Mavic 3 flyaway

[AKAurora]

What do you mean by you launched from a "foldout pad".
What is that?
What's it made of?
What other metal was close by (within a couple of feet)?
What was the parking lot surface below your "foldout pad" made of?
If it was concrete, concrete has metal rebar in it that will usually throw a compass error.

The answers will the likely reveal the cause(s) of the compass/yaw error, prior to launch.

The pad was made of a rubberized plu material wrapped around 6 plastic boards. Roughly 3ftx3ft.
Melaterial of area was gravel and dirt.

DJI is replacing the drone free of charge and it to be a mechanical failure of some sort

 

[FLDave]

Thanks for the update. Really glad you didn't need to use your CareRefresh. Glad it wasn't a compass error. Flight logs would not have shown that problem in AirData logs.
It's amazing how will a DJI drone can at least maintain its orientation during flight even with a motor not working properly.

 

[AKAurora]

Thanks for the update. Really glad you didn't need to use your CareRefresh. Glad it wasn't a compass error. Flight logs would not have shown that problem in AirData logs.

I'm just happy they're doing something about it. It was "clearly a mechanical failure" and they suspect rear motor failure (rear right) and possible that other hardware failures occurred. This was made even more suspect with the lack of accessible cache video and controller disconnects on video streaming that were described.

 

[FLDave]

I use a fabric circular landing pad and never really thought about the fold up variety but I could see where it would be better on grass to make the pad more solid than fabric floating on top of grass.

 

[wco81]

I'm just happy they're doing something about it. It was "clearly a mechanical failure" and they suspect rear motor failure (rear right) and possible that other hardware failures occurred. This was made even more suspect with the lack of accessible cache video and controller disconnects on video streaming that were described.

Did you have to provide them the damaged aircraft or just the logs?

 

[FLDave]

Already answered in post #1. Drone was not recovered.

 

[AKAurora]

Did you have to provide them the damaged aircraft or just the logs?

Just the logs. Unable to retrieve the aircraft.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Thanks for the update. Really glad you didn't need to use your CareRefresh. Glad it wasn't a compass error. Flight logs would not have shown that problem in AirData logs.
It's amazing how will a DJI drone can at least maintain its orientation during flight even with a motor not working properly.

He didn't have Care Refresh on this drone. Compass error clearly was involved, based upon the map in post #40 and the actual drone orientation, as verified by the OP. The drone orientation was wrongly displayed even before take off. FYI: A drone with a rear motor failure can't maintain altitude and comes spiralling down.

 

[eEridani]

Unfortunately very typical in cases like this...

Told you someone would come along and say I was wrong. Even though I wasn't... lol. What on Earth are people smoking when they complain about someone saying a feature of a flight is suspicious. Don't they have better things to do than bang their ego against a simple statement?

 

[RayKelly]

I went on a family trip to Telluride CO. I drove up to the base of Bridal Veil Falls and took my Mavic 3 off after waiting for about ~30 sec for it to update home point and get 12+ (I think 16) sat connections. Well, I started video and started to ascend from the auto hover altitude and took video going up the fall. I got to the top of the falls (I was back about 400 feet from them) and the drone started backing up with no input from me. After a momentary freakout, I tried to adjust altitude (btw, only 6mph winds, almost nothing to feel) and it started to drift in a half-moon shape circle before crashing and getting lost. During this, I was getting disconnection on video and random drops. I got video back just long enough to see it dive into the trees.
After about an hour of searching and there being no signal to connect to in order to use the "find my drone" I gave up. This was about 300 miles from home and a day trip (long drive back).
It's gone, and I can't figure out what happened. I thought maybe a signal jammer or something, but I'd assume it'd just hover or land if that was the case.

EDIT: DJI support came through and is sending me a new drone free of charge.

Sorry about your Mavic 3. Glad DJI is sending you a replacement.

 

[BudWalker]

The pad was made of a rubberized plu material wrapped around 6 plastic boards. Roughly 3ftx3ft.
Melaterial of area was gravel and dirt.

DJI is replacing the drone free of charge and it to be a mechanical failure of some sort

Was the M3 powered up in a location that was possibly geomagnetically distorted and then moved to the launch pad? E.g. a car hood or pickup bed. At power up the magnetometers are used to set the heading. After that heading is determined mostly by the gyros and accelerometers.

 

[slup]

Told you someone would come along and say I was wrong. Even though I wasn't... lol. What on Earth are people smoking when they complain about someone saying a feature of a flight is suspicious. Don't they have better things to do than bang their ego against a simple statement?

Don't know what you read into what I said...you claimed it was suspicious & I enlighten you with how it usually looks during a yaw error regarding speeds. In nearly all cases involving a yaw error both speeds & tilt angles disregard what's specified for the used mode.

