Scary experience tonight, Lesson learned?

[Mantrain]

Well this evening I decided to take off my drone from my balcony. I have done this several times before but this time the drone took off and behaved very erratically and uncontrollably. As it launched a few feet out, the drone swerved in severe direction and did not respond to my piloting commands appropriately. She swerved into a tree and got stuck about 15 feet up. I had to toss a broom at her and she fell out of the tree. I was quick to break the fall with my hands and it was painful but worth it. No damage. I was able to test the drone and flew around for 30 minutes everything working swell. I am sure this is from the poor choice of selecting bypass mode. I am thinking from now on to always either select brake, or off but never bypass. Bypass apparently has the possibility of causing the aircraft to behave very unpredictably. Also it was a lower light situation so that could be part of it. Not dark but not bright either.

I am wondering if bypass is just a poor choice in general and brake is the better option for drone safety.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

That does not sound like a Bypass or low light issue but maybe magnetic interference from your take off point. If you upload your data , someone can tell you for sure if the compass got hammered .

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water.

 

[Meta4]

Well this evening I decided to take off my drone from my balcony.

That's all you needed to say.
You launched from a reinforced concrete balcony and the drone was uncontrollable.
You gave the drone a yaw error.
SImilar things are reported here every week,
Search for Yaw Error to find out what it's all about.
And don't launch from balconies or any reinforced concrete surface in future.

 

[Point Zero]

That's all you needed to say.
You launched from a reinforced concrete balcony and the drone was uncontrollable.
You gave the drone a yaw error.
SImilar things are reported here every week,
Search for Yaw Error to find out what it's all about.
And don't launch from balconies or any reinforced concrete surface in future.

Does the new M3 give a warning prior to take off when there is strong magnetic interference, the same as the M2 does? Is that what you are referring to here @Meta4 ?

 

[Meta4]

Does the new M3 give a warning prior to take off when there is strong magnetic interference, the same as the M2 does? Is that what you are referring to here @Meta4 ?

You get a warning if the magnetic sensor detects a magnetic field that's stronger than the earth's normal field.
A yaw error is usually caused by magnetic interference that's not strong enough to give a warning, but deflects the compass such that it gives false data which is used to initialise the gyro sensors in the IMU.

Search for yaw error to get a more technical explanation.

 

[Deleted member 157386]

I had erratic flight with my Air2S around my balcony and changed obstacle avoidance to brake instead of go around, and that solved it.

 

[zeusfl]

Well this evening I decided to take off my drone from my balcony. I have done this several times before but this time the drone took off and behaved very erratically and uncontrollably. As it launched a few feet out, the drone swerved in severe direction and did not respond to my piloting commands appropriately. She swerved into a tree and got stuck about 15 feet up. I had to toss a broom at her and she fell out of the tree. I was quick to break the fall with my hands and it was painful but worth it. No damage. I was able to test the drone and flew around for 30 minutes everything working swell. I am sure this is from the poor choice of selecting bypass mode. I am thinking from now on to always either select brake, or off but never bypass. Bypass apparently has the possibility of causing the aircraft to behave very unpredictably. Also it was a lower light situation so that could be part of it. Not dark but not bright either.

I am wondering if bypass is just a poor choice in general and brake is the better option for drone safety.

This happened to me before with my Mavic 3 when lunching from my balcony as well. The APAS 5 act very strange and the drone behave very nervously and uncontrollable when is inside the balcony having so many walls and fence close to it. What I do to resolve the problem is as soon as I take off, switch to sport mode and disable the APAS sensors. When I leave from the balcony to the open area then I switch back to normal. Then before going back to the balcony I land in sport mode as well.

The Mavic 3 APAS is very aggressive and needs to be fine-tuned. The same thing happens when you try to hand-land the drone.

I do the same with my Mavic 2 Pro, Mavic Air 2, and DJI Mini 2 without problems.

 

[Paradigm]

The Mavic 3 APAS is very aggressive and needs to be fine-tuned. The same thing happens when you try to hand-land the drone.

