I have had my Spark for a few months and have so far managed to avoid crashing or losing it...
One of my big concerns (as I'm sure with many pilots) is the idea of a flyaway.

I know the things that can be done prior to take off to help prevent this (GPS, >10 Satellites, Compass Callibration etc), but say the worst happens and the Spark starts moving away of it's own accord, what are the recommended steps that should be taken to deal with such a situation?

Does the RC have any control whatsoever? I saw one post where a guy said that he could still affect the altitude, so would a potential course of action be to lose as much altitude as possible and then use the combination stick command to kill power to the props?

I'd be interested to hear from anybody that has experienced a flyaway and knows what (if any) steps can be taken to reduce an all out loss.

If a "real" flyaway starts you can't control the drone anymore. Often the drones are just losing gps (or because of a compass error) and they switch into Atti mode. In this mode the drone will fly with the wind away, if you don't compensate it. But this is not a flyaway and you have the full control over the drone (if you are skilled enough)

And the CSC will not work, although it is stated in the Manual that it will shut down the Motors. You can watch some videos how people are trying to do the CSC in the air with the Spark..the motors won't stop.

The best is to try to get control over the drone again and watch the course it is flying away. Also take a look at the battery percentage. So you can calculate afterwards the area where it will (or should) do the autoland.

There have been reports in the forums that are "fly aways" that in truth are "atti" mode flights for which the pilot doesn't have any experience to draw upon.  The only real fly away case I've seen in the forums was a case where the craft went atti and also RC connection was lost.  That's a bad combination of events, and the only steps one can take are pre-flight preparations to mitigate the possibility of losing connection.  Even then, it's not guaranteed and the only strategy one has specific to this is to hope rc connection re-establishes itself.

For the most common case (craft goes to atti mode), there are two use cases.  One is where you have line of site on the craft and one is where you do not.  If you have line of site on the craft it's your eyes that act as your "positioning system", and you can still control the craft (though you are fighting the elements).  If you don't have practice in atti mode, then you should fly to the best of your abilities to land the craft in the safest location as soon as possible.  If you have some experience with atti flying, then either fly and have fun (yes, atti mode can be challenging and fun, enjoy the practice), or fly safely home.

The best strategy and defense is to not lose LOS of the craft.  But if you do, then you've got a real challenge.  You still have control of the craft, but absolutely no tools to understand it's orientation, position, etc.  I've avoided this situation, and I don't know how I would react.  I do have a plan, but I don't know how well I'll execute it or how well it will work.  That plan will be to try and put the craft on the ground, a blind landing.  My hope is that I land in a safe space and cause minimal (no) damage to craft or property.

I defend against this scenario by trying very hard to keep line of site on the craft and by flying in locations where I know I can physically and legally go and retrieve the craft.

Charles Adams Posted at 2017-9-19 06:07
There have been reports in the forums that are "fly aways" that in truth are "atti" mode flights for which the pilot doesn't have any experience to draw upon.  The only real fly away case I've seen in the forums was a case where the craft went atti and also RC connection was lost.  That's a bad combination of events, and the only steps one can take are pre-flight preparations to mitigate the possibility of losing connection.  Even then, it's not guaranteed and the only strategy one has specific to this is to hope rc connection re-establishes itself.

For the most common case (craft goes to atti mode), there are two use cases.  One is where you have line of site on the craft and one is where you do not.  If you have line of site on the craft it's your eyes that act as your "positioning system", and you can still control the craft (though you are fighting the elements).  If you don't have practice in atti mode, then you should fly to the best of your abilities to land the craft in the safest location as soon as possible.  If you have some experience with atti flying, then either fly and have fun (yes, atti mode can be challenging and fun, enjoy the practice), or fly safely home.

Great reply thank you! I also remain sceptical about the authenticity of fly aways.

Chris Watts Posted at 2017-9-19 06:43
Great reply thank you! I also remain sceptical about the authenticity of fly aways.

I think I've read some alternate advice (for the case where one doesn't have LOS and craft is in "atti" mode).  If I remember correctly, the advice was to raise the craft in the hopes that a higher altitude will help the craft attain gps lock.  Having no experience, I don't know what's best.

I suppose that flying higher still keeps my plan in play (I can still blind land if I don't attain los or gps-lock), as long as I don't run into a tree or other obstacles which might exist in the environment.

Others with more knowledge can chime in.

Chris Watts Posted at 2017-9-19 06:43
Great reply thank you! I also remain sceptical about the authenticity of fly aways.

