vasi Posted at 2017-9-21 05:03
Yeah, but the top speed was 31,9 mph (51 kmph) 5 secs before the log ends, not sure if this was the speed when it crashed or it indeed slowed down before it hit the ground?I believe it crashed with 31.9 then the rest in the log was recorded when the AC was on the ground already.

I don't know how the sensors work in spark or if it has any at front.  I think it had slowed down a bit but not  down to 3.8 .

Good news that you recovered your Spark.

vasi Posted at 2017-9-21 05:03
Yeah, but the top speed was 31,9 mph (51 kmph) 5 secs before the log ends, not sure if this was the speed when it crashed or it indeed slowed down before it hit the ground?I believe it crashed with 31.9 then the rest in the log was recorded when the AC was on the ground already.

Yea i saw it zip thru in front of me reall y fast. i was in normal mode not sports thats odd

fans61699a75 Posted at 2017-9-21 01:33
Regarding magnetic declination? Meaning you should anyway calibrate compass in iceland? As stated before only calibrate when prompted

With that much variance in declination I would absolutely calibrate the compass in that region.
It is also vital to note the mod values prior to take off - this will give an indication of baseline sensor readings.
The problem is DJI have marketed this UAV with a 'Foolproof' sticker. Unfortunately such an aircraft simply doesn't exist and care and due diligence must be undertaken before every flight as well as having an understanding of what the sensors are telling you, interpreting  telemetry feedback and keeping a close watch on how the aircraft is behaving to stick inputs and surrounding conditions.

Can you please explain the mod values and what you should do with it?

I have the exact so problem in Iceland 2 weeks ago. Happened twice in 2 different places, once at the black sand beach near Vik, another near Skaftafell. Before take off all statues are normal. Luckily after few seconds of lose control I'm able to gain control and land it. After that I dare to fly my Spark.

Tried to see if my drone still works. Took off 4 feet then drone disconnected from rc. managed to land it back down safely. Cant charge the battery anymore either so will probably have to buy external charger.

jsfilmz0412 Posted at 2017-9-21 03:39
yes compass said it was good to go. i always check before i go up. It said normal. I was able to retrieve my drone prolly wont try to retrieve a drone beside a waterfall ever again though lol. Someome said herr there was a bridge. it didnt hit ne until i got the drone back so i went the long ways. stupid me. ill have the video up

Glad you got your spark back ..

jsfilmz0412 Posted at 2017-9-21 04:28
Found!!Not sure if it still works though

Did you loose all the props or you took them off?

And? Is Your spark is flying again?

I was at Alaska last month and I experience lots of compass errors while I was there. I got prompted a few times to calibrate compass and 2 of that instances it would not complete at all hence grounding my spark. I never have problems at all with my AC back in home in California. So my opinion, flying close to north pole seems to be a problem with spark.

Great thing having you Spark back.... did you find it back easy??? o did you use any option like found my drone, i don't no.
Luckily you have it back....

Good luck with the repairs and flights in the future

Gr33n13 Posted at 2017-9-22 04:58
Great thing having you Spark back.... did you find it back easy??? o did you use any option like found my drone, i don't no.
Luckily you have it back....

Thanka bud. I had my wife spot me across the river. I had an idea so i told her star5 looking and she said wait i see something white. She has sniper eyes lol. The gps on the app was off 15 feet. Yea idk this one was probably my fault since i didnt calibrate compass because it said it was good. I will make a video about it later. lots of lesson learned i can sharw

Congrats on getting your AC back. Very lucky it found dry land.

The questions I keep going back to in these stories... You got errors very early in your flight while the AC was flying at a low speed. When you saw these errors, did you still have control over the AC? Was it responding to stick movements?

First error at 0m 28.4s, yet final log was at 2m 59.5s. When exactly did you lose control?

This seems to be a bit of an issue with the Spark. I had a very similar experience where it switched to ATTI mode then started accelerating away from me and didn't respond to controls. Luckily for me I regained control after a very few seconds and was able to land it safely. While I had no control I switched into Sport mode out of shear desperation which seemed to coincide with regaining control - could be coincidence of course.

I still wonder why the aircraft becomes so hard to control when it reverts to ATTI mode.

Normally, the accelerometer are still operating fine and should maintain the aircraft in the air. I accept the fact that without GPS, it could drift with the wind but, to fly away in an uncontrollable manner is beyond my understanding.

