Hello from South Africa!

So this is the second time my spark has gone into Atti mode and gone on a flyaway. First time I managed to find it. This morning I wasn't so lucky

I have sent through the flight data to DJi using the DJI Go4 app but not sure what else you recommend?

34s into the flight I lost all control and showed Error: In Flight, working IMU encounters heading exception, please switch to atti mode if craft behave abnormally.

Then said: Compass Error. Exit P-GPS Mode

Then: Weak GPS Signal. Positional accuracy may be compromised. Please fly with caution.

Then: Abnormal compass function or GPS signal detected. Aircracft switched to ATTI mode.

I ran after the drone the best I could (as seen from my location on the video) but it crossed a river into the veld and couldnt see it again. We searched the area for hours and still nothing.


Links to video of flight from app and flight export is below:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/309fymcnpvb7ink/AACwlaf_6F60jbovUxaM2T2ia?dl=0

PLEASE HELP!!

This is a classic pilot error.   You were flying very low  !!   Next time must fly at least at 60 meters high and ensure GPS is fixed.

Max height flying off phone app is 45m or something? And it did it’s own thing while ascending? And the other time it happened it was at its max height. Don’t agree with pilot error.

Hi,

if you like upload your flightrecord ; using this link > http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

Post your link on here, so forum members can mayby tell you more what happend.

cheers
JJB

I agree with JJB, we would need to look at the log to be able to get a reasonable idea of what may have happened.  Without seeing that, it is just complete speculation.  If you want the community's help, I'd also recommend you upload to the site JJB mentioned and post the resulting URL here.

Sorry about your loss.
Upload your flight record.
JJB and others can really do an propper analysis of the flight.

Hi there, I'm really sorry to hear that. I would suggest you to contact our support team to start up a case via email: (support@dji.com). We have the professional data analysis team who would do their best to find out the reason of the incident and then the corresponding resolution would be provided. You can provide your case number here in case you need further assistance, thanks for your support.

JJBspark Posted at 2018-10-17 07:07
Hi,

if you like upload your flightrecord ; using this link > http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

Here is the flight record:

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/MMUWJF3IHXOMH4N83UB0/#

You'll see I tried to land it while it was flying away but it was over trees so I cancelled it (should have just landed it would still have the drone at least!)

I have uploaded all the flight log data and txt files to the dropbox link below:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/309fy ... 0jbovUxaM2T2ia?dl=0

KMatulovich Posted at 2018-10-17 21:56
Here is the flight record:

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/MMUWJF3IHXOMH4N83UB0/#

Hi KMatulovich,

Thanks for uploading.

Bit difficult to analyse beacuse you did not use controller but just a mobile device. Stick inputs are not present in the flightlog.

In the log many YAW errors , IMU encouters heading excursion, so Spark went into ATTI mode.
The pitch and roll angles of your Spark in ATTI (all the time) almost flat, meaning no stick input from you. Spark drifing in a steady pace in the direction approx. 130 - 135 with a speed of 3 - 6 m/s.
In ATTI when loosing connection Spark goes into landing. An Autolanding (initiate by you?) starts at distance 85.5 meter, reducing height 22 to 14 meter.
Autolanding cancelled by you, meaning at 134 meters you still had a connection with the drone!
Spark drifting further in same direction, as long as there is a connection it will continue to drift further. Moment connection gets lost it will execute a landing.

If i look at Google Earth i see trees coming in the direction Spark is drifing.

Last record shows a disconnect (so in ATTI it will land) ; so it will fly 20 secs before it will autoland.My guess is that your drone is 172 meters (plus/minus 10) further than last position in the direction 135.
This if your Spark did not hit the trees and powerlines in that fly-path....

Why you had yaw errors followed by IMU and compass errors ; i cannot tell, maby taking of taking of from concrete with rebar or compass swing done before witch introduces comp errors.

cheers
JJB

Sad to see this Yaw Error (which is hard/software produced NOT a pilot error) is still happening. I hope you can recover your Spark from the excellent analysis provided above

Thank you so much for the comments! I tried searching all over again today along those paths etc but still nothing. Am going to give it a shot again tomorrow with some colleagues to help. Thank you JJB! Really hope I can find it!

DJI Paladin Posted at 2018-10-17 07:33
Hi there, I'm really sorry to hear that. I would suggest you to contact our support team to start up a case via email: (). We have the professional data analysis team who would do their best to find out the reason of the incident and then the corresponding resolution would be provided. You can provide your case number here in case you need further assistance, thanks for your support.

I have submitted all the information to them today and received an auto-reply with the a number which I assume to be the case number 1422631

KMatulovich Posted at 2018-10-18 03:40
I have submitted all the information to them today and received an auto-reply with the a number which I assume to be the case number  1422631

what firmware version were you on?

What sort of wind was blowing? What was your flight direction in relation to the wind direction? Headwind, tail wind, or cross wind?

it is supposed to fly in a tilt for wind / course correction .. for several reasons..

flight efficiency...

more importantly ... collision avoidnece .. if the drone is angled off by 45 degrees its going to fly right into obstacles.. which depending on you RTH mode based on distance from home point .. will try and use to avoid obstacles on its flight back
lets not leave out the fact that if it thinks that this angel off is yaw error due to the engineers making a mistake somewhere in the latest firmware release.. it will go into the dreaded fly away at mach speed in a random direction ATTI mode... or what is now becoming know around here as DJI revenue mode.. as it will require you to by a new one

when the drone is RTH.. it plots a rhumb line between the 2 coordinates.. ac position and home point position, then its supposed to point in the caclulated heading, and adjust AC tilt to make the navigation requested (the line) and the navigation made good (the AC staying on the line) match

It happened to me one time but now I've attached my contact info and a gps tracker trackimo helps me a lot. Mine can carry an extra weight.

Good luck with your search. A Spark can be hard to find in trees, but having a team to help certainly  increases your chances of finding it. I hope a monkey hasn't taken a liking to it.

S.J Posted at 2018-10-17 06:35
This is a classic pilot error.   You were flying very low  !!   Next time must fly at least at 60 meters high and ensure GPS is fixed.

or turn off sensors if flying over water since that is a surface that DJI specifically states VPS doesn't like.. not causal here just saying..

or get out of VPS sensor range of 40 feet or so

you may also want to give this a read on why its a bad idea to fly low over water with GPS especially in a spark with no redundancy on IMU positioning and probably child like software processing of GPS multipathing and error correction    https://www.google.com/url?sa=t& ... mp2eGiN_FAHJnRE95-s