Northwood Posted at 2018-7-11 09:48
Do let us know the outcome!

You guys are great! Found it within 60 seconds of arriving at destination. It's intact and flying! Thanks!

N2QLT Posted at 2018-7-11 11:42
Got it! Intact!

Congrats! Show us where it was, on the map.

Mirek6 Posted at 2018-7-11 08:19
Look for it about 50 metres or more to the East or East/South of where the red line ends.

It was landing with a speed of 2.6 m/s and had about 19 seconds left before it would stop and hover 30 cm above the ground. It was also moving with a speed of roughly 3 m/s to East or EES.

Bingo! Got it within 60 seconds! I can't thank you enough. It's all in one piece and flying fine. Now I just have to figure out what I did wrong so this doesn't happen again!

S-e-ven Posted at 2018-7-11 09:33
That is (my) the question:
"I'm not sure how tall the trees are, but probably tall enough to catch the drone at the rate it was descending."

Thanks! It's back home and running. Landed maybe 50 feet short of the trees!

Antipaxi Posted at 2018-7-11 11:44
Congrats! Show us where it was, on the map.

Thanks! I don't know how to post a map. But it landed maybe halfway from where the red line ends and the tree line.

N2QLT Posted at 2018-7-11 12:04
Thanks! I don't know how to post a map. But it landed maybe halfway from where the red line ends and the tree line.

I can imagine how much better your day must be after your success. I know I would be bound up the entire time

Good to hear that  you found it.

N2QLT Posted at 2018-7-11 12:04
Thanks! I don't know how to post a map. But it landed maybe halfway from where the red line ends and the tree line.

NTQLT,

This will be loooong post.
Your log is thoroughly fascinating. Bare with me in this journey – I will recount what happened and why it happened, with my summary and my findings below.

7.9 sec – GPS mismatch. Altitude 10.5 metres and over the house. Spark drifts NNW even though it is in GPS lock and you command it to fly straight up.
GPS mismatch here means that it is in wrong position – and it is. It changes its physical geo position while his commanded position (the one you give it through sticks) stays the same.

10.5 sec – Another GPS mismatch. Altitude 15.1 metres and still over the house. Drift continues to SE – still no directional input from sticks.
This is sign of trouble to come.

15 sec – still raising. Altitude 24 meters. Breeze from NWW with speed about 2 to 2.5 m/s. Spark cannot hold its position and it is pushed slowly to SEE.
This is trouble. IMU is confused. Spark should be able to hold in one geo spot.

37 sec – still raising. Altitude 69 metres. Wind picks up speed. Still blowing from NWW with speed about 3m/s. Spark continues to drift slightly to SEE even though it should stay put in one spot. IMU is confused. Spark should be able to hold in one geo spot.

1 minute – you stopped raising at 116 metres. Spark is hunting to stay in place. Steady breeze at 3m/s from NWW.

1m 22s – first compass error caused by Spark inability to hold position. It is being pushed to south by few metres while there is no directional input from the sticks and wind is not strong. This means that GPS position change without directional input is confusing Spark. Compass/IMU/GPS combo is not functioning well.

1m 30s – you start raising Spark up again.

2m 32s – altitude 237 m. Compass error again. Spark is confused. IMU and compass are confused. Impending doom!.
Wind from NWW – same speed ~3m/s.

At this moment Spark had enough of a drift and fires up its motors on its own to fly back to its original position.

However, and I have not seen anything like this before, it starts to fly in the toilet bowl effect pattern in wrong direction.
Its pitch / roll and yaw show circular counter clockwise pattern starting in SE direction while, it flies NW in a clockwise pattern.
All is all backwards. It looks like your IMU gyroscope shows South instead of North.
I must see your video (if you were filming) to confirm. Your Spark must have been facing totally opposite direction than your compass believed it was facing.

2m 44s – altitude 260m. You stop raising but clockwise toilet bowl effect spin is in full swing. Spark is already 80 metres north of you.
You are not reacting at all. No movement of your sticks.

By 2m 51s Spark’s systems are so confused that it drops to ATTI. In a massive compass / IMU / GPS failure like this, it is correct reaction.
You are watching and doing nothing to change Spark’s direction.
Spark continues by pure inertia to the south for a few seconds and than it is blown by the NWW wind.

