I've seen various discussions / comments about the Mavic spontaneously switching to ATTI mode and how it behaves when this occurs. And despite the lack of an explicit ATTI mode selection, there seems to be a consensus that you can deliberately keep it in ATTI mode by covering the rear of the aircraft with aluminum foil, so my question is this: has anyone deliberately performed a non-trivial flight outdoors in ATTI mode? I don't mean cruising around inside your house with VPS enabled, but a real test of how the Mavic behaves when it has neither GPS nor VPS to stabilize it.

Not deliberate. But was flying my Mavic around at night several weeks back and bringing it back to my garden. Hovering at approx 30ft it unexpectedly went into ATTI mode (Having flown from my garden more than 30 times now and never losing GPS. It instantly started drifting to the left with the slight breeze. So just increased the height to above all the houses/trees, went out to the garden (was flying from upstairs bedroom window) brought it back and landed fine. Not exactly what you're looking for but along the lines. Handled as expected

Trent Mavic Posted at 2017-2-8 11:11
Not deliberate. But was flying my Mavic around at night several weeks back and bringing it back to my garden. Hovering at approx 30ft it unexpectedly went into ATTI mode (Having flown from my garden more than 30 times now and never losing GPS. It instantly started drifting to the left with the slight breeze. So just increased the height to above all the houses/trees, went out to the garden (was flying from upstairs bedroom window) brought it back and landed fine. Not exactly what you're looking for but along the lines. Handled as expected

"Handled as expected."

Thanks, that's mostly what I was curious about, since there's been some talk that the reason there's no (explicit) ATTI mode selection might be because the Mavic is inherently unstable without GPS and VPS. I'm tempted to try the aluminum foil approach to see for myself, but not inclined to until / unless I'm convinced that I have a reasonable chance of not crashing.

Yep, came as a surprise not having used ATTI mode before but nothing radical, just started drifting downwind. Something we use in aviation is quite relevant, well part of it... Aviate, Navigate, Communicate...

Fly the thing, get it high, so when it drifts it's not gona hit anything.
Work out which way you're going and find your way back.
No ATC to deal with flying the Mavic

I think what catches you out is the distance and speed it drifts off.  This happened on my very first Mavic flight when it was around 200 metres away and 90 metres high in open countryside.  Whilst I'm still going through the various indicators on the new remote, I suddenly noticed the picture of the ground moving fast and relaised it was drifting fast.  In what seemed like seconds (but was probably more like half a minute) it was over 700 metres away and was showing no signs of coming out of ATTI mode.  So that was a good lesson...

I thought I had a setting wrong and checked on here but had it confirmed that's not normal procedure....    I had just entered Sports Mode and then switched to Cinematic Mode... couple of others on here have mentioned the same sequence led to the same outcome as me.  Gets stuck on ATTI mode ...  
Not happened again since though..

Ian
.

Wellsi Posted at 2017-2-8 11:42
I think what catches you out is the distance and speed it drifts off.  This happened on my very first Mavic flight when it was around 200 metres away and 90 metres high in open countryside.  Whilst I'm still going through the various indicators on the new remote, I suddenly noticed the picture of the ground moving fast and relaised it was drifting fast.  In what seemed like seconds (but was probably more like half a minute) it was over 700 metres away and was showing no signs of coming out of ATTI mode.  So that was a good lesson...

I thought I had a setting wrong and checked on here but had it confirmed that's not normal procedure....    I had just entered Sports Mode and then switched to Cinematic Mode... couple of others on here have mentioned the same sequence led to the same outcome as me.  Gets stuck on ATTI mode ...  

That's pretty similar to my situation.  I was under 200m away when it dropped the GPS.  I was in line of sight, but the Mavic drifted quickly behind a crest in the terrain and bushes, so I lost sight of it.  Rather than trying to raise it up and risk it running into nearby trees, I thought it was close enough that I should be able to find it if I simply forced it down on the ground (top tip: if you do lose it and know you're in the general vicinity that it landed, flick the motors on and off a few times to give you an auditory cue to direct the search.  Worked for me!).  

Incidentally, OP, you may be aware that "intentionally" going into ATTI mode isn't simple, as that's not an option you can select.  I think I've seen a few mentions of trying to cover the area on the Mavic  where the GPS antennae are located, to trick it into dropping the signal.

I tried forcing ATTI mode last week with some foil. I let it sit for quite a while before taking off, just to observe what happened. It looked promising for a while, but it eventually still locked onto GPS, and I didn't even bother to try taking off.  I'm gonna try it again with either more foil (I think I had about 4-6 layers) or perhaps some copper, which apparently might work better.

Get a P4  series and practice on ATTI if you are that desperate....

dronist Posted at 2017-2-8 19:40
Get a P4  series and practice on ATTI if you are that desperate....

