Looks like it had several issues and I couldn't get control. It flew off and I eventually lost my signal.
I know it's probably something I did wrong, but wondered if anyone had any observations that I can take on board should I decide to get another drone in the future.
Hello there Troyski. I am sorry for the trouble this has caused and thank you for reaching out. Since this unfortunate incident happened and you have lost the said DJI Spark. I would recommend for you to contact our DJI Support Team at https://www.dji.com/support?site=brandsite&from=nav for further assistance. We will do there best to help you and give out the best resolution for the said issue. If the DJI drone is still under the warranty period and it is evaluated as a non-pilot error, the warranty service will be provided. Again I am sorry for this trouble and thank you.
Sorry for your loss! Were you using the R/C or your phone to fly? Were you able to retrieve your Spark? I'd suspect it lies somewhere in that brown field to the east of the camping site you were flying, just extend the direction of flight it had at the end of data recording a good bit. You were at 160ft at that time, and after a loss of control link and being in ATTI mode, after a few seconds the Spark will start to decend.
As for the reason why this happened, it seems your Spark had one the infamous compass failures. At 10:20 flight time you pressed the RTH button, but a few seconds later your Spark dropped into ATTI mode, where there is no RTH or even position holding possible any more. Your Spark has been dragged away with the wind. And it took you 20 seconds to find out something is wrong, that's way too late.
You could have piloted your Spark home safely. Your first try at the controls was at 10:49.
Since all DJI drones have that dreaded ATTI drop problem, every drone pilot should train for such a case. I even made 2 videos about it:
Engage ATTI mode on your Spark:
Know your attitude:
Anyway, your Spark did not work as advertised, and you should apply to be hopefully refunded for your Spark.
Sorry for your loss! Were you using the R/C or your phone to fly? Were you able to retrieve your Spark? I'd suspect it lies somewhere in that brown field to the east of the camping site you were flying, just extend the direction of flight it had at the end of data recording a good bit. You were at 160ft at that time, and after a loss of control link and being in ATTI mode, after a few seconds the Spark will start to decend.
Thanks Wolferl, that’s really good insight and really helpful.
I’ll be studying your videos for next time.
I’ve contacted DJI support and I’m just waiting for an email from them.
Did get an email from DJI support yesterday which I have now replied to.
Initially they’ve said given the drone was more than 2 years old it’s not covered by any warranty, but they have offered a 15% discount on a new drone.
I’ll be holding off buying a new drone until I understand from them if this was a bug as suggested, or a handling mistake by myself.
As an update for this thread I had another email from DJI re-iterating that my drone was outside the 2 year warranty, and they would only diagnose my flight logs if I paid them €50.
I was disappointed, given that any analysis may benefit them as well as myself in understanding the cause of the issue I experienced, and might of given me the confidence to buy a new drone.
As it is, I won't be buying a new one as my issue *might* have been a software bug that *might* occur again with another drone after the warranty expires. A risk I'm not willing to take.
fans2d9e4e11 Posted at 5-31 08:33
As an update for this thread I had another email from DJI re-iterating that my drone was outside the 2 year warranty, and they would only diagnose my flight logs if I paid them €50.
I was disappointed, given that any analysis may benefit them as well as myself in understanding the cause of the issue I experienced, and might of given me the confidence to buy a new drone.
Hi Troyski,
That's exactly the kind of helpfulness I expected from DJI, unfortunately. They will never admit that there is a systematic fault in their drone models. Especially with the Spark, where, out of the box, one has no possibility to train ATTI mode flight.
I don't know if you are familiar with the FRAP software that forum user JJB* offers. It is a very sophisticated flight log analyzer program, that gives you way more insights than phantomhelp does.
It works with many other DJI drone models too.
That's exactly the kind of helpfulness I expected from DJI, unfortunately. They will never admit that there is a systematic fault in their drone models. Especially with the Spark, where, out of the box, one has no possibility to train ATTI mode flight.
Thanks for your time. I’ll take a look. Take care.
lvl.1
DJI team
lvl.4