Usually there is an explanation for when something goes wrong, so flyaway is not very common.

You may experience loss of gps because of lack of satellites or if you have compass problems this will disable gps. Your AC will go into Atti mode, in Atti mode your altitude will be maintained through your barometer, however with no gps your AC will drift with the wind.
Before you fly always look around for other areas that you might be able to land if emergency arises. To fly in Atti mode you really need to be in VLOS , try first to raise aircraft this will help you visually and will give you a better chance of regaining gps. Remember when flying Atti mode you need to constantly pushing hard on your flight sticks every time you stop pushing in whatever direction your AC will continue to drift , you should be looking around for a safe place to land when you find one land immediately, if there is no safe place to land you will have to fly back to take off area.

1/ always have more than one safe place to land
2/ Raise AC Better chance of regaining gps
3/ All stick movements must be full and constant
4/ As soon as it's safe land your AC, Don't take risks when flying Atti.

I got situation like this two weeks ago.  I think the best solution is try to decend to the  Vision height  for stable flight.  Unfortunately I didn't try.

I fully second the advice given by Charles and hallmark. And I also share the opinion that so far there have been hardly any fly aways. People have unfortunately lost their Sparks, but caused by other circumstances.

Some dangerous situations could probably be avoided if we were able to disable the GPS and explore how it flyes without it.

heliman Posted at 2017-9-19 12:44
Some dangerous situations could probably be avoided if we were able to disable the GPS and explore how it flyes without it.

GPS makes the aircraft more stable. I do agree with you on learning to fly without GPS.

Always be mindful of the Return to Home feature. But also make sure you understand all the aspects of this feature.

heliman Posted at 2017-9-19 12:44
Some dangerous situations could probably be avoided if we were able to disable the GPS and explore how it flyes without it.

Yes having experience flying without gps is useful, so for €50 there are a huge selection of quads on the market, they are great fun very sturdy , also save you risking your expensive spark, I would really recommend I have two and it's like trying to control a bucking horse, also great for the kids who love them, it's a great investment. When I done my commercial I practiced for 4 weeks with a syma 500 , and found flying a matrice 200 in Atti a piece of cake.

OK ..I'm sure this is a dumb question ...but in the case of fans04bc4ba7's flyaway ...why did it jump from Atti to GPS ?  ... why did you not just switch to atti and disable the faulty gps signal ?

Trampintransit Posted at 2018-3-6 09:00
OK ..I'm sure this is a dumb question ...but in the case of fans04bc4ba7's flyaway ...why did it jump from Atti to GPS ?  ... why did you not just switch to atti and disable the faulty gps signal ?

Problem is : you can't switch to ATTI on the spark ; P mode is always activated automatically

Ah-ha.....that'll be a good reason then.  Can i as a noob extrapolate that the day might have been saved on a machine which did have a switch to atti mode?

  I know it's kinda like self diagnosing a health issue on the internet ( Y'know, 10mins on google and you've got cancer ) ..but I read so much about fly aways that I'm scared to take my P4 out the house. But they do seem to mostly be ( or are they?) GPS related....thus ..can the day usually be saved by going straight to atti on a p4 if the worst happens?

  I know it's kinda like self diagnosing a health issue on the internet ( Y'know, 10mins on google and you've got cancer ) ..but I read so much about fly aways that I'm scared to take my P4 out the house. But they do seem to mostly be ( or are they?) GPS related....thus ..can the day usually be saved by going straight to atti on a p4 if the worst happens?

But when it goes to ATTI mode, don't you still have visual on the screen???  Maybe worse case you can't tell looking at the screen which way to turn/fly but you can always go to map mode and fly the green line back home.  And you might need Sport mode to overcome the wind if you don't see the red aircraft symbol progressing along the green line.

Comments on my suggestion??? Do you have screen display in ATTI mode???

Trampintransit Posted at 2018-3-6 09:44
I know it's kinda like self diagnosing a health issue on the internet ( Y'know, 10mins on google and you've got cancer ) ..but I read so much about fly aways that I'm scared to take my P4 out the house. But they do seem to mostly be ( or are they?) GPS related....thus ..can the day usually be saved by going straight to atti on a p4 if the worst happens?

They are caused by people flying them beyond visual sight and being out of luck when video drops and lack of GPS prevents RTH.  Or, they have video but it is too laggy to control a drone in ATTI mode.  

