Dear fellow spark pilots,

  

I was under the impression that in gesture mode return home would be deactivated, but today in gesture mode I didn't hear battery low or anything (since remote was way away from my ears) and while under a tree it activated return to home. Going up in the tree it decided to turn itself off and say atti mode while crashing and breaking an arm. It was unresponsive of my instant intuition of pulling the left stick down.

The day before yesterday it fell out of mid air while in sports mode, I'm guessing this was because I didn't update that one battery. I was lucky it was at a height of one meter above grass but still, that luck ended today.

  

This breaking of the arm of today really sucks... is there a way to turn off return home while in gesture mode? seems quite weird to have it as an option, let alone a default while you're in gesture distance.

Do you think I'm allowed to glue the arm back and safe myself a care refresh? I've had it for three days now. Really sad that this happened so fast..

  

I think it would be better if the spark in a low battery situation during gesture mode would just start blinking some lights and hang there so you instantly check your remote to see what's what and then have to agree on whether or not initiate return home. This design flaw seems to have destroyed my drone in my first three days.

  Here are some pictures of my unfortunate tragedy L

Some of what you say is confusing, you say you didn't hear low battery warning then you say remote was not near your ear then you say you pulled left stick down nothing happened, it went into Atti mode so somewhere it lost gps once it looses gps it can't return home because it doesn't know where it is, it's confusing.
Could you upload log to link below just click link and follow instructions.

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-8-6 13:04
Some of what you say is confusing, you say you didn't hear low battery warning then you say remote was not near your ear then you say you pulled left stick down nothing happened, it went into Atti mode so somewhere it lost gps once it looses gps it can't return home because it doesn't know where it is, it's confusing.
Could you upload log to link below just click link and follow instructions.

sure I'll work on that right away!

Danielvdhurk Posted at 2017-8-6 13:05
sure I'll work on that right away!

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/0VOJXPW4V7H8VEGVH45N/

Done, though it does not say gesture mode in there, just active track... The audio file says atti mode, ah well I've never seen a log in this format before, you probably know a lot more about it than I do

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-8-6 13:04
Some of what you say is confusing, you say you didn't hear low battery warning then you say remote was not near your ear then you say you pulled left stick down nothing happened, it went into Atti mode so somewhere it lost gps once it looses gps it can't return home because it doesn't know where it is, it's confusing.
Could you upload log to link below just click link and follow instructions.

Here is also the flight log of the nosedive like a brick of the day before yesterday. Thank you so much for helping http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/M7AXJ0IJHI4NHQ393FR1/

Danielvdhurk Posted at 2017-8-6 13:05
sure I'll work on that right away!

I figured out it activated return home after reviewing the footage with audio.

you get a constant GPS Position NoMatch , i wonder what is that .

It had giving you warning continuously for 2 minutes, before it went into low battery RTH at 27% battery, you must have set this in your app previously, so I'm afraid that setting was up to you. You are then given 10 second warning that spark is going into RTH you could have cancelled at that point by moving stick down, but once it went into RTH only way to cancel is to press RTH button or pause button, you can see where you tried to pull down on left stick but pulling down on left stick will not change low battery RTH . It has to be RTH button or pause button, while it's to late telling you this now the pause button is probably the best failsafe on the spark worth remembering for the future.
It said Atti mode I presume when it crashed or just immediately after, but you never lost gps.
You should sync your flight to dji cloud and start a case support@dji.com, I don't think they will cover with warranty but you never know, they may go easy on you, I would say repair would be less than $100 so long as no damage to gimbal.

I wish you luck my friend it's a learning curve for us all and we all have or will make these simple mistakes, I will take a look at other log later.

Doesn't RTH just land if the drone is within 30 meters of the home point? Sureley it wouldn't have climbed.

Szwedu Posted at 2017-8-6 14:08
you get a constant GPS Position NoMatch , i wonder what is that .

