Hello fellow droners - just got back from my first trip with the new-ish Spark, and ran into some issues flying in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

  

  

The scariest issue was when she was well within range (flying almost directly overhead at 50-ish ft altitude), then started a rapid/uncommanded climb through about 82 ft. I was pushing full down on the left stick during most of this climb, had connection, GPS, and live video feed (was watching the altitude climb in real time throughout), but it did not respond to any stick movements whatsoever. At 82 ft, I hit RTH out of desperation, and thankfully, she responded as expected thereafter - climbing to assigned RTH altitude and landing normally. (climb begins at about 2:53, RTH pressed about 3:05).

Flight log here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/r4m9yyy4pivr0ky/2017-12-09%2018_10_29-0BMCE67001003T.dat?dl=0

Granted, I knew from flying closer to our resort earlier that day that interference in this area was absolutely savage. We had walked down the beach to this location (about 500 yards from our resort in the hopes it would be better - this location was inbetween resorts, and much further out on the water (end of pier w/no electronics on it save for our phones). Still encountered a couple of split second disconnects with go 4 citing interference as the issue, but drone always returned to hover as expected, and controller reconnected immediately without a problem.

Obviously, the scary part is that is was climbing all on its own - while fully connected to the RC, but ignoring the RC's commands. Disconnects due to interference I can understand, but not responding while connected, and ESPECIALLY not simply returning to hover when it decides to either disconnect or ignore RC commands is unacceptable. All I could think of was 'what if that thing had only been 5 ft off the ground and decided to fly forward/backward/sideways on its own instead of straight up...?'. So, we went ALL the way out on the pier to get as far away from anyone else (only 2 other people on the beach at the time) as we could and tried again with a different battery. This time the flight went perfectly for 12 minutes, but as I was certainly not going to risk ruining anyone else's vacation by flying a rogue drone into their head, Sparky was grounded for the rest of the trip unless we were in a relatively secluded/unpopulated area like this one.

In case it helps, the issues we were experiencing earlier when closer to the resort were mainly failure to maintain altitude problems, but nothing as pronounced/uncontrollable as this. Instead of hovering after takeoff, it would move up and down by itself about 18 inches repeatedly. Touch the sticks, it'd stop doing it/respond appropriately, but let let them go again and it was back to the 18 inch up and down thing. It did this both near our resort AND when we tried it again latter in the week when were out on a private island quite far away from any possible interference/people (I can upload those logs too if they'd help, but didn't want any confusion with the original/most serious issue).

So....thoughts? Can interference be strong enough to send phantom (no pun intended) signals to our drones such that they believe those signals are coming from the controller itself, or does my Spark have deeper issues?

We can't do much here with that *.DAT file. Would you mind uploading the simple flightrecord (you'll find it in the DJI subfolder \flightrecords on you mobile device) to here and then share the link with us?: http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

Wachtberger Posted at 2017-12-18 13:27
We can't do much here with that *.DAT file. Would you mind uploading the simple flightrecord (you'll find it in the DJI subfolder \flightrecords on you mobile device) to here and then share the link with us?: http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

Yessir - thanks for the prompt response. Sorry about that - first time posting a log. Here it is:
http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/SN7HOGF3NY17N5ZU8VOL/

Burdman44 Posted at 2017-12-18 13:49
Yessir - thanks for the prompt response. Sorry about that - first time posting a log. Here it is:
http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/SN7HOGF3NY17N5ZU8VOL/

...also first time I'm seeing that "Speed Error" right before the uncommanded ascent....interesting...that a motor speed error, airspeed error...?

Burdman44 Posted at 2017-12-18 13:49
Yessir - thanks for the prompt response. Sorry about that - first time posting a log. Here it is:
http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/SN7HOGF3NY17N5ZU8VOL/

Thank you! Now this is a very interesting one and all I can say is that from what I can see, it fully confirms your initial report above. In the flightrecord you can see that several "speed" errors are being logged. I am not yet experienced enough to be able to tell you what triggers them and which are the consequences to be expected. But there are much more experienced pilots here who might be able to tell you more about what your flightrecord is revealing.

But did you changed into Sport mode intentionally?

