Why my Air went out of control?

[Joymaker]

This evening I went with some friends up to the mountains and set out to fly. Was chased away from one site by a cloud of mosquitoes, and inadvertently packed up my Air while still powered on. Some 5 to 10 minutes later at another site I opened the case and found it quite warm – but not absurdly hot, I thought. So again I set out to fly.

Carefully went through calibrating the compass. Launched, went up about 60-80 feet enjoying the distant view of Mt Lassen in the sunset. Then the drone began to veer off position and make erratic sounds, then it suddenly went hard horizontally, crashed into a pine tree, and came down with a broken arm.

I was a bit hasty, trying to catch the sunset light, but I went carefully through compass calibration, and I thought I was solid. Does this sound like a likely consequence of the aircraft being too hot?

 

[laurens23]

post the logs

 

[InvisibleName]

This evening I went with some friends up to the mountains and set out to fly. Was chased away from one site by a cloud of mosquitoes, and inadvertently packed up my Air while still powered on. Some 5 to 10 minutes later at another site I opened the case and found it quite warm – but not absurdly hot, I thought. So again I set out to fly.

Carefully went through calibrating the compass. Launched, went up about 60-80 feet enjoying the distant view of Mt Lassen in the sunset. Then the drone began to veer off position and make erratic sounds, then it suddenly went hard horizontally, crashed into a pine tree, and came down with a broken arm.

I was a bit hasty, trying to catch the sunset light, but I went carefully through compass calibration, and I thought I was solid. Does this sound like a likely consequence of the aircraft being too hot?

Sounds like a case of poor GPS lock, but the guys that analyse flight logs will soon let you know if you follow the prompt above

 

[Lake_Flyer]

If you move to another place, always shut down the drone and let it initialise on the new take off spot.
You probably were at a different height above sea level the second flight? If you didn't shut down the drone the barometer would still have it's ground zero set at the previous take of point.

Also, better not calibrate the compass before every flight. there might have been ferric iron in the rocks around you.

Leave the compass alone once you have a solid calibration and only recalibrate after traveling for a few hundred miles or when you expect it to be off due to storing you bird next to a known magnetic interference like a subwoofer. Or after a crash. If the app told you to calibrate it, it probably was because of a magnetic interference in your direct surroundings. Calibrating at such a spot is never good. When it flies up, freeing itself form the interference, it will be totally off, and you have a typical fly away (unless you understand what's going on and know how to handle such situations).

 

[Joymaker]

Also, better not calibrate the compass before every flight. there might have been ferric iron in the rocks around you.

Leave the compass alone once you have a solid calibration and only recalibrate after traveling for a few hundred miles or when you expect it to be off due to storing you bird next to a known magnetic interference like a subwoofer. Or after a crash. If the app told you to calibrate it, it probably was because of a magnetic interference in your direct surroundings. Calibrating at such a spot is never good. When it flies up, freeing itself form the interference, it will be totally off, and you have a typical fly away (unless you understand what's going on and know how to handle such situations).

Well I'm truly fascinated! Somewhere else I read advice, quite possibly on this board, that 11 miles is enough to warrant a recalibration. Having traveled at least 50 miles and gained a lot of altitude since my last calibration, I thought that was the best thing to do!

 

[Kevjones777]

Well I'm truly fascinated! Somewhere else I read advice, quite possibly on this board, that 11 miles is enough to warrant a recalibration. Having traveled at least 50 miles and gained a lot of altitude since my last calibration, I thought that was the best thing to do!

It will generally tell you that it needs a recalibration. It's the RTH and GPS lock at the new location that you need to ensure are set and locked.

 

[DrFrank]

We really need ATTI Mode switchable by the pilot. Why do they not allo to put it on one of the function keys.
At the moment all you can do it watch it fly away or crash...

 

[Lake_Flyer]

We really need ATTI Mode switchable by the pilot. Why do they not allo to put it on one of the function keys.
At the moment all you can do it watch it fly away or crash...

You can change the sport mode switch to Atti switch. Search the forum if you would like to do that. You loose sports mode of course. But sports mode is just another fake DJI came up with. In fact, sports mode is the regular mode but DJI decided that they wanted the typical Mavic user to be nannied into a slower mode for most of their flight time. My other drones don't have a sport mode switch. They are always in sport mode. Always the full pitch envelope at hand for situations.

 

[Lake_Flyer]

Well I'm truly fascinated! Somewhere else I read advice, quite possibly on this board, that 11 miles is enough to warrant a recalibration. Having traveled at least 50 miles and gained a lot of altitude since my last calibration, I thought that was the best thing to do!

