Hi everyone...
I'll start from the beginning...
I got my Mavic Air in April-May period this year and had some small issue with it like compass errors and other video issues which are just part of this bird unfortunatelly.
On 2 occasions when RTH kicked in my Air just went in the opposite direction and try to fly away from me... ( recovered the bird twice from those situations ).


Today on the other hand... something really bad happened.
My Air tried to bank and dive to kill itself by its own.
I was flying up and straight and noticed its not flying dead straight but slowly yaws right and left.
After few seconds just banked left and exceed maximum flight speed doing over 54mph ( Its more than can do in sports mode and it wasnt in it at this time ).


I also have ''Max Motor speed reached'' warning too...
I tried to regain some control over it and was able to bring it down but the footage is not pleasent to watch   I already accepted I've lost my MA when this occured.

Thankfully I was high enough and I save his suicidal ass...


Anyone had something similar to this ?

I can upload log if neccesary but Compas and IMU was perfect before take off as well as GPS and GLONASS satellites ( 20 ).
It flew perfectly fine after this event after landing...




here is the video

holy crap! good on you for not panicking and regaining control over the bird! if you dont mind uploading the flight logs, might shed some light on what happened there.

That is crazy that it just started doing that on its own.  Seems like it wanted to go on its own adventure.  Please do upload your flight record here.  Would like to see it.  http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

Any type of strong winds which might have pushed it this hard?

No, no wind at all... I have the ''High wind warning'' when it accelerated to 50mph, which is understandable as it should fly so fast

Well you are probably close to a speed record with the MA.  Just glad you were able to recover before disaster struck.

SparksBird Posted at 2018-7-12 16:26
That is crazy that it just started doing that on its own.  Seems like it wanted to go on its own adventure.  Please do upload your flight record here.  Would like to see it.  http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

I've uploaded the log, how I can imported those here ?

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/2AUXY32JXLONXSN9IIB1/

SparksBird Posted at 2018-7-12 16:44
Well you are probably close to a speed record with the MA.  Just glad you were able to recover before disaster struck.

54.3mph according to the log... I dont care about speed records, just want to know why it wanted to kill itself ( I can provide counseling if he need one )

Wow!!! This is really scary. Glad you where able to maintain and bring down your bird safely.

Well three messages stand out.

You had two high wind warnings.  Remember it may seem calm where you are but especially on the coast wind can pick up in a heartbeat and even faster wind the higher it is.  So seems this is what caused it to suddenly go fast in a gust of wind.  

And it seems something messed up the sensors perhaps causing it then to drift as it did.  Below are the times the messages appeared.

1m 18.9s High wind velocity. Ensure the aircraft remains within your line of sight and fly with caution.

1m 25.9s High wind velocity. Ensure the aircraft remains within your line of sight and fly with caution.

1m 37.3s Attitude is too large. Forward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.; Attitude is too large. Backward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.

Im glad too... but not a fun experience at all...

I say wind.

SparksBird Posted at 2018-7-12 16:59
Well three messages stand out.

You had two high wind warnings.  Remember it may seem calm where you are but especially on the coast wind can pick up in a heartbeat and even faster wind the higher it is.  So seems this is what caused it to suddenly go fast in a gust of wind.  

Yes but if You check logs those warnings apper after MA reached over 54mph which is after it decided to flyaway. It's top speed was at 1m 14.9s and that is already after it get crazy.

SparksBird Posted at 2018-7-12 16:59
Well three messages stand out.

You had two high wind warnings.  Remember it may seem calm where you are but especially on the coast wind can pick up in a heartbeat and even faster wind the higher it is.  So seems this is what caused it to suddenly go fast in a gust of wind.  

It was way after it drifted and banked hard left... those messages appeared when it was already flying to fast and went bananas. So no surprise they appeared ;)

StoneFist85 Posted at 2018-7-12 17:06
Yes but if You check logs those wornings apper after MA reached over 54mph which is after it decided to flyaway. It's top speed was at 1m 14.9s and that is already after it get crazy

Yes I understand that was saying that it probably got caught in a high wind gust.  Possibly this point causing the sensors to go crazy.

Crio Posted at 2018-7-12 17:07
It was way after it drifted and banked hard left... those messages appeared when it was already flying to fast and went bananas. So no surprise they appeared ;)

Possible one of the high wind gusts that caused it to go fast for some reason caused the sensors to go haywire.  I am no expert though will let others chime in.

