Well, it finally happened - crashed the mavic pro

[Jazz62]

Solar storms have virtually no effect on GPS or drone control frequencies.
There has never been a drone flight incident that could be attributed to solar activity.

The effect on GPS accuracy in a serious solar event is to cause inaccuracy of up to one metre.
Considering that the variable inaccuracy that is normal in GPS is more than that, you wouldn't even notice it.
This paper explains in detail: Assessing the Performance of GPS Precise Point Positioning Under Different Geomagnetic Storm Conditions during Solar Cycle 24

There were no discrepancies in GPS functionality in my crash, but there was very serious signal loss and strong interference issues throughout. Met a new neighbor tonight who's AM radio antenna caught my eye when we first moved here a year ago. His house/antenna are two houses away and on the other side of the street from mine (also my take-off point), probably 250' from my take-off point. He said the solar storm event here on Sunday definitely could cause interruptions/interference on the frequencies that the MP controller uses and after giving him a brief rundown of what I experienced said it seems like the obvious culprit.

( Mod Removed Language)I don't know. I only know that I have flown from this very take-off point in my backyard so many damned times and always in this same immediate area and have never had any issues with weak signal or strong interference warnings or the controller not communicating with the MP, command timeouts etc. Fascinating and frustrating at the same time.

 

[Meta4]

There were no discrepancies in GPS functionality in my crash, but there was very serious signal loss and strong interference issues throughout.

Interference is very common in residential and urban areas as is losing signal.
It doesn't require solar flare activity to explain that.
Although solar activity gets brought up in the forum from time to time, there still hasn't been a single incident that could be attributed to it.
If it really was a thing, you would have hundreds of users complaining about it at the same time.

 

[Dr. Bill 1969]

Solar storms have virtually no effect on GPS or drone control frequencies.
There has never been a drone flight incident that could be attributed to solar activity.

The effect on GPS accuracy in a serious solar event is to cause inaccuracy of up to one metre.
Considering that the variable inaccuracy that is normal in GPS is more than that, you wouldn't even notice it.
This paper explains in detail: Assessing the Performance of GPS Precise Point Positioning Under Different Geomagnetic Storm Conditions during Solar Cycle 24

Apparently other researchers think differently.

Turns Out, We Have No Idea Why The Northern Lights Wreak Havoc on Our Satellite Technology

As beautiful as they are, the aurora borealis in the Northern Hemisphere and the aurora australis in the south are known to wreak havoc on our satellite-based global positioning systems, and until now, everyone assumed it was the result of plasma turbulence...

www.sciencealert.com

Did the Northern Lights cause the Mavic drone to go insane...I don't know. However, it's a possibility. A strong EMP(electro-magnetic-pulse) can cause terrific damage. The strongest ever reported(1859) caused telegraph lines to catch on fire and shocked telegraphers.

 

[Ol' Sparky]

So my takeaway from this experience is that there would have been no problem if the obstacle avoidance was turned off. I do use OA when flying over land, but most of my flights are over water and I find OA slows down the speed of the aircraft, I suspect it also contributes to faster battery discharge, it is not totally reliable anyway, and unless a whale breaches in front of it while at low altitude, it's not needed ...hence I usually fly with it disabled.

 

[Meta4]

Apparently other researchers think differently.

Apparently the journalist who wrote that very vague piece doesn't know, but didn't let that get in the way of his story.
I've read the paper that was the basis for that article and can't find anything in it that gives any indication of the actual effect of their observations on practical use of GPS like the paper I cited in post #40 does.

You're welcome to see if you can find anything at all in the actual paper referred to in the journalist's article

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2016JA023271

Did the Northern Lights cause the Mavic drone to go insane...I don't know. However, it's a possibility. A strong EMP(electro-magnetic-pulse) can cause terrific damage.

Yes .. and planes might fall out of the sky because of that millennium bug.
I tend to be swayed more by things that have been or can be, observed and measured, rather than alarmist journalism that has vague statements about things that might be possible.