Yeah I wonder that myself as well, also when I look at the trail painted on the map, it's about ten meters off from where I was actually walking

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-8-6 14:16
It had giving you warning continuously for 2 minutes, before it went into low battery RTH at 27% battery, you must have set this in your app previously, so I'm afraid that setting was up to you. You are then given 10 second warning that spark is going into RTH you could have cancelled at that point by moving stick down, but once it went into RTH only way to cancel is to press RTH button or pause button, you can see where you tried to pull down on left stick but pulling down on left stick will not change low battery RTH . It has to be RTH button or pause button, while it's to late telling you this now the pause button is probably the best failsafe on the spark worth remembering for the future.
It said Atti mode I presume when it crashed or just immediately after, but you never lost gps.
You should sync your flight to dji cloud and start a case , I don't think they will cover with warranty but you never know, they may go easy on you, I would say repair would be less than $100 so long as no damage to gimbal.

I have already send all my panic mails to DJI, guess they are still enjoying their weekend though, hoping for the best. I've send them a mail straight after the falling like a brick event as well (no reply so far, guess due to the weekend). Thank you for your reply. I'll keep the post updated on the process.

I still don't like that return home is an option in gesture mode though, I think it should be handled differently since most people in gesture mode will be near to the drone (and the noise it makes) and not actively handling the remote in that situation. Anyway, the only thing I changed in settings is the return home altitude, I cranked it up to 100 meters instead of the 30 meters it was in the beginning. Though 30 meters would still have caused the tree to be the problem it was.

Szwedu Posted at 2017-8-6 14:08
you get a constant GPS Position NoMatch , i wonder what is that .

It's something and nothing it has no real effect no AC, Something some programmer stuck in but forgot to let anyone know what it is, it always comes in batches of five. Nobody from dji has ever explained this I have asked many times.

fans5d9349b7 Posted at 2017-8-6 14:20
Doesn't RTH just land if the drone is within 30 meters of the home point? Sureley it wouldn't have climbed.

AC was over 400ft from HP he was connected to RC and using gesture control through app.

fans5d9349b7 Posted at 2017-8-6 14:20
Doesn't RTH just land if the drone is within 30 meters of the home point? Sureley it wouldn't have climbed.

I was walking like a jedi for more than 30 meters, I was about 200 meters away from my take off position I think. Wish it did just land though... I think it should while in gesture mode, or at least hover just above the place it were supposed to land (in order to prevent landing in water and such) untill you grab it or take it over by remote untill the battery dies.. maybe use that last 5% to actually land the last meter if nobody comes to grab it. Talking about gesture mode only though.

Danielvdhurk Posted at 2017-8-6 14:21
I have already send all my panic mails to DJI, guess they are still enjoying their weekend though, hoping for the best. I've send them a mail straight after the falling like a brick event as well (no reply so far, guess due to the weekend). Thank you for your reply. I'll keep the post updated on the process.

I still don't like that return home is an option in gesture mode though, I think it should be handled differently since most people in gesture mode will be near to the drone (and the noise it makes) and not actively handling the remote in that situation. Anyway, the only thing I changed in settings is the return home altitude, I cranked it up to 100 meters instead of the 30 meters it was in the beginning. Though 30 meters would still have caused the tree to be the problem it was.

If the spark was within 30 meters of the home point, it would have just landed rather than climbed to high altitude first.

fans5d9349b7 Posted at 2017-8-6 14:26
If the spark was within 30 meters of the home point, it would have just landed rather than climbed to high altitude first.

Wouldn't it be great if it did just that when within 30 meters of the remote control (while in gesture mode)?
I already have send it as spark feedback to DJI. If this didn't happen today it would have happened some other day. Just can't hear that remote speak when it's at your side with a spark one meter in front of your face making all that noise.

Didn't have the nerve to go grab it while it was attacking the tree though... seen some pictures of wounded people by drone propellors, not sure if the spark has that power but I was hoping it would save itself somehow (ofc I wasn't realising it was returning to home at that point).

Most hilarious of all this is that I sold my mavic because I was afraid I would crash it  

I knew this was coming, see one of my posts about the return to home activating while in gesture mode. What the hell DJI! Do you not think you should be thoroughly testing your stuff before you release it to the public?

Surely walking in "Jedi mode" some 200 meters away from the home point would use a large percentage of the battery - meaning it could try to return home soon. Also, you could have set a new home point at the new position you walked to.