Perhaps it is too high for you to see, but you do not try to change its direction at all. Not even once you pushed on aileron or throttle sticks.
You are just changing the direction the Spark is facing and its gimbal position. Which does nothing to Spark’s trajectory.

At 3m 9s you finally realised that something is totally wrong, and you start landing it.
Spark is at altitude of 260 m – long way to go.

At 4m 13s you give up. Most likely you do not even see the Spark. It is at 188m of altitude and 297 metres from your home.
It drifts with the wind.

At 4m 20s, 316 metres from your home signal breaks. Perhaps you started to move, redirected antennas, stepped behind some obstacle to have clear VLOS with Spark?
When signal is restored 25 seconds later, Spark is already auto-landing.
It started auto-landing with speed between 2.6 and 3m/s 20 seconds after signal was disconnected. This is correct behaviour of Spark even though DJI refuses to admit or confirm it (I asked multiple times) and it is hard to check for sure (hard to force ATTI without messing around with Spark’s firmware and invalidating Spark’s warranty).
But I have seen enough videos when Spark starts to land in ATTI when signal breaks to figure out that it must be the pattern.

Auto-landing sequence started 20 seconds after you lost the signal, which is consistent with what DJI program into Spark when it loses its signal when flying by phone only – after 20 seconds it starts RTH sequence. Since it could not do it here (there is no RTH in ATTI) it started to land.
This failsafe procedure saved your Spark – otherwise it would have drifted into oblivion until battery died down.
UPDATE: (Jul 13, 2018) - My calculations which resulted in a claim that Spark starts autolanding 20 seconds after signal lost when in ATTI are incorrect. Most likely scenario is that it takes over 3 and less than 10 seconds for Spark to start landing but descent is slower for the first few seconds due to inertia. Than Spark descends with speed of 2.6 to 3 m/s. This case showed that Spark dropped 29 metres within 25 seconds of disconnect and than continued autolanding at varying speeds between 2.6 and 3 m/s.
For more explanation see my post: https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=156372&page=3#pid1459031

Signal totally breaks over half a kilometer from home.

Summary

1.        I am not here to moralize, but you did break the laws of your country. You max altitude should be set to 120 metres. But, hey, maybe you did not know. Now you do :-).

2.        Your flight showed abnormalities from the very beginning. My bet is on one or more of the following:

   a.        You started from the point with a lot of steel and magnetic interference – your home is such a place and if you have interlock or concrete patio, this could be bad. Your compass must have been confused when starting and than “unwinded” as Spark wen up causing confusion.

   b.        Your IMU and/or compass are not calibrated properly. Please calibrate your IMU on a flat surface and with no vibrations. Calibrate your compass away from any magnetic and electromagnetic interference and away from any steel. Even your mobile, your iWatch, your steel bracelet must be at least a meter from the Spark you are calibrating. Do not calibrate close to rock formations or concrete. Just go outside your house and do it in the middle of the field. When you are calibrating compass, turn the Spark slowly. Do not do it fast.

   c.        Your Spark IMU is busted. But before you come to this conclusion do your calibration and do not start from places which may interfere with your compass.

3.        Post the video of your flight (if you filmed it). I need to check what the hell happened with this wrong direction of toilet bowl effect. Confirmation that Spark was 180 degrees turned to the yaw direction indicated in logs would be a big win for all forum members. This is so unusual that I must see it.

4.        After following steps above try to fly. Push the Spark to max but within your VLOS  and not too high – just in case. You need to do it to confirm that you do not have a faulty Spark.

Good luck and please keep us informed of your experiments. And don’t forget to post video :-).

Mirek

Glad to hear the search was successful.  Flying a Spark is a science all of its own.  This lucky escape is a great opportunity to learn how to avoid it happening again.  Mirek's analysis can be taken to the bank... so good luck after your IMU and Compass calibrations.  Stay away from your house and vehicles and try again. (not so high perhaps!)  Lets see the video too!

Mirek6 Posted at 2018-7-11 15:57
NTQLT,

This will be loooong post.

