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Poll: Should the SPARK be government issued RECALLED?
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6713 72 2018-5-1
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Paco572
lvl.3
Canada
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Should the Spark be RECALLED due to the astonishing amount of flyaways, batteries and SPARKS dropping out of the sky?

You decide.




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2018-5-1
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Spruce
lvl.3
Flight distance : 146952 ft
Poland
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What's the 'astonishingc number? Hows that stack up to working units percentage wise? Really the only thing that worries me is the battery but have an elastic band for that. Spark works as normal in atti mode, if someones inexperienced then it will "fly away" with the wind.
2018-5-1
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JMR58
Captain
Flight distance : 627966 ft
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Don't recall a winner, educate the user..
2018-5-1
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Ram-UK
Captain
Flight distance : 1132648 ft
United Kingdom
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No, majority of fly aways caused by inexperienced pilots/user error (from flight records issued by the users in this forum). Only a handful of issues that we don’t know the reason for the failures.

Therefore DJI should look into the issues on case by case basis and provide help to the customers to resolve the issues promptly.

It reminds me of VW Passat forum. Lots of complains about the car. But my Passat is with me for the last 10 years ( my daughter wouldn’t let me replace it. I bought it when she was born) and 190000 miles on the clock. Still drives nicely. Very reliable car I ever had
2018-5-1
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Rawsome
First Officer
Flight distance : 230827 ft
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Canada
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Find this a very dramatic statement too. Most people owning a spark including my self for a year, are pleased with the bird. Yes there are issues but even those numbers can be greatly reduced if you count for user error. This leaves a very small amount of defect units.
2018-5-1
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ChrisJG
Captain
Flight distance : 1725341 ft
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United Kingdom
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25 flights with absolutely no issues whatsoever. Think my battery catches are the smaller ones, but so far, they click in securely. When I have messaged DJI Support, to help me unlock a zone to fly in, and when trying to activate my Spark, they have been prompt, polite an sorted out my query.
2018-5-1
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Oracle Miata
Captain
Flight distance : 3759829 ft
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United States
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JMR58 Posted at 2018-5-1 12:34
Don't recall a winner, educate the user..

This.  All day long.  

2018-5-1
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Oldmaninwva
First Officer
Flight distance : 9750253 ft
United States
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Spruce Posted at 2018-5-1 12:09
What's the 'astonishingc number? Hows that stack up to working units percentage wise? Really the only thing that worries me is the battery but have an elastic band for that. Spark works as normal in atti mode, if someones inexperienced then it will "fly away" with the wind.

Now... how does one manually put the spark in ATTI mode?  if I'm not mistaken its one of those "hope it goes in on it's own when the SHTF "
2018-5-1
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Paco572
lvl.3
Canada
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I don't need to be "educated" to know there's a problem. 2 flights for me, 1 OK the other a flyaway, ya that really inspires confidence.
2018-5-1
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HTWEELZ
Second Officer
Flight distance : 141549 ft
United States
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72 flights here and only once did it lose connection.  My loss of connection was my error as after I took off I realized I was surrounded by power lines and near condos that all probably had wifi.  I was able to fly it back and I moved to a different area and it flew fine.
2018-5-1
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davidmartingraf
Captain
Flight distance : 84805085 ft
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JMR58 Posted at 2018-5-1 12:34
Don't recall a winner, educate the user..

I like your slogan.
2018-5-1
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Gunship9
Captain
United States
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Drone flies fine.  Users that have lost their drone should be fined.  The ones who's excuse is that they didn't know how to safely fly a drone or that what they did would cause it to be lost, should be fined again for general ignorance.

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2018-5-1
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Cookster670
First Officer
Australia
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Dozens of flights, Always after ensuring home point has been recorded.   A handful of disconnects (as I’ve pushed the range or interference) and it’s always RTH’d.

No issues for me
2018-5-1
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S-e-ven
Captain
Flight distance : 5910961 ft
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Thailand
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Paco572 Posted at 2018-5-1 14:37
I don't need to be "educated" to know there's a problem. 2 flights for me, 1 OK the other a flyaway, ya that really inspires confidence.

Ok, so now we know how you got your "due to the astonishing amount of flyaways" number.
own experience, 50% of the flights
But also you seem to be the perfect example, how aproximate few, in relations to the total numbers, make astonishing numbers  happen.

My experience however is over 400 flighs with 2 Sparks and no fly away. Yet
Dont misunderstand me, there are issues with the one or the other bird.
One of mine is not "that perfect" like the other one, but it needs to have "the other one", to (really) notice that.
But to me, what I can read here, and in other forums, plus own experience, DJI is trying to fix things.
I might not work out for everyone, sometimes maybe not at he first try, but in special these flyaways with bird losses reading often as "refunded with a new bird".
Just my2c
2018-5-1
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S.J
Captain
Flight distance : 322454 ft
Kuwait
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179 flights in total and still going fine. Probably 50% of flying time had disconnections but SPARK does the RTH precisely.

