[size=14.6667px]Hello!
[size=14.6667px]I have been using DJI products for about 4 years now and I have never had this happen... This is a brand new Mavic air, about 2 days old. I had done a recent compass calibration and had flown about 6 other batteries on the same day with no issue.

[size=14.6667px]Tonight, I had flown out about 3500 feet away, and still had a solid 5.8ghz signal, there was very little wind on ground level.  The Mavic was sitting still, and recording video. I look down at the controller to see the Mavic's gimble tilted, and the horizontal speed reading 65 MPH (Probably not true when looking at the video). I go into full panic mode. I try to give it full stick forward and throttle down, but nothing happens, it keeps going in random directions. After about 30 seconds, smart RTH turns on, and the Mavic attempts to come home but heads the wrong direction for a few seconds. Then, it suddenly corrects itself and returns to home successfully like nothing ever happened.

[size=14.6667px]I'm not sure if this was due to wind (unlikely on such a calm night). A faulty product, Wifi interference, or what. I'm now scared to fly this thing, and potentially lose my 1k investment...
[size=14.6667px]I have the video the Mavic took while all this happened, as well as flight logs.[size=14.6667px]

[size=14.6667px]http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/1X2SYQADW9VHXGU4I5JW/

[size=14.6667px](Event starts at around 9:45)

While that did look scary, I'm sorry to say, those are not conditions one should ever fly a drone in...

The flight was done at night, which means visual sensors were practically useless, you were in a urban environment, which means the Air would be susceptible to Wi-Fi signal interference, and it looks like there was a BIG lightning storm on the horizon, so atmospheric ionization from the discharges could've further impaired the signal reception, and reliability of the sensor readings on the drone.

Not sure where you flew, but at least in Canada, we're actually not allowed to fly drones at night as per our drone laws.

I would recommend trying to fly the drone again, but this time under normal and recommended conditions, outside of an urban setting, and see how she flies then, before assuming you have a defective unit.

Good luck

EdisonW1979 Posted at 2018-7-24 20:52
While that did look scary, I'm sorry to say, those are not conditions one should ever fly a drone in...

The flight was done at night, which means visual sensors were practically useless, you were in a urban environment, which means the Air would be susceptible to Wi-Fi signal interference, and it looks like there was a BIG lightning storm on the horizon, so atmospheric ionization from the discharges could've further impaired the signal reception, and reliability of the sensor readings on the drone.

I understand the vision sensors were useless at that point. I was at an altitude where I most likely would not have needed them in the first place.  I had solid Wifi signal, with very little interference until the drone was halfway through its fit. I flew it both before, and after the strong storm with no issue's to speak of. Would "atmospheric ionization" really have this large an effect, enough to cause this to happen?
Thanks

silverarrow66 Posted at 2018-7-24 21:14
I understand the vision sensors were useless at that point. I was at an altitude where I most likely would not have needed them in the first place.  I had solid Wifi signal, with very little interference until the drone was halfway through its fit. I flew it both before, and after the strong storm with no issue's to speak of. Would "atmospheric ionization" really have this large an effect, enough to cause this to happen?
Thanks

I've found the Wi-Fi signal indicators are not always accurate, and do not always show proper signal attenuation / strength during long-distance flights, making urban flights less than desirable on a drone that uses Wi-Fi for it's transmissions.. At 3500ft, I also believe that was outside of VLOS and legal flight distance.

I can't say with certainty that any ionization or EMI from the storm could, or could not, have affected the MA the way it did, but it is a possibility with any radio-controlled device at that distance. Plus, with the possibility of other Wi-Fi networks below, those could've caused additional issues.

Another thing to consider, is the potential for ionization or EMI from the storm to cause issues with the on-board compass, which confused the drone. I've seen scenarios where due to compass interference, a drone will go nuts, and later self-correct once the interference has passed.

Maybe you could upload the logs and would that give a better look of what went wrong.

Sorry, I thought I did that allready

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/k8c9x ... CZ_Akvr9eJdn0a?dl=0

Flight log 20-40-04 is from take off, to the point where DJI GO crashed, 20-43-41 is the log where this issue occured.

glad that it is fine

I had some things to say but then I saw the video. Really scary the way it behaved (and also amazing to watch that storm).
Yet, none of the replies had any help so far. Nor will mine.
I think wind gusts played some part here but would very much like to know what really happened.
Other guy a few days ago posted a video in which his Air behaved pretty much like yours for around the same time and he regained control after that. I remember most people blaming wind but some things we see couldnt be caused by wind only. Maybe a mix of wind and magnetic interference. I've seen videos with drones, incluindo the MA, losing the fight against the wind and it is just carried away with no abnormal behaviour other than not having enough power to go forwards against the wind.
Those scary turns and tilts must be something problematic inside the drone.
I almost lost the battle against wind once and also had the drone to fly maneuvers that were simply erratic on another occasion. But that were for like 5 seconds and then I was able to land it a few blocks away. I will make a post about that because I still try to understand what happned that day and I cant (apart from my pilot errors).
Hope the experts nail it down so we could fly safer knowing better.