Enri Posted at 2017-12-18 14:13
But did you changed into Sport mode intentionally?

Yessir, sport mode switch was intentional.

Burdman44 Posted at 2017-12-18 14:23
Yessir, sport mode switch was intentional.

wind if may I ask?

Burdman44 Posted at 2017-12-18 13:52
...also first time I'm seeing that "Speed Error" right before the uncommanded ascent....interesting...that a motor speed error, airspeed error...?

Looking at your log it looks very strange all right, I can see Aircraft rising while throttle being pulled down.
Why I’m not so sure, speed error is usually connected to compass error.
Can I ask the pier you launched from and flew over was it metal or concrete ?  taking off from such structures and flying around them can cause problems.

Your earlier problem sounds like VPS problem like dirty sensors, but can’t say for sure.

Enri Posted at 2017-12-18 14:32
wind if may I ask?

Negligible - 14-17 mph @ 500 ft per UAV forecast (nothing we felt on the ground would argue with those numbers).

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-12-18 14:50
Looking at your log it looks very strange all right, I can see Aircraft rising while throttle being pulled down.
Why I’m not so sure, speed error is usually connected to compass error.
Can I ask the pier you launched from and flew over was it metal or concrete ?  taking off from such structures and flying around them can cause problems.

Pier was solid wood except for the nails holding it together. And thanks for the confirmation that this is strange. Starting support case now - will update this thread with their response(s).

Burdman44 Posted at 2017-12-19 05:36
Pier was solid wood except for the nails holding it together. And thanks for the confirmation that this is strange. Starting support case now - will update this thread with their response(s).

Yeah you probably need to get spark checked out, the strangest thing about it is I’ve never seen an aircraft rise in altitude especially when pilot command is down.

Burdman44 Posted at 2017-12-19 05:36
Pier was solid wood except for the nails holding it together. And thanks for the confirmation that this is strange. Starting support case now - will update this thread with their response(s).

Shot of us on the pier prior to Sparky's bout with schizophrenia.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/t7b51rhshbnwhwn/DJI_0319.JPG?dl=0

DJI Elektra - if you happen upon this thread, I just received support's confirmation of receipt (below) - please do what you can to expedite. I have another trip coming up in 2 months, and would love to have a reliable Spark to document it.

Dear ***********,
Thank you for contacting DJI Support.
Your request (891240) has been received and is being reviewed by our technical support representatives. We will contact you soon. (Business hour: Monday to Friday, from 07:00 am to 15:00 pm PST)
Best Regards,
DJI Support

I took a look at the .txt. The response to the control inputs were normal. At time 119.821 the throttle was pushed all the way forward for about 17 secs and the Spark ascended from 11 meters to 60 meters in response. The throttle was pushed forward, not backward as you reported..
Following this the throttle was given several short inputs, both forward and back. The Spark rose and ascended as would be expected.


At time 183 secs RTH was intitiated and the Spark ascended again to the RTH height.

BudWalker Posted at 2017-12-19 13:53
I took a look at the .txt. The response to the control inputs were normal. At time 119.821 the throttle was pushed all the way forward for about 17 secs and the Spark ascended from 11 meters to 60 meters in response. The throttle was pushed forward, not backward as you reported..
Following this the throttle was given several short inputs, both forward and back. The Spark rose and ascended as would be expected.

At 173 sec altitude 46.6 metre at 177 altitude 56 metre all this time throttle down. That’s according to phantomhelp log. Am I missing something.

BudWalker Posted at 2017-12-19 13:53
I took a look at the .txt. The response to the control inputs were normal. At time 119.821 the throttle was pushed all the way forward for about 17 secs and the Spark ascended from 11 meters to 60 meters in response. The throttle was pushed forward, not backward as you reported..
Following this the throttle was given several short inputs, both forward and back. The Spark rose and ascended as would be expected.

Thanks for the analysis, but if I'm reading that graph correctly (blue is control/red is altitude), it shows only neutral and down controls (between 162 and 180), yet the drone shows as climbing as described. Am I missing something? Cuz based on that blue controls line, I can't see any reason the drone should have gained altitude at all between 162 and 180 (problem happened about 2 min 45 seconds into the flight, not at the beginning).

