Hey guys,

Earlier today Melbourne time, i took my 3 week old Spark to the local park where I have flown many times.   My first flight went fine and then swapped to my 2nd battery and decided to do a Live Stream to Facebook.   Took off and barely 30-40m in the air Sparky decided to drift to the left and then went into ATTI mode and from that point onwards started going almsot in Sport mode speed straight ahead.   I had no control at all.   I had Compass and IMU Errors on screen and No GPS.   The only control I had was with the left stick tirning it left or right.  Regardless which way i turned drone it kept going away from me.   I did a RTH and controller started beeping as it should but drone kept going away from me.   It reached Max distance of 480. according to controller it said it went past that to 560m distance.    After several minutes I re gained GPS.   I selected RTH again and this time it came back.   Once it landed I re Calibrated Compass and IMU and did a test flight at low height (10m) and it seemed ok.     Is this a common issue??..  Greg..  PS.. It has the latest firmware.

Glad to hear that you got her back

check the flight record
http://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/upload/
Perhaps something shows, why it went crazy

Carmenvail Posted at 2018-8-2 20:08
Glad to hear that you got her back

LOL So was I.....    Was flying sideways and not doing anything I wanted it too..

S-e-ven Posted at 2018-8-2 20:10
check the fligt record
http://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/upload/
Perhaps something shows, why it went crazy

Thanks... Will have a look..

Greg F Posted at 2018-8-2 21:57
Thanks... Will have a look..

Ok here's a few lines of info :    Main Issue YAW Error then IMU & Compass went haywire..  Lost GPS and was ATTI mode.  Regained GPS and was able to do RTH....
--------------------------------

0m 55.7s        P-GPS        19satellites        266.4ft        N/A        3.9mph        108.2ft        91%        11.865V        3.972V        3.956V        3.937V        0.035V        Yaw Error
0m 55.8s        P-GPS        19satellites        266.7ft        N/A        4.7mph        107.9ft        91%        11.865V        3.972V        3.956V        3.937V        0.035V        Yaw Error

0m 57.8s        P-GPS        19satellites        269.4ft        N/A        7.1mph        104.6ft        91%        11.895V        3.981V        3.964V        3.95V        0.031V        Yaw Error
0m 57.9s        P-GPS        19satellites        269.4ft        N/A        7.1mph        104.8ft        90%        11.895V        3.981V        3.964V        3.95V        0.031V        In Flight, working IMU encounters heading exception,please switch to atti mode if craft behave abnormally; Yaw Error

0m 58.4s        ATTI        19satellites        269.4ft        N/A        7.8mph        106.3ft        90%        11.872V        3.977V        3.957V        3.938V        0.039V        Compass Error. Exit P-GPS Mode; Yaw Error

This person has had same issue.. No control and Drone flying off in one direction at speed.

https://forum.dji.com/thread-103989-1-1.html   

Full reverse on the right stick did not tilt it back or level it?  Or did you just center the stick thinking it would stop like it does in GPS-P mode?  Would be nice to see the data from the flight log.  Just trying to get a feel for what the Spark does in ATTI mode.  If it is too much a handful, I will plant it in the dirt to prevent a fly away and allow me to recover/repair it.

Full reverse is required to slow its forward momentum.  Centering the right stick will only bring the drone to level so it needs full reverse on the stick to slow or stop the drone.  Worse, I think normal mode does not provide a lot of tilt back, and no throttle up of the motors like GPS stabilized mode does, so slowing down takes a while.

Does the left stick become a throttle in ATTI mode?  Or does it stay an "up/down" command stick?  In throttle mode you could full reverse, with hard tilt back, and then go full throttle to slam it to a halt.  Just wondering.

Thanks for sharing your story/experience.  Glad you got it back and prevented a loss of spark.  What device are you using? and was this a regular flight location?  Many things can cause your spark to switch to ATTI mode as we've learned on this forum.  Hopefully your re calibration will prevent this again.  Keep us posted on your future flights, specially in the same location.

Hello there. We apologize for the inconvenience. Did you try to refresh the firmware using DJI Assistant 2? Did you get any error message during that event?

Gunship9 Posted at 2018-8-3 05:06
Full reverse on the right stick did not tilt it back or level it?  Or did you just center the stick thinking it would stop like it does in GPS-P mode?  Would be nice to see the data from the flight log.  Just trying to get a feel for what the Spark does in ATTI mode.  If it is too much a handful, I will plant it in the dirt to prevent a fly away and allow me to recover/repair it.

Full reverse is required to slow its forward momentum.  Centering the right stick will only bring the drone to level so it needs full reverse on the stick to slow or stop the drone.  Worse, I think normal mode does not provide a lot of tilt back, and no throttle up of the motors like GPS stabilized mode does, so slowing down takes a while.

When it all happened the only control I had was Left stick (left or right).  Regardless which way i turned the drone it was like it was in Headless mode going in one direction.   The Right stick had no effect at all.  It was if I was locked out of the RC.    Until GPS came back a few minutes later even the RTH didn't work.    There has been another post where the same thing happened and the person had no control at all..

