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Best Working Practices To Prevent Fly Aways
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Vim Fueago
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Is there a definitive list of tips to follow to prevent flyaways?  If not, perhaps there should be one! And make it a sticky!
I have seen some useful thing mentioned on the forum (like using UAV Forecast, but really need to know how to configure that for Mavic Mini).
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Bigplumbs
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1) Wait till you have many...…. at least 10 satellites before you lift off
2) Don't fly if it is too  windy
3) Beware flying high as the wind is significantly stronger at height
4) Don't let your battery get below 30 %
5) Don't ignore high wind warnings

The Mavic Mini is very light and only has a 2 cell battery and it is not a powerful drone like the other DJI drones as such it is very susceptible to wind
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TDZHDTV
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Read and understand the manual, understand wind profiles at altitude, be sensible
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lannes
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There is no "configuring" UAV forecast for the Mini, all you have to  do is to get the app to recognise your location and that's about it.
The information it provides is not specific to any AC
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Vim Fueago
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lannes Posted at 1-5 01:52
There is no "configuring" UAV forecast for the Mini, all you have to  do is to get the app to recognise your location and that's about it.
The information it provides is not specific to any AC

But there are settings to control the don't fly red/green indicators. Knowing realistic limits for a specific model goes a huge way to making an informed decision on if it's safe to fly.

Screenshot_20200105_101108_com.uavforecast.jpg
Screenshot_20200105_101553_com.uavforecast.jpg
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Cookster670
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Make sure home point is recorded
Don’t take off if Fly App is showing any red warnings
If it’s windy, put drone into Sports Mode
Fly your drone, don’t use RTH (in almost every recent report I’ve read on flyways, it’s triggered by initiating RTH)
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lannes
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Vim Fueago Posted at 1-5 02:16
But there are settings to control the don't fly red/green indicators. Knowing realistic limits for a specific model goes a huge way to making an informed decision on if it's safe to fly.

Ok your right , the only thing that would be specific to the Mini would be the "max wind" threshold
Normally I would generically set this as my other AC's can all handle roughly the same wind conditions

I suspect all the other settings would be the same for all drones
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Vim Fueago
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Please nobody use my screenshots as guidance as to what to set, I'm a total newbie, and that was my starting point.  I'm hoping some more experienced users, or DJI themselves can advise on some suitable thresholds.
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Tervist
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Vim Fueago Posted at 1-5 08:13
Please nobody use my screenshots as guidance as to what to set, I'm a total newbie, and that was my starting point.  I'm hoping some more experienced users, or DJI themselves can advise on some suitable thresholds.

I'm a newbie as well and agree that it would be nice to hear from more experienced pilots as to what thresholds may be useful for the Mavic Mini.

What I'm doing is using the default settings and also referring to the Wind Profile to see how high up I can safely go. Of course today, it's a complete bust for me since it's too windy and I had to send my controller back to DJI for repair.

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DJI Stephen
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Hello and good day Vim Fueago. Thank you for reaching out and for sharing these information with us. I will be posting a DJI Forum thread where in you can find some tips on how to avoid & prevent drone fly aways ( https://forum.dji.com/thread-129112-1-1.html ). In addition if you have any concerns, issues or question with your DJI Mavic Mini or with DJI. Please feel free to post it here at DJI Forum. We are all here to help and assist you. Thank you.
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msinger
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You can find a lot of great tips in this guide:
Prevent a Crash or Flyaway with Your DJI Drone (The Complete Guide)
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hallmark007
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Try this it will help,


1/ Never calibrate Compass unless prompted to.

2/ start AC leave until you receive enough gps lock ,

3/ if you get Compass interference turn off AC and move to another location,
without interference.


Raise AC to height of 8ft
Hover for 20 seconds
Fly forward 2ft
Backward 2ft
Left 2ft
Right 2ft
Up 2ft
Down 2ft
Yaw left
Yaw right
Each time returning to hover position
If you have a good horizontal each time, you will then know you have good GPS good IMU and good Compass, and your ready to fly.

This exercise takes less than 2 minutes and is worthwhile doing before every flight,
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Burak C.
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Tervist Posted at 1-5 08:28
I'm a newbie as well and agree that it would be nice to hear from more experienced pilots as to what thresholds may be useful for the Mavic Mini.

What I'm doing is using the default settings and also referring to the Wind Profile to see how high up I can safely go. Of course today, it's a complete bust for me since it's too windy and I had to send my controller back to DJI for repair.

