I've had my spark about 2 weeks other than the glitchy video feed everything has been going great. Had lots of good flights. Today I tried to just do a simple panoramic photo of the family. After a few minutes of the spark taking photos it gained a few feet of altitude and the took off in one direction. Luckily it hit the house and fell to the ground. Logs say compass error. There were no errors on the screen or warnings before this happened. Any clues what could have gone wrong? Is this a common problem. http://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/BWA49EV8J006VBINR4R8/

I would recommend getting an otg cable so the video feed is more stable. other than that im not sure what happened

How long ago was the last compass calibration?
And how far about was it from any steel or other metal?
How much metal is around / under that area?
You did not fly very high

Well, not an expert here, but never more than 12 sats, and sometimes 9.... I am reluctant to fly that low personally, as you cut off the horizon and much of your potential GPS sources.  And you appear to be in a densely populated suburb, lots of wifi and metal around....

+1 on the OTG  suggestion.  Was the Spark damaged or is it still air-worthy?

And at 10 feet up, the pano is not going to be much more impressive than one taken with a smart phone,  except that it would be pretty cool to show the family the drone in action.

Hi,

Had a look at your flight.

After takeoff you gain some height to start a PANO, hdg 166 degrees.
Spark turned right in sequence with steps of 15 degrees.
Stepping from 255 to 270 a compass error, reached 269 and turned left to 265 due to compass error.
Than left to 010 en back again, trying to find the right heading, this with high pitch and roll values.
Spark kind of out of control and looses height as well.

One reason could be a correct executed compass calibration only at the wrong spot. If done at a spot with metal closeby (or in the ground) the magn influence is calibrated into your Spark.
After takeoff and away of that metal influence the compass will get a problem!

I suggest you calibrate again in an open wide space and fly again.

What i always do is do hover checks (check if all is OK) fly away some distance and come back to me, than taking pictures etc.

PS TIP | many checklists on this forum ; find and read them all, use the one you like best.

cheers
JJB

Im sorry to read the crash. Kindly contact our Support Team to report the incident: (http://www.dji.com/support). Please send the flight records to them for analysis. Thanks for your support.

JJB spark is right on the money. I nearly lost my Spark too. Calibrate the compass away from metal, including reinforced concrete and fencing. Also calibrate the IMU on a level surface. Make sure all of the sensors status indicate "green".

Thanks for the input. How often are you guys calibrating your compass? Mine was last calibrated 9 days prior to this flight. I flew 3 other batteries that day with 0 warnings about the compass and all 3 flights were flawless. Kinda sucks, I have very low confidence in my drone now, especially doing a pano shot. In fact, I might not ever try that again. Where would my drone be if it hadn't hit the house? It seemed non responsive to the sticks.

midTnMike41 Posted at 2018-7-14 03:50
Thanks for the input. How often are you guys calibrating your compass? Mine was last calibrated 9 days prior to this flight. I flew 3 other batteries that day with 0 warnings about the compass and all 3 flights were flawless. Kinda sucks, I have very low confidence in my drone now, especially doing a pano shot. In fact, I might not ever try that again. Where would my drone be if it hadn't hit the house? It seemed non responsive to the sticks.

Hi,

I had today 2 flights with my spark. Drove 25km from home and startet to fly.
Lots of errors!.

I did a compass calibration (open green field) but this time a really slowly compass swing.
With slowly i mean slowly! As my phone was 10 meters away i did 2x 360 horizontal en 2x facing down 360.
Walked back to my phone ; yes  compass OK. Next flight no errors at all!!

Cheers
JJB

Northwood Posted at 2018-7-13 20:10
Well, not an expert here, but never more than 12 sats, and sometimes 9.... I am reluctant to fly that low personally, as you cut off the horizon and much of your potential GPS sources.  And you appear to be in a densely populated suburb, lots of wifi and metal around....

+1 on the OTG  suggestion.  Was the Spark damaged or is it still air-worthy?

Yeah, the coolness factor was all I was going for. Wasn't expecting that. I flew a few batteries right before that with 0 problems, 0 errors, nothing.

I don't think it's damaged in any way. The prop guards were on it, so when it fell it damaged those and the props. I'll probably put new props on it today, calibrate compass again, and test.

I contacted DJI last night and they suggested sending it in.

I took my spark out in a field where no chances of any metal and recalibrate my compass. Flew 2 batteries, and took 3 pano shots.everything worked perfect so I feel alot better now. Thanks for your help guys!