DJI may have to come clear with this issue. We can't keep losing our Sparks because of minor compass errors.

I'm glad you were able to recover your drone. I'm a new flyer and have not had any issues yet, but again, I'm a new flyer. Do you all carry insurance on your drone for injuries and damage to others?

hey guys so dji opened a return to home failure case for me. I guess they think its a rth failure. After this incident im considering drone insurance now. Anyone know of a good one?

jsfilmz0412 Posted at 2017-9-22 11:26
hey guys so dji opened a return to home failure case for me. I guess they think its a rth failure. After this incident im considering drone insurance now. Anyone know of a good one?

Yes, I'm curious about Drone insurance too. I'm in the states.

jsfilmz0412 Posted at 2017-9-22 11:26
hey guys so dji opened a return to home failure case for me. I guess they think its a rth failure. After this incident im considering drone insurance now. Anyone know of a good one?

In Australia, I have my Spark insured as a 'personal specified item' through my home and contents policy. If I travel out of country, the travel insurance policy covers it then too.  
My claim excess is the same price as DJI care refresh.
I can keep insuring the drone yearly, unlike care refresh where it's a once off.  
If I cannot recover my drone, my personal insurance pays out or replaces it - DJI care refresh does not.

Have a chat to your personal insurer, different countries will have different variations, but worth looking into.

Btw. The location where you were looked amazing. Sorry to hear about your Spark crash, glad you've got it back along with the footage! Interested to not only see the footage, but also see what DJI does from here!

Hi jsfilmz0421
Is the weather still bad for droning in iceland? Or are there still some periods during the day for droning and its not raining?i coming to iceland tuesday

Sparkylicious Posted at 2017-9-21 16:29
I was at Alaska last month and I experience lots of compass errors while I was there. I got prompted a few times to calibrate compass and 2 of that instances it would not complete at all hence grounding my spark. I never have problems at all with my AC back in home in California. So my opinion, flying close to north pole seems to be a problem with spark.

Any compass will have errors when closer to the poles. Specifically, the magnetic north pole. As you get closer to the poles, the directional force of the Earth's magnetic field gets weaker, meaning the compass has less of a pull to North, which makes the introduction of interference much easier. In fact, there is a good chunk of the Earth where a magnetic compass simply is useless, in the high arctic, where you would not be able to fly a drone at all.
See this:

With regards to declination, this is the relative angle of magnetic North compared with True North, at your position. Many dont realize that the magnetic North Pole is NOT at the top of the Earth, what we consider True North. Magnetic North Pole is located somewhere in Canada (Ellesmere Island), so technically if you are in the far North of Alaska, then compass North will actually be to the east of your position. Compass calibration helps adjust for this. Magnetic North is also constantly moving, so in 10 years it will not be where it is now.

the name "Sparky" is cursed! all the people who lost their DJI Spark was called Sparky, I had called him Mr.Sparky
but for good luck I changed my name after the first 4 crashes with the same nickname.

Cursed!! Cursed!!

fans61699a75 Posted at 2017-9-22 20:05
Hi jsfilmz0421
Is the weather still bad for droning in iceland? Or are there still some periods during the day for droning and its not raining?i coming to iceland tuesday

Yes but they cant predict weather here. its best to do what i did. Go to a location and hope the rain would stop and it has in some spots but not for long maybe 5 minutes tops. Dont let it stop u from going to a spot because plenty of things on the way and if your lucky its not raining. Windy as heck right now too

Good news getting your Spark back - I think the biggest difference between the Spark and Mavic and newer Phantom's is the lack of redundancy in the sensors (but thats the price point) so we have to work with it - still a great quad - enjoying mine.

OneMatt Posted at 2017-9-22 23:53
Any compass will have errors when closer to the poles. Specifically, the magnetic north pole. As you get closer to the poles, the directional force of the Earth's magnetic field gets weaker, meaning the compass has less of a pull to North, which makes the introduction of interference much easier. In fact, there is a good chunk of the Earth where a magnetic compass simply is useless, in the high arctic, where you would not be able to fly a drone at all.
See this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CU3c81fQGc

Excellent info. Thanks.

My crashed drone flies again!! But still getting disconnected after take off for a minute.

oh no way gutted

looks like a nice location to shoot videos