Just had an odd experience using my week old Spark - I did a palm launch of the spark - after it took off, instead of hovering it started immediately moving toward me. I couldnt back up fast enough and it ended up running into my hand and then crashing to the pavement.  Trying to figure out what I did wrong; prior to this I have done the palm launch about 20 times with no problems.

Skynet???  The Drones are taking over...  

I had the same happening to me, except it was some kind of defense mode. It flew backwards, straight into the tree and crashed hard and then fell on the asphalt..

You have to fly wearing one of these:

Same happened to me. Took off, hovered awkwardly back and forth and then charged me and hovered about 1.5 to 2 feet from my face. Backed up a little, and moved forward again. I had to swat it into the grass. In the process of swatting it away, got two deep knicks in hand... Guess it's better than the face which the Spark seemed to be targeting.  Now, one LED cover won't go back on and I guess I won't be using this over family vacation next week.

Seriously thinking of using oven mitts for gesture control once my Spark arrives.

For me no problems so far... recognized every gesture and keeps a safe distance >1m to my face.

fans5b46a270 Posted at 2017-6-27 08:48
Same happened to me. Took off, hovered awkwardly back and forth and then charged me and hovered about 1.5 to 2 feet from my face. Backed up a little, and moved forward again. I had to swat it into the grass. In the process of swatting it away, got two deep knicks in hand... Guess it's better than the face which the Spark seemed to be targeting.  Now, one LED cover won't go back on and I guess I won't be using this over family vacation next week.
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Yikes - that is nasty; one of my LED covers also came off when it fell

Call me Nostradamus, the cuts and lacerations and eye loss has just begun!!

R&L Aerial  Posted at 2017-6-27 11:18
Call me Nostradamus, the cuts and lacerations and eye loss has just begun!!

yep its going to happen if it hasn't already.  

Call me Nostradamus too. Some people will explain this by wind and accused the user not reading manual before they fly. No matter what happened, the only conclusion from them is that Spark is 100% safe.

This happened to me too!!! Idk what's up with that.

It sounds like compass error to me. Until I'm real familiar with the Spark, I'm using hand gestures mode while connected to phone via wifi.

fans5b46a270 Posted at 2017-6-27 08:48
Same happened to me. Took off, hovered awkwardly back and forth and then charged me and hovered about 1.5 to 2 feet from my face. Backed up a little, and moved forward again. I had to swat it into the grass. In the process of swatting it away, got two deep knicks in hand... Guess it's better than the face which the Spark seemed to be targeting.  Now, one LED cover won't go back on and I guess I won't be using this over family vacation next week.
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We deeply sorry for the crash accident and trouble that has caused to your life and vacation, please clean your wound and export the data and black box to us for further analysis, and inform us the accident date as well.
To export the data, please download the Assistant 2 from DJI offcial Spark webiste, install it then connect your Spark to PC, run Assistant 2, click on ''Data upload'' and "Black box" on the left side, you could save it to local, here is the picture for your reference

andym91 Posted at 2017-6-27 19:46
This happened to me too!!! Idk what's up with that.

Please refer to 14# to export the data for further analysis, we do sorry for the inconvenience caused.

We do apologize for the accident and all the trouble that has been caused, please contact us in time with flight data, we will help to figure out what happened.

And next time. Install the prop guard before doing Palm launch. You will be safe.

May I suggest that the propeller guard should be mandatory. Drone designed to be use close to human body must not be operable without the guard. Perhaps some sensors should be installed to detect the existance of the guards otherwise the motor should be stopped.

fansa7dc5944 Posted at 2017-6-28 05:10
And next time. Install the prop guard before doing Palm launch. You will be safe.

It did have prop guards on. It was flying at my face and I had to swat it away and down. It was out of control. There's only so much the guards can block when traveling toward your face and being hit with a bare hand.

fansa7dc5944 Posted at 2017-6-28 05:16
May I suggest that the propeller guard should be mandatory. Drone designed to be use close to human body must not be operable without the guard. Perhaps some sensors should be installed to detect the existance of the guards otherwise the motor should be stopped.

Agree... But my hand was cut with the prop guards on. The guards are to protect the props not the user. It's all in the name prop guard.

Sorry to read on your experience. Please take care of your hand.  If you have not uploaded the information, please consider this point.

I suggest DJI to remove the hand gestures mode from Spark altogether by having it RC only and lower the price.

fans5b46a270 Posted at 2017-6-27 08:48
Same happened to me. Took off, hovered awkwardly back and forth and then charged me and hovered about 1.5 to 2 feet from my face. Backed up a little, and moved forward again. I had to swat it into the grass. In the process of swatting it away, got two deep knicks in hand... Guess it's better than the face which the Spark seemed to be targeting.  Now, one LED cover won't go back on and I guess I won't be using this over family vacation next week.
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Props are savage things. New body for that seen as its all 1 unit. If it was just the cover that was useless then replacements are available. Failing that, super glue or Gorilla tape.....Shame that.

1. Prop guards.
2. If you're flying outdoors, make sure it acquires GPS (i.e. slow green flashing LED), then activate PalmLaunch. I would never recommend launching without GPS lock in an autonomous mode (i.e. user is not in full control)

Maxi3D Posted at 2017-6-28 07:48
I suggest DJI to remove the hand gestures mode from Spark altogether by having it RC only and lower the price.

Buy a Tiny Whoop instead. Much cheaper

Maxi3D Posted at 2017-6-28 07:48
I suggest DJI to remove the hand gestures mode from Spark altogether by having it RC only and lower the price.

I 100% agree with the RC & lower price.  Cost should be $399 w/RC.  Would be hard for them (DJI) to get rid of gestures, since their entire marketing campaign was based on that feature.

Tviscomi Posted at 2017-6-29 01:52
I 100% agree with the RC & lower price.  Cost should be $399 w/RC.  Would be hard for them (DJI) to get rid of gestures, since their entire marketing campaign was based on that feature.

It's not the feature that's bad. it's the inconsistency of the implementation. if gesture worked 10 out of 10 times, no one would complain. ;)

Ken-W Posted at 2017-6-29 02:10
It's not the feature that's bad. it's the inconsistency of the implementation. if gesture worked 10 out of 10 times, no one would complain. ;)

I'm beginning to lean towards user error being the cause of  over 75% of the gesture issues.  Yes, I've encountered some inconsistencies, but they were mainly caused by me acting like Darth Vader.

Tviscomi Posted at 2017-6-29 02:19
I'm beginning to lean towards user error being the cause of  over 75% of the gesture issues.  Yes, I've encountered some inconsistencies, but they were mainly caused by me acting like Darth Vader.

heh. So I'm not the only one who's acting like Darth Vader

I'm still trying to get a hang of the wave and return gestures. Everything else seems to work so far

Ken-W Posted at 2017-6-29 01:47
Buy a Tiny Whoop instead. Much cheaper

I have two of those! Great indoor flyers. I love them!

Prop guards aren't already available here in Belgium. So difficult to use them. DJI should add them in the box with every Spark, not sell them optional.

Ken-W Posted at 2017-6-29 02:10
It's not the feature that's bad. it's the inconsistency of the implementation. if gesture worked 10 out of 10 times, no one would complain. ;)

Even Jedi hand gestures don't work all the time......

CoreyB10 Posted at 2017-6-29 05:17
Even Jedi hand gestures don't work all the time......

That's because "the Force is NOT with you"...True the hand gestures are a bit "iffy" at times.