Just ground the drone where it is if you can't control it.  That will keep it in radio range and where you can find it.  Also a good reason not to fly over water or cities (theft) or beyond your eyesight/walking distance.  

Why does it seem like the Spark has a bigger problem with this than any other DJI on the market? I haven’t seen a thing about the phantoms or Mavic pro’s doing this.

I've had my Spark (first and only drone) switch itself into sport mode..I can tell cause the nose dips down and it takes off like buckshot and it pics it's own direction and just goes til it hits something. Sure it's GPS or compass error or something I'm doing wrong..But I can tell you it happens and when it goes you don't have time to think or make a plan I try to crash land into the ground. I'm not a big computer guy so I'm not gonna upload my file and have everybody pick it apart but it happens. I take blame. I don't really care. I sent it back to where I got it for repair. I never bought the refresh and In my case I'm sure I didn't wait for it to say "home point established" or only had 11 not 13 satellites. Operator error is the cause but hey that's why I bought the cheap Spark so I could learn on a cheap drone.

Ive had the phantom 3 advanced and a Phantom 1and I never had the problems that the Spark seems to have. This is one of the main reasons I’m hesitant of buying one.  To many videos and post about the drone just switching to ATTI mode for no reason and it flying away.

Jetta-The-Hut Posted at 2018-3-6 18:27
Why does it seem like the Spark has a bigger problem with this than any other DJI on the market? I haven’t seen a thing about the phantoms or Mavic pro’s doing this.

Really?  No Mavics or Phantoms have flown away?  Cool option on them that they always come back when when the pilots run into problems.  People with $800+ drone budgets should get a phantom or a Mavic.

Flew my Spark today w/ the RC (10th flight since buying) - after taking off in non-sport mode, flew across the street then increased altitude to go over some trees that were maybe 50' high while flying forward and all of a sudden (1st time for me) the controller link light went red.  My connected phone listed a disconnection from aircraft message.  I watched as the spark just flew straight off into the distance until I couldn't see it any more. Sad. Opened a case w/ DJI - will post results.

fans8716be32 Posted at 2018-3-6 23:45
Flew my Spark today w/ the RC (10th flight since buying) - after taking off in non-sport mode, flew across the street then increased altitude to go over some trees that were maybe 50' high while flying forward and all of a sudden (1st time for me) the controller link light went red.  My connected phone listed a disconnection from aircraft message.  I watched as the spark just flew straight off into the distance until I couldn't see it any more. Sad. Opened a case w/ DJI - will post results.

Shouldn't spark have returned to home point via the Fail Safe RTH?

I have heard not to use RTH but instead try using the Pause button or switch from Normal to sports mode will sometimes save your craft from A flyaway.

Gunship9 Posted at 2018-3-6 22:49
Really?  No Mavics or Phantoms have flown away?  Cool option on them that they always come back when when the pilots run into problems.  People with $800+ drone budgets should get a phantom or a Mavic.

And how much is the spark with the flymore combo? Too much in my option to spend on the chance for it to just float away. Hell even the little Tello isn’t having that problem.

Jetta-The-Hut Posted at 2018-3-7 16:52
And how much is the spark with the flymore combo? Too much in my option to spend on the chance for it to just float away. Hell even the little Tello isn’t having that problem.

They all fly away.  Fly it out of radio range, behind things, in areas with lots of transmitters, in combination with poor GPS or magnetic interference and you can say goodbye to the Mavic.  

The Mavic's just have less people that are total newbies to drones.  They have some drone experience before they jump in with a $1200 toy.  But they still have people who lose their drones when they fly away due to pilot error or navigation system failure.  Not getting your aircraft safely back is part of the radio control aircraft hobby.  Especially so, when flying kilometers from the pilot.

I’ve posted this video a few times, and also posted a thread about it.  My hope with the thread was to have a place where people could find answers about the yaw errors and atti mode to educate themselves and prepare for when it does happen. I was very lucky that I was not out of line of sight when this happened or I might have lost the spark.

Thanks for posting the video Texas, it seems like the winds were pretty strong from the tree swaying.  A lot of the videos I’ve watched., You can’t really tell if it went into ATTI and they just didn’t know what to do or if it truly just flew away because they lost complete control of it. Most it looks like the altitude isn’t held and they never say wether or not they did it or it lost complete connection and started coming down.
When I had my phantom 1 I learned to fly it in ATTI mode by setting a box on the ground and flying in a square around it,  backwards forwards and sideways. It’s hard to do and had to use prop guards but it helps.