After flying my Spark over 200 times with no problems at all my Spark went haywire last night.  On takeoff everything went fine.  I waited until I had 13 satellites and got the green okay to go light on my iPad.  After I got up to 50 feet or so I got several warnings and my Spark went crazy.  One of the warnings was weak gps signal, another was calibrate IMU, another was calibrate compass.  When I tried to control the Spark it went away.  It was almost like I was overcontrolling it.  Eventually I hit a tree and came down.  When I found the Spark one of the propellers was missing.  Can anyone please shred some light on what happened?

Check out your TXT flight log to see if it explains what happened. You can upload and view it online here. If you'd like other people to review and comment on your flight log, then please post a link back here after you upload it.

Hello and good day Texas Tornado. I am sorry to know what happened to your previous flight with your DJI Spark last night. This is not the experience we want you to have with DJI and with your DJI Spark. Since this issue happened please contact DJI Support at https://www.dji.com/support for us to help you further. Thank you.

Hi, I would like to hijack this topic because we got a similar problem. My nephew tried to land his Spark, but 3-5 m above the ground the drone got out of control and climbed more then 500 m before it decided to flew away (out of sight). No reaction to any controller action. We searched for 2 days, but could not find it. Last seen function gave no result. Since we got a lot of snow now, the chance to find it, went to zero. Will DJI support in such case?

fansc4ccbb71 Posted at 1-17 14:09
Hi, I would like to hijack this topic because we got a similar problem. My nephew tried to land his Spark, but 3-5 m above the ground the drone got out of control and climbed more then 500 m before it decided to flew away (out of sight). No reaction to any controller action. We searched for 2 days, but could not find it. Last seen function gave no result. Since we got a lot of snow now, the chance to find it, went to zero. Will DJI support in such case?

Sure they will but you definitely should start your own thread.

Wondering if you looked at TXT flight log yet. I’m interested to see what happened to your flight also. Thanks.

There are dozens of threads on this, sadly its a recurring problem, but thankfully not too regularly. Its happened to me twice (in around 300+ flights), neither time got a warning before take off that anything was wrong. Fortunately my RC never lost connection with the AC so was able to wrestle it to the ground both times. My only tip is, if its still responding to any stick commands get it up as high was possible as quick as possible to clear any obstacles around you and to maintain line of sight so the AC/RC don't disconnect as thats fatal.

msinger Posted at 1-17 13:16
Check out your TXT flight log to see if it explains what happened. You can upload and view it online here. If you'd like other people to review and comment on your flight log, then please post a link back here after you upload it.

How do I check out the TXT flight log?

Sayhelloforme Posted at 1-17 15:19
Wondering if you looked at TXT flight log yet. I’m interested to see what happened to your flight also. Thanks.

No I haven't checked it out yet.  Waiting for someone to explain how to do that.  Is it in the DJI assistant?

Texas Tornado Posted at 1-18 12:44
How do I check out the TXT flight log?

See the instructions on this page.

msinger Posted at 1-17 13:16
Check out your TXT flight log to see if it explains what happened. You can upload and view it online here. If you'd like other people to review and comment on your flight log, then please post a link back here after you upload it.

I uploaded the flight records for that flight, but how do I post a link to it here?

msinger Posted at 1-17 13:16
Check out your TXT flight log to see if it explains what happened. You can upload and view it online here. If you'd like other people to review and comment on your flight log, then please post a link back here after you upload it.

https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/O2F8LWNTJE9XKL8K5BWC/

msinger Posted at 1-18 12:53
See the instructions on this page.

I uploaded the link.  Hope that works.

hmm that’s odd. sorry. was it dark when you were flying? could that have had an affect on the flight...? had you calibrated the compass before the flight? how long before?

Texas Tornado Posted at 1-18 13:34
I uploaded the link.  Hope that works.

looks like you got a compass interference as one of the warning up at around 60 feet. where you flying anywhere near some metal rod or something that could cause interference? also, the flight map looks a bit odd, but i’m not a pro at this so maybe i am wrong.

Texas Tornado Posted at 1-18 13:34
I uploaded the link.  Hope that works.

Now you just need to post the link here so we can see it

fans6f66f9da Posted at 1-18 13:35
hmm that’s odd. sorry. was it dark when you were flying? could that have had an affect on the flight...? had you calibrated the compass before the flight? how long before?