The drone is significantly faster than the M2P. The bypass is a lot more aggressive, ime, as well. So add in the speed and I think it's a recipe for trouble. Especially when trying to hand in cramped quarters. I've turned mine to brake.

 

[Mantrain]

yes I am thinking though sport mode is too fast for a balcony. I prefer C mode w brake. brake turned on prior to takeoff. I was very lucky my drone coulda been ruined and making a refresh claim.

 

[zeusfl]

In my case, I have no options since my balcony is covered and I have a 3FT opening to go out and the drone refuses to pass in C or N mode. Just sport mode allows me.

 

[sar104]

Well this evening I decided to take off my drone from my balcony. I have done this several times before but this time the drone took off and behaved very erratically and uncontrollably. As it launched a few feet out, the drone swerved in severe direction and did not respond to my piloting commands appropriately. She swerved into a tree and got stuck about 15 feet up. I had to toss a broom at her and she fell out of the tree. I was quick to break the fall with my hands and it was painful but worth it. No damage. I was able to test the drone and flew around for 30 minutes everything working swell. I am sure this is from the poor choice of selecting bypass mode. I am thinking from now on to always either select brake, or off but never bypass. Bypass apparently has the possibility of causing the aircraft to behave very unpredictably. Also it was a lower light situation so that could be part of it. Not dark but not bright either.

I am wondering if bypass is just a poor choice in general and brake is the better option for drone safety.

Apologies if this sounds a bit harsh, but your adventures in sUAS read like a complete train wreck to me. I would really recommend a bit more research before you fly these things. In this particular case:

A short explanation of compass function, calibration and errors.

 

[Crashdummytest]

That's all you needed to say.
You launched from a reinforced concrete balcony and the drone was uncontrollable.
You gave the drone a yaw error.
SImilar things are reported here every week,
Search for Yaw Error to find out what it's all about.
And don't launch from balconies or any reinforced concrete surface in future.

And make sure you have satellite coverage before take-off.

 

[Meta4]

The drone is significantly faster than the M2P

The speeds shown in the specs are exactly the same as for the Mavic 2.
15 m/s (N mode) 19 m/s (S mode)

 

[Mantrain]

well thankfully I have no issues taking off from the balcony when I turn off the sensors, and I prefer flying out and in C mode. But no more bypass. I think this is a dangerous option in general based on this experience. Perhaps some firmware upgrades will render bypass an acceptable option, but at this point the behavior of the drone taking off from the balcony in bypass mode was unacceptable, obviously.

also to the post above re satellites: sometimes I take off a few feet high to wait for good coverage and for the home-point update message. So I will take off with say 9 satellites but only ascend enough feet to clear all interference and get full satellite coverage. Then I fly her accd to the designated plan.

 

[bkushner]

Well this evening I decided to take off my drone from my balcony. I have done this several times before but this time the drone took off and behaved very erratically and uncontrollably. As it launched a few feet out, the drone swerved in severe direction and did not respond to my piloting commands appropriately. She swerved into a tree and got stuck about 15 feet up. I had to toss a broom at her and she fell out of the tree. I was quick to break the fall with my hands and it was painful but worth it. No damage. I was able to test the drone and flew around for 30 minutes everything working swell. I am sure this is from the poor choice of selecting bypass mode. I am thinking from now on to always either select brake, or off but never bypass. Bypass apparently has the possibility of causing the aircraft to behave very unpredictably. Also it was a lower light situation so that could be part of it. Not dark but not bright either.

I am wondering if bypass is just a poor choice in general and brake is the better option for drone safety.

Yep Magnetic interference probably from the rebar in the concrete of your balcony. I live on the 11th floor and tried balcony launching..Same issue. Now I set the drone on the ground, take the elevator back to the 11th and and fly from the balcony. I land on the ground as well.