 

[boblui]

These drones operate on unlicensed frequency bands meaning that there are lot's of other radio equipment sharing the same band. The acquistion, installation and use of these equipment can be freely done without registration with the regulator. Interference should therefore be expected especially in urban areas.

The key of avoiding crash is to plan the flight in advance so that if interference strikes, the drone will RTH safely. In this case there was some complication because obstacle avoidance kicked in but the OP did have the chance to bring the drone home manually during autolanding. I hope this lesson will save him from similar events in the future.

 

[skunky1]

These drones operate on unlicensed frequency bands meaning that there are lot's of other radio equipment sharing the same band. The acquistion, installation and use of these equipment can be freely done without registration with the regulator. Interference should therefore be expected especially in urban areas.

The key of avoiding crash is to plan the flight in advance so that if interference strikes, the drone will RTH safely. In this case there was some complication because obstacle avoidance kicked in but the OP did have the chance to bring the drone home manually during autolanding. I hope this lesson will save him from similar events in the future.

Agreed. The key is to learn to actually fly the drone manually without relying on sensors and automation.

I’m new to this hobby but my next challenge is to practice to fly in ATTI mode in a large field in case I lose GPS on a flight one day god forbid!

 

[DrizzyDrones]

Good chance the bottom sensor was dirty and it sense something below it so constant increases in altitude

 

[Meta4]

Good chance the bottom sensor was dirty and it sense something below it so constant increases in altitude

There's no need to make guesses without even looking at the data (linked in post #24 and shows no issue with the downward facing sensors).
The cause was explained back in post #27

 

[DrizzyDrones]

??? it said it was sensing an object? And kept rising because of it whichever one was sensing an object ( if there was noobject to detect ) I would think that would be where I would look

 

[DanMan32]

??? it said it was sensing an object? And kept rising because of it whichever one was sensing an object ( if there was noobject to detect ) I would think that would be where I would look

As stated early in this thread, sun reflections or the sun itself at low angles can be falsely detected as an obstacle. It's a normal common occurrence. When it occurs, best course is to change course so the sun isn't getting into the sensors, or turn OA off. Sport mode will automatically turn off OA so that's a quick and easy way to turn OA off, but RTH isn't sport mode but rather it's own mode.

One of the OA behavior during RTH is to try and rise above it. If it is the sun tricking OA that there's an obstacle during RTH, there's no going above the phantom obstacle.

 

[DrizzyDrones]

Gotcha i read most the the thread i guess i mised a cpl things I remember something similar where guy mav would keep flying up and was a dirty lense doesnt look like its the case here might help someone else doing a search on flying up without Stick input

 

[Meta4]

??? it said it was sensing an object? And kept rising because of it whichever one was sensing an object ( if there was noobject to detect )
I would think that would be where I would look

But I did look and explained to you that the VPS data showed no hint of a false reading.
Post #27 gives a full analysis and explanation of what actually happened.

FYI Although there have been rare cases of VPS sensor errors causing altitude issues, cases of a drone detecting a low, bright sun as an obstacle is much more common.

 

[Jazz62]

I'll never get to the bottom of what caused the loss of communication between the controller and the drone. The bottom line is; after the drone started responding to controller input, in my panicked state I crashed into a tree. It would've been extremely helpful if obstacle warnings are shown in the app in RTH mode. I have experienced the sun causing these warnings many times and deal with it accordingly, but they have only occurred when I am flying straight at the sun with the sun dead center. I went back and looked over the footage and the sun, while in the FOV, is very far left in the camera's FOV. Very frustrating and expensive sequence of events culminating in my losing my cool. Now it's time to move forward. I may try to send it to DJI based on a few posts in this thread with surprisingly low repair (or replacement?) costs. I'm also mulling over getting the MA2, but wonder if I'll miss some of the more advanced features in Go 4. Again, much thanks to all who have chimed in.

 

[randyatkinson]

Bought my Mavic Pro Fly More Combo in 2017. I'm an older person, but felt the technology had come to a point where I could enjoy it without too much fear of losing my investment in a crash. That held true for three years until two days ago and I'm completely stumped about what happened.