Sparky_17 Posted at 2018-8-3 05:10
Thanks for sharing your story/experience.  Glad you got it back and prevented a loss of spark.  What device are you using? and was this a regular flight location?  Many things can cause your spark to switch to ATTI mode as we've learned on this forum.  Hopefully your re calibration will prevent this again.  Keep us posted on your future flights, specially in the same location.

I'm using a iPhone8 plus and I have flown from the same park many times.  At the start of a previous flight I calibrated the compass and that flight was fine.  Once i managed to land it, when GPS came back  I calibrated both IMU and Compass an it was fine.     The test will be future flights.

DJI Wanda Posted at 2018-8-3 06:10
Hello there. We apologize for the inconvenience. Did you try to refresh the firmware using DJI Assistant 2? Did you get any error message during that event?

I had updated the firmware a few days earlier so the AC was using the latest firmware.    I had several flights b4 this one and all were fine.    I didn't get any error messages at all whilst updated the firmware.  All I did when i was able to recover AC was IMU and Compass calibration and the next flight was ok.

I had the same thing happen as of now DJI has my spark and been charged for repairs and it been more then a week almost two weeks and still no spark back and they are putting the fault on the user. But I have had it happen as you and many more. There is something wrong in this design of the spark that it hose into atti mode and we loose total control of the drone! It's been hell with DJI bad customer service to just spending many hours on the phone with not a sole there that can answer the question about this issue.. Good luck to you and getting answers..

djiuser_AITdEDi1d830 Posted at 2018-8-3 15:13
I had the same thing happen as of now DJI has my spark and been charged for repairs and it been more then a week almost two weeks and still no spark back and they are putting the fault on the user. But I have had it happen as you and many more. There is something wrong in this design of the spark that it hose into atti mode and we loose total control of the drone! It's been hell with DJI bad customer service to just spending many hours on the phone with not a sole there that can answer the question about this issue.. Good luck to you and getting answers..

Sorry to hear about your Spark, hopefully DJI can send u a replacement one.     It's scary when you lose total control of it..    I had resigned myself midway through the flight that the drone was gone.   Had GPS not come back there was no way i could steer it back or RTH.    I haven't flown since.   My next flight will be  in open farmland to test it out.   

If my Spark does it again and Flies away and doesn't come back  am I covered with DJI Care????...  

Greg F Posted at 2018-8-4 00:46
If my Spark does it again and Flies away and doesn't come back  am I covered with DJI Care????...

Apparently NO...  

Greg F Posted at 2018-8-3 13:49
When it all happened the only control I had was Left stick (left or right).  Regardless which way i turned the drone it was like it was in Headless mode going in one direction.   The Right stick had no effect at all.  It was if I was locked out of the RC.    Until GPS came back a few minutes later even the RTH didn't work.    There has been another post where the same thing happened and the person had no control at all..

Glad to hear you got your Spark back.

I had a similar incident over the winter when I was practicing indoors. Fortunately my Spark didn't take off flying like yours did. It just sat and hovered in place and didn't go anywhere. Had no Right stick control, only Left (up/down). Beginner Mode was in effect at the time. I landed the Spark and on its way down it decided to drift under the sofa before it touched the ground. I relaunched and it flew without incident. But in reviewing my flight logs I noticed a number of interference errors on both flights.

I learned from reading posts in this forum that wifi and/or Bluetooth interference can cause this sort of erratic behavior. So, the thing I want to ask you, was your Bluetooth turned off? Mine was not turned off at that time but it's on my pre-flight checklist now.

Wifi interference is a hot topic on this forum. Some folks opt for an OTG cable while others force a more stable channel in the settings.

It would be nice if you could provide your complete flight log data as was suggested. The data you copied and pasted is from a high level summary. On the flight log page there is a link where you can open the CSV file in Excel. That version provides more detailed information.

Greg F Posted at 2018-8-4 01:19
Apparently NO...

Depending on the cause apparently.
Flyaway by pilot error, no
Flyaway due to the multiple errors you saw, yes.
I have even read a few cases thatit is under warranty and does not count against the Refresh.

Tervist Posted at 2018-8-4 05:48
Glad to hear you got your Spark back.

I had a similar incident over the winter when I was practicing indoors. Fortunately my Spark didn't take off flying like yours did. It just sat and hovered in place and didn't go anywhere. Had no Right stick control, only Left (up/down). Beginner Mode was in effect at the time. I landed the Spark and on its way down it decided to drift under the sofa before it touched the ground. I relaunched and it flew without incident. But in reviewing my flight logs I noticed a number of interference errors on both flights.

Thanks for the info..    Will try and see what logs I can get out which might provide further info.   Just strange that there were no issues on the previous flight in the exact same location and there were no warnings in the DJI Go app until things happened mid flight..

As for Bluetooth I always turn it off, as like you I have had interference especially indoors causing drone  to start drifting..  

pmshop Posted at 2018-8-4 11:36
Depending on the cause apparently.
Flyaway by pilot error, no
Flyaway due to the multiple errors you saw, yes.

