Hi all,

Had a unpleasent flight with my SPARK, happily it landed in a normal way.

Started with 99% battery and had a nice flight in P-GPS mode, gave my daughter some drone flying lesson.
At 19% battery (real close to HP) switched to SPORT mode, flew some distance and turned back home.
Full fwd pitch and after accelerating put all sticks to zero.
As i was explaining did not looked all the time at my SPARK (safe area, no obstacles)
So i did not noticed SPARK behaviour, as you can see in the video it did not hold position but flew a small circle (heading did not change)
I switch from SPORT into P-GPS mode, after 0.1 second time in the log the first YAW error!
GPS reception to zero and as i was flying low altitude drone switch to OPTI mode.
As i was talking did not look at my screen, than looked to my SPARK and turning right towards home
OPTI into ATTI....

In the log the following errors in sequence
1) YawErrorLarge [ not seen in the app, GPS reception killed to zero ]
2) Weak GPS signal. Positioning accuracy may be compromised. Please fly with caution. [ BS, rececption killed ]
3) CompassErrorLarge [ not seen in the app ]
4) Magnetic Field Interference. Exit P-GPS Mode
5) SpeedErrorLarge [ not seen in the app ]

In the chart the white DOT where the sticks were all zero after 100% fwd.

Happily i was able to land close home.

Lesson learned ; always be prepared for a 'disaster', flying close home with 19% batt level is OK if SPARK does not enter ATTI for some reason.



cheers
JJB

Hmm, all too familiar experience...No wonder pilots struggling with flyaways nowadays!
Happy to see you didnt lost yours :-)

My last flight:

https://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/K46BHXEWFG00GNYN1CNF/

Hi Haggi,

Same errors in your flight, YAW error wich kills the use of GPS signals, hence into ATTI.
Your ATTI flight 11 seconds, and you like to take a risk....continue flying. (what if it happens again and it will not re-enter a P-GPS or SPORT mode?)

cheers
JJB

These things scare the hell out of me and keep me flying very near as what if that happen  while its away, i would just panic for sure, i pray every time i fly that all goes well and the min i see something weird i try to bring it back immediately. and am still using the old version of the App  

JJB* Posted at 4-9 00:31
Hi Haggi,

Same errors in your flight, YAW error wich kills the use of GPS signals, hence into ATTI.

Well, I've encountered some much yaw, speederror and Atti, I tend to ignore it.
I haven't found any reliable medicine againt it.
Burning a battery in full forward sport mode is a blast!
Mostly its the sudden engine roar that tells me its in Atti.
When Atti occurs, I try to gain height.

BTW, I just replied here to tell you your Atti is not unique :-)
My log also include (7m17s) GPS Position NoMatch, which doesnt result in Atti.
Have no idea what it means...

Haggi Posted at 4-9 00:58
Well, I've encountered some much yaw, speederror and Atti, I tend to ignore it.
I haven't found any reliable medicine againt it.
Burning a battery in full forward sport mode is a blast!

yep, i know that 'my' ATTI is not unique!  Its not the question if but when it happens to a SPARK.
Hope that DJI one day find a solution to it.

If in ATTI just release all sticks, yaw towards home and fwd pitch. (gain height if needed)
If ofcourse the area is safe to fly, if not land the bastard.

cheers
JJB

Happy landing indeed. Glad you could save the drone. Months and months of discussion of the problem, your work with community, your own log viewer - all of these helped you in such dangerous situation. I think it's a kind of reward. What is definitely not  a reward - DJI's attitude to the problem which lasts through the years

Hi JJB, Flying in Sportmode is very dangerous, especially aggresive turning etc. Spark has only 1 compass and IMU, instead  of the MP, has 2 of each.
Never had any issues with my MP, but with my Spark a few times and always after or during Sportmode.

Whoa!! This seems very dangerous. That's the reason one should always fly within VLOS. Good to see you land without any damage. Did you fly again after this? Any error again?

MavSpa_user Posted at 4-9 03:47
Hi JJB, Flying in Sportmode is very dangerous, especially aggresive turning etc. Spark has only 1 compass and IMU, instead  of the MP, has 2 of each.
Never had any issues with my MP, but with my Spark a few times and always after or during Sportmode.