Malakai_UK Posted at 2017-8-6 14:38
I knew this was coming, see one of my posts about the return to home activating while in gesture mode. What the hell DJI! Do you not think you should be thoroughly testing your stuff before you release it to the public?

Triple upvote if I could! It makes me happy that I am not the only one (hope yours got out alive though). Did you get yours out alive? What is the link to your thread?

fans5d9349b7 Posted at 2017-8-6 14:39
Surely walking in "Jedi mode" some 200 meters away from the home point would use a large percentage of the battery - meaning it could try to return home soon. Also, you could have set a new home point at the new position you walked to.

But I was expecting this being a "no go"  situation for return to home. I really thought it would be automatically disabled as one would expect, since... what's the use? Actually..., to wave your drone goodbye and have it fly somewhere out of sight to show people you really have the force would be cool though. *and illegal

Malakai_UK Posted at 2017-8-6 14:38
I knew this was coming, see one of my posts about the return to home activating while in gesture mode. What the hell DJI! Do you not think you should be thoroughly testing your stuff before you release it to the public?

It's not gesture mode without being connected to the app, OP was using RC and app and had switched to gesture through the app.

His homepoint was where he started flying which is correct for all modes when using RC and app.

Danielvdhurk Posted at 2017-8-6 14:42
But I was expecting this being a "no go"  situation for return to home. I really thought it would be automatically disabled as one would expect, since... what's the use? Actually..., to wave your drone goodbye and have it fly somewhere out of sight to show people you really have the force would be cool though. *and illegal

Imagine the situation, you set the home point on the shore next to a lake, you get on a boat, and use the gesture mode whilst on the water. You take some selfies/video but then something goes wrong.. you want it to land in the water next to the boat or go back home to shore? Rare possibility but still a viable scenario. If you're using gesture mode directly under a tree then I'm afraid it's your own fault.

Danielvdhurk Posted at 2017-8-6 14:42
But I was expecting this being a "no go"  situation for return to home. I really thought it would be automatically disabled as one would expect, since... what's the use? Actually..., to wave your drone goodbye and have it fly somewhere out of sight to show people you really have the force would be cool though. *and illegal

It's just, I'm new to the spark and I never even considered it being an option for it to do that. So if I don't consider it to be an option (and I'm no idiot) then some other people might not consider it as well. So maybe it should be prompted on the screen as they prompt so many other things as well and make you accept some box in which you claim to have understood that while in gesture mode on your remote you have to keep your remote within reach of the ear in order to hear when your battery is empty and about to take off. Or the option to keep return to home on while in gesture mode and make that a box. Since common sense (at least I think) should say that a consumer drone while in gesture mode (meant for not holding the remote and such) should not have return to home at low battery be on by default. While it was warning me (which I could hear in review) it was still following my jedi hand gestures fine.

It didn't let me know it was about to commit suicide in any way. Neither did it let me know that the mode contained this option. I believe it should have informed me about the possibility of it breaking the leash and go vertically up while one is using the force.

Danielvdhurk Posted at 2017-8-6 14:48
It's just, I'm new to the spark and I never even considered it being an option for it to do that. So if I don't consider it to be an option (and I'm no idiot) then some other people might not consider it as well. So maybe it should be prompted on the screen as they prompt so many other things as well and make you accept some box in which you claim to have understood that while in gesture mode on your remote you have to keep your remote within reach of the ear in order to hear when your battery is empty and about to take off. Or the option to keep return to home on while in gesture mode and make that a box. Since common sense (at least I think) should say that a consumer drone while in gesture mode (meant for not holding the remote and such) should not have return to home at low battery be on by default. While it was warning me (which I could hear in review) it was still following my jedi hand gestures fine.

It didn't let me know it was about to commit suicide in any way. Neither did it let me know that the mode contained this option. I believe it should have informed me about the possibility of breaking the leash and go vertically up while one is using the force.

The Spark itself warms you that it's battery is dying, by flashing all its lights red. It's a case of reading the manual.

