The highly esteemed forum member Kloo Gee had already recently discovered that the Combination Stick Command (CSC) was disabled in the Spark when flying (maybe since the last firmware update?). I have tested it myself yesterday and unfortunately can confirm this.@DJI: Is this a bug that will be fixed with the next firmware update or has the command been disabled intentionally? Should the latter be the case kindly explain the reasons. I (and many other pilots) consider CSC being a very important option in emergency situations. DJI itself explains this at the bottom of page 48/top of page 49 in the user manual. Please, we need CSC back in the Spark! Thank you.

Why do you want CSC that bad. Honestly. You guys crack me up obviously it was intentional I bet you new guys were doing it without knowing on the older firmware

Sorry, I prefer not to respond to this more than unqualified statement to a very reasonable question.P.S. My question was directed to DJI, not to you!

$gambino$ Posted at 2017-9-8 13:18
Why do you want CSC that bad. Honestly. You guys crack me up obviously it was intentional I bet you new guys were doing it without knowing on the older firmware

I'm not missing the CSC functionality, but it would add to my confidence if I knew that I could kill the motors at my command.  To be sure this is a drastic measure, and it would likely be in circumstances that would cause damage to my craft.

I can think of two scenarios where I would appreciate this functionality.  One would be if the craft went to ATTI mode and the conditions did not allow me sufficient control of the craft.  I would have the option to kill the motors and let the bird drop.  Obviously I would prefer to not have to make this choice, and I acknowledge that better pilots could overcome such a dire circumstance.  I would just like it to exist in my arsenal of options.

The other use case would be to try and reduce or prevent damage to someone or some people (and I have my grandchildren in mind).  If I'm letting them have fun with gesture controls (while I keep my hands on the app and rc), and something goes awry, again I'd like to have this as an option.  It probably wouldn't be the first option, but I'd like it to be there.

Thank you Charles and you have given two very good examples of possible scenarios. Of course it is an "ultimate" option only to be applied if normal landing or halting the Copter is not possible to prevent greater damage to others. An additional possible scenario is sudden erratic behaviour that could lead to a fly away (when still reacting to the control sticks). It can also be an important issue in relation with DJI Care. Getting a replacement normally depends on sending in the remainings of the damaged copter. There are possible scenarios where it could be the only optiion to land the copter quickly before it e.g. falls into deep water, where it cannot be retrieved any more. Etc. etc.
CSC is a well established feature in all other DJI copters too (as well as other brands) and has a good reason to exist. Also Spark has had this command but it is not available for the time being. This has triggered my question to DJI.

I'm using iOS I still have CSC . But I have yet to hear from anyone who has ever used it for flyaways, I also think if flying around children propguards would be a much better choice. There are also very strict rules about flying near to people and property.

I would also think CSC is used very little if at all because there are very few flyaways, there is nearly always a reason for what some like to call flyaways.

I believe it was deleted to protect from novice pilots accidentally triggering CSC and dropping the drone onto someone or something.

I notice it was only deleted for android users who must be novices

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-9-8 15:01
I'm using iOS I still have CSC . But I have yet to hear from anyone who has ever used it for flyaways, I also think if flying around children propguards would be a much better choice. There are also very strict rules about flying near to people and property.

I would also think CSC is used very little if at all because there are very few flyaways, there is nearly always a reason for what some like to call flyaways.

I always use the prop guards

The CSC is available to stop the motor when abnormity was detected by the APP. In normal situation, the aircraft will land helically. Hope this make it clear.

Okay - this means, CSC is NOT available anymore in any situation for the user? (how should the App decide wether there could be an abnormal situation?)

@hallmark007: Are you sure you have it during flight? I doubt it! On the ground it works, but not in flight.
@DJI Susan: Do I understand you correctly that it would only work, if the are warnings or error messages at that moment?
To demonstrate what I am referring to please see here the video I have made from my test. I have tried twice to stop the engines in flight at 10 meters altitude above high grass to avoid damages if CSC had worked and the Spark had fallen down. You first see the tests filmed from the ground, then the screen recording and then the Flightlog recording with the stick movements I did:

Dear DJI,
why do you tacitly change / disable a security feature, that is clearly documented in your Sparks manual? (still inside the latest version, see page 49 at https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/ ... ser+Manual+V1.4.pdf)
And no - neither the Spark nor the RC-Controller nor the app can see _all_ emergency situations.
Cheers, a confused spark user.