Thank you ever so much for all of this. I will go over it in detail when I get to my office. That way, I can avoid doing my work ;-)

I will bring the SD card and try to upload the video too. All of your research is helping me to understand what went wrong. When the drone prompted me to calibrate the compass that day, I was on a thick steel reinforced pool deck, next to a chain link fence. Never occurred to me that it might be a bad idea. After retrieving it (thanks to you), I calibrated the IMU on a flat countertop (it hung up when trying it on the ground), and calibrated the compass outside in the clear. I didn't fly it far, I'm a little gun shy now. I certainly won't fly it above probably 300 feet again. The view doesn't get much better at 850 feet. And I don't want to break the law. Although, I've probably never seen an airplane at that level here in 20 years.

Your play-by-play is fascinating. It will help me to re-live the panic situation. I was also surprised that you were not able to tell me what I was wearing at the time :-)

Northwood Posted at 2018-7-11 18:45
Glad to hear the search was successful.  Flying a Spark is a science all of its own.  This lucky escape is a great opportunity to learn how to avoid it happening again.  Mirek's analysis can be taken to the bank... so good luck after your IMU and Compass calibrations.  Stay away from your house and vehicles and try again. (not so high perhaps!)  Lets see the video too!

Video coming in a couple hours! Thanks so much for sending me to the right place! The flight record that is displayed in the app is sorely lacking. It had me scouring the wrong area for two days!

Mirek6 Posted at 2018-7-11 15:57
NTQLT,

This will be loooong post.

And also Mirek, you are absolutely correct. It was too high for me to see. Especially when it started to drift. I did not realize that it had drifted so far and continued as it descended. It was in ATTI mode and I was hoping to hear it as it descended so I could try to regain control. But I was standing very close to a tall tree line with no view of the Eastern sky.

I also noticed that the breeze that moved her away was coming from..... CANADA......   ;-)

N2QLT Posted at 2018-7-12 03:24
I also noticed that the breeze that moved her away was coming from..... CANADA......   ;-)

Thats pretty funny, two Canadians trying to help you... subliminal guilt?  Ha ha!  However, the breeze  would have been fresh and unpolluted!


Oh ya, and we did see what you were wearing....  a look of horror!

One more thang.....  highly recommend you install UAV Forecast app on your mobile device, it will show you the wind profile at various altitudes at your current location and time, it will also (with the free version) show you the wind forecast for the next 24 hours.  If you pay the subcription fee, you get a 7 day forecast in addition to a few other things.  It will help you assess when its safe to fly.  Also, have a look at windy.com.  While you're at it, install AirMap... it will help you find legal places to fly.  Both those have web apps too, links embedded.  


Happy flying!  (safe too!)

N2QLT Posted at 2018-7-12 03:12
Thank you ever so much for all of this. I will go over it in detail when I get to my office. That way, I can avoid doing my work ;-)

I will bring the SD card and try to upload the video too. All of your research is helping me to understand what went wrong. When the drone prompted me to calibrate the compass that day, I was on a thick steel reinforced pool deck, next to a chain link fence. Never occurred to me that it might be a bad idea. After retrieving it (thanks to you), I calibrated the IMU on a flat countertop (it hung up when trying it on the ground), and calibrated the compass outside in the clear. I didn't fly it far, I'm a little gun shy now. I certainly won't fly it above probably 300 feet again. The view doesn't get much better at 850 feet. And I don't want to break the law. Although, I've probably never seen an airplane at that level here in 20 years.

N2QLT,

You say: "Your play-by-play is fascinating. It will help me to re-live the panic situation. I was also surprised that you were not able to tell me what I was wearing at the time :-)".

I'll wait for another piece of evience (your video) and than I will tell you what you were wearing :-).

Calibrating compass on steel reinforced pool deck is a bad idea. Google hard/soft iron distortion and what kind of havoc it wrecks on magnetometer if you want to understand better. Magnetometer calibration is done in all axis (X/Y/Z) because earth magnetic field is three dimensional. If you calibrate you magnetometer in a distorted field and than fly up, where distortion dissipates, your compass will show wrong direction which, inevitably will lead to toilet ball effect (if firmware does not catch it earlier) which, inevitably, leads to ATTI and fly-away with wind (if you do not control it manually).

