Mavic Air hovering/landing issues

[Dsalvetti]

Have loved my mavic air so far and now on a vacation in Greece using it. The app hasn't said there's any issues before takeoff whatsoever.

Over the last couple of days I've noticed 2 problems:

1. I use a landing pad for take offs and landing. When Returning to Home to land, my Air RARELY makes it back to the pad itself and is usually about 2-3 feet off the center of the pad. When taking off I typically either use precision takeoff and also manually reset the home point in settings.
2. I'll descend to 10-20 feet to hover. When the Air goes to hover in place, it's been slowly descending instead of holding it's position. This has made shooting from 10-20 feet nearly impossible.

Anyone have any suggestions? Not sure what other information would be needed.

Thanks!
Dan

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Dan, do you take the Air up to about 30' to allow it to record precision landing ?
Not sure if that is waht you mean in your point 1. text.

This is what's needed with setting the precision landing on the MP, not sure if same applies to Air, but if it has this then I would think it also needs that to 'take a picture' of the point to refer back to on auto RTH landing.

As far as the 'slowly descending instead of holding it's position' problem, are you using std props ?
Just thinking some of the low noise props can affect how the drone behaves by changing the basic performance and how it adjusts to little movements (overcorrects, and then recorrects too far the other way, continuing a pattern like so).
It probably some sort of sensor issue, either calibration needed or possible faulty ?

 

[Dsalvetti]

Dan, do you take the Air up to about 30' to allow it to record precision landing ?
Not sure if that is waht you mean in your point 1. text.

This is what's needed with setting the precision landing on the MP, not sure if same applies to Air, but if it has this then I would think it also needs that to 'take a picture' of the point to refer back to on auto RTH landing.

As far as the 'slowly descending instead of holding it's position' problem, are you using std props ?
Just thinking some of the low noise props can affect how the drone behaves by changing the basic performance and how it adjusts to little movements (overcorrects, and then recorrects too far the other way, continuing a pattern like so).
It probably some sort of sensor issue, either calibration needed or possible faulty ?

Yeah the Air goes to 20ft with precision takeoff/landing, which is what mine does on takeoff.

Great point on the propellers - I'm using the Master Airscrew Stealth props and I haven't changed the settings to what they recommend. I'll try that first.

My initial thought was there was an issue with the down-facing sensors, but this makes more sense! Thanks

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

No worries, hope that works for you.

My BILs Air with MAS props needed his yaw and pitch gains toned down a bit.
He found in wind it would be 'jittery' because it would overcorrect in those operations, and just keep jumping around.

I fitted 8331 (platinum) props to my std Mavic Pro, it's amazingly quieter.
Some with mavic pros and these props had similar issues with this overcorrection, but mine has been fine.

I guess all drones can behave slightly differently even between same models with these mods.

 

[Deleted member 94047]

When taking off I typically either use precision takeoff and also manually reset the home point in settings.

I don't think precision landing kicks in if you manually update the home point after take off. Either use auto take off with the precision landing option checked or take off manually and ascend straight up to 30' and let it hover there for a second or two. In both cases, let the AC acquire enough GPS sats before take off.

When the Air goes to hover in place, it's been slowly descending instead of holding it's position. This has made shooting from 10-20 feet nearly impossible.

The Air has problems maintaining position while hovering over reflective surfaces such as water if it is below 9 meters. Mine does its little dance if I am hovering above water that low. If the surface beneath it is reflective, uniform, or smooth, that could be the reason in your case. Above 'normal' ground, I have never had the Air experience problems maintaining position while hovering. So, your case could be the result of the props you use as @MAvic_South_Oz pointed out above. You could do a test with the stock DJI props and the Stealth props and find out if that is indeed the cause.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I don't think precision landing kicks in if you manually update the home point after take off.

No can't imagine it would, it essentially changes/ updates where you are telling it to land again.

I always through the process of precision landing had a voice message after it had got to 10m (about 33') saying precision landing recorded / enabled, or such, or at least a green text window.
Of course 'home point recorded' voice message comes up first which should be waited for before taking off, it is usually pretty quick to come up.

I hardly use RTH, which of course is the only time precision landing works.

Maybe you do just go straight up to 10m, wait a sec or two for the camera to take its pic down, then go.
Will double check next time I'm out flying.

Pretty sure there is a green window appears advising the landing is adjusting to precision landing, or some such text.

 

[Dsalvetti]

No can't imagine it would, it essentially changes/ updates where you are telling it to land again.

I always through the process of precision landing had a voice message after it had got to 10m (about 33') saying precision landing recorded / enabled, or such, or at least a green text window.
Of course 'home point recorded' voice message comes up first which should be waited for before taking off, it is usually pretty quick to come up.

I hardly use RTH, which of course is the only time precision landing works.

Maybe you do just go straight up to 10m, wait a sec or two for the camera to take its pic down, then go.
Will double check next time I'm out flying.

Pretty sure there is a green window appears advising the landing is adjusting to precision landing, or some such text.

Yeah I don't think I'm waiting long enough to let the Air take it's picture with Precision Landing/Take-Off.

I'll give it a try, thanks!

 

[awsan5]

Have loved my mavic air so far and now on a vacation in Greece using it. The app hasn't said there's any issues before takeoff whatsoever.

Over the last couple of days I've noticed 2 problems:

1. I use a landing pad for take offs and landing. When Returning to Home to land, my Air RARELY makes it back to the pad itself and is usually about 2-3 feet off the center of the pad. When taking off I typically either use precision takeoff and also manually reset the home point in settings.
2. I'll descend to 10-20 feet to hover. When the Air goes to hover in place, it's been slowly descending instead of holding it's position. This has made shooting from 10-20 feet nearly impossible.

Anyone have any suggestions? Not sure what other information would be needed.

Thanks!
Dan

Have you tried re-calibrating the IMU?