 

[Mantrain]

Yep Magnetic interference probably from the rebar in the concrete of your balcony. I live on the 11th floor and tried balcony launching..Same issue. Now I set the drone on the ground, take the elevator back to the 11th and and fly from the balcony. I land on the ground as well.

how does this explain my situation at all?

 

[Meta4]

how does this explain my situation at all?

You didn't see post #3 and #5?

Post your flight data and we won't have to guess.
Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
That will give you a detailed report of the flight.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.
Or .. just post the txt file here.

 

[cgmaxed]

Well this evening I decided to take off my drone from my balcony. I have done this several times before but this time the drone took off and behaved very erratically and uncontrollably. As it launched a few feet out, the drone swerved in severe direction and did not respond to my piloting commands appropriately. She swerved into a tree and got stuck about 15 feet up. I had to toss a broom at her and she fell out of the tree. I was quick to break the fall with my hands and it was painful but worth it. No damage. I was able to test the drone and flew around for 30 minutes everything working swell. I am sure this is from the poor choice of selecting bypass mode. I am thinking from now on to always either select brake, or off but never bypass. Bypass apparently has the possibility of causing the aircraft to behave very unpredictably. Also it was a lower light situation so that could be part of it. Not dark but not bright either.

I am wondering if bypass is just a poor choice in general and brake is the better option for drone safety.

Did you have a GPS lock and home point established before lifting off. I use bypass always. I take off from my 4 foot wide balcony almost daily w my M3. I also take off using the auto take off button. On one side of the take off point is the wall and roof edge of the house and on the other is the railing and trees that are as tall as the roof. So the drone is surrounded by obstacles. The whole screen shows red obstacle lines around the whole drone.
When I take off with a locked GPS signal with a homepoint established, at dusk, dawn, night, or day the drone goes straight up and hovers without any drift no problem. If I take off with the exact same settings and in the same spot without a GPS lock and home point established the drone immediately drifts in all sorts of directions. It often drifts 4-5 feet immediately from the take off point when I don't have a GPS lock and homepoint established. In those cases, when I see it begin to drift, I push the altitude stick up to full throttle so it doesn't drift into the trees or the side of the house.

Maybe changing your setting from bypass worked, I don't know. But also, make sure your GPS and Homepoint are both locked and established. The M3 shouldn't drift. Well, at least in my case it doesn't.

Edit addition: I also use sport mode to land the drone onto the balcony. It may take some experience to get used to the sensitivity of the cotrols in sport mode, but after a while it becomes second nature. I rarely, if ever take off in sport mode. I haven't found it necessary, unless I haven't established a GPS lock. If GPS is taking too long , I put it in sport mode and take off. It then goes straight up. No obstacle worries,

 

[Mantrain]

I had serious issues locating the text files in my android phone I am not sure what the issues are but I browse the fly app with my Windows explorer and simply no flight data populates but since turning off obstacle avoidance when taking off from the balcony apparently makes for such a smooth takeoff from the balcony I am not worried too much. I do prefer to fly back in in C mode with brakes off. I just have to add that sequence to the landing checklist. I prefer to guide my aircrat in very slowly is all.


also part of my takeoff checklist is to update the homepoint and GPS lock but again I usally take off a few feet to clear everything for that .

 

[Meta4]

I had serious issues locating the text files in my android phone I am not sure what the issues are but I browse the fly app with my Windows explorer and simply no flight data populates

Your flight data will be there.
Did you notice that DJI have changed the location of the flight data in recent versions of DJI Fly ?

In DJI Fly

DJI\dji.go.v5\FlightRecord (for older versions of DJI Fly)

or for newer versions ... Android\data\dji.go.v5\files\FlightRecord

but since turning off obstacle avoidance when taking off from the balcony apparently makes for such a smooth takeoff from the balcony I am not worried too much.

You are assuming that things are OK, but since you haven't confirmed the cause of your incident, that assumption might not be correct.

also part of my takeoff checklist is to update the homepoint and GPS lock but again I usually take off a few feet to clear everything for that .

That would not prevent a yaw error causing trouble, if a yaw error was the issue