I think one point every fly away SPARK pilots have to note is to fly the drone atleast 50 meters in altitude and not more than 100 meter high.
2018-5-1
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Prairie Chicken
Captain
Flight distance : 106526 ft
Canada
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They can recall my Spark from my cold, dead hands.

Or when I've saved up for a Mavic Air, whichever comes first. Until then, it's me and Spark all the way.
2018-5-1
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JimboHUN
Second Officer
Flight distance : 37156 ft
Hungary
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While I think most complaints do boil down to pilot errors, it also has to be noted that the Mavic forum has less topics on errors.

So far I am happy with my Spark
2018-5-1
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Arnor
Captain
Flight distance : 2660509 ft
Belgium
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200+ flights and no issues. Never had a fly away.

I always go through my checklist before take off.
2018-5-1
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Flighty
Captain
Flight distance : 1977175 ft
Croatia
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262 flights,, had a few disconnects due to my own issue of pushing the boundary. Otherwise great machine, has always Returned to Home Point when required..
2018-5-1
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Bright Spark
First Officer
Flight distance : 22129 ft
United Kingdom
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Not a single 'flyaway' has ever been proved to be a spark malfunction to me.
2018-5-2
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Nidge
Captain

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While many of the reported flyaways can be attributed to user error: failure to ensure adequate GPS acquisition, incorrect compass/IMU calibration, etc: there have been many that DJI have concluded to be equipment/software/firmware problems and reimbursed the owner in full. What DJI have failed to do is provide the User, and the community as a whole, a valid explanation of these failures. Consequently many, including myself, start to lose confidence in the product and treat every flight as though it maybe our last..

Over the last six years or more I have built many autonomous craft, fixed wing and multirotor, using all manout of flight controllers and none have given me as much concern as the Spark due to DJI’s complete lack of  transparency in these matters.  It would go a long way if they admitted that they had a problem with a particular production run or a specific component from a third party supplier.
2018-5-2
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KlooGee
Captain
Flight distance : 16641309 ft
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United States
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Paco,

I just went back and looked at your previous thread where you had a flyaway and recovered it.  Did you open a ticket with DJI?  Did they analyze your log files and provide feedback?

If so, what did they say?

2018-5-2
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DMX_MLT
Captain
Malta
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2018-5-2
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DMX_MLT
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Malta
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2018-5-2
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Malta
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2018-5-2
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Captain
Malta
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2018-5-2
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Malta
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2018-5-2
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DMX_MLT
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Malta
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2018-5-2
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DMX_MLT
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Malta
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2018-5-2
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Malta
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2018-5-2
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Zbig
Second Officer
Flight distance : 7349 ft
Poland
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2018-5-2
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DMX_MLT
Captain
Malta
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2018-5-2
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Nidge
Captain

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DMX_MLT Posted at 2018-5-2 05:36
Can I call you Maverick Dude ? or Tom Cruise from TOPGUN ?

If you are so Well Informed, kindly start supplying DJI with Solutions. Not just bla bla bla.

With respect to updating DJI I have done in the past. One instance was an issue with one of their gimbals which had a badly implemented switching circuit causing interfence to be superimposed over the recorded image. I even suggested a suitable fix identifying the components at fault. Maybe they did implement and maybe they didn’t, I don’t know as I never received a reply. I was invited to author some of their Wiki pages but at the time my health was a greater priority.

Your response to my earlier post, I feel, was somewhat over emotional as I don’t believe I wrote anything untoward, I certainly didn’t go out of my way to disrupt or cause offence. I wrote it from the point of view as someone who, prior to my degenerative illness, worked within the R&D industry involved in remote sensing and instrumentation, and can identify when some inforamation is not forthcoming.

I don’t know you and I believe this might be the first post of yours that I’ve read so it would not be right of me to draw conclusions upon this first impression.However I share your sentiments when it comes to those who go out of their way to push the rules to breaking point, and I too roll my eyes when I see folk stumbling at issues when they should RTFM.

I own quite a lot of DJI equipment and thankfully to date I’ve not had issue with any of it however all manufacturers need to be made accountable when things go wrong which can be attributed to a fault on their part.

Possibly an extreme comparison  but back in the early seventies the Ford Motor Company tried to hide a manufacturing defect in their Pinto model. The car would burst into flames if shunted from the rear due to the placement of the Gas/Petrol tank, and more often than not kill the occupants. Ford knew of the issue but decided it was financially beneficial for them to pay compensation to the bereaved families than to recall the car and fix the problem at source. Disclosure nearly brought the Ford Motor Company to the point of financial ruin I believe.

Peace and Love and Good Happiness Stuff.



2018-5-2
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DMX_MLT
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Malta
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2018-5-2
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Malta
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2018-5-2
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Zbig
Second Officer
Flight distance : 7349 ft
Poland
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DMX_MLT Posted at 2018-5-2 07:11
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2018-5-2
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Malta
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2018-5-2
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Zbig
Second Officer
Flight distance : 7349 ft
Poland
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2018-5-2
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Captain
Malta
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2018-5-2
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2018-5-2
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