Odd flight (wouldn't let me take photos or video)

[larryc43230]

I took my Mavic Air to a local park for a few flights this afternoon. I use DJI GO 4 version 4.3.8 (Android) to control the craft. The remote's and tablet's batteries were fully charged, and the craft's battery read as 98% full.

I sent the bird up on its first flight of the day, flew it to an area near a local reservoir (maybe 2,000 feet away), and tried to take a photo (the mode was set to HDR with format set to RAW+JPEG and photos and videos are recorded to an SD card, in case any of that makes a difference). When I pressed the button on the right side of the app screen to take a photo, nothing happened. The app didn't show me the usual spinning icon, the display didn't change at all. I changed the mode to just take a photo; still nothing. I changed to video mode and pressed the now-red button to start taking video; no joy there, either. I got no error messages all this time, it just refused to take photos or video.

I tried to take photos and video several more times and the app (and bird) continued to ignore my attempts. The drone responded completely normally otherwise. I gave up, brought the bird back to a landing, powered it down, and swapped batteries. This time when I sent the bird up, as if by magic it resumed taking photos (I didn't try taking video, this was a photo-only run). For the rest of the afternoon (a total of four flights), the drone behaved itself and took photos normally.

I'm at a loss to understand why the drone refused to take either photos or video during that first flight. The only thing I did between flights was swap out batteries (by the time the drone landed, the battery was down to about 25%). I never got any error messages related to taking photos or videos.

When I looked at the flight on Airdata, I saw some odd entries in the notifications list, but I have no idea what they mean. Here's a screen snap of the notifications:



The entries I'm referring to begin at 04m 58s. I have no idea what "Mode changed to Detour" and "Mode changed to Joystick" even mean, and I wouldn't know how to enter those modes if I tried. The time of the first notification coincides (more or less) to my first attempt to take a photo. Just out of curiosity, what are Detour Mode and Joystick Mode, and how are those modes triggered?

There were no other odd notifications for the rest of the flight, but I wasn't able to take photos or video until I landed the drone and inserted a fresh battery. After that, the drone performed normally.

I've uploaded the flight log to the DJI Flight Log Viewer on PhantomHelp. The log is located here.

Larry

 

[Mossiback]

Did you confirm that the first set of photos were not on the SD card? I have noticed that some times Go 4 fails to make the "shutter" sound or will do it well after the shot (like it got stuck in a buffer) but the photo was recorded on the card.

I never heard of the Detour mode.

 

[larryc43230]

Did you confirm that the first set of photos were not on the SD card? I have noticed that some times Go 4 fails to make the "shutter" sound or will do it well after the shot (like it got stuck in a buffer) but the photo was recorded on the card.

I never heard of the Detour mode.

When I returned home I found no photos from that first flight on either the SD card or internal storage (they shouldn't have been in internal storage anyway). I did find all the photos I expected from the remaining flights I did the same day. The drone simply didn't take any photos (or videos) on that first flight.

Yeah, that Detour Mode is a complete mystery to me, too. I also have no idea what Joystick Mode is about (though I guess it has something to do with the joysticks ). I haven't had a chance to compare the Airdata log with the one from the DJI Flight Log Viewer (that will have to wait till at least tomorrow). Maybe that will shed some light on those mystery modes.

Larry

 

[mmlaverman]

When I returned home I found no photos from that first flight on either the SD card or internal storage (they shouldn't have been in internal storage anyway). I did find all the photos I expected from the remaining flights I did the same day. The drone simply didn't take any photos (or videos) on that first flight.

Yeah, that Detour Mode is a complete mystery to me, too. I also have no idea what Joystick Mode is about (though I guess it has something to do with the joysticks ). I haven't had a chance to compare the Airdata log with the one from the DJI Flight Log Viewer (that will have to wait till at least tomorrow). Maybe that will shed some light on those mystery modes.

Larry

I experienced that same exact scenario, no difference at all yesterday. I’m in your same boat, on trying to understand.

