DronePerspectiv Posted at 10-27 10:54
Seems exactly what I happened once.  See my post https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=234302
After that I never had this issue again.

In my case the drone reached ~ 40mph and flew ~ 150 feet in 2- 3 seconds. It could have seriously injure some one.  

https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/1BVLY437WMOBXTNYIJCP/

mkh Posted at 10-24 09:57
Also since this is happened without any input from the pilot, I am expecting DJI to provide a replacement.

DJI isn't going to provide a replacement based on your logs, you flew without SATs locked. This one is on you.

Mhinc Posted at 10-28 01:26
DJI isn't going to provide a replacement based on your logs, you flew without SATs locked. This one is on you.

There should be an option: "Do not fly away or go bananas if satellites lock is insufficient".

Johnny_J Posted at 10-28 02:45
There should be an option: "Do not fly away or go bananas if satellites lock is insufficient".

There should be an option: "Do not fly away or go bananas if satellites lock is insufficient.
Are you certain about your non-newbie status?

DJI drones don't fly away or go bananas if satellites lock is insufficient.
Without good GPS reception and without any control input it will just hover, maintaining altitude, but subject to drifting on any wind.
But the drone is still fully controllable.

Mhinc Posted at 10-28 01:26
DJI isn't going to provide a replacement based on your logs, you flew without SATs locked. This one is on you.

If there is not a SAT lock you are flying in ATTI mode.  Sorry to say but OP likely just didn't know how to control the drone in ATTI and it was mistaken for a fly away.  Either way, it's common sense and in the manual to make sure you have SAT lock.

Mhinc Posted at 10-28 03:18
If there is not a SAT lock you are flying in ATTI mode.  Sorry to say but OP likely just didn't know how to control the drone in ATTI and it was mistaken for a fly away.  Either way, it's common sense and in the manual to make sure you have SAT lock.

What makes you think SAT lock was not there. It had 18 SAT locked. Check the log properly.

Mhinc Posted at 10-28 03:18
If there is not a SAT lock you are flying in ATTI mode.  Sorry to say but OP likely just didn't know how to control the drone in ATTI and it was mistaken for a fly away.  Either way, it's common sense and in the manual to make sure you have SAT lock.

You should check your facts before going off with your simplistic assessment.
Have a look at the flight data here:
https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/1BVLY437WMOBXTNYIJCP/

I can only repeat: GPS is for long term stability. It doesnt cause or prevent such a fly-away. Stop making ... up if you dont know how it works.

Its like the fuel gauge in a car vs. what you actually have to fill up. The fuel gauge is your short-term sensor, you know you are about at 50 % or something. What you actually have to fill up at the gas station is a long term stable, precise and accurate signal. You only get that "good signal" once in a while. However, you dont need that to drive at all. It would help you to know something like "at 20 % fuel gauge its actually only at 10 %" and then you can correct for that error (in your head or fix the level sensor).

I am thinking of reporting to FTC

https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/

Labroides Posted at 10-28 04:55
You should check your facts before going off with your simplistic assessment.
Have a look at the flight data here:
https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/1BVLY437WMOBXTNYIJCP/

Labroides, I'm at a loss to understand how you know if the sats are locked or not from the information that I can see. The drone is flying away at a great rate of speed seconds after lift-off. How would you have coped with that situation. I definitely hope it never happens to me.

Incidentally, I just discovered that one of my home security cameras caught my M2P falling out of the sky in September. Dji replaced it under warranty, so quite happy with the outcome, although still not sure of what actually caused it to crash?

mkh Posted at 10-28 03:24
What makes you think SAT lock was not there. It had 18 SAT locked. Check the log properly.

Hi,

Yes, you had GPS lock at start of your flight.
After 9 seconds in flight into ATTI, GPS data is still recording, only GPS data is not used.

cheers
JJB

I do not know what it means, but if you look at the map video here , notice the vertical and horizontal speeds. V is over 100 mph and H is way over 40 mph. Just something else for DJI to consider.

Well, thats just sad!

mkh Posted at 10-28 08:32
I am thinking of reporting to FTC

https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/

Why?
What fraud?
Do you know what fraud is?
Are you an idiot?

They are refusing to replace it.

mkh Posted at 10-28 16:11
They are refusing to replace it.

That's not fraud.
There was nothing wrong with the drone.
The problem was where and how you chose to fly it.

I disagree. In normal flight conditions, Without any alert / anomaly it flew away in extreme high speed. If there was any indication of fault, alert the drone would have been not lost in the water. Now they are refusing to replace it.

Never mind. I was dueling with an unarmed person....

mkh Posted at 10-28 18:31
I disagree. In normal flight conditions, Without any alert / anomaly it flew away in extreme high speed. If there was any indication of fault, alert the drone would have been not lost in the water. Now they are refusing to replace it.