200 miles and still great calibration. A friend of mine travels from Holland to the south of France every other week and never calibrates. I think he has even forgotten how to do it. And that goes for every DJI drone I know. Never calibrate once you have a solid reliable compass cal. Unless after firmware update, crash, or a really long travel. But be aware of storing your drone anywhere near a magnetic source, as I mentioned, the typical car trunk with big subwoofer build in. After half an hour your compass needs to be degaussed and recalibrated. And if you do that (simple procedure using a small magnet) you must be sure you're at a safe calibration spot.

 

[logge]

200 miles and still great calibration. A friend of mine travels from Holland to the south of France every other week and never calibrates. I think he has even forgotten how to do it. And that goes for every DJI drone I know. Never calibrate once you have a solid reliable compass cal. Unless after firmware update, crash, or a really long travel. But be aware of storing your drone anywhere near a magnetic source, as I mentioned, the typical car trunk with big subwoofer build in. After half an hour your compass needs to be degaussed and recalibrated. And if you do that (simple procedure using a small magnet) you must be sure you're at a safe calibration spot.

Last time I calibrated the compass was more than ten months ago and I took it from France to Sweden twice during that time. Never had any issues. Then again, the first time I flew it I launched it from a big metal lid covering a water tank for forest fire emergencies. It looked like the perfect spot as it even had a big H painted on it, but after reading here I've since realized that was probably a very bad idea. However, the Mavic didn't complain and flew perfectly even then.

 

[johnfmclaughlin]

stupid question but did you have good gps? iv'e seen mine drift badly with less than 8 satellites so I landed as quick as possible, that drift made me realize not to chance it so lession learned without any trauma, as far as the noises are concerned I have no idea. hope you get a good resolution to your problem.

 

[JDawg]

Last time I calibrated the compass was more than ten months ago and I took it from France to Sweden twice during that time. Never had any issues. Then again, the first time I flew it I launched it from a big metal lid covering a water tank for forest fire emergencies. It looked like the perfect spot as it even had a big H painted on it, but after reading here I've since realized that was probably a very bad idea. However, the Mavic didn't complain and flew perfectly even then.

I have read a lot of threads the last couple of months and it is really interesting how some drones seem to be affected more by certain situations. Some posters take off from their jeeps or metal tables while other peoples drones behave horribly around any metal. The problem does not seem linear.

 

[ipsam]

Can you explain what you mean by chased by mosquitos. I imagine a drone would be the one chasing mosquitos. I'm asking to clarify that mosquitos would not be dangerous to a drone.

 

[Starz]

Always amazed by the “have to recalibrate my compass” because they moved 400 feet away from their previous takeoff point. What a waste of time. I recently traveled almost all the way across the USA,and NEVER did the compass dance.
Oh well, different strokes I guess.

 

[InvisibleName]

Always amazed by the “have to recalibrate my compass” because they moved 400 feet away from their previous takeoff point. What a waste of time. I recently traveled almost all the way across the USA,and NEVER did the compass dance.
Oh well, different strokes I guess.

But if the app prompted them to do a compass calibration, they’d be fools to ignore it!

 

[Starz]

But if the app prompted them to do a compass calibration, they’d be fools to ignore it!

and you are probably going to update when the app tells you to update? Sure. How about we just look at the compass sensor screen and make sure there is a problem first.

 

[Lake_Flyer]

But if the app prompted them to do a compass calibration, they’d be fools to ignore it!

Most of the times when the app tells you to calibrate it's the take off spot, NOT the drone, unless the compass is off because a crash, firmware update or wrong calibration the last time you calibrated. Or it needs to be degaussed like I mentioned before, but that is quite unusual.
So be very sure when the app tells you.
If you see a white box around the 'calibrate' option in Go4, it's only meant as a shortcut, not a prompt to calibrate.

 

[MrRobville]

and you are probably going to update when the app tells you to update? Sure. How about we just look at the compass sensor screen and make sure there is a problem first.

Well, one can make your drone fly away, never to be seen again, whereas the other does not.

 

[InvisibleName]

Most of the times when the app tells you to calibrate it's the take off spot, NOT the drone, unless the compass is off because a crash, firmware update or wrong calibration the last time you calibrated. Or it needs to be degaussed like I mentioned before, but that is quite unusual.
So be very sure when the app tells you.
If you see a white box around the 'calibrate' option in Go4, it's only meant as a shortcut, not a prompt to calibrate.

I understand that, I was referring to when the app flashes at the top left that a compass calibration is needed.

 

[Lake_Flyer]

I understand that, I was referring to when the app flashes at the top left that a compass calibration is needed.

I very rarely see this. In fact, never. Maybe once? But if I would see it, I wouldn't trust it just like that. I would shut down the bird, walk to a different spot at least 30 feet away, switch it on and try again.