Just to be safe, I have set the max wind to 12mph for 400 feet. There is no actual right value to be set, it is kind of personal thing. It is how much you want to be safe
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Ian in London
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msinger Posted at 1-5 09:10
You can find a lot of great tips in this guide:
Prevent a Crash or Flyaway with Your DJI Drone (The Complete Guide)

Can I congratulate you on possibly the most comprehensive and well-laid out help I've seen.... Great site.  And good advice. You should be writing the manuals for DJI

Cheers
Ian
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HedgeTrimmer
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As long as you follow rules and method for compass calibration - There is no harm in calibrating a drone's compass(es), even if you have not gotten a compass calibration message.

If you are concerned or feel drone's compass(es) are out off, you can calibrate compass(es) with harm.
If drone's compass(es) magnetic interference bar repeatedly show long green bar or yellow bar in different locations.  There is no harm in trying compass(es) calibration to see if yellow bars will change to green or length of yellow / green bar can be made shorter.  
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hallmark007
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Ignor post above, you should practice what your manual and dji tell you, to many people interfere and new users are given bad information, there is no need to calibrate your compass unless prompted, you are getting information from someone who doesn’t own a Mavic mini and the information is completely wrong and ill thought out.
There are no compass indicators on Mavic mini and it’s likely you’d spend a long time looking for this,  Your manual and information given in post 12 is correct and comes from the your best source the manual.

I have noticed that there are people who don’t own Mavic mini giving out spurious information, while others who don’t own one have clearly bothered to inform themselves of the difference of how Mavic mini.
The information in post 16 should be edited ..
D9DCD2DA-D5C0-4515-ADB2-F32AD94AD681.jpeg

If anyone wants to learn about good compass practice then checkout msinger above and ignore the myths .

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Geebax
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HedgeTrimmer Posted at 1-5 12:06
As long as you follow rules and method for compass calibration - There is no harm in calibrating a drone's compass(es), even if you have not gotten a compass calibration message.

If you are concerned or feel drone's compass(es) are out off, you can calibrate compass(es) with harm.

"There is no harm in calibrating a drone's compass(es), even if you have not gotten a compass calibration message."

Why do something like that when it is not necessary. Before offering that advice, it would be good if you knew what compass calibration is designed to do. And all the experienced fliers will tell you NOT to calibrate your compass.
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m80116
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I think there's no better practice than checking the UAV Forecast app BEFORE every flight.

Mavic Mini owners should be very careful abut the wind and set their max altitude (in the Fly app) accordingly. Personally I've set the wind level @60m (or 200 ft).

https://play.google.com/store/ap ... recast&hl=en_US
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hallmark007
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Learn about how these craft have been crashing or being lost and learn from it .
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lannes
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HedgeTrimmer Posted at 1-5 12:06
As long as you follow rules and method for compass calibration - There is no harm in calibrating a drone's compass(es), even if you have not gotten a compass calibration message.

If you are concerned or feel drone's compass(es) are out off, you can calibrate compass(es) with harm.

+1 and as Msinger says in his guide, "Don't calibrate inside the house"
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HedgeTrimmer
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Geebax Posted at 1-5 13:07
"There is no harm in calibrating a drone's compass(es), even if you have not gotten a compass calibration message."

Why do something like that when it is not necessary. Before offering that advice, it would be good if you knew what compass calibration is designed to do. And all the experienced fliers will tell you NOT to calibrate your compass.

Thanks to DJI, I got real familiar with compass calibration.

When I first got Mavic Pro P, DJI's GO-4 App running on iPhone 5s or iPad Air (iOS) would flag need for Compass calibration almost every time drone was powered up.  Didn't matter where drone / compass was calibrated, didn't matter how calibration was done, didn't matter if I took off all magnetic items.  False messages were so bad, I started ignoring them.  False messages went away, once I switched to GO-4 App running on CrystalSky (Android OS).

IMO: The advice of "Never calibrating drone compass, unless told to" can be chalked up to hearsay / internet.
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HedgeTrimmer
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lannes Posted at 1-5 18:07
+1 and as Msinger says in his guide, "Don't calibrate inside the house"

I follow manual.  Holding MPp drone by its butt, with its nose pointing down for 2nd phase.

Thanks to all False compass calibration messages I got when I first got MPp, I tried several different methods of compass calibration dances...
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Geebax
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HedgeTrimmer Posted at 1-5 18:19
Thanks to DJI, I got real familiar with compass calibration.