To me it looks like you are the one that bangs your ego against a simple statement.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Was the M3 powered up in a location that was possibly geomagnetically distorted and then moved to the launch pad? E.g. a car hood or pickup bed. At power up the magnetometers are used to set the heading. After that heading is determined mostly by the gyros and accelerometers.

Must be something like that, as the compass heading is off by at least 90° at launch!

 

[AKAurora]

Was the M3 powered up in a location that was possibly geomagnetically distorted and then moved to the launch pad? E.g. a car hood or pickup bed. At power up the magnetometers are used to set the heading. After that heading is determined mostly by the gyros and accelerometers.

Nope. Didn't power it on until I had the pad setup on the ground.

 

[Lister]

Was the M3 powered up in a location that was possibly geomagnetically distorted and then moved to the launch pad? E.g. a car hood or pickup bed. At power up the magnetometers are used to set the heading. After that heading is determined mostly by the gyros and accelerometers.

I had that problem. I powered up and attempted launch from a concrete wall. Mini2 reported gimbal calibration error and refused to fly. Move, re-started, calibrated gimbal and all was well.

 

[Mid-AtlanticDroneServices]

I read through the thread and I think it seems clear it was a mechanical failure, possibly coupled with a gust of wind in the mountains and/or signal interference (rocks, trees). I initially thought maybe a jamming signal as there is a power station there and you’re surrounded by national forest, etc. But given how quickly DJI bailed and just sent you a new drone, I’d say “S happens.”

 

[Dangerly]

I got to the top of the falls (I was back about 400 feet from them) and the drone started backing up with no input from me. After a momentary freakout, I tried to adjust altitude (btw, only 6mph winds, almost nothing to feel) and it started to drift in a half-moon shape circle before crashing and getting lost.

This is just a guess based on a similar experience. Could it be that you suddenly reached a point where there was sudden, swirling, and significant wind due to the waterfall? I was flying under a large bridge here in California, with very little winds where I was standing, maybe 200 feet away, solid VLOS, and as soon as I got beyond the large cement column holding up the bridge, the drone suddenly took off in a fairly fast semicircle. I very nearly crashed into the next cement column and the drone was not taking RC input correctly. I'd push one way and it would fly in a different direction. Even though I had solid VLOS, I am guessing I hit a strong wind gust that was probably swirling around too - I am guessing 30+ mph. I was luckily able to fly back into the relatively windless area I was standing and able to land.

Just throwing this out there - total guess.

 

[DraperSteve]

I went on a family trip to Telluride CO. I drove up to the base of Bridal Veil Falls and took my Mavic 3 off after waiting for about ~30 sec for it to update home point and get 12+ (I think 16) sat connections. Well, I started video and started to ascend from the auto hover altitude and took video going up the fall. I got to the top of the falls (I was back about 400 feet from them) and the drone started backing up with no input from me. After a momentary freakout, I tried to adjust altitude (btw, only 6mph winds, almost nothing to feel) and it started to drift in a half-moon shape circle before crashing and getting lost. During this, I was getting disconnection on video and random drops. I got video back just long enough to see it dive into the trees.
After about an hour of searching and there being no signal to connect to in order to use the "find my drone" I gave up. This was about 300 miles from home and a day trip (long drive back).
It's gone, and I can't figure out what happened. I thought maybe a signal jammer or something, but I'd assume it'd just hover or land if that was the case.

EDIT: DJI support came through and is sending me a new drone free of charge.

Telluride is a fantastic place, and I can't blame you for flying there. I was flying in a canyon in Southern Utah, and the Mavic 2 was behaving strangely. Turned out it was magnetic interference from the minerals in the canyon walls. Perhaps this explains your problem. DJI was the hero in this story, glad they came through for you.
Happy flying

 

[wco81]

That's interesting about canyon walls.

I flew on the Amalfi Coast in Italy a couple of years ago and it was losing signal. I didn't lose the aircraft but the terrain is a path overlooking the ocean and parts of it have these relatively narrow canyon walls.

But it's not like I flew around a canyon wall so that I was separated from the drone by a lot of rock. It's very wooded as well.

The other thing is a hive of bees just went after my M2P, just circling it in a frenzy, being drawn to the aircraft and getting cut up by the propellers. I had to clean it up.

 

[HoozierDroneDaddy]

Could it be the file wasn't "Closed" properly? That's common when a sudden power failure occurs etc and the file is not correctly finalized. There's a thread here for a free and easy tool that fixes this many m

I had that problem. I powered up and attempted launch from a concrete wall. Mini2 reported gimbal calibration error and refused to fly. Move, re-started, calibrated gimbal and all was well.

I may have missed it, but I did not see a clarification on the parking surface, asphalt, concrete, etc.