Well, my first crash of spark just finally happended but not because of the drone but because of pure stupidity on my part. Let this thread be a lesson to all new pilots including myself. Always pay attention to the alerts on the DJI screen and make sure surrounding conditions are favorable. I came to the mountains of NC for the week and brought my spark along. Went to fly it this afternoon off the back porch of the cabin but prior to take off I was getting a lot of interference errors. On top of the errors it was a bit tight flying where I am and a bit windy. The drone got about 30 feet up and went into ATTI mode. I tried really hard to get it under control but I never had a chance due to trees on all sides. It ended up flying into a tree and falling some 40 feet into the dead leaves below. I lost one propellor and the battery was ejected due to the impact. As far as I can tell there wasn't a scratch on it when I found it. Just took it for a quick hover inside and all controls and camera seem to be ok. Bottom line, I was careless and should have know better. Hopefully all is well that ends well. I'll see when I get back home and can send it on a normal flight. Happy flying!

Sorry for what happened to you. What are the interference errors prompted? Specifics? Thanks

RjMllr Posted at 2018-4-4 17:33
Sorry for what happened to you. What are the interference errors prompted? Specifics? Thanks

At first I was getting a lot of the general interference errors regarding bluetooth devices. I'm also in an area with no cell phone service. When I took off everything looked ok with 12-13 satallites with 4 of 5 bars. But 35 seconds in I lost all bars for satellite reception. At that point I saw the "Warning: Compass error. Exit P-GPS Mode" and then the dreaded "Working in flight IMU: encounters heading exception..." There is a lot of metal around this cabin such as rails and the roof. I'm guessing this is what caused the compass interference.

Don't feel bad, it happens. I took my Mavic Pro out tonight and it's kept inside a zippered case yet on my way out the zippered case wasn't zipped and the Mavic Pro could have taken a tumble but the case held it in long enough for me to realize it and zipper it shut. Talk about your close calls. Hopefully you can send in your Spark to DJI so they can troubleshoot it (if anything is wrong).

Sorry for the crash. Please make an overall inspection of the drone especially the battery slot and lock. And to ensure the flight safety and stability, I suggest that you can send the drone in for a check since it had crashed. Please contact our support on the following page to start a case: http://www.dji.com/support

Hi Madseason, sorry for the mishap, we recommend to calibrate the compass in every new flight location. The compass is very sensitive to electromagnetic interference, which can cause abnormal compass data leading to poor flight performance or even failure. The aircraft will revert to ATTI Mode when the GPS signal is weak or when the compass experience interference, in this mode, the drone cannot position or auto-brake.
If the drone has been damaged, we recommend to send in for evaluation and thanks for sharing your experience with us, hope we all can learn from this.

Sorry to hear of the crash but it takes a real man/woman/non-binary specific gender to own up to their own mistakes.

I have a question specifically for DJI-THOR and DJI MINDY. I have many different “DRONES” using many different kinds of GPS enabled flight controllers. I have flown all f these in relatively high RF and magnetic environments and never ever had an issue. So why is the Spark different? DJI MINDY states that the compass on the Spark is very sensitive to electromagnetic interference. Could this possibly mean that the hardware DJI have used in the Spark is not suited to the application? There does appear to be a high amount of these cases, even when the owner is flying in an area devoid of any man made infrastructure.

DJI Mindy Posted at 2018-4-4 21:25
Hi Madseason, sorry for the mishap, we recommend to calibrate the compass in every new flight location. The compass is very sensitive to electromagnetic interference, which can cause abnormal compass data leading to poor flight performance or even failure. The aircraft will revert to ATTI Mode when the GPS signal is weak or when the compass experience interference, in this mode, the drone cannot position or auto-brake.
If the drone has been damaged, we recommend to send in for evaluation and thanks for sharing your experience with us, hope we all can learn from this.

Hi DJI Mindy

Thanks for the response. I just want to understand something. The compass calibration has been discussed on this forum a good bit. Most say to not calibrate unless prompted by the AC. I received no message to calibrate spark so I never thought to do so. I just want to make sure that calibration before every new flight location is necessary. Thanks!!

I believe what she is saying is that we need to calibrate compass.    " in every new flight location".    From all the vids and reading I have done, I have come across this numerous times from experienced operators to always check compass and IMU interference on the app and to calibrate compass when flying in a new area or when the app prompts you too. I am sure some more experienced operators will chime in on this as I am still learning.....I hope your Spark is OK

Darn... tough way to learn, but at least you are able to keep flying.  Thanks for sharing.  Those are tough little buggers, though, you gotta admit.  A 40 foot fall!

Well, now I must admit to some confusion. On page 49 of the Spark user manual it states;  "ONLY calibrate the compass when the DJI GO 4 APP or the status indicator prompts you to do so."

Others have said not to cal just because you've moved to a new location. Others say that they've calibrated on every flight.  From my own personal experience, I used to calibrate when I moved more than 50 miles. What I noticed is that it started taking longer and longer for the aircraft to warm up. I can't say for sure that it was the compass calibration that was causing this.  This was my first drone (Phantom 3 - 4k) and after a bone headed move, I crashed that drone. I fixed it with a new compass, motherboard and all new motors. Now it warms up right away (?) I have not calibrated it since the crash (it hasn't asked for it either). When the Spark asks for a compass calibration, I try moving it to a new take off location. So far, I've never calibrated the Spark OR my Phantom 4 pro and have had no issue with either of them.

