Mavic 2 pro crashed because it flew on its own and without user input !!

[Steli22]

My drone was in tripod mode and connected to 12 satellite. All of a sudden it flew backwards about 30 meters in to a tree with no user input at all. Sent the drone back to DJI europe and they have said they will repair for free? so they are accepting responsibility. But my problem is, what happens next time the drone decides it wants to fly on its own and hits someone when i have no control over it. Surely DJI should replace the unit under warranty !! has anyone else had similar issues with the mavic 2. Thanks.

 

[GregD]

Welcome to the forum.
Sorry to hear about your crash. If you are interested in finding out what actually happened you may post the log for the flight here and members will take a look.

Here is a link for the directions: PhantomHelp.com

 

[Steli22]

Ive just heard back from DJI and it was a compass error with the drone they are now sending me a new one out.

 

[GregD]

Good news for sure.

 

[mwardncsu]

Something I've been curious about - in a situation like this when something has gone awry for whatever reason - if you hit the "pause" button on the controller, would it cause the unit to stop where-is? In the case above where there was a compass error and the drone took off on the wrong direction, would sending the Pause command have stopped it, perhaps allowing some controlled flight to get it on the ground? Of course there is time to realize what has happened and hit the button...

 

[Thomas B]

Something I've been curious about - in a situation like this when something has gone awry for whatever reason - if you hit the "pause" button on the controller, would it cause the unit to stop where-is? In the case above where there was a compass error and the drone took off on the wrong direction, would sending the Pause command have stopped it, perhaps allowing some controlled flight to get it on the ground? Of course there is time to realize what has happened and hit the button...

Short answer: yes that will halt it where it is until you send another command assuming good connection. I have used the pause button successfully to halt my MPP in several circumstances where it seemed to be executing a command other than what I sent. It certainly would not hurt anything to try it.

 

[BD0G]

Well in a situation like yours that would be referred to as a "fly away".

To answer your question - If you visually observe the drone flying away without providing stick inputs and believe that people or property may be endangered you will need to make a judgement call and if you deem necessary pull both sticks in and down and hold them there. This will cause an emergency shut down of the motors and the drone will drop from the sky. Crisis averted.

Many people forget about this when in panic mode and /or dont want to use it because there will be damage caused to thier drone.

This is a good thing to do rather than potentially having the drone cause injury. The drone can be repaired.

There is a setting in DJIGO4 that pertains to these stick commands.

 

[Steli22]

Good idea. Also another good thing would be to have Atti mode built in to the Mavic series like the phantoms.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Ive just heard back from DJI and it was a compass error with the drone they are now sending me a new one out.

Great to hear DJI stepping up to the plate, A few years back in 2016 we were flying the Phantom 4 in tripod mode 100 ft up , dropped into atti mode and flew away, never found it . The drone was totally unresponsive to the controls that included RTH - Pause Ect.

Magnetic Interference is most likely the cause , and most of the time you get a warning post that comes up at some point , however when no warning appears , and the drone shows a Yaw Error or Compass error this is when DJI tends to immediatley refund.

If you got that warning popup and they see that you were warned , this is when DJI does not want to Refund without a battle.

The phantoms were much more prone to magnetic interference than the Mavics but the end result for both is the same , it is that you have no control over the drone ,,which you would have found out very quickly had it not crashed into the trees.

Knowing what we know now, 90% of a successful flight is the perfect take off point.

Magnetic Interference Pop up sometimes happen so fast and than just vanish on the screen and its easy to miss it.

We know that once that flash happens , that the flight is likely to be compromised and there is a good chance GPS may be lost and atti mode will kick in.

Tip: Normally my eyes are glued on the drone when taking off and its easy to miss the popups happening on the screen at that crucial time.

We made a video of how this works on the Phantom by inducing Magnetic Interference ( ON PURPOSE ) , might be interesting to watch:

Phantomrain.org
Approved Vendor
Flying in and out of the storm.

 

[BD0G]

You can put the Mavic 2 in ATTI mode. Its done using DJI Assistant 2.
See this post
Mavic 2 Atti mode

 

[Steli22]

You can put the Mavic 2 in ATTI mode. Its done using DJI Assistant 2.
See this post
Mavic 2 Atti mode

Yeah I’ve been using Atti mode but it would be nice for it to come standard.

 

[Steli22]

Great to hear DJI stepping up to the plate, A few years back 2016 we were flying the Phantom 4 in tripod mode and 100 ft up , dropped into attimode and flew away, never found it . The drone was totally unresponsive to the controls that included RTH - Pause Ect.

Magnetic Interference is most likely the cause , and it most of the time you get a warning post that comes up at some point , however when no warning appears , and the drone shows a Yaw Error or Compass error this is when DJI tends to immediatley refund.

If you got that warning popup and they see that you were warned , this is when DJI does not want to Refund without a battle.

The phantoms were much more prone to this than the Mavics but the end result for both , is that you have no control ,,which you would have found out quickly had it not crashed into the trees.

Knowing what we know now, 90% of a successful flight is the perfect take off point.