Ok, you might have noticed that the number of responses to your post is rather limited, although usually incidents reported as yours attract a lot of attention. The reason for that lack of interest might indeed be what you have done with this flight, which was doing great damage to all of us other drone pilots by being totally reckless and illegal in flying that far out at night over urban area far beyond VLOS. There is no excuse for that, sorry to say it so frankly. If you had just hovered above your head for a nice night shot, I am sure that most of us would pardon you. But certainly not for what you have done, sorry again.
Nevertheless let me give you a short summary of what else has led to your incident and how it could have been easily avoided, just because it might help other pilots to avoid highly dangerous situations:
First of all your video does not impress me at all. It was taken in high wind, not to say a storm and you have had plenty of warnings before that happening which you simply ignored.
But let's start from the beginning and here again your two flightrecords for everyone to have a look at:

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/TZY4SHK823P6DE7MA7F8/

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/P31EMW90KFU4LMTQ6CII/

Looking at your first flightrecord I can say that take off was absolutely ok with stable satellite link and home point recorded. Your chosen RTH altitude of 328 feet is insofar interesting as it suggests that you were planning to fly above highly built up area from the outset.
As early as  1m 46.7s into your flight you got the following warning: "High wind velocity. Ensure the aircraft remains within your line of sight and fly with caution." At that time your aircraft was already at 1,172.5ft distance from you out in the dark. Clearly beyond VLOS. So was your decision to respect the warning and bring it back to you immediately? No, the opposite has been your choice.
You happily flew it further to 3,304.2 ft distance until the first signal loss occurred. Connection was luckily restored after only 1.6 seconds and did you take this chance to eventually return in the middle of the night from out there? No, again you did the opposite. You continued to fly further to 3,731.9 ft distance. This is when your first flight record stops and I don't understand yet why this has happened.
Your second flight record then resumes at 3,766.5 ft distance, thus very shortly afterwards.
Then at 6m 53.4s you had another connection loss and at 7m 1.7s your Mavic Air rightfully initiated auto RTH. It visibly flew backwards to you but at 7m 11.2s the RTH was interrupted apparently by you.
It is too late at night for me now to continue with this analysis but everyone who reads your second flight record will see the many other warnings about high wind velocity and others which did not stop you from flying further out to 4.571 feet distance with only 37% battery left and another time interrupting auto RTH. All this in the middle of the night over built up area and far away from you while you had plenty of opportunities to land your aircraft safely at an early stage or in this particular case best would not have taken off at all! This is my short analysis of your case.

Ocusync would have been better for the Mavic Air.

Lucas775 Posted at 2018-7-25 14:41
Ocusync would have been better for the Mavic Air.

Abiding by comon sense and the law is even better, don't you think so?

I have to agree with wacthberger’s sentiments, this was all to risky. If you choose to fly BVLOS then you or any of us are responsible fully 100% , whether you fly at night or during daylight, you put so many third parties in danger, but most of all first responders who have no idea that during a job they could unknown to them run into you, causing untold damage.

Flying BVLOS for anyone no matter where , whether urban rural day or night, and flying anywhere above the legal height limit is 100% the responsibility of the controller (pilot). So hopefully lesson learned .

Wachtberger Posted at 2018-7-25 14:43
Abiding by comon sense and the law is even better, don't you think so?

I highly agree with you.

Lucas775 Posted at 2018-7-25 14:57
I highly agree with you.

Thank you and I badly have to go sleep now, 1 am here and I am not yet on vacation ;-)

Well, before things went to sh1t this had the makings of a great video. Were you using auto or manual camera settings? As for what happened, I imagine it could be due to wind, but it does seem a bit odd for that to happen.
Your logs say that extra payload was detected - did you have prop guards attached?

The edge of storm can generate powerful turbulence. Crazy wind can suddenly occur in seconds and gone. It’s not a good idea to fly in storm even it’s far away.

Wachtberger Posted at 2018-7-25 14:31
Ok, you might have noticed that the number of responses to your post is rather limited, although usually incidents reported as yours attract a lot of attention. The reason for that lack of interest might indeed be what you have done with this flight, which was doing great damage to all of us other drone pilots by being totally reckless and illegal in flying that far out at night over urban area far beyond VLOS. There is no excuse for that, sorry to say it so frankly. If you had just hovered above your head for a nice night shot, I am sure that most of us would pardon you. But certainly not for what you have done, sorry again.
Nevertheless let me give you a short summary of what else has led to your incident and how it could have been easily avoided, just because it might help other pilots to avoid highly dangerous situations:
First of all your video does not impress me at all. It was taken in high wind, not to say a storm and you have had plenty of warnings before that happening which you simply ignored.

Allright, allow me to address some things...
First off, Thanks for your reply.

I understand and admit that me flying out that far was risky, and definitely not the smartest idea in the book, and that's on me. so consider this a lesson learned the hard way I guess.  

After take off, I had moved myself on top of a hill where I could (barely) still see the led's. While this does not really justify flying 3000+ feet away, I thought it should be noted.