 

[Meta4]

When I looked at the flight on Airdata, I saw some odd entries in the notifications list, but I have no idea what they mean. Here's a screen snap of the notifications:

The entries I'm referring to begin at 04m 58s. I have no idea what "Mode changed to Detour" and "Mode changed to Joystick" even mean, and I wouldn't know how to enter those modes if I tried. The time of the first notification coincides (more or less) to my first attempt to take a photo. Just out of curiosity, what are Detour Mode and Joystick Mode, and how are those modes triggered?

Where you see Detour Mode or Gentle GPS, that's because APAS was active.

 

[larryc43230]

Where you see Detour Mode or Gentle GPS, that's because APAS was active.

That's odd. As far as I'm aware, APAS has been active for all of the more than 100 flights I've made with my Mavic Air, and I've never, even once, noticed Detour Mode, Joystick Mode, or Gentle GPS mentioned in any flight log before (or after) that one flight.

Larry

 

[larryc43230]

By the way, does anyone have a definition or explanation of Detour Mode and/or Joystick Mode? I can't find a specific reference to those modes anywhere.

Larry

 

[Meta4]

By the way, does anyone have a definition or explanation of Detour Mode and/or Joystick Mode? I can't find a specific reference to those modes anywhere.

Your Mavic did some obstacle avoiding ((Detour) and than went back to normal flight (Joystick)

 

[JDawg]

Your Mavic did some obstacle avoiding ((Detour) and than went back to normal flight (Joystick)

At 4:48 he was over the water? A bird?

 

[Meta4]

At 4:48 he was over the water? A bird?

The sun

 

[larryc43230]

Your Mavic did some obstacle avoiding ((Detour) and than went back to normal flight (Joystick)

That's the mystery. There were no obstacles, not counting perhaps a bird which I never saw. The drone was at 200 feet altitude and well over 100 feet above any possible obstacle.

Does anyone have ANY actual reference to Detour Mode and Joystick Mode? I still can't find any reference to those terms anywhere in the manuals, or even in drone forums. It seems logical that Obstacle Mode has something to do with avoiding an obstacle, and Joystick Mode has something to do with joystick control, but that's just supposition as far as I can tell. I've read through hundreds of flight logs, and I've never seen those terms. Or maybe I've just never put the drone in a situation where it had to avoid something. And that seems highly unlikely.

Larry

 

[larryc43230]

The sun

I thought of that, but at that moment (at least according to the Airmap log and map) the drone was at about a right angle to the sun.

Larry

 

[larryc43230]

At 4:48 he was over the water? A bird?

The drone was flying over a small inlet after passing over woods. I've done that transition many times, including more than a dozen times during flights later that same afternoon, and the flight logs have never listed Detour Mode or Joystick mode. In fact, in the very next flight, when the drone was once again merrily taking photos, I flew the drone more than 80 feet over the water of a reservoir. No errors, no Detour Mode or Joystick Mode, in those flight logs.

The only time I've ever seen Detour Mode and Joystick Mode in any of my flight logs was for the flight in which the drone refused to take photos or video, and those modes kicked in at just about the time I first tried taking a photo. I suspect that's not a coincidence, but I have no idea what happened otherwise.

Larry

 

[larryc43230]

Looking carefully at the flight log, just before Detour Mode was initiated, I was flying the drone in a northerly direction (the sun was behind it). I then turned the drone 90 degrees to the right and tried to take the first shot. After the remote and the drone ignored several commands to take the photo (as well as video), I flew the drone straight ahead (it was now pointing approximately east), and flew it a few hundred feet in that direction. From where I was standing, it was a perfectly normal maneuver I've done hundreds of times, and I saw no error messages on the remote.

Another detail: Based on the flight log I posted a screen shot of above, "Joystick Mode" lasted less than a second, so this can't indicate simply "the pilot has control of the craft" mode. Immediately after that, the drone went back to the expected P-GPS mode.

Larry