Magnetic Interference Pop up sometimes happen so fast and than just vanish on the screen and its easy to miss it.
We know that once that flash happens , that flight is likely to be compromised and there is a good chance GPS may be lost and atti mode will kick in.

Tip: Normally my eyes are glued on the drone when taking off and its easy to miss the popups happening on the screen at that crucial time.

We made a video of how this works on the Phantom by inducing Magnetic Interference , might be interesting to watch:

Phantomrain.org
Approved Vendor
Flying in and out of the storm.

Thanks. But there was no mag interference or even a compass error. The drone didn’t turn in to Atti mode and start drifting off it went under its own power. Well nothing through the app even when watched back on the flight records.

 

[Kilrah]

Something I've been curious about - in a situation like this when something has gone awry for whatever reason - if you hit the "pause" button on the controller, would it cause the unit to stop where-is?

No. The whole reason it's flying away is that it can't control itself, pressing a button won't make it magically able to again.

The pause button is a "stop in place" command, but a fly-away is a lack of ability to follow commands, which will of course include that one.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Thanks. But there was no mag interference or even a compass error. The drone didn’t turn in to Atti mode and start drifting off it went under its own power. Well nothing through the app even when watched back on the flight records.

Exactly that is why they refunded so quickly because no warning showed up, but on the log it does show what occurred during the flight.

 

[AMann]

Well in a situation like yours that would be referred to as a "fly away".

To answer your question - If you visually observe the drone flying away without providing stick inputs and believe that people or property may be endangered you will need to make a judgement call and if you deem necessary pull both sticks in and down and hold them there. This will cause an emergency shut down of the motors and the drone will drop from the sky. Crisis averted.

Many people forget about this when in panic mode and /or dont want to use it because there will be damage caused to thier drone.

This is a good thing to do rather than potentially having the drone cause injury. The drone can be repaired.

There is a setting in DJIGO4 that pertains to these stick commands.

So glad these have overide options that can stop a flyaway! Back in my gas powered RC plane days, I had a terrible scare when my wing fell off after doing a loop and the body flew off like a rocket uncontrollably at full throttle up and over a busy Los Angeles freeway! Luckily, even though the 5-lb missle flew over a busy freeway, it landed in a vacant lot a mile away. All of it was destroyed after it nosed into pavement.

 

[sar104]

Thanks. But there was no mag interference or even a compass error. The drone didn’t turn in to Atti mode and start drifting off it went under its own power. Well nothing through the app even when watched back on the flight records.

You stated in post #3 that DJI concluded it was a compass error.

 

[ac0j]

Something I've been curious about - in a situation like this when something has gone awry for whatever reason - if you hit the "pause" button on the controller, would it cause the unit to stop where-is? In the case above where there was a compass error and the drone took off on the wrong direction, would sending the Pause command have stopped it, perhaps allowing some controlled flight to get it on the ground? Of course there is time to realize what has happened and hit the button...

If the compass failed, I dont know that it could hover with stability, since that requires a compass. it cant stay where it is if it doesnt know where it is. Or can the GPS work without the compass? Maybe @sar104 or Big Al can answer this?

 

[Thomas B]

You stated in post #3 that DJI concluded it was a compass error.

Understand what your getting atbut, as long as DJI found a reason to refund/replace all is good.

Btw, pretty good video on how Atti mode can sneak up on a pilot.

 

[sar104]

If the compass failed, I dont know that it could hover with stability, since that requires a compass. it cant stay where it is if it doesnt know where it is. Or can the GPS work without the compass? Maybe @sar104 or Big Al can answer this?

Correct - it cannot hold position if it doesn't know the direction it is facing because it doesn't know the relationship between the earth frame of reference and the aircraft frame of reference. GPS data will tell it that it is drifting (in the earth frame of reference) but without the compass data it doesn't know in which direction to apply thrust (in the aircraft frame of reference) to correct for the drift.

The problem described by the OP is more likely where it thinks it knows which direction it is facing, but is wrong. In that situation its attempts to hold position result in applying thrust in the wrong direction to oppose drift. Depending on the error in the yaw value it is using, that can result in toilet bowl motion (for errors around 90°) or linear flight in the wrong direction (for errors nearer 180°), or any combination of the two for intermediate values.

 

[ac0j]

Correct - it cannot hold position if it doesn't know the direction it is facing because it doesn't know the relationship between the earth frame of reference and the aircraft frame of reference. GPS data will tell it that it is drifting (in the earth frame of reference) but without the compass data it doesn't know in which direction to apply thrust (in the aircraft frame of reference) to correct for the drift.

The problem described by the OP is more likely where it thinks it knows which direction it is facing, but is wrong. In that situation its attempts to hold position result in applying thrust in the wrong direction to oppose drift. Depending on the error in the yaw value it is using, that can result in toilet bowl motion (for errors around 90°) or linear flight in the wrong direction (for errors nearer 180°), or any combination of the two for intermediate values.

Thank you sir!
SO, in this case pause button or return to home would also be useless. Correct?