When I first got Mavic Pro P, DJI's GO-4 App running on iPhone 5s or iPad Air (iOS) would flag need for Compass calibration almost every time drone was powered up.  Didn't matter where drone / compass was calibrated, didn't matter how calibration was done, didn't matter if I took off all magnetic items.  False messages were so bad, I started ignoring them.  False messages went away, once I switched to GO-4 App running on CrystalSky (Android OS).

"IMO: The advice of "Never calibrating drone compass, unless told to" can be chalked up to hearsay / internet."

No, it is due to experienced people offering advice on what to do, the idea of calibrating the compass every second time it is used is the hearsay. I doubt you know what the compass calibration is intended to do, but then again, very few people actually do know.
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HedgeTrimmer
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Geebax Posted at 1-5 13:07
"There is no harm in calibrating a drone's compass(es), even if you have not gotten a compass calibration message."

Why do something like that when it is not necessary. Before offering that advice, it would be good if you knew what compass calibration is designed to do. And all the experienced fliers will tell you NOT to calibrate your compass.

Why do something like that when it is not necessary.

Answer depends upon how you define "not necessary".  

"Not necessary" because you know compass actually is correctly calibrated, then virtually no reason, other than experience / understanding / testing.

"Not necessary" because your drone / GO-4 hasn't called for it, your drone's compass may not be properly calibrated.


You don't want compass calibrated to where it is correcting for non-existant magnetic field deviations, from where it was previously calibrated and what was with you.  Why?

Because, with your compass calibrated to compensate for or ignore magnetic field deviation; when that magnetic field deviation no longer exists, drone's compass is off.  Possibly making compass less senstive or more senstive to any difference in magnetic field deviation of current area.  Severe enough needless compesation, could lead to drone turning / spinning out of control.  


Differenetiating from Toilet Bowl Effect, which was used to describe drone's ever expanding circling as a result of a drone's compass not being aimed properly when compass was installed (or replaced).

Having done a lot of testing involving magnetic interference:
You want drone's compass magnetic interference bar(s) to be Green and short.

Powering a drone up over a source of magnetic inteference can result in drone not detecting the source or warning pilot of.

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HedgeTrimmer
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Geebax Posted at 1-5 18:37
"IMO: The advice of "Never calibrating drone compass, unless told to" can be chalked up to hearsay / internet."

No, it is due to experienced people offering advice on what to do, the idea of calibrating the compass every second time it is used is the hearsay. I doubt you know what the compass calibration is intended to do, but then again, very few people actually do know.

Are you speaking from science of and your own testing?  Or are you speaking from what you have heard or been told?
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Geebax
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HedgeTrimmer Posted at 1-5 18:54
Why do something like that when it is not necessary.

Answer depends upon how you define "not necessary".  

"Because, with your compass calibrated to compensate for or ignore magnetic field deviation; when that magnetic field deviation no longer exists, drone's compass is off. "

Just to pick one example out of your reply, that one demonstrates that you don't know what compass calibration is for, as it does not have anything to do with magnetic variation. And think about this: Is there any step in the calibration procedure where you point the aircraft in a guaranteed northerly (or any other) direction? Because if there is not, then you are NOT calibrating the compass.
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HedgeTrimmer
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Geebax Posted at 1-5 19:00
"Because, with your compass calibrated to compensate for or ignore magnetic field deviation; when that magnetic field deviation no longer exists, drone's compass is off. "

Just to pick one example out of your reply, that one demonstrates that you don't know what compass calibration is for, as it does not have anything to do with magnetic variation. And think about this: Is there any step in the calibration procedure where you point the aircraft in a guaranteed northerly (or any other) direction? Because if there is not, then you are NOT calibrating the compass.

No you don't.

However, you are equating calibration of standard magnetic needle compass to calibration of drone's compass which is three magnetic field detectors for each of three Axis of X,Y,&Z.
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HedgeTrimmer
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Geebax Posted at 1-5 18:37
"IMO: The advice of "Never calibrating drone compass, unless told to" can be chalked up to hearsay / internet."

No, it is due to experienced people offering advice on what to do, the idea of calibrating the compass every second time it is used is the hearsay. I doubt you know what the compass calibration is intended to do, but then again, very few people actually do know.

"the idea of calibrating the compass every second time it is used"

How about not putting words in my mouth?  I never proposed idea that people need to calibrate their compass every second time it is used.

