Mavic Mini ascending when flying forward without any input from left stick

[cieplok]

Hello guys!

I am a little bit worried about what happened today during my flights and I am looking for advice if that's something serious.
I have changed all the propellers yesterday because they took a slight hit when I've landed in the grass and also I've seen the movies about impact of storing Mavic Mini in Flight More Combo case. Since last flight, I also updated firmware to the latest version (.500) even though I should know to not change multiple variables at the same time .
During today's flight when I was flying in Sport mode straight ahead with just my right stick the drone was ascending almost all the time and that was a significant change of the altitude. To be completely sure that I really didn't touch the controller I've uploaded logs to the log viewer and it looks like a drone in fact was ascending without any input.
Here is a log DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com. The situation happens also in the first part of the flight (1m 6s, 2m 10s) but it is most prominent with the part of flying straight ahead starting at 3m 49s. Am I interpreting the graphs correctly that the ascend was independent of my input in the left stick? Is that something that I should worry about? During the flight, I was aware of the change in the altitude and I was ready to correct the altitude or stop the flight immediately in case something could go wrong. But I am afraid of a similar thing happening in the future but with the descend this time - it could happen when I would not notice it and crash the drone.
In fact, I think something like that happened in the latter part of the flight (after a brief disconnect due to distance from me) but on a smaller scale. Here is a log DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com. Take a look at straight flight between 14m 10s and 14m 26s. It looks like there is no input from the left stick (and this is how I remember that, but my memory might deceive me) and he height is fluctuating between 2.3ft and 7.2 ft (I don't know how to switch that log viewer into metric units).
I am aware that there could be some micro-adjustments that are not seen in the log viewer and that I do not remember doing. So maybe you could recommend me the page or tool where I can check also input from sticks in more details so I can confirm that.

Overall my question is: should I be worried? And it yes then what can I improve to not crash my drone in the future because of that?

Thanks in advance,
Michał

 

[GerdS]

I can calm you down, this happens to many if not all Minis and seems to be a firmware bug. I have found out that this occurs if flying faster than about 20km/h, both in P and S mode.
We have already a discussion of this issue here.

 

[Meta4]

To be completely sure that I really didn't touch the controller I've uploaded logs to the log viewer and it looks like a drone in fact was ascending without any input.

Yes .. your Mini is ascending without any corresponding joystick input.
Just like many other Mavic Mini owners have reported.

Overall my question is: should I be worried? And it yes then what can I improve to not crash my drone in the future because of that?

If your Mini can't maintain altitude that's a serious problem, particularly when it descends without joystick input.
Since the cause of the issue still hasn't been identified, there's no solution.

 

[cieplok]

@GerdS and @Meta4, thank you guys for the confirmation. I will go through the linked thread. And I will be especially aware of the altitude when flying at higher speeds from now on.

 

[CarstenB]

did it do the same before you changed the props? I don't have this problem before and after the firmware update so if it didn't do it before i'd suspect something is wrong with the props.

 

[EyesWideShut]

In my forum browsing today I think I saw a post saying the ascent problem didn't occur with a bit more altitude and that maybe the downward visual sensor has something to do with it. I haven't gone thru many posts on this ascending so I ask the question - Is the problem showing up on low fast flights and not at say 30 feet?

EDIT: I found the reference here: uncommanded descent

 

[cieplok]

@CarstenB I haven't noticed anything like that previously, at least nothing so noticeable. I already ordered a new set of props and I will change them as soon as they arrive.

@EyesWideShut The starting position was in fact low to the ground (around 1m). But I did similar takes (with just flying low to the ground and changing only the angle of the camera) previously and haven't noticed anything like that. I will be following that thread that you linked.

Definitely now I will try to be super cautious when flying.