Burdman44 Posted at 2017-12-19 14:13
Thanks for the analysis, but if I'm reading that graph correctly (blue is control/red is altitude), it shows only neutral and down controls (between 162 and 180), yet the drone shows as climbing as described. Am I missing something? Cuz based on that blue controls line, I can't see any reason the drone should have gained altitude at all between 162 and 180 (problem happened about 2 min 45 seconds into the flight, not at the beginning).

According to phantomhelp log it shows throttle down for 4 seconds and aircraft rising from 46.6 metres to 56.8 metres at 173 sec to 177 sec all other stick movements match what bud walker said.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-12-19 14:20
According to phantomhelp log it shows throttle down for 4 seconds and aircraft rising from 46.6 metres to 56.8 metres at 173 sec to 177 sec all other stick movements match what bud walker said.

Yep - that's me freaking out/fumbling for the RTH button/slider, lol. But you can see it still climbing after controls returned to neutral as I fumbled around, before RTH was engaged. ...tried to blame it on my "copilot" (and would-be fiance 48 hours later), but she makes a strong argument for innocence as she was talking to someone at the end of the pier/was nowhere near the controller, lol.

I can see what you're talking about. But, there is more. In tha attached from A to B there is a downward bias. It's still respnding to the throttle (blue line), but even when that's neutral the Spark is descending some (red line). After B the opposite is happening; there is an upward bias until about C.  When RTH is initiated at E the ascent slows some. Very weird. It's kinda like the downward sensor is getting faulty data. But that data doesn't support that. We could take a look at the .DAT if you like. Look here to see how to do that
http://www.datfile.net/DatCon/retrieveV3Dat.html

Burdman44 Posted at 2017-12-19 14:28
Yep - that's me freaking out/fumbling for the RTH button/slider, lol. But you can see it still climbing after controls returned to neutral as I fumbled around, before RTH was engaged. ...tried to blame it on my "copilot" (and would-be fiance 48 hours later), but she makes a strong argument for innocence as she was talking to someone at the end of the pier/was nowhere near the controller, lol.

I really like that you are relaxed now and can see it with a sense of humour too! You'll become a very good pilot after this experience I am sure :-)

BudWalker Posted at 2017-12-19 14:52
I can see what you're talking about. But, there is more. In tha attached from A to B there is a downward bias. It's still respnding to the throttle (blue line), but even when that's neutral the Spark is descending some (red line). After B the opposite is happening; there is an upward bias until about C.  When RTH is initiated at E the ascent slows some. Very weird. It's kinda like the downward sensor is getting faulty data. But that data doesn't support that. We could take a look at the .DAT if you like. Look here to see how to do that
http://www.datfile.net/DatCon/retrieveV3Dat.html

How did you create those graphs? I want to make them for my flights to learn more about the behaviour of my drone in flight.

Wachtberger Posted at 2017-12-19 14:53
I really like that you are relaxed now and can see it with a sense of humour too! You'll become a very good pilot after this experience I am sure :-)

Thanks man - would've been a lot less freaked out at the time too if I didn't have big plans to use Sparky to document the marriage proposal 2 days later.....and hadn't completely forgotten to send in the DJI care refresh video I made to start the coverage (didn't get signed up within the 24 or 48 hour window they give you after activation). ...doh!

Got sidetracked by packing and planning out how to get the ring through TSA at the airports without having the bag inspected in front of her/ruining the surprise. Ended up playing dumb with the guys running the xray machines, showing them my phone and asking if I could get rid of my paper boarding pass if I had "this" electronic one - phone actually displayed the message "Engagement ring in silver backpack - please inspect PRIVATELY if necessary!!" They all smiled and confirmed I was good to go - worked like a charm, lol.

Below are the best drone pics I took all week (actual proposal happened on the helicopter that flew us out to this private island/over the sign in the sand). This is where Sparky still did the 18 inch up and down thing even away from all interference; also cleaned everything from sensors to cam lens with DJI supplied/recommended products that morning, so it's unlikely it was a dirty sensor issue. Nonetheless, the event was worth the risk and there was no one but us on the island, so I sent her up anyway, and luckily, she behaved better at high altitude than low, and came home without a fight.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/c0520vfvb14btkv/DJI_0347.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7vdplwi8yieba60/Lunch.jpg?dl=0

xfirf_ Posted at 2017-12-19 22:40
How did you create those graphs? I want to make them for my flights to learn more about the behaviour of my drone in flight.

