Bashy Posted at 2018-6-3 21:17
Important to clarify the AC must be powered off during the move.

Im not overly convinced by this, when i have seen a compas error, i have moved it about 10ft without turning off and error goes away....

'Im not overly convinced by this, when i have seen a compas error, i have moved it about 10ft without turning off and error goes away....'

It is correct though. Moving it away is the same as flying away with the error. The compass is initialised when you power it up, and if it is affected by a ferrous metal object during that initialisation, that's what causes the problem.

Geebax Posted at 2018-6-3 22:03
'Im not overly convinced by this, when i have seen a compas error, i have moved it about 10ft without turning off and error goes away....'

It is correct though. Moving it away is the same as flying away with the error. The compass is initialised when you power it up, and if it is affected by a ferrous metal object during that initialisation, that's what causes the problem.

The main problem about these compass warnings is, they usually don't pop up before being airborne.
And the funny thing is - the problem can fix itself.

I had this recently after taking off from concrete steps leading over a dike.
It was too windy on top of the dike and I forgot about the concrete :-)

Immediately after take off I got the compass warning. It switched to Atti and I was able to control the drone.
After like 35 seconds it switched back to Green - P-GPS- and everything was good...

I was going to take of in the lea of my car cause of the wind, but i got a compass error, prob cause i was sat there for a while before taking off, so i moved 10ft or so and that cleared it, i didnt have to restart the ac

I have also had the airborne one too when i took off from my sunroof big sun roof too, i had no errors, hence i thought it was gonna be ok, then a couple of feet after taking off it just said atti mode and shot off to the left, i was able to bring it back after a wee while, it came back in a perfect circle It did say compass error in the log but i always watch the ac during take off and not the screen, but it was clear the error didnt register until a couple of feet in the air

Bashy Posted at 2018-6-4 05:51
I was going to take of in the lea of my car cause of the wind, but i got a compass error, prob cause i was sat there for a while before taking off, so i moved 10ft or so and that cleared it, i didnt have to restart the ac

I have also had the airborne one too when i took off from my sunroof big sun roof too, i had no errors, hence i thought it was gonna be ok, then a couple of feet after taking off it just said atti mode and shot off to the left, i was able to bring it back after a wee while, it came back in a perfect circle  It did say compass error in the log but i always watch the ac during take off and not the screen, but it was clear the error didnt register until a couple of feet in the air

I did this I moved away and closer to the drone  when the Drone started to drift but this made no difference drone was still unresponsive
The drone also disconnected and reconnected from the controller whilst in the line of sight
What I can't understand is why the drone disconnected at such a short distance it disconnected at less 0.7km thought the P4 had a range of 5km? Bearing in mind I also had parabolic boosters as well

NickB1970 Posted at 2018-6-4 06:16
I did this I moved away and closer to the drone  when the Drone started to drift but this made no difference drone was still unresponsive
The drone also disconnected and reconnected from the controller whilst in the line of sight
What I can't understand is why the drone disconnected at such a short distance it disconnected at less 0.7km thought the P4 had a range of 5km? Bearing in mind I also had parabolic boosters as well

"I did this I moved away and closer to the drone  when the Drone started to drift but this made no difference drone was still unresponsive"

You are misunderstanding something:
It's nothing about werde you are standing but where you take off from.
Obviously you'll be standing close to your drone when you start it up.

If you get an error message while it's still on the ground, you should move the drone. You can stay on the concrete if you like ;-)
Once it's airborne it doesn't help if you move.

Disconnect:
You have been flying in a dense urban environment. Lot's of WiFi signals everywhere that can interfere with your signal.
Disconnets often happen in these environments.

Eric13 Posted at 2018-6-4 06:31
"I did this I moved away and closer to the drone  when the Drone started to drift but this made no difference drone was still unresponsive"

You are misunderstanding something:

My reply was in response to another members post who experienced the same problem they stated that when they moved it rectified itself but this didn't happen in this case why
This is why I'm still querying the controller given the fact I had issues with 2 previous flights when the controller was beeping and disconnecting itself hence the reason for this flight as I was testing it out to see if these issues had disappeared.
On one of the previous flights where the controller disconnected it was at less than 50ft away and less than 30ft altitude and this was in an open field with no houses or Wifi disturbances so how do you explain that incident?
Also, the flight directly before this I had no video transfer to the controller just a black screen?

I can honestly say this guy is not a Novice pilot, He has been flying for a few years now and I can say that if he says that the drone did a fly away all on it's then it did. I trust this guys Arial experience in drones and would let him fly my Phantom 4 any day of the week.

djiuser_gG1zkJSLzoAl Posted at 2018-6-4 11:47
I can honestly say this guy is not a Novice pilot, He has been flying for a few years now and I can say that if he says that the drone did a fly away all on it's then it did. I trust this guys Arial experience in drones and would let him fly my Phantom 4 any day of the week.

I can say that if he says that the drone did a fly away all on it's then it did.
Have you read the thread and looked at the flight data?
It clearly shows what caused the incident - the launch was from a bad location, the compass warned of the problem and he went ahead and launched there anyway.
Phantoms don't "fly away" but there are pilots that don't know how to use them.
I trust this guys Arial experience in drones and would let him fly my Phantom 4 any day of the week.
Trusting anyone to launch your drone from a steel or reinforced concrete surface would be asking for trouble.
Every week the forum has cases of lost Phantoms because of this.