Even if your Spark was calibrate properly, starting it from a steel-reinforced deck is bad idea. The reason for it is that on the deck well calibrated compass will show wrong direction which will be remembered as right direction by Spark when rising. When raising above distortion field, your compass will start showing proper direction but Spark will notice that direction changes without changing yaw of the aircraft. It means compass / IMU discrepancy which may result in confusion and ATTI.

Spark h/w faults are rare (they do happen) so I am fairly confident that you have good Spark with bad calibration and bad start place. Don't be shy and have fun. But take all precautions and test it well in controlled conditions close to you (no further away than, perhaps 100 metres, and see if you can observe any anomalies. Push it in both P-GPS and Sport mode. If you see any signs of Spark not obeying what you want it to do - land immediately.

Also, learn how to use compass view. It will help you direct Spark back to you if it is far away and you cannot see it.

Mirek

t3kn0thug Posted at 2018-7-11 12:14
I can imagine how much better your day must be after your success. I know I would be bound up the entire time

Thank you! Phew!

Mirek6 Posted at 2018-7-12 04:43
N2QLT,

You say: "Your play-by-play is fascinating. It will help me to re-live the panic situation. I was also surprised that you were not able to tell me what I was wearing at the time :-)".

Okay, it's all starting to come together now. I'm learning a lot in my two weeks of operation. I've had the Spark since my kids bought it for me in December for my birthday. I just stated using it, since they got it so I could use it on family vacation. I didn't know that it would be (mostly) so much fun. Now I will try to upload video. Stand by....

Happy to see a wayward Spark find its way home.  

Mirek6 Posted at 2018-7-12 04:43
N2QLT,

You say: "Your play-by-play is fascinating. It will help me to re-live the panic situation. I was also surprised that you were not able to tell me what I was wearing at the time :-)".

No luck with trying to upload the video. My computer locks up every time I start the upload.

I will look up how to fly by compass. That sounds like a great tip.

BrandonW77 Posted at 2018-7-12 05:54
Happy to see a wayward Spark find its way home.

Thank you!

Northwood Posted at 2018-7-12 04:15
Thats pretty funny, two Canadians trying to help you... subliminal guilt?  Ha ha!  However, the breeze  would have been fresh and unpolluted!

Thanks! I will definitely get those apps.

And I have to say that right after I lost the drone I did get some help from some Canadians. Molson Canadians.

N2QLT Posted at 2018-7-12 06:13
No luck with trying to upload the video. My computer locks up every time I start the upload.

I will look up how to fly by compass. That sounds like a great tip.

N2QLT,

You say:"No luck with trying to upload the video. My computer locks up every time I start the upload. "

are you trying to upload full video form your MicroSD card or you are uploading low resolution video which is cached on your mobile?

Low resolution cached video is sufficient.  They are much smaller in size than full resolution. In your case, the size of cached video should be smaller than 100 MB.

Mirek

Mirek6 Posted at 2018-7-12 06:32
N2QLT,

You say:"No luck with trying to upload the video. My computer locks up every time I start the upload. "

I'm trying to upload the file from the SD card. It's a huge file. I'm not even sure if I could email it. There doesn't seem to be any video from the flight on the ipad. It's strange, some of the flight records in GO app have video displayed on the right hand side, some don't. This fateful flight shows blank windows where the video would appear. I don't know how it would have them anyway, since the Spark lost contact with the device apparently. Bear with me, I'm new at this!

Mirek6 Posted at 2018-7-11 15:57
NTQLT,

This will be loooong post.

Mirek, with the guys like You we can feel ourselves on safe side. Thank You so much for your contribution to our education and rising the level of our safety.

Hi N2QLT,

Happy to read that you have your Spark back in one piece!!

What Mirek told you (and the other forum readers) is absolute text we all can learn from.
For me its good to know that after 20 secs in ATTI autolanding will start and not after 3 seconds. Knowledge to be use for finding  a drone wich is flying away in ATTI and  gets disconnected.

As we are here to help each other mayby this video explains how to use that compass in the GoApp, so good to use even when craft is not in sight at short distance.
[ https://forum.dji.com/thread-144696-1-1.html ] BTW, if you loose only video connection this compass still indicates, so no panic just steer back towards HP.