I used CsvView which can accept both the .txt created by the Go App and the .DAT that comes from the AC itself. CsvView can be obtained here

http://www.datfile.net/CsvView/downloads.html

Burdman44 Posted at 2017-12-20 06:17
Thanks man - would've been a lot less freaked out at the time too if I didn't have big plans to use Sparky to document the marriage proposal 2 days later.....and hadn't completely forgotten to send in the DJI care refresh video I made to start the coverage (didn't get signed up within the 24 or 48 hour window they give you after activation). ...doh!

Got sidetracked by packing and planning out how to get the ring through TSA at the airports without having the bag inspected in front of her/ruining the surprise. Ended up playing dumb with the guys running the xray machines, showing them my phone and asking if I could get rid of my paper boarding pass if I had "this" electronic one - phone actually displayed the message "Engagement ring in silver backpack - please inspect PRIVATELY if necessary!!" They all smiled and confirmed I was good to go - worked like a charm, lol.

Thank you for sharing these beautiful pictures. And what a great way to propose. Seeing the faces I conclude it was accepted ;-)

xfirf_ Posted at 2017-12-19 22:40
How did you create those graphs? I want to make them for my flights to learn more about the behaviour of my drone in flight.

You can download from your aircraft black box.

BudWalker Posted at 2017-12-20 06:18
I used CsvView which can accept both the .txt created by the Go App and the .DAT that comes from the AC itself. CsvView can be obtained here

http://www.datfile.net/CsvView/downloads.html

Cool. Thank you.

Wachtberger Posted at 2017-12-20 06:25
Thank you for sharing these beautiful pictures. And what a great way to propose. Seeing the faces I conclude it was accepted ;-)

My pleasure, and yes - she said yes :-)

Just got the response from DJI tech support and darn near choked on my sandwich when I read it. They want me to calibrate the controller, then "if the issue persists" they'll arrange for it to be sent in for diagnosis/repair (yes, I did send them the flight log with the original inquiry; both DAT and txt)). Maybe I'm just too cynical, but if they actually looked at that flight log before sending that response, it reads to me as if they they're ignoring the fact that the drone behaved properly for the first 2-ish minutes of flight, and then started climbing on its own/ignoring commands. Said commands are clearly recorded on the flight log, and mimic my inputs exactly. This suggests to me that the controller was properly calibrated (verified by two successful flights in a remote area after the incident with no further calibration as well).

So, did DJI really just tell me to put an unreliable/potentially uncontrollable drone back in the air? A private/unpopulated island is one thing (only reason I flew it again), but I live 30 minutes outside of Philadelphia, where even when flying over soccer fields/municipal parks/other open areas, there are dozens to hundreds of people within a block or two - a distance a rogue drone could easily cover in a matter of seconds. That said, this response/course of action seems to represent at best, a complete disregard for public safety; at worst, the intentional creation of a likely fly away scenario that, if unrecoverable, could result in DJI being able to dodge its warranty responsibilities (their standard, "not enough evidence without the aircraft to replace under warranty").

Gonna wait for a few of your guys' thoughts before responding to them, but definitely not the response I was expecting, and certainly one I find unacceptable on several fronts. Thoughts?

Burdman44 Posted at 2017-12-20 10:40
Just got the response from DJI tech support and darn near choked on my sandwich when I read it. They want me to calibrate the controller, then "if the issue persists" they'll arrange for it to be sent in for diagnosis/repair (yes, I did send them the flight log with the original inquiry; both DAT and txt)). Maybe I'm just too cynical, but if they actually looked at that flight log before sending that response, it reads to me as if they they're ignoring the fact that the drone behaved properly for the first 2-ish minutes of flight, and then started climbing on its own/ignoring commands. Said commands are clearly recorded on the flight log, and mimic my inputs exactly. This suggests to me that the controller was properly calibrated (verified by two successful flights in a remote area after the incident with no further calibration as well).

