Mavic Went CRAZY!... CRASHED

[toddellis]

GREAT information - thanks so much! the same thing happened to me wednesday - coincidentally, at an auto dealership. i was doing a fly-through-the service-bay shot. i had done it twice without incident, flying away from me with the camera pointing to the right - like a long dolly shot. on the 3rd pass the mavic stopped & started backing up - toward a desk & a stack of tires. i hit the "up" stick and the mavic responded, slowly, as i was in tripod mode, then started going nuts again. i managed to get it on the ground - skidding to a high-speed stop.

from reading this thread - i don't even have to look at the log. i'll bet the compass thought i was facing in a different direction - i got too close to the desk and the mavic moved "backward" thinking it was moving "forward" to avoid the obstacle.

two mysteries solved for the price of one! --- again --- thanks.

 

[Pawel_EPWR]

I had similar situations. I calibrated compass before the start, waiting for strong signal and record home point. I use auto start. Then I flow up and the drone unexpectedly turn right and I lost control over him. Quickly I put RTH button, but drone don't respond and crashed. I have DJI Care, but I was sure that this situation was not my mistake. I send the drone to service. DJI quickly respond to me. They send me invoice. The cost of repair was 181EUR, but I don't have to pay because repair service was for free.
Remark:
The aircraft was controlled by pilot in GPS mode. The compass navigation bias was too large, Velocity mixed error during the flight. T=141s, H=15m, D=300m, aircraft crashed during GoHome. Conclusion: Compass error. Warranty.

 

[Pointbob]

Took off for a short flight, got about a few hundred feet away, maybe 75' altitude. All of a sudden the thing went crazy, wasn't flying level and seemed to be flying at a speed similar to sport mode. It somehow headed back in my direction flying on it's side (life knife edge) and slammed into a storage container in the parking lot at work.

I started a case with DJI and will ship it to them tomorrow. I've only had it for a few weeks, I'm almost in tears.

Any thoughts?

I completely let go of the controls when it was doing this and NOTHING!

Sorry about your loss Toy; hope you get reimbursed.

BTW, what firmware and dji app vers were you on? Was it all "stock" or modifiied. Thanks

 

[Static8]

I had very similar issue with mine after flying for maybe 10 mins. I had new battery and suddenly Mavic was not taking any input at all from my RC, it was drifting and freaking out a little then it would hover, regained slight RC control so what I did is placed the MA in Sport mode and then I had complete control again and landed without incident. It was like a “reset” when I placed it in Sport mode and cleared the error , Funny thing when I checked the files later, the RC completely disconnected from the MA and I was no more than 40 feet from MA , it switched to WIFI mode for no reason at all, which was really weird...Has anyone had that happen.?

 

[pbell]

i was doing a fly-through-the service-bay shot.

If the service bay has a roof, probably steel, then it may simply be that the drone lost gps reception. I'm always cautious flying beneath/through man-made structures.

 

[swooshdave]

The drone should be able to lose GPS and not freak out. It should drop to Visual and pilot should have control.

 

[Kevjones777]

Surely the software should be able to detect that the aircraft is not receiving any joystick inputs and is flying all over the place and be able to switch to a mode

The drone should be able to lose GPS and not freak out. It should drop to Visual and pilot should have control.

I agree, the software logic should be able to read the last mode it was in and react in a manner that allows some sort of control to be regained. If it is in sport mode for example then the aircraft can expect to behave in an unpredictable flight path but it should not "fly away" when it detects that the previous "good" mode was say GPS. I need to get my head around the program logic but I think it can be done in software. Even if it just switches to full manual mode. The program logic around RTH for example is "assuming" that all the variables are correct, heading, GPS point etc.

 

[zwt100]

There have been several similar crashes. Would this be considered pilot error?

In the notifications it says:
Warning:In Flight, working compass encounters magnetic-field interference,please switch to atti mode if craft behave abnormally

Warning:In Flight, working IMU encounters heading exception,please switch to atti mode if craft behave abnormally

I don't think we can manually switch to ATTI mode even if we wanted to, right?

Why did the drone not switch to ATTI mode after these warnings? It seems like the drone correctly determined the issue, but asked the operator to take an action that was impossible (switch to ATTI).

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In the notifications it says:
Warning:In Flight, working compass encounters magnetic-field interference,please switch to atti mode if craft behave abnormally

Warning:In Flight, working IMU encounters heading exception,please switch to atti mode if craft behave abnormally

I don't think we can manually switch to ATTI mode even if we wanted to, right?

Why did the drone not switch to ATTI mode after these warnings? It seems like the drone correctly determined the issue, but asked the operator to take an action that was impossible (switch to ATTI).

lets hope the Mavic II will have a ATTI switch...

I've gotten this message on my last two flights, however other than a little bit of drift everything seems okay. The drift may have been caused by wind but I'm almost certain it felt more stable a week ago than it does now and the wind conditions were about the same. Maybe it's my imagination. Either way, I just need to calibrate the IMU and possibly compass to fix the issue, correct? I've heard you have to keep the drone cool before calibrating the IMU, is that true as well?

Thanks!

 

[swooshdave]

If you lose connection a couple options are to hover or RTH. Dropping GPS but still having connection shouldn’t be that hard.

Flying into a steel structure could mess with the compass but there are more sensors than just the compass that it can track.

 

[Toyotamdt]

I’ve flown in the same place a bunch of times.. took off from the exact same location and flown the exact same path towards the forest preserve right across the street. I was completely clear of the building, maybe 150’ away before anything went wrong. The Air is complete stock, only had it a few weeks, and the firmware was current I believe.
So, correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems that I’ve learned from this is that ATTI might have helped me and I can’t control that switch, but I was go to.