Took off from my backyard as I have many many times in the year we've been in our current house. Flew around capturing a sweeping view of Commencement Bay and then completely lost connection with the drone. It was 1800 ft away from home point and altitude was approximately 300 ft when the loss of communication occurred. I did receive "weak signal/adjust antenna" warning. Technically too far to actually see it, but there were zero obstructions from my point to the drone. I initiated a RTH and app showed confirmation of this, but drone didn't move. It did however do something I just can't explain. While hovering with communication loss and no stick input from me it started rising in altitude, topping out at approximately 430 ft! Sometime during this I recieved a "command time out" warning in addition to the "weak signal and strong interference" warnings, of which there were many . Throughout this episode of altitude increase the drone did respond to stick input intermittently to decrease altitude, but it was fleeting only to exhibit the rise in altitude again. I initiated RTH, app showed confirmation but again with no luck. At some point connection was re-established and I tried desperately to get it home, but even with full stick it's speed was very slow 2-5 mph. At almost the same moment I got the 'Critically Low Power/Aircraft Landing" warning, full forward speed returned. Again I tried desperately to get her home. In the panic that ensued and the drone trying unsuccessfully to land itself I inadvertently gave it full forward stick and it crashed into a tree, fell about 50' to a sidewalk and I'm pretty sure is a total loss. All obstacle avoidance was on so I'm not sure why it flew into the very large tree. The most frustrating thing is, there was more than enough battery power for me to manually land safely, but in my panic just couldn't put it together in my head. Was also confused by the app showing the drone should be right above the home point, but it was actually about 100 ft away from it. I'm hearing impaired so was not able to hear it so close by.

Later that evening a possible explanation for this episode came to mind. That was one of the nights that the aurora borealis was at it's peak even long before sunset and I'm wondering about the magnetic interference from it causing the conditions that lead to the crash. It's the only thing I can imagine, but don't know enough about the subject.

Finally - is it possible to buy a new or refurbished Mavic Pro and keep my current controller or can they not be linked properly.

Thanks for reading!

I lost my Mavic Pro and tried to replace it with only a Mavic Air 2 and had to send it back as I found the Mavic Air 2 uses different batteries than the Mavic Pro and the Mavic Air 2 could not be linked with my DJI Goggles. It would have been most economical for me to have replaced my lost Mavic Pro by buying one through an Ebay seller and not have to pay for all the extras such as a controller and chargers. I eventually decided to upgrade and bought a Mavic 2 with fly more combo and had to take the goggles in to the local DJI store for a firmware upgrade to the goggles so they would work with the new Mavic 2.

 

[OldGoatMTB]

Bought my Mavic Pro Fly More Combo in 2017. I'm an older person, but felt the technology had come to a point where I could enjoy it without too much fear of losing my investment in a crash. That held true for three years until two days ago and I'm completely stumped about what happened.

Took off from my backyard as I have many many times in the year we've been in our current house. Flew around capturing a sweeping view of Commencement Bay and then completely lost connection with the drone. It was 1800 ft away from home point and altitude was approximately 300 ft when the loss of communication occurred. I did receive "weak signal/adjust antenna" warning. Technically too far to actually see it, but there were zero obstructions from my point to the drone. I initiated a RTH and app showed confirmation of this, but drone didn't move. It did however do something I just can't explain. While hovering with communication loss and no stick input from me it started rising in altitude, topping out at approximately 430 ft! Sometime during this I recieved a "command time out" warning in addition to the "weak signal and strong interference" warnings, of which there were many . Throughout this episode of altitude increase the drone did respond to stick input intermittently to decrease altitude, but it was fleeting only to exhibit the rise in altitude again. I initiated RTH, app showed confirmation but again with no luck. At some point connection was re-established and I tried desperately to get it home, but even with full stick it's speed was very slow 2-5 mph. At almost the same moment I got the 'Critically Low Power/Aircraft Landing" warning, full forward speed returned. Again I tried desperately to get her home. In the panic that ensued and the drone trying unsuccessfully to land itself I inadvertently gave it full forward stick and it crashed into a tree, fell about 50' to a sidewalk and I'm pretty sure is a total loss. All obstacle avoidance was on so I'm not sure why it flew into the very large tree. The most frustrating thing is, there was more than enough battery power for me to manually land safely, but in my panic just couldn't put it together in my head. Was also confused by the app showing the drone should be right above the home point, but it was actually about 100 ft away from it. I'm hearing impaired so was not able to hear it so close by.

