My son just called me extremely upset.

His brand new spark lost signal and went for a ride on it's own. He cannot find it. It was at 380 feet, lost signal and did not home as advertised.

This appears to be a widespread problem after a firmware update today in the controller and the drone.

This is complete BS and needs to be resolved.

What do you need from us to evaluate this issue????

I advised him to call tech support immediately.

He can to upload flight log here which may help in locating device:
http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

Upgrade today? Nope. You need to provide more information: flight logs, FW, App version,... See

He got BLOWN off...woman said if this is an issue she will call him back.

Welcome to the club!  ... same happen to me, but DJI were no help

You really would be better uploading log as Tviscomi asked, if what happened is as you say then flight log will show this.

Upload the text file of the last flight to phantomhelp, it will provide more data than the DJI GO app.

My money is on compass/yaw error, then it going into atti mode and then just drifting away, never connecting to the RC again.  It happened to me 5 days ago.

The flyaways since the last update have absolutely skyrocketed.  I hope DJI covers this, because it's happening a lot, and I never had ANY issues until I updated.

ADDvanced Posted at 2018-1-5 13:25
Upload the text file of the last flight to phantomhelp, it will provide more data than the DJI GO app.

My money is on compass/yaw error, then it going into atti mode and then just drifting away, never connecting to the RC again.  It happened to me 5 days ago.

From what I can tell this is what happened at an altitude of over 300feet with 72% battery.  Could be 25 miles away for all I know.

Does anyone know what they are programmed to do when HOME is not working?

Seems to me when signal is lost the drone should be programmed to slowly descend where is it vertically. Meaning if there is lateral deviation don't try and make it HOME, just descend.

I should have driven down the road with 600 single dollar bills and the windows open. I sent all the info that DVI asked for in their help desk ticket, see what happens.

I have heard when it disconnects from the remote or phone it will try and RTH but with no way of knowing where home is some will try to land when battery gets to low, have heard some will reacquire GPS and try and head home but if the RTH is set high and there is strong wind the spark just doesn't have the balls to make it home. I wouldn't say 25 miles, without flight logs we will never know. But the logs will give us a better hint as to where the drone is.

Does anyone have a remote for the spark? Maybe one that you have crashed or something?

ADDvanced Posted at 2018-1-5 13:25
Upload the text file of the last flight to phantomhelp, it will provide more data than the DJI GO app.

My money is on compass/yaw error, then it going into atti mode and then just drifting away, never connecting to the RC again.  It happened to me 5 days ago.

I haven't flown much since the last update. I mostly fly scud running in sport mode, with some tripod shots here and there.

I'm new to drones and was just about to venture into learning all about gestures. But with all the reports of flyaways using the latest firmware I'm very concerned about flying until the issue is resolved.

Is there a procedure for downgrading firmware? Should I do it?

I know that it is frustrating when you feel that you do not have any control of the AC. Anyway have a look at this thread for guidance.

https://forum.dji.com/thread-127829-1-2.html

John, I am so sorry to hear about the loss of the drone. Had your son contacted our support? If yes, they will do the best to help. And we will help to make data analysis if the drone is under warranty period, if it's a warranty case, we will compensate the drone according to After-Sales Policy. If he has not contacted our support, please contact us soon: http://www.dji.com/support.

DJI Thor Posted at 2018-1-5 21:19
John, I am so sorry to hear about the loss of the drone. Had your son contacted our support? If yes, they will do the best to help. And we will help to make data analysis if the drone is under warranty period, if it's a warranty case, we will compensate the drone according to After-Sales Policy. If he has not contacted our support, please contact us soon: http://www.dji.com/support.

Yes I followed the instructions to a T supplying the info they asked for. I replied to their email last night.

Do they analyze this data over the weekend?

John Zeek Posted at 2018-1-5 17:43
From what I can tell this is what happened at an altitude of over 300feet with 72% battery.  Could be 25 miles away for all I know.

Does anyone know what they are programmed to do when HOME is not working?

Does anyone know what they are programmed to do when HOME is not working?

(Everyone should know what happens this is why you have a manual)

Seems to me when signal is lost the drone should be programmed to slowly descend where is it vertically. Meaning if there is lateral deviation don't try and make it HOME, just descend.

Would you be happy with that scenario if your drone was about to land on water or on top of a car ?

