Hi everybody, yesterday i was flying with my mavic and happened a very strange thing.I'll try to resume all the facts. i wanted an aerial vision of a specific target, so i raise the drone to 500 metres and about 700 metres distance, after i've taken my photos i try to take my drone back.
Strangely it recognise an obsacle at 6 metres and he "refuse" to go forward, this wasn't possible because i was 500 metres high so there wasn't in any way obstacles in front of the drone, it seems like the drone recognise the sunlight as an obstacle because if i yaw it to another direction, not "pointing" the sun, he didn't recognise no more obstacle .
So the drone can't return home because in my direction he notice "obstacles" despite i was flying above a field so there wasn't obstacles surely.

To make matters worse at a certain moment i was looking in the phone and i see the camera move a lot and then pointing down like the drone had hit something or BY something. Right after image stabilized like nothing was happened, meanwhile the drone "get back" into my field of view and i was surely that there wasn't obstacles anywhere near.
I spent about 20 minutes to get the drone back despite it was only 700 metres, with a big scary.
Anyone notice a problem like this ? Do you know if sunlight can cause this problem ?
Sorry for my bad English, i hope you understand the facts

Hi, this happened to me recently where I was flying at about 25m and there was clearly nothing in sight. The controller beeped at me and on my phone it had the distance of how far away I was to the obstacle. Maybe a software issue that DJI needs to fix?

Firstly, you should not be flying your drone more than 400 feet / 120M above ground level and flying at 500M / 1,640 feet up you are placing your drone directly into manned airspace which is actually illegal and can get you into very serious trouble with the authorities not to mention increasing the risk of hitting a manned aircraft such as an emergency helicopter or glider... You should only fly over 120M up if you have written permission from your national aviation authority to do so and good luck with that...
Secondly, the OA senses the sun on the Mavic and this causes the drone to stop mid flight. Turn off the OA when flying above obstacles.

A CW Posted at 2017-11-15 00:41
Firstly, you should not be flying your drone more than 400 feet / 120M above ground level and flying at 500M / 1,640 feet up you are placing your drone directly into manned airspace which is actually illegal and can get you into very serious trouble with the authorities not to mention increasing the risk of hitting a manned aircraft such as an emergency helicopter or glider... You should only fly over 120M up if you have written permission from your national aviation authority to do so and good luck with that...
Secondly, the OA senses the sun on the Mavic and this causes the drone to stop mid flight. Turn off the OA when flying above obstacles.

Totally agree, i know legislation but i was in countyside far from all sort of constructions or "humans" .
What do you mean with OA ? I've to turn it  off when i fly at a considerable High ?

obstacle avoidance. I had the same problem and switched to sports mode and returned normally.

CA Mavic Pro Posted at 2017-11-15 01:16
obstacle avoidance. I had the same problem and switched to sports mode and returned normally.

Thank you for explanation, i've another easy question. Can i change to sport mode while the drone is flying ?

What happened to You is rather "normal" (i am speculating )
First most likely You where returning Against the sun? If Yes , Mavic very commonly accept sun as an obstacle - this why i almost always fly with sensors OFF
Second seems like common gimble restart, did You saw N/A on camera data on DJI GO 4 app?

In such cases very important is Not to panic and try different approaches - when i had it for a first time i came Backwards - where no sensors to be fooled

Have a pleasant flights

lollo.169 Posted at 2017-11-15 01:28
Thank you for explanation, i've another easy question. Can i change to sport mode while the drone is flying ?

Yes you can switch to sport mode while in the air. It’s actually a great mode to use in case something strange is happening during the flight. Just remember that OA will be deactivated in that mode.

lollo.169 Posted at 2017-11-15 01:28
Thank you for explanation, i've another easy question. Can i change to sport mode while the drone is flying ?

Yes you can do that. What I usually do is pull throttle to 50% before switching modes.

hollo, you never said, were you flying towards the sun.

You're lucky to have had a full 20 mins to bring the copter back home.

lollo.169 Posted at 2017-11-15 00:57
Totally agree, i know legislation but i was in countyside far from all sort of constructions or "humans" .
What do you mean with OA ? I've to turn it  off when i fly at a considerable High ?

I appreciate you saying you were not over a congested area but the laws around altitude restrictions with a UAV are more to do with visual line of sight and manned airspace. It's not my place to tell you what to do but always best to share best practices on here to enhance awareness and flight safety.
OA is the obstacle avoidance system built in the front and base of the Mavic. The drone does have a tendency to stop when being flown directly into a bright sun with the OA engaged - switching off the OA will prevent this and also increase your air speed to around 35MPH in windless conditions without using the battery draining Sport mode. I switch it off when flying 200-400' AGL then switch it back on before I start my descent.

Hmm.  I had an incident once, not as serious as this, where my Mavic suddenly acted very strange - about 300 meters away and 20 meters high, but over the ocean.  I too got scared, but kept cool and was able to work it back.  But this thing about the OA reacting to the sun never occurred to me.  That very likely could have been my cause.  If this happens again, I'll give you all a silent thanks for helping me realize what might be happening.  Also, in the US, Mavic's are unable to fly higher than 400 feet (unless you jail break them).  I think that's a good safety feature for DJI to have installed.

StanfordWebbie Posted at 2017-11-15 19:30
Hmm.  I had an incident once, not as serious as this, where my Mavic suddenly acted very strange - about 300 meters away and 20 meters high, but over the ocean.  I too got scared, but kept cool and was able to work it back.  But this thing about the OA reacting to the sun never occurred to me.  That very likely could have been my cause.  If this happens again, I'll give you all a silent thanks for helping me realize what might be happening.  Also, in the US, Mavic's are unable to fly higher than 400 feet (unless you jail break them).  I think that's a good safety feature for DJI to have installed.

The issue with the sun was reported long long time ago. No need to turn off OA just make sure when you are coming back you are NOT facing the sun.

lollo.169 Posted at 2017-11-15 01:28
Thank you for explanation, i've another easy question. Can i change to sport mode while the drone is flying ?

I suggest reading the manual from top to bottom before taking those risks. Practicing in the academy on different scenarios will better help you be better prepared. Have fun!

Now that you know the sun can be a problem, you can always turn the drone away from the sun and fly it sideways or even backward back towards you.

A CW Posted at 2017-11-15 00:41
Firstly, you should not be flying your drone more than 400 feet / 120M above ground level and flying at 500M / 1,640 feet up you are placing your drone directly into manned airspace which is actually illegal and can get you into very serious trouble with the authorities not to mention increasing the risk of hitting a manned aircraft such as an emergency helicopter or glider... You should only fly over 120M up if you have written permission from your national aviation authority to do so and good luck with that...
Secondly, the OA senses the sun on the Mavic and this causes the drone to stop mid flight. Turn off the OA when flying above obstacles.

Incorrect.  It has nothing to do with being over obstacles.  Turn off OA when flying toward the sun.

Think you misread my post - turn off when over obstacles as you obviously won’t crash into them when over them - not that it doesn’t detect obstacles. Is that clear enough?!

Dear lollo.169,

I would say to you, exactly, what @A CW said in his first and second post (absolutely correct); and what @I am the E said on his second post: it is imperative to read the manual. Drones are not toys!
You can make some mess with them if you don't use with knowledge.

Hi, lollo.169, it is confirmed that when the drone facing directly to the sunlight or strong light, it will initiate Obstacle Avoidance mistakenly. So please avoid flying directly facing the sunshine, or you can disable the OA system, but you must take care of the flight when you disable it.
And for the gimbal issue, I don't know if I am right, is it that the gimbal reset while flying? Please try to restart the drone and see if it will happen again.

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