Later that evening a possible explanation for this episode came to mind. That was one of the nights that the aurora borealis was at it's peak even long before sunset and I'm wondering about the magnetic interference from it causing the conditions that lead to the crash. It's the only thing I can imagine, but don't know enough about the subject.

Finally - is it possible to buy a new or refurbished Mavic Pro and keep my current controller or can they not be linked properly.

Thanks for reading!

Very sorry. For what it's worth I lost a drone after only six month. It was a one-two punch of an incident beyond my control followed by a mistake made in my confusion and panic. But for what it's worth, in the time I had the drone I received more than enough enjoyment out of it to justify the financial loss.

 

[MohJoe]

Sorry you lost your drone
I wonder ... Did you calibrate your compassion?

Bought my Mavic Pro Fly More Combo in 2017. I'm an older person, but felt the technology had come to a point where I could enjoy it without too much fear of losing my investment in a crash. That held true for three years until two days ago and I'm completely stumped about what happened.

Took off from my backyard as I have many many times in the year we've been in our current house. Flew around capturing a sweeping view of Commencement Bay and then completely lost connection with the drone. It was 1800 ft away from home point and altitude was approximately 300 ft when the loss of communication occurred. I did receive "weak signal/adjust antenna" warning. Technically too far to actually see it, but there were zero obstructions from my point to the drone. I initiated a RTH and app showed confirmation of this, but drone didn't move. It did however do something I just can't explain. While hovering with communication loss and no stick input from me it started rising in altitude, topping out at approximately 430 ft! Sometime during this I recieved a "command time out" warning in addition to the "weak signal and strong interference" warnings, of which there were many . Throughout this episode of altitude increase the drone did respond to stick input intermittently to decrease altitude, but it was fleeting only to exhibit the rise in altitude again. I initiated RTH, app showed confirmation but again with no luck. At some point connection was re-established and I tried desperately to get it home, but even with full stick it's speed was very slow 2-5 mph. At almost the same moment I got the 'Critically Low Power/Aircraft Landing" warning, full forward speed returned. Again I tried desperately to get her home. In the panic that ensued and the drone trying unsuccessfully to land itself I inadvertently gave it full forward stick and it crashed into a tree, fell about 50' to a sidewalk and I'm pretty sure is a total loss. All obstacle avoidance was on so I'm not sure why it flew into the very large tree. The most frustrating thing is, there was more than enough battery power for me to manually land safely, but in my panic just couldn't put it together in my head. Was also confused by the app showing the drone should be right above the home point, but it was actually about 100 ft away from it. I'm hearing impaired so was not able to hear it so close by.

Later that evening a possible explanation for this episode came to mind. That was one of the nights that the aurora borealis was at it's peak even long before sunset and I'm wondering about the magnetic interference from it causing the conditions that lead to the crash. It's the only thing I can imagine, but don't know enough about the subject.

Finally - is it possible to buy a new or refurbished Mavic Pro and keep my current controller or can they not be linked properly.

Thanks for reading!

 

[maelstrom]

I liked it better the first time!

 

[Jazz62]

Sorry you lost your drone
I wonder ... Did you calibrate your compassion?

? Last I checked it was good

 

[Meta4]

Sorry you lost your drone
I wonder ... Did you calibrate your compass?

Whether he did or didn't isn't relevant.
Obviously his compass was properly calibrated or he wouldn't have been able to fly properly.
Recalibration of the compass really doesn't make your flying any safer or prevent unwanted flight incidents.