Total lost control

[iamavice]

Pure luck I didn't lose my Mavic Air some days ago.

I wanted to examine the roof top of my parents house, that's why I started mym flight in their garden. When I started the drone, there was no GPS available. That's normally no problem, since it normally connects to GPS after some seconds in the air. But the stard failed: One propeller got in contact with a bunch of grass and the engines stopped imediately.

That's why I moved the drone down to the driveway and started again form there. I did this widthout turning off the drone. This time the start was successfull, the drone moved 1,2m above the ground. GPS signal was ok. As I started to go a little higher, the drone started a very strange behaviour, moving uncontrollably towards a neighbours house. There were alert signals coming out of my controllers speakers saying "maximum altitude reached" – while I was only 4 or 5 meters off the ground. Even when I let go all the controllers, it moved somehow randomly around, flying more and more towards that neighbours house.

I tried to turn it around 180°, hoping it would then drift to the other side, back towards me. It turned (turning was no problem), but still drifted away. It finally visited my neighbours, flying on their balcony and into the window, which was fortunately covered by a roller blind. Lucky me – the neighbours are very friendly and gave me back my drone without any further questions. It was still on and didn't seem to have any damages.

I changed all the propellers and started a new flight the same evening in an open field – without any problems. My thesis: Because of the aborted starting attempt my drone somehow totally lost its orientation. Has anyone ever encountered something like this?

What I learned: Always turn your drone off and on again after an issue – since it might needs to recalibrate.

 

[joot]

Thank goodness nothing serious happened...

 

[swooshdave]

Pause button, find it, learn it, love it.

Impatience about GPS signal seems to be a common theme. If you don't have GPS at launch you don't have RTH.

And yes, recalibrate or restart drone after erroneous behavior.

 

[iamavice]

Thank you for your comments. I don't think the pause button would have helped. I released all the buttons and hoped it would stand still, but it was totally desoriented and moved forward. But maybe you are right. I was even thinking about stopping the propellers and let him fall down in the neighbours garden. The balcony was the only place where it could crash without big damage I guess. As for GPS: I totally agree with you. I would never recommend to start moving before having a stable GPS signal.

 

[swooshdave]

Thank you for your comments. I don't think the pause button would have helped. I released all the buttons and hoped it would stand still, but it was totally desoriented and moved forward. But maybe you are right. I was even thinking about stopping the propellers and let him fall down in the neighbours garden. The balcony was the only place where it could crash without big damage I guess. As for GPS: I totally agree with you. I would never recommend to start moving before having a stable GPS signal.

How were you going to stop the propellers. Why did you think the pause button wouldn't have worked?

 

[AnzacJack]

sounds like possible compass issue also

 

[dragonmuzz]

Pause button, find it, learn it, love it.

Impatience about GPS signal seems to be a common theme. If you don't have GPS at launch you don't have RTH.

And yes, recalibrate or restart drone after erroneous behavior.

It's not just RTH...no GPS mean no position lock in the sky so it will drift in the tinyest bit if wind like a kite.
I used to shift to atti mode in my phantom quite often at height just to see how strong the wind was and sometimes the phantom would shoot off at 20mph until i clicked the POSITION/ GPS button back on again...wait for GPS unless u have experience

 

[Just_nick]

Well, the first lesson is that you shouldn't be taking off without GPS. Assuming that a Phantom and a Mavic will react the same in their pseudo atti mode is a good way to have issues. And taking off from a surface with iron is also bad

 

[Static8]

Remember DJI just admitted to GPS problems and fixed it with new firmware yesterday. Also , did you have any control at all with your sticks..could you not fly away from your neighbors window?? If you had no stick control that is another problem...

 

[iamavice]

Just to make it clear: I had a proper GPS signal. That's what makes it crazy. It moved away while shouting at me: "maximum altitude reached" – while it flew only 4 meters above ground level. All I was able to do was turning it around itself with the left stick, but very badly. So I have two theroies:
1. Drone gone mad. Because of the engine stop at the first starting attempt.
2. Broken propeller. The drone tried to stabilize its position but drifted away because of one propeller not working properly.
But: When I turned the drone 180°, its still headed off in the same direction. That's strange. And the shouting about the max. altitude reach makes me believe, it wasn't a propeller problem.
So @Static8: Who knows, probably it was that kind of an issue?
or @anzacjack: a compass issue...

 

[Simmo]

Post your logs.
DJI Flight Log Viewer

 

[iamavice]

OK. Looks bad. According to the log I did fly without GPS. Still strange. There was no wind. I can't tell what happened...
DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[Simmo]

I cant see weather data for Erna's flight, but for the most part its a classic, no gps health, drift and crash flight.
It looks like at 'the end' you put some good control inputs in but too late to stop the inevitable.

 

[iamavice]

Thank you for your interpretation. So I'll take it as a lesson.

 

[Jameslavis]

Ya on multiple fronts. Hand launch or use a landing pad. Don’t move without a power off and only take off once gps lock is solid.

 

[Static8]

Just to make it clear: I had a proper GPS signal. That's what makes it crazy. It moved away while shouting at me: "maximum altitude reached" – while it flew only 4 meters above ground level. All I was able to do was turning it around itself with the left stick, but very badly. So I have two theroies:
1. Drone gone mad. Because of the engine stop at the first starting attempt.
2. Broken propeller. The drone tried to stabilize its position but drifted away because of one propeller not working properly.
But: When I turned the drone 180°, its still headed off in the same direction. That's strange. And the shouting about the max. altitude reach makes me believe, it wasn't a propeller problem.
So @Static8: Who knows, probably it was that kind of an issue?
or @anzacjack: a compass issue...

Now that you mention this..I had exact same problem , same altitude just above the ground...I had just played with APS mode, I think that’s what it’s called and suddenly I had limited control and I immediately switched to sport mode like to reset the quad and it did....I”m wondering if there is a glitch after using the full sensor mode,, how I called it which seemed to work great except this one instance...this was also just before the last firmware update so hopefully they fixed that bug...Wonder if you had played around with the same mode prior to your loss of control then we would have found the problem ...