"Now they are refusing to replace it."  Unreal.
DJIcare is suppose to cover pilot error, what this was.
DJIcare is suppose to cover aircraft should an accident happen.
There is a need for a new drone manufacturer that puts customer service first.
Good luck, don't just give up!

It switchted to ATTI well into the fly-away. There is a "Aircraft max power load reached" at 3.8 s and "Motor error" at 4.0 s, while there are 18/19 GPS satellites.
At 9.4 s it then switches to ATTI while flying under a bridge.

How was there nothing wrong with the drone? How was it his fault? How can I make it fly at such speeds - and with zero controll input too?

mkh Posted at 10-28 18:31
I disagree. In normal flight conditions, Without any alert / anomaly it flew away in extreme high speed. If there was any indication of fault, alert the drone would have been not lost in the water. Now they are refusing to replace it.

You've had yaw errors explained to you but haven't taken any notice.

Eheran Posted at 10-28 20:52
It switchted to ATTI well into the fly-away. There is a "Aircraft max power load reached" at 3.8 s and "Motor error" at 4.0 s, while there are 18/19 GPS satellites.
At 9.4 s it then switches to ATTI while flying under a bridge.

How can I make it fly at such speeds - and with zero controll input too?
Simple ... all you need to do is induce a yaw error and that's what will happen.
I've explained it in detail earlier in this thread.

Mobilehomer Posted at 10-28 14:14
I do not know what it means, but if you look at the map video here , notice the vertical and horizontal speeds. V is over 100 mph and H is way over 40 mph. Just something else for DJI to consider.

100 mph....

In good working conditions speed is calculated (and shown in the app/video) using the verticial-x and vertical y-axis speed. In good working conditions the calculated speed equals the calculated GPS speed *
(distance  over time).

* not in the flyapp, but you can do that manual or in FRAP.

BUT if drone goes out of the normal conditions (like this flight, yaw channel errors, into ATTI ) than the speed calculation can show high unreal values.
Guess it is better for DJI not to show these values..., mayby 'out of range' or 'n.a'.

See the speed chart for this flight.  Drone into ATTI not because of bad GPS number or bad reception but in ATTI bc use of GPS was killed due to yaw errors.So the GPS coordinates are recorded, thus speed calc using this data over time = the real speed. [ red line - app speed, other line is GPS speed ]


cheers
JJB

I have read and reread the posts and am still totally confused as to actually what happened to make this drone do what it did. Can someone explain (in simple terms please) how this could have been prevented.
If, the pilot took no action with the sticks after take-off, then surely it is a fault with the drone! BUT! If there was an anomaly in compass heading shown on display then it will be down to fault of the operator!
If it happened to me, and no warning was given on the display how would I prevent it.

yogi053 Posted at 10-29 02:39
I have read and reread the posts and am still totally confused as to actually what happened to make this drone do what it did. Can someone explain (in simple terms please) how this could have been prevented.
If, the pilot took no action with the sticks after take-off, then surely it is a fault with the drone! BUT! If there was an anomaly in compass heading shown on display then it will be down to fault of the operator!
If it happened to me, and no warning was given on the display how would I prevent it.

Hi yogi53,

I had once a fly-away with my Spark, drone into ATTI. Beacuse i was flying in a wide open space area i was able to control it back to home. If this had happend in a more confined area, now way to survive. (Spark my first DJI drone, before that small Hubsan, so had some experience flying non-gps-stabilized mode)

Can you prevent a fly away wich is there beacuse of a yaw/compass errors...
Well, the only check before flying is to check the blue compass heading in the FlyApp map view and compare this to the actual heading. If not the same : do not fly.

if a fly-away happens during flight than cross your fingers, uh don`t but act on the sticks, and mayby you can control it.
Don`t think a in flight fly away this happen often, more to say it happens almost not during a good started flight. (seen few cases/logs with a inflight fly away *)
If your drone switches to ATTI mode, than perhaps more chance to fly it back than when it stays in a GPS mode and gives max power to control the position incorrectly.

* Strange enough (or mayby not...) selecting RTH sometimes stops the fly away and drone flys nicely back to home, so always try a RTH i would say.

This flightlog from the OP shows more errors than a suspected yaw/compass fly away, so i am not 100% sure that the cause of this incident is a yaw/compass 'fault'.
Baro height data and Vertical speed data showing unrealistic values....

Only DJI can explain better, if they want to do that...

cheers
JJB

yogi053 Posted at 10-29 02:39
I have read and reread the posts and am still totally confused as to actually what happened to make this drone do what it did. Can someone explain (in simple terms please) how this could have been prevented.
If, the pilot took no action with the sticks after take-off, then surely it is a fault with the drone! BUT! If there was an anomaly in compass heading shown on display then it will be down to fault of the operator!
If it happened to me, and no warning was given on the display how would I prevent it.