What I did say was there was "no harm in calibrating a drone's compass(es)".
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HedgeTrimmer
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hallmark007 Posted at 1-5 12:55
Ignor post above, you should practice what your manual and dji tell you, to many people interfere and new users are given bad information, there is no need to calibrate your compass unless prompted, you are getting information from someone who doesn’t own a Mavic mini and the information is completely wrong and ill thought out.
There are no compass indicators on Mavic mini and it’s likely you’d spend a long time looking for this,  Your manual and information given in post 12 is correct and comes from the your best source the manual.

I give you what manual says. **

At same time, be honest and acknowledge DJI has changed it's position on calibrating compass.  Used to be any time you moved XX miles from previous flying area.

Update:

**Withdrawing what I previously said.  Because I made mistake of taking what hallmark007 posted as being from Mavic Mini manual.

Downloaded Mavic Mini manual (2019.11) from DJI's Mavic Mini / Download page, and read through it.  

Below is screen snap shot on Compass calibration from page #44 of Mavic Mini Manual

Snap-Reduced

Snap-Reduced


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HedgeTrimmer
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hallmark007 Posted at 1-5 12:55
Ignor post above, you should practice what your manual and dji tell you, to many people interfere and new users are given bad information, there is no need to calibrate your compass unless prompted, you are getting information from someone who doesn’t own a Mavic mini and the information is completely wrong and ill thought out.
There are no compass indicators on Mavic mini and it’s likely you’d spend a long time looking for this,  Your manual and information given in post 12 is correct and comes from the your best source the manual.

"If anyone wants to learn about good compass practice then checkout msinger above and ignore the myths ."

See highlighted in Red, that you suggest, which backs what I said.


From msinger posted Link you point to: "Prevent a Crash or Flyaway with Your DJI Drone (The Complete Guide)"
Compass calibration best practices

8) Compass calibration best practicesIn most cases, the compass does not need to be calibrated before flying (even when flying in new locations). While calibrating the compass before each flight won’t cause any issues, recalibrating often does not fix/improve anything.

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Geebax
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HedgeTrimmer Posted at 1-5 19:07
"the idea of calibrating the compass every second time it is used"

How about not putting words in my mouth?  I never proposed idea that people need to calibrate their compass every second time it is used.

OK, I will modify that statement: "There is no harm in calibrating a drone's compass, providing it is done properly every time".

The thing is, calibrating it is un-necessary unless you have modified the aircraft, or added some item to it, or taken some item off it. And inexperienced people often screw up the 'calibration' process, therefore it is better to avoid doing it. I have a quite old P3P that was calibrated once, over thee years ago and has performed faultlessly since.

As for DJI's view on the matter, the wording of their instructions are often misleading, and this is a classic case where the warning message used to be "Magnetic interference. Calibrate the compass or move the aircraft". The correct answer to this was "move the aircraft" not "calibrate the compass".

As for msinger's comment on the process, I wholeheartedly agree with him, especially when the process of calibrating can make the situation worse.


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HedgeTrimmer
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hallmark007 Posted at 1-5 12:55
Ignor post above, you should practice what your manual and dji tell you, to many people interfere and new users are given bad information, there is no need to calibrate your compass unless prompted, you are getting information from someone who doesn’t own a Mavic mini and the information is completely wrong and ill thought out.
There are no compass indicators on Mavic mini and it’s likely you’d spend a long time looking for this,  Your manual and information given in post 12 is correct and comes from the your best source the manual.

I have noticed that there are people who don’t own Mavic mini giving out  spurious information, while others who don’t own one have clearly  bothered to inform themselves of the difference of how Mavic mini.
The information in post 16 should be edited ..

For a guy who lectures about giving out spurious information because a person does not own a Mavic Mini.  Guy sure hasn't bothered to inform himself about Mavic Mini by Reading the Manual.  More telling is guy who posts a bogus screen snap snot.

From Mavic Mini User Manual, page #44, v1.0, 2019.11 downloaded 01/05/2020 from DJI's Mavic Mini webpage Download area.


Mavic-Mini_When-Calibrate-Compass

Mavic-Mini_When-Calibrate-Compass


Information in post #20 should be redacted.


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Geebax
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HedgeTrimmer Posted at 1-5 21:05
I have noticed that there are people who don’t own Mavic mini giving out  spurious information, while others who don’t own one have clearly  bothered to inform themselves of the difference of how Mavic mini.
The information in post 16 should be edited ..