I believe the point is to try to get a feel for how the Mavic handles in ATTI mode, and to be able to handle it properly. Being able to fly other aircraft in ATTI is useful, but getting to know how your particular aircraft handles is very important, too.

Jason Lane Posted at 2017-2-8 20:16
I believe the point is to try to get a feel for how the Mavic handles in ATTI mode, and to be able to handle it properly. Being able to fly other aircraft in ATTI is useful, but getting to know how your particular aircraft handles is very important, too.

I am with you on that but messing with your unit might have unintended circumstances now or in the future.

dronist Posted at 2017-2-8 20:25
I am with you on that but messing with your unit might have unintended circumstances now or in the future.

Yeah, fair enough. Well I would think that temporarily blocking the GPS signals with foil shouldn't do any damage to the Mavic or other systems. Aluminium should not have any effect on the compass, and the radio antennas are in the front arms, I believe.  I haven't observed any adverse effects in my testing so far. I've placed and removed the foil a few times, and I also flew my Mavic immediately after removing the foil. It's is still flying perfectly.

Do you know of any specific danger I should be wary of? Please let me know if you do.

Jason Lane Posted at 2017-2-8 19:17
I tried forcing ATTI mode last week with some foil. I let it sit for quite a while before taking off, just to observe what happened. It looked promising for a while, but it eventually still locked onto GPS, and I didn't even bother to try taking off.  I'm gonna try it again with either more foil (I think I had about 4-6 layers) or perhaps some copper, which apparently might work better.

If you can't get the foil to work, try carbon fiber, as it's a great material for blocking signals, in general.

dronist Posted at 2017-2-8 19:40
Get a P4  series and practice on ATTI if you are that desperate....

Practicing ATTI mode with a P4 would have limited usefulness in learning to fly a Mavic in ATTI mode, especially if -- as some have theorized -- the Mavic has unusually unstable ATTI flight characteristics. But thanks for that valuable contribution; I'm sure that everyone who has asked DJI for a user-selectable ATTI mode for the Mavic will find it as useful as I did.

dronist Posted at 2017-2-8 20:25
I am with you on that but messing with your unit might have unintended circumstances now or in the future.

Like Jason, I'm anxiously awaiting more details of these "unintended circumstances" (did you perhaps mean "consequences"?). Specifically what "unintended circumstances" have you encountered in your activities (hat wearing?) that involved aluminum foil?

Jason Lane Posted at 2017-2-8 19:17
I tried forcing ATTI mode last week with some foil. I let it sit for quite a while before taking off, just to observe what happened. It looked promising for a while, but it eventually still locked onto GPS, and I didn't even bother to try taking off.  I'm gonna try it again with either more foil (I think I had about 4-6 layers) or perhaps some copper, which apparently might work better.

Thank you; what you did is pretty much exactly what I had in mind and may still do, but I'm sure I'll get the same results you did. Unfortunately, that means that it's difficult to reliably block the GPS signal, which in turn would mean that there's a risk of the aircraft spontaneously switching between GPS and ATTI modes. I suppose it's good that the GPS signal can't be easily blocked, but at the same time that makes the lack of a user-selectable ATTI mode even more of a nuisance.

MoonBase Posted at 2017-2-8 22:04
If you can't get the foil to work, try carbon fiber, as it's a great material for blocking signals, in general.

Thanks, that's a good suggestion. I don't currently have any, but it looks like it's fairly inexpensive so I may pick some up and try it.

Trent Mavic Posted at 2017-2-8 11:11
Not deliberate. But was flying my Mavic around at night several weeks back and bringing it back to my garden. Hovering at approx 30ft it unexpectedly went into ATTI mode (Having flown from my garden more than 30 times now and never losing GPS. It instantly started drifting to the left with the slight breeze. So just increased the height to above all the houses/trees, went out to the garden (was flying from upstairs bedroom window) brought it back and landed fine. Not exactly what you're looking for but along the lines. Handled as expected

For you - http://dronesafe.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Dronecode.pdf

DroneFlying Posted at 2017-2-9 04:02
Thanks, that's a good suggestion. I don't currently have any, but it looks like it's fairly inexpensive so I may pick some up and try it.

Aluminum or carbon fiber may not be the best.  Try some Blackout Patch - https://www.lessemf.com/cellphon.html

DroneFlying Posted at 2017-2-9 03:25
Like Jason, I'm anxiously awaiting more details of these "unintended circumstances" (did you perhaps mean "consequences"?). Specifically what "unintended circumstances" have you encountered in your activities (hat wearing?) that involved aluminum foil?

Look who is talking about hat wearing and aluminum foil???   

The guy who insist on covering his drone with aluminum foil... I will leave it at that unless something  like

{:4_177:}  would help better