You did start your flight with low GPS reception, on a scale 1 - 5 only 2. (see my chart), and GPS count dropped shortly to 8. IMO 11 sats is the minimum for starting a flight.
The first few errors (not seen in the GoApp) : GpsPositionNonMatch ; for sure this did not contributed to a good flight (apart from the compass calibration)
Problem is that all these type of errors are not shown in the GoApp! I hope that DJI will implement a general "info-warning" so the user can decide to bring the drone back home instead of flying further and further....

I always try to stand about 10 meters behind takeoff position, looking at the back of my craft. So in the GoApp your red arrow points fwd and is in line with you, arrow and top white marking (see the video). If North is indicating North than its safe to fly and after the hover checks you can fly with a good feel away from homepoint.

I use my own checklist (there are many here so find them all and see wich one you like to use).

Another tip if your mobile device is capable ; fly always with a screen recorder active. This way you can see your flight back and see what you (and I ofcourse) missed while watching the craft and not at your screen. I use DU recorder.

cheers
JJB

N2QLT Posted at 2018-7-12 06:52
I'm trying to upload the file from the SD card. It's a huge file. I'm not even sure if I could email it. There doesn't seem to be any video from the flight on the ipad. It's strange, some of the flight records in GO app have video displayed on the right hand side, some don't. This fateful flight shows blank windows where the video would appear. I don't know how it would have them anyway, since the Spark lost contact with the device apparently. Bear with me, I'm new at this!

All right, The file is there - I don't know where to look for it on iPAD.

On Android devices it is in DJI / dji.go.v4 / DJI_RECORD directory.
It is an mp4 file which will be titled YYYY_MM_DD_HH_MM_SS.mp4 (where YYYY is a year number, MM is month number etc.)

If you cannot upload it, please look at your video and give me the following directional information. In which direction approximate angle (as per my drawing below) does the Spark look at the following time: in your video (as measured from the start of the video):

• 0 seconds - video starts
• 21 seconds
• 56 seconds
• 61 seconds
• 2 min 6 seconds
• 2 m 14 seconds
  

The above are time on your video - not logs. You started video recording 26.4 seconds after you started Spark.

Try to make as accurate estimates of the angle the camera is facing as you can.



Mirek

JJBspark Posted at 2018-7-12 07:34
Hi N2QLT,

Happy to read that you have your Spark back in one piece!!

JJB,

I will print and laminate your CanFlyCheclist and will carry it in my wallet :-).
While we know it by heart - it is a typical pilot's check - pilots do know it well yet always go through it so nothing gets forgotten.

Excellent!

Mirek

Mirek6 Posted at 2018-7-12 07:47
JJB,

I will print and laminate your CanFlyCheclist and will carry it in my wallet :-).

Thanks, i like the mental part best. As we all like to fly and fly...so its hard to stop that feeling and land your AC or even don`t go flying!.
Better cancel or return your flight than fly in some doubt and continue flying and mayby get into trouble.

cheers
JJB

Mirek6 Posted at 2018-7-12 07:40
All right, The file is there - I don't know where to look for it on iPAD.

On Android devices it is in DJI / dji.go.v4 / DJI_RECORD directory.

Okay. I don't have the device here but can check for the file when I bring it in and connect to itunes.

From the video, these are approximate bearings.

0 sec: 250
21 sec: 245
56 sec: 65
61 sec: 0
2 min 6 sec: 90
2 min 14 sec: 180

These are approximations. The image was tilting at 2 min 14 sec.

JJBspark Posted at 2018-7-12 07:34
Hi N2QLT,

Happy to read that you have your Spark back in one piece!!

JJB, thank you so much for the helpful information! I'm getting a wealth of knowledge from you guys, hopefully I can pass it on (once I know what I'm doing). I'm going to view the video link you sent. That would have been great info to have when everything went awry. Also, you are correct on the GO app. It sure would have been nice to have the info early in the flight. I would have ended it right away! Screen recorder would be a great help too. The warnings in GO pop up and disappear fast, leading to panic in a new operator like me. The find my drone feature was also not too good. It had me searching the wrong area for two days! Maybe DJI wants the drones to go bye-bye?