That's good to know..   Especially when you don't get any warnings to calibrate compass or IMU and then suddenly to have it spit out all these errors mid flight and losing all control.

Am i allowed to post the link to the Youtube Video I posted with flight footage??...   ( Footage of actual flight )

Greg F Posted at 2018-8-4 13:56
Am i allowed to post the link to the Youtube Video I posted with flight footage??...   ( Footage of actual flight )

Absolutely!
Post any example you may have for diagnostics here.

Post to show off under the pics and video category

Fly-aways are of particular concern to me because I lost 2 previous cheaper drones that way. I had hoped for better with dji. So far my Spark has been well behaved and hopefully continue that way.

Although this forum, and some others I have seen, talk a lot about fly-aways, there must be a lot of Sparks out there that have not had one. I wonder if dji has ever published the statistics on Spark fly-aways.

After thinking about fly-aways a bit more, would it be correct to say:

     If in Atti mode due to GPS failure, attempt to manually RTH using using VLOS and/or the compass display
     If in Atti mode due to compass failure, attempt to manually RTH using VLOS and/or the map display
     If in Atti mode due to both GPS and compass failure, attempt to RTH only using VLOS or land immediately if safe to do so

I like to get these things clear in my mind so that my first response to the problem is a correct one. If the first response is wrong then the problem is usually much worse.

pmshop Posted at 2018-8-4 14:19
Absolutely!
Post any example you may have for diagnostics here.

Cool... I will get the link and Post it below

Warriewoodlad Posted at 2018-8-4 15:00
Fly-aways are of particular concern to me because I lost 2 previous cheaper drones that way. I had hoped for better with dji. So far my Spark has been well behaved and hopefully continue that way.

Although this forum, and some others I have seen, talk a lot about fly-aways, there must be a lot of Sparks out there that have not had one. I wonder if dji has ever published the statistics on Spark fly-aways.

Well mine flew away but regained GPS so it wasn't a Total loss...  Just happy to get it back.

Warriewoodlad Posted at 2018-8-4 17:46
After thinking about fly-aways a bit more, would it be correct to say:

     If in Atti mode due to GPS failure, attempt to manually RTH using using VLOS and/or the compass display

Mine went into ATTI mode and all i could do was rotate drone left or right everything else failed until GPS came back several minutes later...

Here is the Youtube Video I uploaded of the actual flight.   Since it was a Live Broadcast I used a 3rd party service to decode it for Youtube  but the resolution went down to 360p  from 720p...    Regardless you can hear all the audible messages from app....        

Greg F Posted at 2018-8-4 00:46
If my Spark does it again and Flies away and doesn't come back  am I covered with DJI Care????...

You mean DJI Care refresh? Yes, sir. Do you have already the DJI Care binded to your drone?

DJI Wanda Posted at 2018-8-5 01:15
You mean DJI Care refresh? Yes, sir. Do you have already the DJI Care binded to your drone?

Yes I paid $99 for 2 replacements in first 12mths..   Hopefully it doesn't fly away on me..

I flew Sparky today in my garage.   Mainly just hovering.  Was in OPTI mode.      At times, it wasn't all that steady as it tried to turn by itself, as well as drifting.   Possibly due to no GPS ..  I re calibrated Controller..  On next outdoor flight when weather improves will do IMU and Compass again .    Fingers crossed..

I had the same issue on february.  I was luckily  and my sparky crashed against a tree (I was to 700 meters of a inportant highway). The arm was broken and the incident was covered over warranty.  
I think that is not a occasional issue and that DJI should solved it  as soon as possible but I do not think it will happen.
This issue is very dangerous and can lead to a serious accident.

sergio.flor Posted at 2018-8-5 22:03
I had the same issue on february.  I was luckily  and my sparky crashed against a tree (I was to 700 meters of a inportant highway). The arm was broken and the incident was covered over warranty.  
I think that is not a occasional issue and that DJI should solved it  as soon as possible but I do not think it will happen.
This issue is very dangerous and can lead to a serious accident.

I can understand that u might lose GPS signal and the drone goes into ATTI mode.   The issue is if you lose control of the drone and can't steer it back like in my case.    I have flown it indoors always in ATTI mode and it's fine.   It's when your Controller has no control that's when things get scary.   

Greg F Posted at 2018-8-6 02:28
I can understand that u might lose GPS signal and the drone goes into ATTI mode.   The issue is if you lose control of the drone and can't steer it back like in my case.    I have flown it indoors always in ATTI mode and it's fine.   It's when your Controller has no control that's when things get scary.

I had the "death combo". Compass Error + GPS Error + Yaw Error.The drone was only 50 meters from me. I got "Magnetic interferences...." error message and I tried to return it me quickly but I lost the control completely. My sparky passed from 12 km/h to 70 km/h in a few seconds.

sergio.flor Posted at 2018-8-6 03:34
I had the "death combo". Compass Error + GPS Error + Yaw Error.The drone was only 50 meters from me. I got "Magnetic interferences...." error message and I tried to return it me quickly but I lost the control completely. My sparky passed from 12 km/h to 70 km/h in a few seconds.

WOW... now that's scary...