Something interfered with the compass, that something was in close proximity to the drone when it was turned on, thus resulting in a "fly away".

DJI will not replace a drone if its lost unless it was proven to be a manufacturing issue, clearly, that is not the case here, the issue has been shown to be pilot error.

hunterws Posted at 10-28 19:01
"Now they are refusing to replace it."  Unreal.
DJIcare is suppose to cover pilot error, what this was.
DJIcare is suppose to cover aircraft should an accident happen.

Why should they replace a lost drone due to pilot error, great business model that would be lol
DJI care  works if there is a drone to send back, not if its lost and pilot error
If they had fly away cover then that would be different, evidently not the case here.

all you need to do is induce a yaw error and that's what will happen.
How do I do that?

This is what you said earlier:
When the drone launches and leaves the magnetic influence that  caused the problem, the compass starts to give correct directional data.
But the gyro sensor has been initialised with incorrect data and the drone has a big problem that it is unable to work with.
So if I start (+power on and wait for GPS) in a artificial, local magnetic field this should happen? Once it lifts off it startes to leave the magnetic field, as would have to be the case for OP. I should additionally see a false indication of the direction the drone is facing befor takeoff, right? Should there be some catch against strong influences preventing takeoff I can reduce the strenght of the magentic field untill it just works. Is this correct?


Is there another mechanism to cause this issue? Or more generally: How can I reproduce OPs fly away? I want to test this.

Eheran Posted at 10-29 03:56
all you need to do is induce a yaw error and that's what will happen.
How do I do that?

That's about right.
You don't need to test as many flyers have done it for you already and most have ended badly.
Just search for yaw error in google and you should find many incidents.

yogi053 Posted at 10-29 02:39
I have read and reread the posts and am still totally confused as to actually what happened to make this drone do what it did. Can someone explain (in simple terms please) how this could have been prevented.
If, the pilot took no action with the sticks after take-off, then surely it is a fault with the drone! BUT! If there was an anomaly in compass heading shown on display then it will be down to fault of the operator!
If it happened to me, and no warning was given on the display how would I prevent it.

I have read and reread the posts and am still totally confused as to actually what happened to make this drone do what it did.
I've written about it for many similar incidents.
Search for "yaw error" and you should find something.

Can someone explain (in simple terms please) how this could have been prevented.
Don't launch from reinforced concrete surfaces as that's the most common cause.
Do check the orientation of the drone vs the orinetation of the drone icon on your map display.
Check they are both facing the same compass direction.

If, the pilot took no action with the sticks after take-off, then surely it is a fault with the drone!
No .. it's a yaw error, usually caused by the flyer's choice of powerup spots.

If it happened to me, and no warning was given on the display how would I prevent it.
The damage is done on startup when the gyro sensors take their initial directional value from the deflected compass.
Once the drone lifts off, it's too late to do anything and most of the time it will zoom off sideways, acellerating rapidly in a curved course and crashing at high speed.
If you are very lucky, the difference between the incorrect IMU heading and the actual heading will be a small angle and the drone will be tricky to control but can be saved.
Unfortunately this is not very common.

I experienced a decent "fly away" with my P4P. I took off from the sunroof  of my car, the AC lifted off about a foot or 2 at most, then shot off to the left at great rate of knots, all i could do was try to guide it back, it started to play ball  about 100m outs, i some how managed to semi guide it back, it was fighting me all the way and it made a perfect 100m semicircle, once it got near to the car again i had full control and landed it, never again will i take off from the car, and i also always turn on my drones at head height and always full stretch from the body its served me well doing it that way, then i will either hand launch or sit it down and launch it, but its mostly hand launch with the Mini 2,

Youve just got to take it on the chin, with me, i had only had the P4P a short while and it was my 1st ever RC AC, live and learn, that way you know not to make the same mistakes.

You also cannot expect DJI to fork out for a new drone when it was pilot error, sorry, like i said, its hard to swallow but that's just how it goes...

For the folks who are pointing out this scenario as a pilot error, some simple questions
1. Why there was no error / anomaly / alert during start of the drone, auto take off and hover for 4-5  seconds. If there are any error/s ( Compass / Yaw / GPS / IMU etc.)
2. How come the drone was able to auto take off and hover for 4-5 seconds
3. How the pilot is responsible when the drone flew away in extreme high speed without any movement / input from the controller joysticks. Moreover all the controls were unresponsive ( including RTH).

If it had happened to yourself, would you accept this as a pilot error. Be honest.

