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DJI Spark Goes Crazy
1677 6 2017-8-28
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HeavensAbove
lvl.1
United States
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Greetings all and very content to finally be a part of the drone world, curios.......as i approaced my third flight on Sunday Evening, my spark lost control as it took off.  I did not perform a calibration, being that i am new did not think it was needed but only once please correct me if this needs to be done every flight despite i had already flew in this locaction.  I can not recall if i had a gps signal or a need to calibrate message, but as soon as it took off it started drifting away, i could not control it.  It then kind of circled its way, still not able to control it it hit and bounced off a top of a car, and thank god it finally reached ground and thankfully landed.  Should calibration be needed every flight? What do you think happened here.  I am a novice pilot and would like to know the root of how this was caused so i can learn not to do it again.  Many thanks.
2017-8-28
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InkedUpDad.com
lvl.3
Flight distance : 55276 ft
United States
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You should not need to calibrate every time.

Do you recall how many GPS satellites were connected? It's best to give the devices a few moments to connect to as many as possible prior to flight.

Also, did you receive any firmware notifications?

Was the drone still powered on after the malfunction?

You can also upload your flight logs/data for further review.
2017-8-28
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HeavensAbove
lvl.1
United States
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InkedUpDad.com Posted at 2017-8-28 08:45
You should not need to calibrate every time.

Do you recall how many GPS satellites were connected? It's best to give the devices a few moments to connect to as many as possible prior to flight.

Inked up thanks for the response i do not exactly recall satellites, the aircraft and remote are both updated to the latest firmware which i did make sure when i unpacked it.  Yes the drone was still on when it landed ....how can i upload flight data logs.  
2017-8-28
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DJI-Mark
First Officer

United States
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You would not need to calibrate every time. You may receive a notification through the app. That is when you want to. Make sure you have a strong home point. It sounds like pilot error. Nothing more.
2017-8-28
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Charles Adams
First Officer
Flight distance : 3821312 ft
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United States
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Calibration is not required before every flight, and many on these forums strongly discourage doing calibration so frequently.  I think the main concern/point is that calibration really must occur in a controlled environment, where the spark (in it's various orientations) will be perfectly level, with minimal movement.

Did you have "some" control of the craft?  And what I mean by that is that did the craft respond to the sticks, just not in a way you expected?  You may have taken off before you had gps lock.  In such instances, it is in atti mode.  Nature owns the craft in atti mode, and the pilot must counter natural conditions to control the craft.  If the wind is pushing north, the craft will drift north unless the pilot actively controls the craft against this north push.  If the winds are swirling, that adds to the challenge.

The other possibility is that you took off when there were compass problems (and typically the app will warn you about that).  That's just bad circumstances period.  Without compass, behavior will be highly unpredictable.

Do you recall if you received compass warnings?  Even if you calibrated the compass in a controlled environment, the launch environment can (and will) have a huge impact on craft performance.  If, for example, you were taking off from pavement that includes rebar, that will jack with your compass.  The spark is definitely sensitive tot he presence of magnetic interference.

Fortunately, the app warns you about these circumstances.  And my advice (from personal experience) is to not ignore these warnings.  Best to try and figure out an alternative launch point.
2017-8-28
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Charles Adams
First Officer
Flight distance : 3821312 ft
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United States
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One thing to correct in my above post:  If you take off with compass warnings, it will be very predictable:  You are going to have a very bad flight.
2017-8-28
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HeavensAbove
lvl.1
United States
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Charles Adams Posted at 2017-8-28 09:33
Calibration is not required before every flight, and many on these forums strongly discourage doing calibration so frequently.  I think the main concern/point is that calibration really must occur in a controlled environment, where the spark (in it's various orientations) will be perfectly level, with minimal movement.

Did you have "some" control of the craft?  And what I mean by that is that did the craft respond to the sticks, just not in a way you expected?  You may have taken off before you had gps lock.  In such instances, it is in atti mode.  Nature owns the craft in atti mode, and the pilot must counter natural conditions to control the craft.  If the wind is pushing north, the craft will drift north unless the pilot actively controls the craft against this north push.  If the winds are swirling, that adds to the challenge.

Charles thank you for your detailed response and time, very well described.  I did have minor control of the aircraft, but it was almost as if it took precedence  of the stick controls and moved on its own without response.  What is exactly atti mode, should the aircraft be driven under this or not,.
2017-8-28
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