Danielvdhurk Posted at 2017-8-6 13:28
Here is also the flight log of the nosedive like a brick of the day before yesterday. Thank you so much for helping http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/M7AXJ0IJHI4NHQ393FR1/

Your other log doesn't show end of flight, but looking at it , it looks like it might be a VPS problem you were flying very low to the ground fast for VPS to work correctly it needs a good fix on textured surface and even grass can be a problem , you also need very good light, your last movements show you pulling stick 50% down and turning right or left, log ends there.

Danielvdhurk Posted at 2017-8-6 14:48
It's just, I'm new to the spark and I never even considered it being an option for it to do that. So if I don't consider it to be an option (and I'm no idiot) then some other people might not consider it as well. So maybe it should be prompted on the screen as they prompt so many other things as well and make you accept some box in which you claim to have understood that while in gesture mode on your remote you have to keep your remote within reach of the ear in order to hear when your battery is empty and about to take off. Or the option to keep return to home on while in gesture mode and make that a box. Since common sense (at least I think) should say that a consumer drone while in gesture mode (meant for not holding the remote and such) should not have return to home at low battery be on by default. While it was warning me (which I could hear in review) it was still following my jedi hand gestures fine.

It didn't let me know it was about to commit suicide in any way. Neither did it let me know that the mode contained this option. I believe it should have informed me about the possibility of it breaking the leash and go vertically up while one is using the force.

I'll just make a quick video of the demise from the drone's perspective, showing my total bliss before and stunned silent amazement of what was just happening so fast at that point. I just couldn't speak.

Danielvdhurk Posted at 2017-8-6 14:48
It's just, I'm new to the spark and I never even considered it being an option for it to do that. So if I don't consider it to be an option (and I'm no idiot) then some other people might not consider it as well. So maybe it should be prompted on the screen as they prompt so many other things as well and make you accept some box in which you claim to have understood that while in gesture mode on your remote you have to keep your remote within reach of the ear in order to hear when your battery is empty and about to take off. Or the option to keep return to home on while in gesture mode and make that a box. Since common sense (at least I think) should say that a consumer drone while in gesture mode (meant for not holding the remote and such) should not have return to home at low battery be on by default. While it was warning me (which I could hear in review) it was still following my jedi hand gestures fine.

It didn't let me know it was about to commit suicide in any way. Neither did it let me know that the mode contained this option. I believe it should have informed me about the possibility of it breaking the leash and go vertically up while one is using the force.

Because you were using RC and app you could have changed your homepoint at anytime during your flight including when you were using gesture modes.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-8-6 15:07
Because you were using RC and app you could have changed your homepoint at anytime during your flight including when you were using gesture modes.

I could but I did not know that in gesture mode home point would be an option, it seemed logical to me that it would then just land near me like when using a smartphone which I tried before. It seemed the safest way to program a drone in such situations, I thought they would have chosen the safest way. They didn't.

If I had known I would definitely have done exactly that which you say. I just own it since three days.especially since psychologically you start a whole new thing. Video recording has to stop... so you have to enable that again. So why not also change that setting to off when having to stop recording first and creating a whole new psychological setting with it. It confused me I guess, otherwise it might not have happened. Sorry if it upsets anyone, it upsets me too.

Danielvdhurk Posted at 2017-8-6 15:15
I could but I did not know that in gesture mode home point would be an option, it seemed logical to me that it would then just land near me like when using a smartphone which I tried before. It seemed the safest way to program a drone in such situations, I thought they would have chosen the safest way. They didn't.

If I had known I would definitely have done exactly that which you say. I just own it since three days.

All the LED's would have been flashing red warning you of a dying battery. At that point you should have landed or grabbed the spark from underneath and flipped it over - this stops the rotors. You ignored the warnings the spark was giving you (not the app or remote).

fans5d9349b7 Posted at 2017-8-6 15:17
All the LED's would have been flashing red warning you of a dying battery. At that point you should have landed or grabbed the spark from underneath and flipped it over - this stops the rotors. You ignored the warnings the spark was giving you (not the app or remote).

really?  I was focussing on getting that light green and keeping it green in tracking my hand. I was just before it happened saying " this works awesome", in my memory it was totally green following my hand that was my mission at that time. I think I would have noticed and not say this works awesome just before it happens. Just wish I wore my gopro. I do have footage of the spark falling from mid air, only not edited any of it yet so it's a long video. They should have been flashing red though.

