Question about Mavic Air Behavior...

[cab124]

I have a new Mavic Air that I have not flown yet (my only drone experience is flying the DJI Spark over a period of about 6 months).
Yesterday, charged the batteries and updated the firmware on the drone, the controller and the batteries.
It was cold outside so I did not attempt to fly outdoors, but instead thought that I might simply try starting the motors and possible hovering a foot off of the ground indoors, just to see how it behaved. I did a quick search online and saw many people warning not to fly the drone indoors. That was the reason I decided to only start the motors, do a 1-ft hover, and then land. I did not want to attempt to fly around. I did not attempt to calibrate the compass or IMU because I am in a large concrete/steel condo building.
I installed the prop guards, powered everything up, and placed the drone on the ground. I started the props. I knelt down next to the drone to have a closer look. I then applied a tiny amount of stick to see if I could hover a little bit. The motors revved up more, but when I tried to back off on the stick, they didn't seem to respond. I immediately reached out and grabbed the outer edge of one of the prop guards just in case it tried to get away. Sure enough, the motors then spun up to a high speed and it tried to take off even though I was NOT applying any throttle. I then killed the motors by holding the stick all the way down. If I had not grabbed the prop guard when I did, it would have flown into the ceiling on its own a crashed. One more thing I noticed was that I got a gimble motor overload warning because I had forgotten to remove gimble guard. All of this was probably stupid on my part.
However, stupid or not, I would love to understand what happened inside the drone to cause this behavior. Why would the drone spin up and attempt to fly away without that input from the controller?? Is there a way to learn what happened?? Could the Wifi signals in my condo building have had anything to do with it?
I am very lucky to have averted disaster this time, but I want to learn from it!!
Thanks!

 

[msinger]

Check out your TXT flight log to see if it explains what happened. You can upload and view it online here. If you'd like other people to review and comment on your flight log, then please post a link back here after you upload it.

 

[cab124]

I currently don't have iTunes installed on my PC (and I don't really want to install it if I don't have to). I wish Apple would allow me to access that text file from within Windows File Explorer.

 

[msinger]

I wish Apple would allow me to access that text file from within Windows File Explorer.

Me too

 

[Travisimo]

Hmm, are you sure it would have flown all the way up to the ceiling? I've flown mine indoors without issue, though it's always been more than 1 foot off of the ground. When you first take-off, the VPS sensors underneath might want it to fly up to a level of 4 feet or so, but it shouldn't just take off flying into the ceiling. Even if the GPS kicks in, it should just drift from side to side, not vertically.

Importantly, make sure you change the Return To Home setting to "Hover" instead of "Return to Home" just in case it tries to return to home. It shouldn't because it's normal behavior is to land if it's within a short distance of the home point, but if it records the wrong home point or the GPS kicks in indoors, it could happen.

I also turn off the obstacle detection indoors unless you're in a very large indoor area. In smaller areas, you'll barely be able to move if you leave that on. Just be ready to control any kind of drifting, but I have not personally had a problem with that - it's been rock steady in my house when I've flown it.

 

[cab124]

You make a good point, Travisimo. I don't know for sure that it would have gone all the way to the ceiling. I just assumed so because it was trying to pull away pretty hard. Maybe it was just going to rise to a few feet and hover. It could very well be that if you manually try to lift off just a little, it automatically climbs to the same altitude as if you hit the takeoff button. In fact, I do remember hearing the controller say "Takeoff."
Thanks for the input!!

 

[Drone1aerial]

Upon the motors firing up, it will want to hover up to 3-4 ft. I can assure you that it would not have flown to the ceiling...assuming you had vision positioning on, and did all pre-flight checks. I've flown mine indoors many times., and have even set the controller down to go take a whizz while it was in flight.. these things are very stable given enough light indoors.

 

[cab124]

I think you are right. I feel much better now, knowing that the behavior was most likely perfectly normal.
I can't wait for warmer weather so that I can take it outside!!!

 

[Drone1aerial]

I think you are right. I feel much better now, knowing that the behavior was most likely perfectly normal.
I can't wait for warmer weather so that I can take it outside!!!

Go ahead and take it outside!.. its good to go. Just keep the battery warm, and then hover it for about a minute..then let er' rip. It's solid. I've never been afraid to fly in temps in the teens, even with my I1's.. and that's throwing $4,000 worth of technology in the air..Many people with I2's do the same with $8500 flying in the air. Just make sure there is no fog.. Ice can develop on the props. Go have fun!

 

[synaesthesia]

If you have the drone on the ground with the motors spinning and apply "enough (but not enough)" throttle, the drone will apply more throttle to get itself off the ground and into a hover about 3-4 feet off the ground. Probably some built in ground effect protection or something to that effect.

The only way you'll get the drone to voluntarily fly into the ceiling during a take off is if you use the "precision landing" option, which will cause the drone to try to fly ~20 feet into the air in order to take pictures of the ground to aid the precision landing feature.

 

[cab124]

Yes, this makes sense. I didn't realize that at the time, but I am glad I understand it now. So much to learn!!!

 

[synaesthesia]

Yes, this makes sense. I didn't realize that at the time, but I am glad I understand it now. So much to learn!!!

I know how you feel, the Mavic Air is my first drone as well. Best advise is rather than "take it out to fly it" the first few times, take it out to learn what it does when you do certain things. I've had mine up in extreme winds (it blew away but I landed it someplace I could get it from), into trees (not actually into trees - I just wanted to learn how the avoidance system worked/how sensitive it is), indoors (it crashed into a wall), I've tried to fly it into myself forwards, backwards, etc - push every button and get comfortable with what it does and even though you can't really fly the Mavic Air in attitude mode you really still want to get used to flying it facing forwards and facing backwards (with the controls inverted).

From my (albeit limited) personal experience and from watching lots of YouTube drone crash videos it appears that the cause of most crashes is panic, lack of familiarity or stupidity. Rule those first two things out and you'll be fine. Flying it indoors is my stupidity, I'm working on the other two

 

[cab124]

Actually, my first drone was a Spark which I flew last summer. Hopefully, my experience with the Spark will translate over to the Mavic.
You are right about panic/familiarity/stupidity. That is why I would really like to learn to fly outdoors in ATTI mode. I think that would help prepare me for the inevitable time when things go awry!
Also, these forums are awesome. So many people willing to share their knowledge. Very grateful!!

 

[Mike4884]

Also be careful grabbing it because if you are not level while grabbing it or don't have a firm grip it will try to fight it because it tries to stay level so this is probably why it was fighting with you... when you went to grab it