Yep, i know this very well.  That`s why i only fly SPARK in Sport mode for fun and close by HP in open area!

nilanjan118 Posted at 4-9 04:11
Whoa!! This seems very dangerous. That's the reason one should always fly within VLOS. Good to see you land without any damage. Did you fly again after this? Any error again?

Next day some flights. last part in SPORT mode really all inputs 100% and at the end of doing crazy short moment ATTI, so short that the Go App said "ATTI", not even recorderd in the flightlog!

And I thought I was the only one with this phenomenon - now I dont feel so bad.
I never use sport mode, mostly photography oriented and often get yaw errors.

Glad you saved the spark from a watery landing.

Good recovery JJB

Funny how quite the moderators are during a discussion like this

Nice outcome!  What did your daughter think of all of that?

MccloudSpark Posted at 4-9 20:18
Nice outcome!  What did your daughter think of all of that?

She is  just a happy child....

A question born from curiosity.

I have to admit I haven’t flown my Spark once in the last five months since receiving a Parrot Anafi as a Birthday Present. Up until then I never had any compass/yaw/GPS errors though I very rarely flew in Sport Mode. What I did was to program the Sport Mode Switch to put the Spark into “ATTI” mode manually so as to make panning shots more fluid.

So the question is do you think manually selecting ATTI mode would eliminate the errors and issues encountered when the various sensors freak out with extreme manoeuvres under “SPORT P-GPS” mode?

Regards

Nidge.

Nidge Posted at 4-9 23:00
A question born from curiosity.

I have to admit I haven’t flown my Spark once in the last five months since receiving a Parrot Anafi as a Birthday Present. Up until then I never had any compass/yaw/GPS errors though I very rarely flew in Sport Mode. What I did was to program the Sport Mode Switch to put the Spark into “ATTI” mode manually so as to make panning shots more fluid.

Hi Nidge,

Not sure if i understand your questions 100%.

I do not think that i can make better more fluid panning shots in a manually ATTI mode.

Flying in manually ATTI mode errors will not have the effect on going into ATTI, so it will not eliminate errors but they have no effect.

cheers
JJB

JJB* Posted at 4-10 01:18
Hi Nidge,

Not sure if i understand your questions 100%.

Hi JJB

Firstly my apologies as after reading my comment I agree it wasn’t the clearest.

I do believe the Spark is unique with the the whole Yaw/Compass/GPS issues that you and others have reported. I use a multitude of flight controllers e.g. Naza, Wookong, A2, APM (2.5,2.6.2.8,3.1), PX4, Pixhawk, and various Naze type boards F1 to F7 chipsets. Other than the Naze type FC’s I fly all the others primarily in stabilised/Altitude Hold mode switching to GPS/Loiter/Auto when I want the model to hold a stationary position or perform a Waypoint mission. I have experienced GPS and/or Compass errors, usually when flying in em harsh environments. In such situations the FC will switch out of GPS Hold automatically or I’ll perform the switch myself without any drama. When this happens I still receive GPS and heading information but the relevant components no longer have any effect on the operation of the flight controller itself. This was one of the reasons that when I first took delivery of my Spark I programmed the Sport switch to put the Spark into ATTI mode.  However I’m now beginning to wonder that when the Spark is forced into ATTI MODE, either manually by the operator or even when the FC is failing to process conflicting data from the compass/GPS, that these components are still influencing the FC causing the Spark to spazz out and appear uncontrollable?

I did try to contact DJI Tech Support for some clarification but all I received was the usual automated reply and an eternity in the wilderness with the tumbleweeds.

Regards

Nidge.

Nidge Posted at 4-10 11:03
Hi JJB

Firstly my apologies as after reading my comment I agree it wasn’t the clearest.

Hi,

your question " that these components are still influencing the FC causing the Spark to spazz out and appear uncontrollable? " i cannot answer.Simply beacuse i don not have that knowledge.

When ATTI happens to my SPARK and do my best to bring it back and/or land safely.
Flying not in SPORT mode and easy on the controls, so not many times i get out of the blue ATTI mode.

cheers
JJB