It’s all very well saying this happened and that happened if you put up flight log to link above you would know what happened.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-1-6 06:03
Does anyone know what they are programmed to do when HOME is not working?

(Everyone should know what happens this is why you have a manual)

Well....I appreciate your advice with hint of an attitude.

IF the HOME feature worked as intended this conversation would not be happening so I am asking post failure.

I'd be happy to know the drone was at the bottom of lake rather than where did it land. In either case the drone is not here.

Upload your last flight log here and post the results...please
http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

Paul Lee Posted at 2018-1-6 11:55
Upload your last flight log here and post the results...please
http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/DOHDAIPY90B397APUXYH/

Looks like he took off and went straight to sports mode without letting the Spark set a home point.....Also he did not have a sufficient amount of satellites for an accurate GPS lock ......
This could have been avoided I think, Looks like he has been a bit too eager to get into the air without letting the Spark find its location.It also looks like it never lost connection with the remote at any point... The last entry states that it is in PGPS mode which means that you are in full control.
I'm sure someone else will come along and give you their analysis of it.

John Zeek Posted at 2018-1-6 10:11
Well....I appreciate your advice with hint of an attitude.

IF the HOME feature worked as intended this conversation would not be happening so I am asking post failure.

sometimes we take the SPARK as a regular toy which is not the case. The sophstication inside and outside the SPARK is so advanced that flying the drone without reading the manual will result in lot of poor decision making durings flights.

John Zeek Posted at 2018-1-6 15:28
http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/DOHDAIPY90B397APUXYH/

Just looking at flight log,first thing I noticed was aircraft took off from a drive way so I’m thinking that this is where compass problems were picked up.
The aircraft did save homepoint, the flight consisted of controller flying aircraft straight up in the air to max height 120meters, it was never more than 2 metres from home, compass warning at approx 850 seconds, was completely ignored no attempt to land your spark, the compass problem only showed up as soon as Aircraft was moved forward and this is why I said that problem could well have been picked up on the ground.
Another compass warning followed quickly after and again was ignored no attempt made to land, in fact again this warning came as soon as Aircraft was moved horizontally .
Log ends shortly after this. We can only surmise that Aircraft went into Atti mode and as you said it lost signal, so no gps so it can’t find it’s way home it drifts on the wind until it reaches low or critical battery and lands. Only problem I see with this is at 10% battery it might not have enough to reach the ground, so it may have crashed to the ground.
RTH was never initiated, if it was after first warning I’m sure Aircraft would have begun to land. And while it may have lost radio signal and not RTH this is almost certainly because it was in Atti mode.

I don’t know what dji will do with this case you may get a warranty I’ve seen these go both ways, so hopefully it will work out for you.

One thing I will say about this from looking at the flight whoever flew this flight did not have a clue what they were doing, to receive two compass warnings and not do anything about it tells a lot about the pilot and his lack of experience,So if you get another drone it might be wise to help this pilot understand a bit more about flying.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-1-6 17:05
Just looking at flight log,first thing I noticed was aircraft took off from a drive way so I’m thinking that this is where compass problems were picked up.
The aircraft did save homepoint, the flight consisted of controller flying aircraft straight up in the air to max height 120meters, it was never more than 2 metres from home, compass warning at approx 850 seconds, was completely ignored no attempt to land your spark, the compass problem only showed up as soon as Aircraft was moved forward and this is why I said that problem could well have been picked up on the ground.
Another compass warning followed quickly after and again was ignored no attempt made to land, in fact again this warning came as soon as Aircraft was moved horizontally .

There was a home point recorded at 19.5s.

If you review the other flight logs from successful missions he also got GPS warnings and  he was able to control it. In other words it never lost video feed or control as he knows it.

I spent 13 years working on navigation equipment on vessels, 12 sat's is more than enough for a solid position. Other flight logs show similar warnings resulting with aircraft in hand.

When control was severed it had 76% battery life.

John Zeek Posted at 2018-1-6 18:36
There was a home point recorded at 19.5s.

If you review the other flight logs from successful missions he also got GPS warnings and  he was able to control it. In other words it never lost video feed or control as he knows it.

1/ if you read my post I already said that homepoint was recorded

2/ I never said he didn’t have enough satellites

3/ Spark receives both glonass and gps satellites, he had 12 total, he needs 6 min to fly drone so yes he most likely had bare minimum.