Danielvdhurk Posted at 2017-8-6 15:15
I could but I did not know that in gesture mode home point would be an option, it seemed logical to me that it would then just land near me like when using a smartphone which I tried before. It seemed the safest way to program a drone in such situations, I thought they would have chosen the safest way. They didn't.

If I had known I would definitely have done exactly that which you say. I just own it since three days.especially since psychologically you start a whole new thing. Video recording has to stop... so you have to enable that again. So why not also change that setting to off when having to stop recording first and creating a whole new psychological setting with it. It confused me I guess, otherwise it might not have happened. Sorry if it upsets anyone, it upsets me too.

Ok it's a genuine mistake we all could make but when you took off you recorded homepoint this remains until you land and take off again. The AC cannot reset homepoint once you switch to gesture, think about it what would happen when you switch back to normal flying after gesture mode where would your homepoint be now.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-8-6 15:28
Ok it's a genuine mistake we all could make but when you took off you recorded homepoint this remains until you land and take off again. The AC cannot reset homepoint once you switch to gesture, think about it what would happen when you switch back to normal flying after gesture mode where would your homepoint be now.

at the old place where it was unless the battery is not full enough than it should prompt you that "your battery is now too low for original homepoint, set new homepoint?" Wouldn't that be nicer than the current situation?

I can confirm there is return to home during gesture mode.it just happened to me yesterday:I w as on a field trip,surrounding was not good for landing,so i change to gesture mode to do palm land.Then my friends annoyingly mess up with and many showed the hand to front camera at the same time,so it hovering for a while and cannot land.battery low,suddenly it return to home at current altitude about 2.5m.I was able to stop with the pause button on the rc.but i confirm it can return to home in gesture mode,which i think not really necessary because in gesture mode,aircraft is so close to you already.

Danielvdhurk Posted at 2017-8-6 15:26
at the old place where it was unless the battery is not full enough than it should prompt you that "your battery is now too low for original homepoint, set new homepoint?" Wouldn't that be nicer than the current situation?

Yes I'm sure it would, but it's unfortunately for you not the case.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-8-6 15:43
Yes I'm sure it would, but it's unfortunately for you not the case.

Just trying to help improve the product. Maybe they'll be kind of heart and forgive this one in sacrifice of a better product . Or otherwise I'll have to glue it, I'm sure it will work. The other option is use my first DJI care refresh after my first day of having care refresh. Which would be a total hassle since I'm leaving the continent for 2 years the 25th of august and having bought care refresh in the place where I'm going.

So honestly... I asked them permission to glue it and keep my care refresh instead of using it for this one.

Danielvdhurk Posted at 2017-8-6 15:48
Just trying to help improve the product. Maybe they'll be kind of heart and forgive this one in sacrifice of a better product . Or otherwise I'll have to glue it, I'm sure it will work. The other option is use my first DJI care refresh after my first day of having care refresh. Which would be a total hassle since I'm leaving the continent for 2 years the 25th of august and having bought care refresh in the place where I'm going.

So honestly... I asked them permission to glue it and keep my care refresh instead of using it for this one.

Serious vibration in these little birds I doubt it will work, just don't fly it over water and lose it refresh will be no good then, but you can try nothing to lose except the drone.
Good luck.....

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-8-6 15:56
Serious vibration in these little birds I doubt it will work, just don't fly it over water and lose it refresh will be no good then, but you can try nothing to lose except the drone.
Good luck.....

any glue suggestions? I was thinking of a coumpound glue meant for plastic from the brand bison (don't know if you're familiar with it). Don't want to take any chances, so glue suggestions you or anyone else?

Danielvdhurk Posted at 2017-8-6 14:40
Triple upvote if I could! It makes me happy that I am not the only one (hope yours got out alive though). Did you get yours out alive? What is the link to your thread?

http://forum.dji.com/thread-107035-1-1.html

I snapped same arm, send back to dji for repair, $107 cost