It was still light outside.  I was trying to get a picture of the sunset.  Also the manual says to never calibrate the compass unless told to.  No, I wasn’t flying next to any metal object.  I flew in the same spot with 4 batteries that day but on the 5th battery is when it happened.  I flew 9 flights that day.  Time was 5:45pm.

msinger Posted at 1-18 13:44
Now you just need to post the link here so we can see it

I posted it above.

It looks like you took off from a concrete sidewalk. Concrete often contains rebar. It's important to keep the Spark away from all magnetic metal objects while it's powered on.

To prevent this from happening again, do these checks before each flight.

Since a propeller was off after the crash, could it have accidentally come off during the flight and caused  the Spark to go haywire?

msinger Posted at 1-18 15:39
It looks like you took off from a concrete sidewalk. Concrete often contains rebar. It's important to keep the Spark away from all magnetic metal objects while it's powered on.

To prevent this from happening again, do these checks before each flight.

Usually if there’s a compass error it would show up before takeoff and I would move the drone to another spot.

Texas Tornado Posted at 1-18 14:07
It was still light outside.  I was trying to get a picture of the sunset.  Also the manual says to never calibrate the compass unless told to.  No, I wasn’t flying next to any metal object.  I flew in the same spot with 4 batteries that day but on the 5th battery is when it happened.  I flew 9 flights that day.  Time was 5:45pm.

how about were you flying with the remote? did your ipad have sufficient charge? were you in airplane mode? was your bluetooth off? was it cold or hot?

Texas Tornado Posted at 1-18 15:53
Since a propeller was off after the crash, could it have accidentally come off during the flight and caused  the Spark to go haywire?

possibly, did you look around where you where flying for the propeller??

fans6f66f9da Posted at 1-18 17:33
how about were you flying with the remote? did your ipad have sufficient charge? were you in airplane mode? was your bluetooth off? was it cold or hot?

Yes, I was flying wth the remote.  My iPad was at about 70%.  No I was not in airplane mode or sport mode.  Yes my Bluetooth was off on both my phone and on iPad that I was using.  The temperature was in the 60’s at the time of the flight.

fans6f66f9da Posted at 1-18 17:38
possibly, did you look around where you where flying for the propeller??

No, I never looked for the propeller. I may do that tomorrow.

Hi Texas Tornado,

Nice nick name, your Spark flew like a tornado too....

9 seconds after take your Spark already had a problem, see the blue line where (almost) no pitch or roll input was given (so Spark must keep his position), it did not keep position but toilet bowled around.

Msinger gave a link to pre-takeoff checks, after take off checks are also very important.
My advice is to bring a drone into hover and keep it there for a while. Make RC input in all directions and always end in a hover situiation. While yawing watch the red arrow in the compass to show the right drone direction. If all OK start to fly.

In your flight you could see after 9 seconds that something was wrong, drone did not keep his GPS controlled position!

cheers
JJB

Texas Tornado Posted at 1-18 17:20
Usually if there’s a compass error it would show up before takeoff and I would move the drone to another spot.

That error often shows, but not always. That's why I linked you to that article above. You should always do those checks since DJI GO is not always able to detect there is an issue.

JJBspark Posted at 1-19 05:51
Hi Texas Tornado,

Nice nick name, your Spark flew like a tornado too....

Could it be possible that a propeller came off during the flight?

msinger Posted at 1-19 08:02
That error often shows, but not always. That's why I linked you to that article above. You should always do those checks since DJI GO is not always able to detect there is an issue.

Thank you for the article.  I will make sure I check out those points before I take off and after altitude.  Thanks for your help.

JJBspark Posted at 1-19 05:51
Hi Texas Tornado,

Nice nick name, your Spark flew like a tornado too....

Thank you for your help.  I usually do that from a hover move the sticks on the RC in all directions before I get to altitude.

DJI Stephen Posted at 1-17 13:47
Hello and good day Texas Tornado. I am sorry to know what happened to your previous flight with your DJI Spark last night. This is not the experience we want you to have with DJI and with your DJI Spark. Since this issue happened please contact DJI Support at https://www.dji.com/support for us to help you further. Thank you.

[view_image]

I followed your advice and contacted support.  This was an isolated incident and my Spark flies fine now.  Support wanted me to send my Spark in for repair.  All that I wanted support to do was look at my flight log that I sent them and give me an opinion of what went wrong.
https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/O2F8LWNTJE9XKL8K5BWC/