N2QLT Posted at 2018-7-12 08:07
Okay. I don't have the device here but can check for the file when I bring it in and connect to itunes.

From the video, these are approximate bearings.

N2QLT,

We nailed the culprit!
Your values fluctuate - from almost equal to what show in logs to quite big discrepancies (90 degrees).

To compare: (first value is what you observed with camera and second is log value)

0 sec: 250 264 (close enough)
21 sec: 245 262 (close enough)
56 sec: 65 138 (big discrepancy - you report Spark facing NE while logs show SE)
61 sec: 0 345 (close enough)
2 min 6 sec: 90 0 (big discrepancy - you report Spark facing East while logs say North)
2 min 14 sec: 180 270 (big discrepancy - you report Spark facing South while logs show WEST).

Last two ones are VERY important because we are witnessing flip of compass and yaw by 180 degrees (as predicted by me in my analysis above).

At 2 min 6 sec there is 90 degree discrepancy True shows East, Log shows North. Log value is 90 degrees counter clockwise from true heading of Spark.

8 seconds later it is reversed: True shows South, Logs Shows West. Log value is 90 degrees clockwise from true heading of Spark.

I asked for 2 min 6 sec because exactly at this point in your video Spark came alive on its own and started its Toilet Bowl Effect flight without any input from you. It was not the wind - it was active flying.
After few seconds  it was flying in a different direction and different pattern as the one indicated by logs. When I reconcile pitch / roll and what your camera see with its trajectory - it does make sense now.

We have a case of a really confused compass and IMU gyro. Compass seems to be in agreement with Sparks direction (IMU gyroscope) until close to a minute into the flight. Small discrepancies cause a bit of confusion and Spark drift. At 2m 6s discrepancy is 90 degrees (huge) followed by 180 degree compass (or IMU gyro) shift within few seconds. This causes Spark's attempt to recover position and, inevitably, toilet bowl effect due to compass/yaw angular discrepancy.

I am just puzzled that it took Spark one minute and 22 seconds to figure out that it is in TBE and drop to ATTI. Usually it will do it much faster.

Anyways - calibrate compass, calibrate IMU, fly and report back :-)

Thanks.

Mirek   

Mirek6 Posted at 2018-7-12 08:52
N2QLT,

We nailed the culprit!

That's amazing, Mirek! It's clear what happened now. I only calibrated the IMU once, about two weeks ago. The sensors showed the IMU as "green". Apparently, it should be calibrated more often. I had read somewhere not to calibrate the compass again unless traveling away many kilometers. But that particular day, the Spark prompted me to calibrate the compass. And I happened to be on the reinforced concrete deck right next to the chain link fence. Worse, I calibrated it on the ground, right on top of the concrete.

N2QLT Posted at 2018-7-12 09:14
That's amazing, Mirek! It's clear what happened now. I only calibrated the IMU once, about two weeks ago. The sensors showed the IMU as "green". Apparently, it should be calibrated more often. I had read somewhere not to calibrate the compass again unless traveling away many kilometers. But that particular day, the Spark prompted me to calibrate the compass. And I happened to be on the reinforced concrete deck right next to the chain link fence. Worse, I calibrated it on the ground, right on top of the concrete.

N2QLT,

Yep - mystery solved.

Recalibrate in proper spot and do some test flights (don't take off from you patio :-). I bet all'll be fine.

We all learned a lot here:

1. It was first time I witnessed 180 degree reversal of compass heading in logs which caused my head to spin since my analysis was showing Spark flying in opposite direction that it was really flying.

2. It was first time which we witnessed and have proven that Spark indeed can actively fly with no stick input and not pushed by the wind. So far it was just speculation and most of the fly-aways were because of the wind. Now we now for the fact that, in some situations, Spark's firmware may instruct it to fly on its own. Surprise! (bad surprise :-()

3. It was first time I saw Spark in such an extensive and in such long (time-wise) TBE. I will remember this experience

4. We have proven beyond reasonable doubt that Spark starts auto-landing as fail-safe procedure after 20 seconds after disconnect. I still believe that to do that fail-safe RTH setting needs to be enabled - please do confirm that you have it enabled.

As you see - we are symbiotic community - we helped you, you help us to help others in the future. Many thanks!

