I was out documenting some construction. All was good for ten minutes then suddenly I'm alerted that my P mode was now Atti mode. No, I didn't bump the mode button on that control. I've kept the tiny sticker with the hole over that switch to prevent bumping it. I watched the aircraft wiggle then drop straight down. I took my hands off the control sticks and that darn drone stopped about ten feet from the ground and hovered. I could hardly believe my eyes. I took it up straight up before anyone on the site noticed and flew it back to my position and landed it. This air was a bit gusty air today and in Atti mode, the wind had its way with the craft on the way back to me. So why do these creatures make up their mind to change modes suddenly? I upgrade in January and this firmware has worked great until today. The drone has operated flawlessly. I have not upgraded recently, I mean if it isn't broken why fix it. Too often I read here about an upgrade which causes more problems than they fix. I'm suspecting the controls were not talking well with the aircraft.
Would anyone care to enlighten me? I suppose it might be time to upgrade firmware. Any comments on the current system, pro or con?

Thank you for your attention, it does not go unappreciated.

Please upload your log to this site and then post the link in this thread.  Somebody will try to help you figure out what happened.

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

site credit:  msinger

It's not the firmware that will cause your drone to go into atti mode.... could have been something on the construction site either metal rebar anything that was causing the compass and GPS to conflict thus resulting in your aircraft going into atti mode... going forward I think you should take that little sticker off and practice in atti mode. You never know it might just come in handy one of these days.

Compass was thrown for a loop...


RedHotPoker

I'm alerted that my P mode was now Atti mode. No, I didn't bump the mode button on that control.  .. I watched the aircraft wiggle then drop straight down.
In atti mode your Phantom will maintain altitude but lose horizontal position holding so can be blown by the wind.
It doesn't drop down.

So why do these creatures make up their mind to change modes suddenly?
The drone doesn't make up its mind to change modes suddenly.
There would be something that caused it.

I'm suspecting the controls were not talking well with the aircraft.
I'm suspecting that had more to do with your unfamiliarity with atti mode than anything else.
The controls would have been working perfectly.

Would anyone care to enlighten me?
Yes ... but they would need to see flight data.
Follow the instructions in post #2

I suppose it might be time to upgrade firmware.
Why?  Whatever the cause of the incident, it was not related to firmware

Any comments on the current system, pro or con?
What current system?

So many vague and unfinished questions...


Who the hell reads minds here? Haha


RedHotPoker

I use to read minds and then I lost mine...……………...

Jimmy hoffa may have point. This progress photography today was documenting a new gas station with a mini-mart. The mart is all wood and the fueling area are steel I beams supporting 14 metal roof joists. At the time of the automatic switch from P mode to ATTI mode the metal structure stood between me and the aircraft. I was flying close to photograph all the metal roof joists. The amazing point is the P4P had a free fall then started up before it hit the ground and hovered.  I flew it back to me and grabbed it by hand. The video mode was on at the time as well. It was kind of a drunken drone going home. A drifting drone isn't a whole lot of fun. I plan to recalibrate like it was new. Then fly it in an empty field a few times. I have a great deal of confidence in this aircraft. It has performed beautifully. My question remains about this auto switch between modes. I would think an incident like the is a cause for flyaways, not pilot error. I brought it home in one piece.

Brent Turner Posted at 2018-8-9 17:33
Jimmy hoffa may have point. This progress photography today was documenting a new gas station with a mini-mart. The mart is all wood and the fueling area are steel I beams supporting 14 metal roof joists. At the time of the automatic switch from P mode to ATTI mode the metal structure stood between me and the aircraft. I was flying close to photograph all the metal roof joists. The amazing point is the P4P had a free fall then started up before it hit the ground and hovered.  I flew it back to me and grabbed it by hand. The video mode was on at the time as well. It was kind of a drunken drone going home. A drifting drone isn't a whole lot of fun. I plan to recalibrate like it was new. Then fly it in an empty field a few times. I have a great deal of confidence in this aircraft. It has performed beautifully. My question remains about this auto switch between modes. I would think an incident like the is a cause for flyaways, not pilot error. I brought it home in one piece.

The amazing point is the P4P had a free fall then started up before it hit the ground and hovered.
The amazing thing is that compass/atti issues don't do anything to altitude.
If you really want answers, you are going to have to look at data.

It was kind of a drunken drone going home. A drifting drone isn't a whole lot of fun.
That's what atti mode is.
Your drone isn't using GPS for position holding and is subject to drifting on the breeze.  It also has no brakes.

I plan to recalibrate like it was new.
There's no need for that.
Calibrating the compass won't "fix" anything.
It would be a lot better to get an understanding of what really happened and learn from that rather than performing a mumbo-jumbo calibration and hoping that sorts things out.

My question remains about this auto switch between modes. I would think an incident like the is a cause for flyaways, not pilot error.
Not understanding what your drone is doing and what affects it is pilot error.
If you were flying very close to a lot of steel, you can get a compass error warning and the Phantom will be forced into atti mode.
Moving away from the magnetic influence that is the cause of the compass error makes it all go away and the Phantom doesn't fly away.
How close was the Phantom to the steel structure?
Post your flight data and you'll get a lot closer to solving the puzzle.

To me, it sounds like it hit something causing the drop, but without the flight log we are just guessing...

Calibrating it is more likely to make things worse than better.

Interesting comments, a new layer of education here. Next move is to learn the process of uploading to the log viewer. As to proximity to the metal roof joists 10 yards.

Brent Turner Posted at 2018-8-10 04:27
Interesting comments, a new layer of education here. Next move is to learn the process of uploading to the log viewer. As to proximity to the metal roof joists 10 yards.

10 yards is about as far as a magnetic field is likely to reach, but definitely possible it was the cause of the switch to atti mode.  If the roof joists were bolted together then there would be no reason for them to be demagnetised steel.  I guess that having switched to atti mode it drifted into something causing the fall.

Instructions for uploading were in post #2 and the page it links to, provide us with a link to the result...

Nigel_ Posted at 2018-8-10 05:19
10 yards is about as far as a magnetic field is likely to reach, but definitely possible it was the cause of the switch to atti mode.  If the roof joists were bolted together then there would be no reason for them to be demagnetised steel.  I guess that having switched to atti mode it drifted into something causing the fall.

Instructions for uploading were in post #2 and the page it links to, provide us with a link to the result...

Yes I saw the link and thank you for your insight.

Brent Turner Posted at 2018-8-10 04:27
Interesting comments, a new layer of education here. Next move is to learn the process of uploading to the log viewer. As to proximity to the metal roof joists 10 yards.

At 10 yards, I wouldn't expect any magnetic effects for the Phantom.
I would expect that you would probably have to be closer than 10 feet.

Another possibility would be if you were in close to buildings etc that blocked enough of the skyview that sat numbers dropped too low?

Uploading flight data takes about one minute.
You will find full instructions if you go to the link given in post #2.