JJB* Posted at 10-29 03:43
Hi yogi53,

I had once a fly-away with my Spark, drone into ATTI. Beacuse i was flying in a wide open space area i was able to control it back to home. If this had happend in a more confined area, now way to survive. (Spark my first DJI drone, before that small Hubsan, so had some experience flying non-gps-stabilized mode)

Thank you JJB for that info. I will endeavour to carry out further checks before taking off.
There is quite a lot to remember about these drones if you want to just have some fun. Isn't there.

mkh Posted at 10-29 06:14
For the folks who are pointing out this scenario as a pilot error, some simple questions
1. Why there was no error / anomaly / alert during start of the drone, auto take off and hover for 4-5  seconds. If there are any error/s ( Compass / Yaw / GPS / IMU etc.)
2. How come the drone was able to auto take off and hover for 4-5 seconds

I already did say it happened to me...
When you took of, did you actually watch the screen or did you watch the drone, i know i watch the drone to see how it acts, always have done.
As to how it took off, it will do, its when it moves away from the field it plays havoc, therefore the higher it went, the further from the field it became, i think that's how it works, not 100% to be honest

mkh Posted at 10-29 06:14
For the folks who are pointing out this scenario as a pilot error, some simple questions
1. Why there was no error / anomaly / alert during start of the drone, auto take off and hover for 4-5  seconds. If there are any error/s ( Compass / Yaw / GPS / IMU etc.)
2. How come the drone was able to auto take off and hover for 4-5 seconds

1. Why there was no error / anomaly / alert during start of the drone, auto take off and hover for 4-5  seconds. If there are any error/s ( Compass / Yaw / GPS / IMU etc.)
I already explained that for you, but here it is again.
Pay attention this time.
If the compass identifies the magnetic field as much stronger than the earth's magnetic field, it will warn you.
But if the field is not stronger than the earth's magnetic field, but still enough to deflect the compass and give false directional data, there is no way for the flight controller to know of a problem.

2. How come the drone was able to auto take off and hover for 4-5 seconds
While the drone is close to the source of magnetic interference, the compass is still deflected and indicating the same incorrect direction as the gyro sensor.
Lift the drone beyond the influence of the problem magnetic interference, and the compass starts to read correctly and suddenly there's a data conflict between directional references of the compass and gyro.

3. How the pilot is responsible when the drone flew away in extreme high speed without any movement / input from the controller joysticks. Moreover all the controls were unresponsive ( including RTH).
Because you chose the location and didn't check before flying.

If it had happened to yourself, would you accept this as a pilot error. Be honest.
Yes ... but it wouldn't happen to me.

Labroides Posted at 10-29 04:15
I have read and reread the posts and am still totally confused as to actually what happened to make this drone do what it did.
I've written about it for many similar incidents.
Search for "yaw error" and you should find something.

Okay, thank you for that information Labroides. Yourself and JJB have explained it well enough for me to understand now.
IF! Compass is not correct "DO NOT FLY"
I learn so much here. Cheers!

Bashy Posted at 10-29 03:47
Something interfered with the compass, that something was in close proximity to the drone when it was turned on, thus resulting in a "fly away".

DJI will not replace a drone if its lost unless it was proven to be a manufacturing issue, clearly, that is not the case here, the issue has been shown to be pilot error.

Than you Bashy. I was confused because the OP didn't (to my knowledge) receive any warnings of interference or messages to carry out compass calibration or 'move drone away' to another location.

mkh Posted at 10-29 06:14
For the folks who are pointing out this scenario as a pilot error, some simple questions
1. Why there was no error / anomaly / alert during start of the drone, auto take off and hover for 4-5  seconds. If there are any error/s ( Compass / Yaw / GPS / IMU etc.)
2. How come the drone was able to auto take off and hover for 4-5 seconds

Hi,

In addition to post #115....point 2

If you hover out of the influence of the magn interference and no automatic corrections has to be made to hold its position, you can hover steadily for hours....THE moment corrections are needed than the sh*t hits the fan...

And...if you fly away using RC, than the new pos = old pos + your demand, so no correction needed by the software. But as said, the moment the software start to control the craft to keep it in position.... ;-(

And..in ATTI mode RTH does not work.
cheers
JJB

post #115....point 3, what caused you believe the location different from any other location? What made you believe I did not check before flying?

Bashy Posted at 10-29 03:47
Something interfered with the compass, that something was in close proximity to the drone when it was turned on, thus resulting in a "fly away".

DJI will not replace a drone if its lost unless it was proven to be a manufacturing issue, clearly, that is not the case here, the issue has been shown to be pilot error.

buuuuut, dji care refresh is sold on the premise it's to protect against pilot error, warranty would take care of manufacture defects.