SparksBird Posted at 2018-7-12 17:10
Possible one of the high wind gusts that caused it to go fast for some reason caused the sensors to go haywire.  I am no expert though will let others chime in.

There was no wind at all today on those hills so this is not the case...
Also I was flying in high winds with this MA before and nothing like this happened. ( except warnings ).
The log warnings appeared after it reached speed that is unsafe for this bird.

Also it was drifting before the''dive'' so something internal I guess...

SparksBird Posted at 2018-7-12 17:10
Possible one of the high wind gusts that caused it to go fast for some reason caused the sensors to go haywire.  I am no expert though will let others chime in.

I dont believe it was the wind but I'm hoping you're right and it will not happen again. Thank you for your time and help Not a great flight that was for sure lol

Oh and for the record today on those hills was 8mph wind with 12 mph gusts ... hard to explain 54mph MA speed in those conditions

In my opinion, high wing gust caused this, you never know the level of wind unless you have an anomemeter.  The apps on the phones give you the general idea.

Good thing you recovered.
I'm curious what the log specialists have to say

Hi, because my background was structural engineering, wind loads on buildings was something I had to understand. Because buildings can be built almost anywhere, the effects of terrain and height were essential considerations.
In an effort to explain wind effects better, I came across this article. Kite flyers have the opposite requirement for wind that drones do, but the wind doesn't care. It still behaves the same.
When you get into the diagrams, based on your video, I think the hill situation will explain some if not all of the drones behavior.
http://www.gkites.com/howtofly/SK1.pdf
You also need to remember that the programmer for the drone firmware will have set limits for the stabilising calculations. If the drone exceeds these limits, there will be no result to the calculation and the drone will be confused until conditions change.
I hope this helps you understand what goes on in nature and in software.

Wow - good recovery - amazing speed too - just shows what these things can actually achieve.

alpbird Posted at 2018-7-12 22:05
In my opinion, high wing gust caused this, you never know the level of wind unless you have an anomemeter.  The apps on the phones give you the general idea.

It wasn't a wind.
I have anemometer as MA its not the only thing Im flying and its handy to have.

When checked gusts were 12mph not enough to cause this behaviour, even considering wind gradient.

AlansDronePics Posted at 2018-7-13 00:03
Hi, because my background was structural engineering, wind loads on buildings was something I had to understand. Because buildings can be built almost anywhere, the effects of terrain and height were essential considerations.
In an effort to explain wind effects better, I came across this article. Kite flyers have the opposite requirement for wind that drones do, but the wind doesn't care. It still behaves the same.
When you get into the diagrams, based on your video, I think the hill situation will explain some if not all of the drones behavior.

I understand the info you posted, I've experienced high gusts on numerous hills and occasions but It wasn't wind. It doesn't look like wind plus the MA gimbal swings slowly like its lost the horizon. Didnt gave any warnings about ''maximum gimbal movement  reached'' it just became limp.

Anyway, I hope it was the weather anomaly and NEVER happen again lol

Crio Posted at 2018-7-12 16:56
54.3mph according to the log... I dont care about speed records, just want to know why it wanted to kill itself ( I can provide counseling if he need one  )

Just a quick look at your log, although speed shows as high as 54mph, I beleive this might not be correct, when speed readings shot up you were descending full 100% throttle down, now if you look at your descent, you are coming down at a very normal rate of descent and this doesn’t match up to the high speed showing, I would have expected a much faster descent if Aircraft was at 54mph. So I definitely would say this is some blip with speed readings.

As for the sudden move, I would sync your flight and ask dji engineers to take a look.

Either your drone went bananas or it was just a wind gust (they can happen while you don't notice anything on the ground). Without other reference, it's hard to tell.

Anyway, scary thing to watch!

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-7-13 00:58
Just a quick look at your log, although speed shows as high as 54mph, I beleive this might not be correct, when speed readings shot up you were descending full 100% throttle down, now if you look at your descent, you are coming down at a very normal rate of descent and this doesn’t match up to the high speed showing, I would have expected a much faster descent if Aircraft was at 54mph. So I definitely would say this is some blip with speed readings.