Eric13 Posted at 2018-6-4 03:32
The main problem about these compass warnings is, they usually don't pop up before being airborne.
And the funny thing is - the problem can fix itself.

'The main problem about these compass warnings is, they usually don't pop up before being airborne.
And the funny thing is - the problem can fix itself.'

Yes, when the aircraft fires up, it takes compass measurements and thinks that the location os just fine. As soon as it gets in the air and begins to actually try and use those compass figures, it realises something is wrong with them. So in most cases it is quite normal for the aircraft to only report the error once it is in the air.

They don't cure themselves, in the flight log you have posted, there are still yaw errors, which are a form of compass error, right to the end of the log. And many fliers have found to their dismay that the error persists and can cause loss of control of the aircraft.

Labroides Posted at 2018-6-4 13:47
I can say that if he says that the drone did a fly away all on it's then it did.
Have you read the thread and looked at the flight data?
It clearly shows what caused the incident - the launch was from a bad location, the compass warned of the problem and he went ahead and launched there anyway.

'' he went ahead and launched there anyway ''

To be fair, he didnt get the compass error until after actual take off, although, having said that, i dont think we have ascertained what Other(9) is yet? for all we know it could be compass error but with an F in  

Bashy Posted at 2018-6-4 19:24
'' he went ahead and launched there anyway ''

To be fair, he didnt get the compass error until after actual take off, although, having said that, i dont think we have ascertained what Other(9) is yet? for all we know it could be compass error but with an F in

The compass warned him before takeoff.
after recalibrating the compass as requested by the app
I explained this in post #2

Labroides Posted at 2018-6-4 19:37
The compass warned him before takeoff.
after recalibrating the compass as requested by the app
I explained this in post #2

Ah good point, my bad, totally forgot about that and i had reread that a few moments ago too and still missed it lol sorry. It begs the question, we know why he did it but, why do the calibration so close to metal?
Hey ho, mistakes were made, ac lost, expensive learning curve, by reading this thread, he shouldnt fall foul of it again

Bashy Posted at 2018-6-4 19:56
Ah good point, my bad, totally forgot about that and i had reread that a few moments ago too and still missed it lol sorry. It begs the question, we know why he did it but, why do the calibration so close to metal?
Hey ho, mistakes were made, ac lost, expensive learning curve, by reading this thread, he shouldnt fall foul of it again

we know why he did it but, why do the calibration so close to metal
I suspect that calibrating there probably doesn't cause a problem, but ignoring the problem that the compass is warning of and launching there anyway is what matters.

You dont think it would have exasperated the issue?  After all, they do say not to calibrate near metal, it would make sense seen as his issue was quite severe considering, certainly one of the worst ive seen but then i aint been around that long...

GPS trackers are as cheap as $25.00
Why on Earth is anyone flying WITHOUT one?
I NEVER launch without one attached and working.   I may only get a pile of wreckage back, but at least I know where it went and might be able to recover the flight data.
Plus, having the wreckage just might save your warranty.

$1000 or more for an aircraft ......and won't spend $25.00 for a GPS tracker  (SMH)

IMO..the FAA (in the USA) should have made them MANDATORY.

Bashy Posted at 2018-6-4 20:16
You dont think it would have exasperated the issue?  After all, they do say not to calibrate near metal, it would make sense seen as his issue was quite severe considering, certainly one of the worst ive seen but then i aint been around that long...

My guess is that calibrating there will either fail completely or be OK.
I'm not sure it's possible to get a "bad" calibration at all.
The calibrating process is just to sort out what magnetic influences rotate with the Phantom (part of the Phantom) from those that don't (everything else).
Launching from on top of steel or reinforced concrete is what causes the yaw error problem.

Bottom line with all this is, OPERATOR ERROR!!! One of the first things you learn when flying any aircraft.....drone, fixed or rotary wing aircraft is----------CALIBRATE AND ENSURE ALL ON-BOARD SYSTEMS ARE IN PROPER OPERATIONAL ORDER!!!
This is no different with any sized aircraft. It is the pilot's responsibility to ensure all on board systems are in proper operational tolerances.
If you had been flying a 100,000 dollar drone, would you have taken the same lacadasical actions?
Safety and safe flying to ensure the safety of yourself, property and other persons is of the highest priority. It was missing in this case as well as in so many other such instances I have investigated and read through. Be thankful the carelessness shown in this did not injure some one. Learn from the errors and be a better pilot.

SafetyGuy71 Posted at 2018-6-7 05:20
Bottom line with all this is, OPERATOR ERROR!!! One of the first things you learn when flying any aircraft.....drone, fixed or rotary wing aircraft is----------CALIBRATE AND ENSURE ALL ON-BOARD SYSTEMS ARE IN PROPER OPERATIONAL ORDER!!!
This is no different with any sized aircraft. It is the pilot's responsibility to ensure all on board systems are in proper operational tolerances.
If you had been flying a 100,000 dollar drone, would you have taken the same lacadasical actions?