4/ he received compass warning at approx 850 seconds, it was completely ignored, correct procedure should have been to try land aircraft by reducing altitude.

5/ he received another compass warning shortly after telling him Aircraft would enter Atti mode he again ignored this.

6/ log ends shortly after this so I am presuming Aircraft went into Atti mode and lost signal, meaning it couldn’t RTH because in Atti mode no gps, after this we don’t and can’t know what happened.

My advice to you was to help avoid this happening again then it would be best to let pilot know his errors but if you think by looking at log he did nothing wrong, when it’s there in black and white that’s up to you, I was just giving my advice on what I’ve read in the log.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-1-6 19:07
1/ if you read my post I already said that homepoint was recorded

2/ I never said he didn’t have enough satellites

A little tangential, but I’m still trying to figure out the RC-AC-device triangle: does Spark get GPS and compass input directly or does it come through RC? How does OTG (vs WiFi) affect disconnects?
Thanks

John Zeek Posted at 2018-1-6 05:24
Yes I followed the instructions to a T supplying the info they asked for. I replied to their email last night.

Do they analyze this data over the weekend?

Sorry, our engineers work on work days. So you might need to wait patiently, hope things will be sorted out soon.

Pepere Posted at 2018-1-6 19:35
A little tangential, but I’m still trying to figure out the RC-AC-device triangle: does Spark get GPS and compass input directly or does it come through RC? How does OTG (vs WiFi) affect disconnects?
Thanks

The RC AC Phone triangle has the remote controlling a stabilized drone.  The remote sends data to the smartphone app so the smartphone acts as a display screen with touch controls for the remote.  Instead of a touch screen hardwired and built into the remote, it just uses your phone, linked through a wifi connection, and saves the cost.

The drone has its own GPS receiver, compass, and internal navigation unit (black box with sensitive accelerometers).  That allows it to hold itself stabilized in space and only move when directed to by the pilot.  It can be confusing that the drone sends status data and video feeds back the remote which is in turn displayed on its screen (smartphone).

Just be cautious as you do have what seems like high voltage power transmission lines to the left of the map. These are known to cause interference to the SPARK guidance system. You can use apps like Airmap or Hover for drone and UAV to view the map area and review some of the pre-flight conditions. Even Kp index the geomagnetic measurement is given in the app.

Anyway hope that you do arrive to an amicable understanding and resolution to the situation.

DJI Thor Posted at 2018-1-6 20:20
Sorry, our engineers work on work days. So you might need to wait patiently, hope things will be sorted out soon.

Thank you.

Can your son read a manual?  Beginner mode may have been really really useful....

rimza Posted at 2018-1-6 21:10
Just be cautious as you do have what seems like high voltage power transmission lines to the left of the map. These are known to cause interference to the SPARK guidance system. You can use apps like Airmap or Hover for drone and UAV to view the map area and review some of the pre-flight conditions. Even Kp index the geomagnetic measurement is given in the app.

Anyway hope that you do arrive to an amicable understanding and resolution to the situation.

I also wonder if the solar panels in close proximity to the home point could have caused a compass error?

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-1-6 17:05
Just looking at flight log,first thing I noticed was aircraft took off from a drive way so I’m thinking that this is where compass problems were picked up.
The aircraft did save homepoint, the flight consisted of controller flying aircraft straight up in the air to max height 120meters, it was never more than 2 metres from home, compass warning at approx 850 seconds, was completely ignored no attempt to land your spark, the compass problem only showed up as soon as Aircraft was moved forward and this is why I said that problem could well have been picked up on the ground.
Another compass warning followed quickly after and again was ignored no attempt made to land, in fact again this warning came as soon as Aircraft was moved horizontally .

Regarding the compass errors, I notice there are quite a few high tension power lines just off to the left in the satellite picture. That could have effected the compass.

Dipsy46 Posted at 2018-1-7 12:36
Regarding the compass errors, I notice there are quite a few high tension power lines just off to the left in the satellite picture. That could have effected the compass.

They say to keep 10 metres clear of power lines, it’s not always easy to know, if you put your drone down on rebar concrete you can see changes in compass readings and headings before take off, with overhead power lines it’s hard to measure the amount of magnetic interference unless you fly close to them.

I have on one occasion seen the strong effects of flying 15 feet over metal roof it’s not pretty.