As for the sudden move, I would sync your flight and ask dji engineers to take a look.

Yeah it would be good idea as this LOG is only from live feed...

Considering I wasnt there alone flying that time in this location. We were flying there for almost 3h without a single high wind warning ( except the one when MA got while speeding ) . Conditions were checked numerous times on different hights, 12mph gusts was the strongest  I've registered that evening, so if it was the wind my Air had to be extremely unlucky to have a single gust ( never to seen again ) focused on it and be strong enough to make it act like this.
There is also something that doesnt apper in live feed...
I had some warnings from motors too, they are not present in the log ??  

Any possible caused by another drone or aircraft flying nearby and created turbulence?

GDL Posted at 2018-7-13 01:25
Any possible caused by another drone or aircraft flying nearby and created turbulence?

No, not at that time GDL

Crio Posted at 2018-7-13 01:19
Yeah it would be good idea as this LOG is only from live feed...

Considering I wasnt there alone flying that time in this location. We were flying there for almost 3h without a single high wind warning ( except the one when MA got while speeding  ) . Conditions were checked numerous times on different hights, 12mph gusts was the strongest  I've registered that evening, so if it was the wind my Air had to be extremely unlucky to have a single gust ( never to seen again ) focused on it and be strong enough to make it act like this.

Well I see on another thread here, dji saying emphatically that motor warnings are not a problem. Regarding the wind I have flown in this area a couple of times, with much higher winds with P4Pro and Mavic Air . And I know Mavic Air can handle much higher winds.
I have also been up there when wind was 75mph, but no flying.
Looking at the video it looks at first that there was a serious movement with the gimbal and camera before it banked sharply.
I do however beleive that itnever reached the speed reported in the log. I think dji will be able to pick up what ever caused the problem.
If it were me I would contact them, get a case number, then contact a moderator here Show them your video and ask them to contact engineer to get a report. Just to be on the safe side.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-7-13 01:34
Well I see on another thread here, dji saying emphatically that motor warnings are not a problem. Regarding the wind I have flown in this area a couple of times, with much higher winds with P4Pro and Mavic Air . And I know Mavic Air can handle much higher winds.
I have also been up there when wind was 75mph, but no flying.
Looking at the video it looks at first that there was a serious movement with the gimbal and camera before it banked sharply.

Thanks hallmark, yeah thats seems a good path to follow.
My MA is acting weird from time to time to. So creating a case might be a good option.

I was having connection issues and RTH was used ( different day ).
When return to home kicked in, it decided to fly in the oposite direction.
Just because ;)
This happened twice with this quad.

Crio Posted at 2018-7-13 01:43
Thanks hallmark, yeah thats seems a good path to follow.
My MA is acting weird from time to time to. So creating a case might be a good option.

Yeah you have to watch RTH , with loss of signal, it will take the path it flew out to where it lost signal, but should find its way home.

On 2 occasions when RTH kicked in my Air just went in the opposite direction and try to fly away from me... ( recovered the bird twice from those situations ).

Could this be the case?

Dont think so as it was flying away from me ( flew the path that did not fly that time ) once just oposite direction, on the other occasion, just turned away from me and tried to fly away. it was also on the open space so going back was the best way to go for him

Hi Crio,

Had a look at your flightdata and watched the video. Great that you recoverd your drone!

Top speed calculated LatLon versus Time = 41.7 mph. When the sensors are confused speed is not correctly showed in the app. (see lower chart top part)

In my charts you see that at ID line 620 no RC inputs are made, but MA is not holding its position.
It travels about 350 feet without pitch or roll input. (yaw and up/dn does not effect stable GPS position for distance).
At the end of this period there is a NotEnoughPower error; meaning that it want to hold GPS pos. but cannot.

I cannot explain why this happend, my guess would be high gusting wind. Warning High wind ans land ASAP twice.

cheers
JJB

It could have been a little tornado.

This is obviously Atti mode. If it were fighting the wind it would be fighting INTO the wind, it is flying the same direction it tilts.

JJBspark Posted at 2018-7-13 03:23
Hi Crio,

Had a look at your flightdata and watched the video. Great that you recoverd your drone!

Thank you...
I will be very careful in my next flights as this is not the first time my MA went funky. I cant ruled out gust but considering his past... I will look for other reasons too