Through out the flight, I found wind to be no issue (up untill the incident) At ground level there was a very light breeze, and I noticed no performance variation with the mavic at that time. From what little I could make out in the video, and the live feed, there were no indications of stong wind (like trees moving and bending) . On the other hand, it was dark, and nothing could be made out well. So I'm still struggling to believe this was caused by wind.

The reason why the flight record stops is because DJI go crashed, when this happens in my experience, it creates a new flight log when the app is reopened, and the flight is resumed

I stayed at 3,766 feet. I did not move the craft to 4,571 feet. That was done by eather wind, or what ever issue my craft incountered.

Looking back over my logs, I noticed there was a motor current error that I simply did not notice on the screen while I was flying before this took place.If I had seen it, I would have brought it back asap, but I didn't, and that's my fault. Could this have anything to do with this situation?

I interrupted the RTH at 7m11s because I initially thought it was a issue with my craft, and thlutho that bringing it home manually would be better than letting a aircraft that had a issue fly itself home.

I put too much trust into my aircraft, and I shouldn't have. I'll make an effort to ensure this doesn't happen in the future

OneDoesNotSimply Posted at 2018-7-25 16:21
Well, before things went to sh1t this had the makings of a great video. Were you using auto or manual camera settings? As for what happened, I imagine it could be due to wind, but it does seem a bit odd for that to happen.
Your logs say that extra payload was detected - did you have prop guards attached?

I believe I was using manual settings, I had it sitting there  because I was trying to create my first hyperlapse.

No idea why that warning appeared, prop guards were not attached, and I did not have any extra payload, or modifications to the mavic.

Drone police are getting so old in these threads.

Class D Airspace,  and you can clearly see an aircraft in the video.  When in Class D airspace the system tells you RTH may be effected.

Night Flying in Class D with NO collision avoidance lighting.......

Electrical Storm visible.....meaning there may be static electricity in the air......what can that do to electronics?

To be honest, I don't see how wind would cause the craft behavior.

You are one fortunate person to get your Mavic back..........If I were you,  I would do a BUNCH of flight testing during the day to make sure you don't have damaged electronics.

Hi Jerry!

Randy

silverarrow66 Posted at 2018-7-25 18:12
Allright, allow me to address some things...
First off, Thanks for your reply.

Thank you for your response and I wish to say that some of my statements above were a bit too harsh, I could have said it more friendly, apologies for that. I still believe that wind has played a significant role not only because of several high wind warnings but also the attitude warning. The motor current error you can ignore. It has been confirmed by DJI that this is a false warning and I have not seen a single case here in this forum where it caused a problem with the aircraft. To conclude I am happy that no accident occurred and that you got your Mavic back.

EdisonW1979 Posted at 2018-7-24 20:52
While that did look scary, I'm sorry to say, those are not conditions one should ever fly a drone in...

The flight was done at night, which means visual sensors were practically useless, you were in a urban environment, which means the Air would be susceptible to Wi-Fi signal interference, and it looks like there was a BIG lightning storm on the horizon, so atmospheric ionization from the discharges could've further impaired the signal reception, and reliability of the sensor readings on the drone.

At that distance the craft would also have be at a higher altitude. The further you go, the higher you fly to maintain a semi-decent LOS for the signal. Too many beginner issues here to take it seriously. 3 and a half KM away in these conditions.......Nuff said.

silverarrow66 Posted at 2018-7-25 18:12
Allright, allow me to address some things...
First off, Thanks for your reply.

You know when you say if you had have seen motor current warning you would have brought craft back, it’s just as important when you see high velocity wind warning to make sure that you bring your craft back close to you so you can observe it’s ok, many more craft lost to the wind than motor current error.

CoreyB10 Posted at 2018-7-25 23:14
At that distance the craft would also have be at a higher altitude. The further you go, the higher you fly to maintain a semi-decent LOS for the signal. Too many beginner issues here to take it seriously. 3 and a half KM away in these conditions.......Nuff said.

Agreed, but have to correct you there... OP mentioned it's 3,500ft, which would make it 1,066.8m

Whichever way i see it, the footage started off being quite awesome. Love the thunder in the clouds as well. Makes one wish that it could be legal to fly at night, safe to fly in thunderstorms, to be able to capture some stunning night videos.....

EdisonW1979 Posted at 2018-7-26 08:26
Agreed, but have to correct you there... OP mentioned it's 3,500ft, which would make it 1,066.8m

OK, so you took it literally. Generally, when you start to get issues in flight with the signal, if it's not local interference it could be flight altitude. Raise the altitude until the issue goes away but keep within the legal limits or just return to home and find another location to fly from. 1km + in the air is ridiculous.

Yes and also the max hight for beginners is120 m or 400 foot it looks like your way above that.

djiuser_bd5Hkape731t Posted at 12-15 14:52
Yes and also the max hight for beginners is120 m or 400 foot it looks like your way above that.

Damn, a whole three years later, and the drone police are still after me lmao. I was flying at 382 feet, safely below the limit. Yeah sure I made some beginner mistakes, but that didn't explain the behavior of the aircraft. As it turns out, it was a bad IMU. Returned it, got my money back, and never thought of it again.