Sorry, but the information highlighted in the shot of the manual is rubbish. Not only does it contradict what DJI says in other publications, it contradicts the generally accepted knowledge of how an electronic compass works. Just because DJI printed it, does not make it true.
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Geebax Posted at 1-5 21:34
Sorry, but the information highlighted in the shot of the manual is rubbish. Not only does it contradict what DJI says in other publications, it contradicts the generally accepted knowledge of how an electronic compass works. Just because DJI printed it, does not make it true.

Can't believe this.  When hallmark007 supposedly posted a screen snap inferring it was from Mavic Mini manual, agreeing with his and your position, it was fact.

When I post screen snap from actual Mavic Mini manual, providing page #, revision, and date of publication it is rubbish.

Good grief.
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HedgeTrimmer
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Geebax Posted at 1-5 21:34
Sorry, but the information highlighted in the shot of the manual is rubbish. Not only does it contradict what DJI says in other publications, it contradicts the generally accepted knowledge of how an electronic compass works. Just because DJI printed it, does not make it true.

Just because DJI printed it, does not make it true.

There is some truth to that statement.  

DJI is known for sometimes (not often) being vague, using poor wording, or not being accurate on some technical aspects.


Bookmarking post for future use with hm7isms.  
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HedgeTrimmer Posted at 1-5 21:38
Can't believe this.  When hallmark007 supposedly posted a screen snap inferring it was from Mavic Mini manual, agreeing with his and your position, it was fact.

When I post screen snap from actual Mavic Mini manual, providing page #, revision, and date of publication it is rubbish.

It has nothing to do with whether you posted the shot or not, it is the information being conveyed in that shot. DJI is plain wrong in what they are saying.
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hallmark007
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HedgeTrimmer Posted at 1-5 19:14
I give you what manual says. **

At same time, be honest and acknowledge DJI has changed it's position on calibrating compass.  Used to be any time you moved XX miles from previous flying area.

Again it’s your complete ignorance and your willingness to spread information that honestly you know nothing about.

In all those instances in Mavic 2 Mavic Air and now Mavic mini you will be prompted to calibrate compass without fail.

In dji disclaimer for Mavic Mini and I’m certain everyone knows what a disclaimer is , it clearly tells you NOT TO CALIBRATE UNLESS PROMPTED.

You admit what you wrote in post 16 was completely made up because you hadn’t seen any mini manuals and what you posted is complete rubbish.

You don’t own a mini and you spend your time around steering hysteria and in no way are you interested in helping mini flyers , you did exactly the same to Mavic air and M2 users.

It’s clear for everybody that you should not calibrate compass unless prompted .

Now probably the one thing you have conveniently failed to address the fact that you told mini users to calibrate if they thought there was something wrong and they could do this by checking the indicators in the app, this was completely wrong and misleading and completely goes against dji disclaimer and is likely to void your warranty .
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hallmark007
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HedgeTrimmer Posted at 1-5 12:06
As long as you follow rules and method for compass calibration - There is no harm in calibrating a drone's compass(es), even if you have not gotten a compass calibration message.

If you are concerned or feel drone's compass(es) are out off, you can calibrate compass(es) with harm.

Now how are Mavic Mini users able to measure the strength of weakness in their compass that you are clearly advising them against the advice of their safety manual which is also djis disclaimer manual.

Mavic mini users are advised NOT TO CALIBRATE UNLESS PROMPTED , yet you tell them they should maybe tell them how and when and if you can’t then edit post 16 above because it’s incorrect.
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Geebax Posted at 1-5 23:24
It has nothing to do with whether you posted the shot or not, it is the information being conveyed in that shot. DJI is plain wrong in what they are saying.

As someone who owns a Mavic mini Air and M2, what it says in the manual is calibrate after traveling not using for 1 month etc, but with all these new craft you will be prompted when these situations arise always without fail.
Also disclaimer manual I posted from clearly warns against calibration without being prompted .
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HedgeTrimmer Posted at 1-5 21:05
I have noticed that there are people who don’t own Mavic mini giving out  spurious information, while others who don’t own one have clearly  bothered to inform themselves of the difference of how Mavic mini.
The information in post 16 should be edited ..

Why would you redact information from your post that was correctly posted directly from your safety and disclaimer manual page 2 (warning) you don’t own a mini you posted rubbish In post 16 and it’s that rubbish that needs to be redacted.

Maybe you can show everybody where it advises users to calibrate using your ridiculous method that doesn’t exist ?
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