I’m getting a little frustrated as I’ve really gotten hooked on this drone thing but, they keep flying away.  When my co-worker told me that her husband had a RC helicopter that he uses to chase the cats around the house I thought that sounded like fun so ordered a $24.95 “drone”.  When it arrived DOA I returned it and upgraded to a $29.95 “drone” which kept crashing into things when I tried to fly it in the house.  I found a very large park that I thought would give me room to learn.  The first take off sent the “drone” off into oblivion, never to be seen again.  Later re-reading the instructions I noticed the one instruction that was repeated several times was READ THE INSTRUCTIONS.  Well I did several times, but a have a problem with short term memory.

Then I got the Spark, WOW. Now this is a real drone.  I started flying from my house which I originally intended not to do because I’m in a thick redwood forest with hills on either side and GPS is weak.  But I got overconfident.  I would launch from my deck.  If I didn’t get GPS lock before takeoff I would fly straight up and then if necessary out ~70 feet into the open, lock GPS then fly back, reset home, then off to wherever.  After about a month of this, one day it failed to get a GPS lock the seemed to go out of control.  A couple of seconds after going out of sight I heard a crunch and knew Spark had hit a tree.  After hours of fruitless searching I ordered another Spark.  I’m soliciting advice from you guys on how I can hang onto it for a while.  Here’s what I’ve come up with so far.

1.      1.  Assure that there are no warnings e.g. compass, GPS etc. before takeoff

2.       2.Do not fly in ATTI mode.  Always get a GPS lock before takeoff.

3.       3. Video record every flight from takeoff to landing.  (to facilitate locating if it does fly away)

4.       4.Don’t fly over water??? (I’d love to do some aerial surf photography)

Your points 1 & 2 are critical to ensure a safe flight.

Did you use the Find My Drone feature when trying to locate your crashed Spark? Unfortunately a lot of Spark owners don’t know that there’s a button where you can make it play a sound (of course you have to be quite close to be able to hear it).

Make sure all the sensors are properly calibrated. Wait for the GPS lock before hovering! Set the home point before hovering! Check if the home point is right before hovering! Check on the map if the arrow is pointing the same direction as the drone, before hovering). Check all the sensors before hovering!

Becareful with flying over water. The downward sensors can get really confused with reflective surfaces.

Add one to your list: Fly in a safe area that is open and easy to fly in. I look at it like being a real commercial Airline Pilot. I try to make everything as safe and as controlled as possible to ensure a good flight and outcome.

KurtVD Posted at 2018-5-17 09:52
Did you use the Find My Drone feature when trying to locate your crashed Spark? Unfortunately a lot of Spark owners don’t know that there’s a button where you can make it play a sound (of course you have to be quite close to be able to hear it).

I  did us Find My Drone.  However since there was no GPS lock the flight path ddn't get recorded.  I pushed the flash lights button in Find My drone, but couldn't see it.  The Beep button was grayed out.  I haven't gotten an answer from dji as to why, but with beeping I'm sure I could have found it.  I must have accidentally hit the record video butten after it crashed because there is a 40 second video of the drone apparently lying on ground under a redwood tree.  I wonder if some animal carried it off.

djiuser_YXsOz4J8ntnt Posted at 2018-5-17 11:31
I  did us Find My Drone.  However since there was no GPS lock the flight path ddn't get recorded.  I pushed the flash lights button in Find My drone, but couldn't see it.  The Beep button was grayed out.  I haven't gotten an answer from dji as to why, but with beeping I'm sure I could have found it.  I must have accidentally hit the record video butten after it crashed because there is a 40 second video of the drone apparently lying on ground under a redwood tree.  I wonder if some animal carried it off.

Tracker.  Marco Polo.  I never fly without it attached to everything.  I lost my Tello even though I was in the back yard and I only flies super close to me.  Yeah, that's what I thought until the thing went up like a rocket and  never stopped climbing.  I can only contribute it to maybe a bad calibration but it flew with that configuration 30 times before...?  I'm thinking it's WiFi interference.   And starting to wonder if WiFi flight is going to be one of those found-out after the fact future bad thing as time goes by.   I would love if DJI would build an OccuSync small drone.  I'm literally not buying a new one because of my WiFi fears.  I think they're playing with fire running in such a common arena of frequencies.  Good luck!

I would add another item on your list:
Keep it within your line of sight! As long as you can see the drone you will be able flying it in ATTI. Return to home will not function if there is no GPS and home point recorded. But you will see the behavior and can control it.
If windy, ATTI may be problematic but you will see how the drone reacts to the inputs.

Just hang on!