So, did DJI really just tell me to put an unreliable/potentially uncontrollable drone back in the air? A private/unpopulated island is one thing (only reason I flew it again), but I live 30 minutes outside of Philadelphia, where even when flying over soccer fields/municipal parks/other open areas, there are dozens to hundreds of people within a block or two - a distance a rogue drone could easily cover in a matter of seconds. That said, this response/course of action seems to represent at best, a complete disregard for public safety; at worst, the intentional creation of a likely fly away scenario that, if unrecoverable, could result in DJI being able to dodge its warranty responsibilities (their standard, "not enough evidence without the aircraft to replace under warranty").

Yes, I have a good advice I believe. For some unknown reason this thread has remained "undiscovered" by the DJI staff in this forum. I would suggest that you PM the link of this thread together with your case number to one of them (e.g. Elektra or any of the others) and kindly request for follow up. Might be the better route to take and less stressful for you. From the feedback that I am receiving from them I can honestly witness that they are very committed to help.

Wachtberger Posted at 2017-12-20 12:45
Yes, I have a good advice I believe. For some unknown reason this thread has remained "undiscovered" by the DJI staff in this forum. I would suggest that you PM the link of this thread together with your case number to one of them (e.g. Elektra or any of the others) and kindly request for follow up. Might be the better route to take and less stressful for you. From the feedback that I am receiving from them I can honestly witness that they are very committed to help.

Thanks man. I PM'ed Elektra the link to this thread when you suggested it shortly after original post, along with a friend request. Haven't gotten a response to either, but will try again with her the others.

So big thanks to all that posted/helped me understand this issue - admins too! After explaining to support why I was uncomfortable flying this aircraft again (due to public safety concerns) before it had been thoroughly examined/repaired by DJI, they responded immediately with instructions on how to return it for repair.

Case #: CAS-1334830-K5Z4G8

Thanks again for everyone's help - will keep this thread updated on the process/diagnosis.

Burdman44 Posted at 2017-12-21 06:41
So big thanks to all that posted/helped me understand this issue - admins too! After explaining to support why I was uncomfortable flying this aircraft again (due to public safety concerns) before it had been thoroughly examined/repaired by DJI, they responded immediately with instructions on how to return it for repair.

Case #: CAS-1334830-K5Z4G8

Good luck hope you get sorted soon.

Burdman44 Posted at 2017-12-21 06:41
So big thanks to all that posted/helped me understand this issue - admins too! After explaining to support why I was uncomfortable flying this aircraft again (due to public safety concerns) before it had been thoroughly examined/repaired by DJI, they responded immediately with instructions on how to return it for repair.

Case #: CAS-1334830-K5Z4G8

Good luck and happy landings when you get it back!

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-12-20 07:32
You can download from your aircraft black box.

This has been a very interesting topic. I wish you the best in your “personal” and drone adventures.

On the black box export. . . I’ve not been able to accomplish that.  . . I believe that I saw a DJI post from Elektra than that Assistant does not support black box export for the Spark or Mavic. Would you mind ponting me to a process that works?

I just got my Spark last week (my first drone) so I’m trying to get up to speed asap.

Thanks for posting this topic and the happy captures!

So, interesting update on this one: Just got the status update on the case, and they're replacing the Gimbal and Camera module under warranty. Kinda surprised by that as I expected it to have something to do with one of the sensors that control altitude and/or the drone's interface with the controller......but I've read in a few places that the main camera is used in conjunction with the downward facing VPS cameras to maintain altitude - anyone know if that's accurate/potentially the reason they think this module caused the uncommanded/uncontrollable climb?

Burdman44 Posted at 2018-1-31 14:27
So, interesting update on this one: Just got the status update on the case, and they're replacing the Gimbal and Camera module under warranty. Kinda surprised by that as I expected it to have something to do with one of the sensors that control altitude and/or the drone's interface with the controller......but I've read in a few places that the main camera is used in conjunction with the downward facing VPS cameras to maintain altitude - anyone know if that's accurate/potentially the reason they think this module caused the uncommanded/uncontrollable climb?

Glad it's getting fixed under warranty.