report does not show any inflight wind data, just local wind forecast. If you had been close enough to the drone you could have observed any buffeting from the wind as the problem areas. You would need to upgrade to next AirData level to see estimated wind during flight.
On the other hand there should be no reason to suspect sudden wind changes if you experienced calm wind at takeoff and landing.

Read post #4 to see what the data shows.
Wind doesn't cause a drone to rotate 142 ° anticlockwise.

 

[FLDave]

Read post #4 to see what the data shows.
Wind doesn't cause a drone to rotate 142 ° anticlockwise.

So, what really happened and what caused it?

 

[Meta4]

So, what really happened and what caused it?

I've been trying to get to the bottom of that but can't get an answer to my question.
But it wasn't flying over steel, wind or a phone tower.
None of those could possibly cause the issue.

 

[Meta4]

@slup might like to look at this one.

 

[South-West-Skies]

What's with the gimbal control problem? At one point your forward acceleration tilt shows the propellers.

Absolutely no idea, just happened whilst watching the video feed.

 

[South-West-Skies]

Was there concrete under the tarmac you mentioned?
How close was the drone to the concrete of the road?

No concrete under the tarmac to the best of my knowledge, as you thinking of steel bars under the concrete?

The drone on take off was about 6 m from the concrete road surface.

 

[South-West-Skies]

I've been trying to get to the bottom of that but can't get an answer to my question.
But it wasn't flying over steel, wind or a phone tower.
None of those could possibly cause the issue.

I agree with you on the above, very confused as to what happened and caused the issue.

I fly regularly in the same area and have never experienced the issue before.