This has been a hot topic on these boards and some final clarification would be awesome. We all want to do the right thing, but there is some conflict as to what the right thing is.

^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^ On page 49 of the Spark user manual - my confusion as well...

I have only done one calibration.  Calibrated it as part of the set up when it was new.  I have flown in a couple different locations within four miles and three locations within 40 miles.  If the compass faults out and it drops to ATTI mode, which it has never done on my Spark, no big deal as I will fly it back to me by working the sticks on the remote controller.  I never use or rely on RTH.

that was close!

UPDATE... So I jumped back in the saddle this morning. After looking at the cabin we're in I noticed a lot of medal on the roof. I decide to walk down the way a bit and give her another go. Before flight I replaced all propellors and checked the structure. Seriously, there wasn't a scratch on her after falling 40 feet. Put on the prop guards just in case but Spark is a beast. Flew 3 batteries without one issue. I'm 100% convinced that my first crash was pilot error and could have been avoided. Lessons learned is to always check my surroundings before flying.

Glad the Spark still works. It's pretty tough!

This is exactly what i've been telling  this forum that pilot error is the most common cause of a SPARK crash .

It makes a refreshing change hearing someone admitting to their error and not just going on a foaming mouth rant about how 'terrible' DJI drones are! Glad you're back up and flying!

It would be really nice to get a definitive statement on compass calibration - where and when.  Seems like two schools of thought, I suppose doing one to be safe in a new location cant hurt....  Why is this such a divided issue?

Madseason Posted at 2018-4-5 19:14
UPDATE... So I jumped back in the saddle this morning. After looking at the cabin we're in I noticed a lot of medal on the roof. I decide to walk down the way a bit and give her another go. Before flight I replaced all propellors and checked the structure. Seriously, there wasn't a scratch on her after falling 40 feet. Put on the prop guards just in case but Spark is a beast. Flew 3 batteries without one issue. I'm 100% convinced that my first crash was pilot error and could have been avoided. Lessons learned is to always check my surroundings before flying.

Good catch on the metal roofing...maybe try to upload a pic or vid for us....been awhile since I have seen NC Mountains, beautiful country

Gunship9 Posted at 2018-4-5 09:54
I have only done one calibration.  Calibrated it as part of the set up when it was new.  I have flown in a couple different locations within four miles and three locations within 40 miles.  If the compass faults out and it drops to ATTI mode, which it has never done on my Spark, no big deal as I will fly it back to me by working the sticks on the remote controller.  I never use or rely on RTH.

And you never had to do an IMU calibration either? Do you ever check the bias values of the IMU? Are the still good (very low)?

You should probably see if you could send it into DJI for troubleshooting and to have them look at it. After a crash you don't want to lose your Spark from a random fly away because of an earlier crash flight. Not sure if you have DJI Care Refresh, but since you crashed and have your Spark, you might want to secure your opportunity to send in the drone now that you still have it?

KurtVD Posted at 2018-4-6 15:17
And you never had to do an IMU calibration either? Do you ever check the bias values of the IMU? Are the still good (very low)?

Yes and no.  

I tried doing the IMU but I had the props on and the drone was on a board laying in the grass.  Not the way to do an IMU calibration.  When I first got the Spark, my thumb was just caught a little in the motorcycle sprocket and chain.  Smashed it a bit, so I was wearing a bandaid and couldn't grip the motor well enough to remove a prop.  I never did a good IMU calibration.

The IMU just wants to see what the accelerometer sensor output is for one gee in each of the three dimensions.  The earth's pull is pretty well calibrated.  I have never looked at the bias values for the IMU.  Maybe I should, as it hand launches off my back deck a little wildly.  I have to quickly get on the sticks to correct it.

Bandage on left thumb:

Only calibrate the compass when the app prompts you as stated in the operators manual. !,  I have been flying my Spark for nine months, 270,051  mtrs, with 20 hrs flying time, in three different countries and have never needed to do a compass calibration, apart from the initial set up calibration...

So I crashed a while back, new pilot error.  My concern is that your battery ejected on impact.  My crash was from 118' up after it flew full tilt into a steel water tower and it fell like a rock to the earth.  Two broken arms lost prop and another broken one and a damaged motor.  That was it, per DJI since they repaired it.  The only thing is is after the impact the Spark was still on! There was nothing soft about the frozen dirt it hit and the battery remained attached.  

The Spark is a beast as you mentioned, but after reading that do you have concern about that battery ejecting itself?

Madseason Posted at 2018-4-5 04:43
Hi DJI Mindy

Thanks for the response. I just want to understand something. The compass calibration has been discussed on this forum a good bit. Most say to not calibrate unless prompted by the AC. I received no message to calibrate spark so I never thought to do so. I just want to make sure that calibration before every new flight location is necessary. Thanks!!

Nobody is wrong, although the user manual of Spark states only calibrate the compass when DJI Go 4 or status indicator prompt you to do, but calibrating the compass in every new place would be safer, this is what we have confirmed with our engineers. Thanks for your attention.