Thank you koko, further clarification would be very welcome indeed! But for DJI Susan and her initial response at least this response to start with:

DJI Susan Posted at 2017-9-8 23:07
The CSC is available to stop the motor when abnormity was detected by the APP. In normal situation, the aircraft will land helically. Hope this make it clear.

Thank you very much again Susan for your quick and concise response!
Today I have received some additional information from DJI support which is fully in line but provides some more details that might be interesting for everyone here.
It is confirmed that CSC is disabled in normal flying conditions and will only work in emergency situations (serious error messages/warnings popping up). Whether there is an emergency is determined by the flight control. It is also explained that this has been a preset of Spark since the beginning and is not related to recent firmware updates.
Personally I would like to add that this is a brilliant programming that makes this function available when needed but at the same time prevents accidental use of it.
I would like to encourage DJI to also explain this excellent feature in the next version of the user manual. Once again thanks to all from DJI support!

My guess would be that they removed it to try and eliminate any accidental drops from the sky. Maybe some of these random falls are user error not knowing what happens when you do that stick combo. Maybe its a glitch in the software where that combo was used briefly or the drone thought it was used. So they might of just removed it temporarily so no further incidents happen until they can find a fix for it. Hopefully it comes back, cause no mater what the situation is, user should always have the ability to control the rotors.

Schmo Posted at 2017-9-12 06:45
My guess would be that they removed it to try and eliminate any accidental drops from the sky. Maybe some of these random falls are user error not knowing what happens when you do that stick combo. Maybe its a glitch in the software where that combo was used briefly or the drone thought it was used. So they might of just removed it temporarily so no further incidents happen until they can find a fix for it. Hopefully it comes back, cause no mater what the situation is, user should always have the ability to control the rotors.

Have you carefully read all of the above and tried to understand it as well? CSC is working when needed.

Wachtberger Posted at 2017-9-9 01:00
@hallmark007: Are you sure you have it during flight? I doubt it! On the ground it works, but not in flight.
@DJI Susan: Do I understand you correctly that it would only work, if the are warnings or error messages at that moment?
To demonstrate what I am referring to please see here the video I have made from my test. I have tried twice to stop the engines in flight at 10 meters altitude above high grass to avoid damages if CSC had worked and the Spark had fallen down. You first see the tests filmed from the ground, then the screen recording and then the Flightlog recording with the stick movements I did:

It works exactly the same on Mavic and P4Pro.

On the P3A, it stops the motors regardless of what's going on. I was flying with a friend a couple months ago. He was doing some weird acrobatic maneuvers and accidentally did a CSC., the P3A fell out of the sky  like a rock from 150 feet - it wasn't pretty. It cost him nearly $3000 to get it fixed, weird thing though, when it came back from DJI, it looked exactly like an Inspire 2.......

Wachtberger Posted at 2017-9-12 05:58
Thank you very much again Susan for your quick and concise response!
Today I have received some additional information from DJI support which is fully in line but provides some more details that might be interesting for everyone here.
It is confirmed that CSC is disabled in normal flying conditions and will only work in emergency situations (serious error messages/warnings popping up). Whether there is an emergency is determined by the flight control. It is also explained that this has been a preset of Spark since the beginning and is not related to recent firmware updates.

Thanks for your positive feedback. I will also transfer to the designated team to consider.

FatherXmas Posted at 2017-9-12 13:16
On the P3A, it stops the motors regardless of what's going on. I was flying with a friend a couple months ago. He was doing some weird acrobatic maneuvers and accidentally did a CSC., the P3A fell out of the sky  like a rock from 150 feet - it wasn't pretty. It cost him nearly $3000 to get it fixed, weird thing though, when it came back from DJI, it looked exactly like an Inspire 2.......

For the drone, it's always a devastating disaster to proceed CSC in the air. Anyway, a hard lesson.