 

[Classic flyer]

These are the best posts. Grab some popcorn and watch the forum detectives solve the case.

Bookem Dano..LMAO

 

[Dave Maine]

There is no easy way to respond when different sensors disagree. Which one do you listen to? If the mismatch is severe, as it was in this case, you get a graveyard spirial. The best that can be done is to throw up sensor errors and hope the pilot can move quickly before the death spirial begins

 

[swooshdave]

There is no easy way to respond when different sensors disagree. Which one do you listen to? If the mismatch is severe, as it was in this case, you get a graveyard spirial. The best that can be done is to throw up sensor errors and hope the pilot can move quickly before the death spirial begins

You listen to the one that keeps the bird alive. So which ones are crucial? You can fly a drone without GPS and compass. I believe as you have gyros you have a chance. But you have to give the pilot a chance.

 

[robmacom]

Took off for a short flight, got about a few hundred feet away, maybe 75' altitude. All of a sudden the thing went crazy, wasn't flying level and seemed to be flying at a speed similar to sport mode. It somehow headed back in my direction flying on it's side (life knife edge) and slammed into a storage container in the parking lot at work.

I started a case with DJI and will ship it to them tomorrow. I've only had it for a few weeks, I'm almost in tears.

Any thoughts?

I completely let go of the controls when it was doing this and NOTHING!

This is like DJ avu I stupidly flew my Air without checking how many satellites I had (0) it did the exact same as your description and flew off over my roof at about 45 mph landed in a field in 6 feet of snow (Lucky) I posted on here and the guys brilliantly told me what the problem was. It is on my list of pre flight checks now. There are many issues to check before flying including wind speed etc. Good luck I hope you get your Air back sorted.

 

[Toyotamdt]

Just a quick update on my 'situation'.

My Mavic Air is somewhere between Chicago and California right now in a nice little brown box. It should arrive in DJI's hands later this week. I am hoping for some kind if communication from them the following week.

So, I am going to ask some of you experts if I am clear on this so that if I need to try to persuade DJI to consider this a drone issue I don't sound like the rookie that I am.

1. Admittedly, there was magnetic interference, it's in the log and I saw the warning. When the first warning occurred I already had ZERO control.
2. Apparently the Mavic never made a switch to ATTI, though it did tell me to switch to ATTI mode, which from what I have learned here, I cannot.
3. ATTI mode may have been the only chance that I had in regaining control of my Air.
4. This seems to be a similar problem that occurred in some instances with the Phantom and at some point DJI took at least some kind of responsibility for those problems.

Honestly, it is what it is. I had the thing in my hand and I was flying it. If they tell me they won't help, then they won't help (I will TRY of course to convince them to help).

I'm new, this is my first drone and I didn't even know what ATTI was, didn't realize that magnetic interference could render the Air uncontrollable. That being said, I suspect that I am the majority, no?

Thank you all again for your thoughts and comments. I look forward to being a part of this community for a long time.

 

[Kevjones777]

Ill tell you something else I discovered today. If you put the Air in "Beginner Mode" and there are 7/8 satellites visible, it will NOT let you take off. Then take it out of beginner mode without moving it, suddenly it reports that GPS flight is ok. Go back to beginner and it says no GPS then it reports 11/15 satellites without moving. Locating satellites can take 2 to 3 minutes. It almost looks like it stops "looking for satellites in beginner mode. Why is this important, well you cannot set home point in beginner mode when it is in this state, but switch out of beginner and it accepts the home point.

 

[sar104]

Just a quick update on my 'situation'.

My Mavic Air is somewhere between Chicago and California right now in a nice little brown box. It should arrive in DJI's hands later this week. I am hoping for some kind if communication from them the following week.

So, I am going to ask some of you experts if I am clear on this so that if I need to try to persuade DJI to consider this a drone issue I don't sound like the rookie that I am.

1. Admittedly, there was magnetic interference, it's in the log and I saw the warning. When the first warning occurred I already had ZERO control.
2. Apparently the Mavic never made a switch to ATTI, though it did tell me to switch to ATTI mode, which from what I have learned here, I cannot.
3. ATTI mode may have been the only chance that I had in regaining control of my Air.
4. This seems to be a similar problem that occurred in some instances with the Phantom and at some point DJI took at least some kind of responsibility for those problems.

Honestly, it is what it is. I had the thing in my hand and I was flying it. If they tell me they won't help, then they won't help (I will TRY of course to convince them to help).

I'm new, this is my first drone and I didn't even know what ATTI was, didn't realize that magnetic interference could render the Air uncontrollable. That being said, I suspect that I am the majority, no?

Thank you all again for your thoughts and comments. I look forward to being a part of this community for a long time.

That's a reasonable summary for the purposes of asking DJI to help.

 

[Jameslavis]

There are some basic checks it seems the system performs but there should be a splash screen to turn on that highlights signal strength, interference, the famous sar compass check, etc.

As you go, you tend to check them more often.

 

[InvisibleName]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Took my MA out at lunchtime to get some shots in the sun near a local river weir. I’ve got into the habit of doing a compass calibration every time I fly and, since I read this thread, check the direction of the drone aligns with the indicator - calibration was successful, but indicator showed nearly a 180deg difference with drone! The weir has massive METAL gates and must have been playing havoc with the compass. Thank heaven I didn’t try and take off!

Moved well away, re-calibrated, every thing was fine and I had a great time flying (keeping well away from the weir!)

 

[Toyotamdt]

UPDATE....

Warranty repair!

My only concern is that they have only cosmetic parts listed, nothing internal. They say it will be thoroughly tested before sending it back... we shall see.

Thanks everyone for you input, I appreciate it!