Mirek

Mirek6 Posted at 2018-7-12 09:25
N2QLT,

Yep - mystery solved.

Yes, I always make sure RTH is on, since I am a little nervous about it. I kept it in beginner mode for a week.

Sounds like a little bit of soft iron distortion during my calibration. Never even thought of it. I thought it was the wind.

The help here is so much appreciated! I will keep checking back in the forums and try to pay it forward.

Mirek6 Posted at 2018-7-12 09:25
N2QLT,

Yep - mystery solved.

Thanks from the little lost Spark who came home.

Mirek6 Posted at 2018-7-11 15:57
NTQLT,

This will be loooong post.

Mirek6,

You stated:  "1.        I am not here to moralize, but you did break the laws of your country. You max altitude should be set to 120 metres. But, hey, maybe you did not know. Now you do :-)."

I just want to point out that in the U.S. if flying recreationally, we are covered under FAA section 336 and there is NO height restriction.  So many people have a misconception about that.  If flying commercially under Part 107, yes, there is a 400ft height restriction.  So he did not break any laws by going higher than 120 meters.  HOWEVER, he did break the rules by not maintaining Visual Line of Sight (VLOS).  

BTW, awesome analysis of his issue and his flight log!  It's helpful people like yourself that make these forums so valuable.

N2QLT Posted at 2018-7-12 09:45
Yes, I always make sure RTH is on, since I am a little nervous about it. I kept it in beginner mode for a week.

Sounds like a little bit of soft iron distortion during my calibration. Never even thought of it. I thought it was the wind.

N2QLT,

Just to be clear that we are talking about the same thing. You say: "I always make sure RTH is on".

What I meant is - what is your Fail Safe setting in DJI GO App (for RC signal disconnect)? There are three settings available: Hover, Land, Return to Home.

This is independent of regular RTH.

To check it, you need to connect to Spark and do the following:

On Camera View, tap on the three dots on the upper right hand of the screen.
Afterward, tap on the drone icon which is the Main Controller Settings
Find Advanced Settings.
Under RC Signal Lost, you can choose between three choices: Hover, Return to Home or Land
UPDATE!:  (Jul 13, 2018) The steps above do not apply to Spark! My apologies and thank you forum members to pointing it out.

Let me know which one was set for your Spark.
I do believe it is RTH but double checking it will boost my confidence :-).

Mirek

Hddeuce Posted at 2018-7-12 10:03
Mirek6,

You stated:  "1.        I am not here to moralize, but you did break the laws of your country. You max altitude should be set to 120 metres. But, hey, maybe you did not know. Now you do :-)."

Hddeuce,

Perhaps it is common misconception. I see experienced drone  vlogers and forum members claiming 400 ft as legal limit in USA. I am from Canada so I am even more restricted (90 m).

Can you please, for the benefit of this forum, post appropriate links confirming your information.

Wikipedia certainly states 400 feet max altitude limit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Re ... n_the_United_States

Perhaps it did change recently.

Mirek

N2QLT Posted at 2018-7-12 08:32
JJB, thank you so much for the helpful information! I'm getting a wealth of knowledge from you guys, hopefully I can pass it on (once I know what I'm doing). I'm going to view the video link you sent. That would have been great info to have when everything went awry. Also, you are correct on the GO app. It sure would have been nice to have the info early in the flight. I would have ended it right away! Screen recorder would be a great help too. The warnings in GO pop up and disappear fast, leading to panic in a new operator like me. The find my drone feature was also not too good. It had me searching the wrong area for two days! Maybe DJI wants the drones to go bye-bye?

Hi N2QLT,

Its my pleasure. Flying drones is really fun but imho not that easy.
So learning and helping each other is why i am on this forum.
Questions? just ask.

cheers
JJB

Mirek6 Posted at 2018-7-12 10:08
N2QLT,

Just to be clear that we are talking about the same thing. You say: "I always make sure RTH is on".

"What I meant is - what is your Fail Safe setting in DJI GO App (for RC signal disconnect)? There are three settings available: Hover, Land, Return to Home."

For the spark?
I have not seen that settings yet!

got that changed?

https://forum.dji.com/thread-111652-1-1.html