About the water thing: I fly over the lake all the time, and there’s tons of videos around with footage taken over water. IMO, it’s dangerous to fly close to the water surface, its reflection can confuse the downward sensors. I stay about 2 meters above surface at least, higher than that I can’t see the problem. The other, obvious risk is that you will lose your drone if it falls into the water.

As for two messages up about flying in ATTI mode, I kind of disagree that this is a sure fire way not to lose a drone.   My Tello was ATTI mode only flight but it definitely too flew the coop...  Gone.  Went wacky with WiFi interference I think and that's all it needed to look for its' mother ship up into the heavens.   So as I mention again, the only way to really keep your drone which is the main emphasis here, I'd go with a secondary independent tracker system.   Marco Polo is a little pricey but it's self contained requiring no other resources such as WiFi and it's good for about a mile plus.   You can be in the country without WiFi (app-less) or on the moon and it'll still do its' independent thing.   And if it does go out of range, just put the handheld console in track mode and zigzag (in your car) around slow in the direction you saw it last.  The main console sends out constant pings and when it gets one back from the drone transceiver (works for 3 days) , it handshakes and you then simple walk/drive in the direction of the arrow on the display.  Really simple and it really works.  And get this, it only transmits after the handheld console sends out a ping to start.   So no possible transmitter interference while in flight because it's only listening.  Good luck all!

KurtVD Posted at 2018-5-17 16:06
About the water thing: I fly over the lake all the time, and there’s tons of videos around with footage taken over water. IMO, it’s dangerous to fly close to the water surface, its reflection can confuse the downward sensors. I stay about 2 meters above surface at least, higher than that I can’t see the problem. The other, obvious risk is that you will lose your drone if it falls into the water.

Does Marco Polo add enough weight to significantly reduce flight time.  I started out flying the Spark with prop and finger guards which reduced total flight time to 6-8 minutes.

djiuser_YXsOz4J8ntnt Posted at 2018-5-17 17:12
Does Marco Polo add enough weight to significantly reduce flight time.  I started out flying the Spark with prop and finger guards which reduced total flight time to 6-8 minutes.

No...  The micro transceiver is about half the size of your little finger and weights about 9 grams I believe.  I didn't see any difference in flight time.   But I never fly without a contingency plan if something goes wrong.   Losing a drone really sucks...  I fly a mavic pro and it doesn't even know it's there.  

esommer Posted at 2018-5-17 19:20
No...  The micro transceiver is about half the size of your little finger and weights about 9 grams I believe.  I didn't see any difference in flight time.   But I never fly without a contingency plan if something goes wrong.   Losing a drone really sucks...  I fly a mavic pro and it doesn't even know it's there.

.42 oz. (12 grams)  This is the micro NOT waterproof...

http://eurekaproducts.com/shop/b ... nsceiver-accessory/

This one is heavier but IS waterproof.   Weight: .8 oz. (23 g), 1 oz. (29 g) including clip-in holder and strut adapter.  I use this for my mavic 100% pretty much.

http://eurekaproducts.com/shop/b ... essory-rc-aircraft/

esommer Posted at 2018-5-17 19:36
.42 oz. (12 grams)  This is the micro NOT waterproof...

http://eurekaproducts.com/shop/buyrcmodelsystems/marco-polo-rc-model-transceiver-accessory/

Thanks guys.  This is good stuff.  Keep it coming.

i personally dont use tracking devices.   i have insurance from state farm on my drone, so in the event i have a total loss, i can make a claim and get a check to buy another... ill still look for it, but im not going to go on a hunt for it all day and and the next day..

best practice is patience..  let it aquire sats, it will initially take time, sat move around in space and longer drone been off and not having solid sat connections  the longer the drone will take to acquire..opti mode is not a reliable way to fly specially outdoors.

dont fly in darkness, this will further compromise stability since down firing camera is used to sense patterns on the ground to manage stability and correct drift in real time.. removing light makes it harder to stay stable.

do not fly in fog or rain with the spark, it maybe able to handle a quick wetting in a rain shower racing back to you, but not going to like getting wet, especially not the battery or the down firing camera.. water seeping into battery will cause battery errors and potentially sudden disconnections.. moisture on bottom camera can cause the drone to behave erratically since suddenly changes how the camera sees and may rocket off into the unknown without you being able to control it..  fog confuses the bottom camera as well it just sees it as a surface and tries to fly up up and away to avoid hitting it..



remember that the spark has no hardware redundancies, meaning dont fly near stuff that may cause compass to flip around backwards like power lines and stuff..  if that happens then the rest of the system suffers reduced accuracy.   

remember it is basic wifi only..  so not going to penetrate very much, trees, foliage, hills, houses, power lines, etc etc will increase chances of poor quality connection or complete disconnection..

Thanks for sharing your experience with us. It's always better to do a fully pre-flight checklist before flying. Keep learning and moving on!