Hey folks, I'm pretty new to the world of manual mode flying.  Today I was practicing circling this small structure when the quad rolled hard right and bounced off the ground.  I'm almost certain this was not due to any input I gave it.  During the crash, I hit the emergency stop button and the quad caught itself on the bounce.  How do I go about finding out what happened?  I'll admit that I'm a little scared to even fly it now that I suspect it can randomly freak out.
Here's the video with a slow-motion edit at the end:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCmHFUeS1_c

Sync your flight into DJI FLY. Once done, you can replay the flight using GPS data and it can also show you control stick inputs as they are being made.

Keep us posted.

Buster1 Posted at 4-19 12:51
Sync your flight into DJI FLY. Once done, you can replay the flight using GPS data and it can also show you control stick inputs as they are being made.

Keep us posted.

DJI Fly the mobile app?  I only ask for clarification because I don't recall seeing that option.  Not on Android anyway.  I didn't have the app connected during the flight, can I still pull that data out?

I'm going to go see what I can find on Google about this, but do you know of a good guide for doing it?

Sorry, I'm really new to the DJI ecosystem.
EDIT:  I'm the OP.  Changed my username after the post.

kdr83 Posted at 4-19 12:55
DJI Fly the mobile app?  I only ask for clarification because I don't recall seeing that option.  Not on Android anyway.  I didn't have the app connected during the flight, can I still pull that data out?

I'm going to go see what I can find on Google about this, but do you know of a good guide for doing it?

"I didn't have the app connected during the flight, can I still pull that data out?"

Yes you can. The logs are stored in the goggles internal memory. You don't even need a SD card in order for the logs to be recorded.

There's a couple ways to download the logs once you connect the goggles to the smart device. Profile\More and then the top right clock icon is the way I usually do it. After the list is populated click the far right icon to download the specific log.

Airdata.com has an website and app which helps in reading these logs.

Make sure the On The Go USB adapter connects with the goggles. It doesn't work the other way around.

It looks to me like you goosed it when it was facing the structure and it started flying straight for the small structure picking up speed and you tried to move right to avoid and rolled it.  

Okay, here's what I found:



The crash is at 7:59.  From the quad's point of view it does look like I rolled hard right then pitched hard forward.  I'm about 90% sure I did not do that.  Is that something radio interference can do?  Maybe something with the controller?  I guess it is possible I had a brain hiccup and did that.  My real concern is how do I proceed from here?  I have been flying quite a bit and this is the first time this has happened.  Should I consider it a fluke and forget about it?  Should I reach out to support because it might not be safe?

I'm going to check out getting the data into airdata.com.  This looks really cool.

kdr83 Posted at 4-19 16:25
Okay, here's what I found:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtZQCZVuRc4

"I'm about 90% sure I did not do that."

Based on the original video, I agree with you. It sure looks like the drone freaked out.

"Is that something radio interference can do?"

I don't think so. It's a digital signal and interference would just prevent the signal from being received.

I think it's worth putting in a tech support request. Show DJI the data and video and see what they say.

If I were you, I'd be extra cautious with the drone until I had a lot of consistent flights.

The Airdata site/app will give you a report about the RC signal quality. I've never had my signal quality drop below 100% even when the drone is a few kilometers away. The video signal falters sometimes but the RC link is always 100%.

Gook luck.

This airdata.com site is so cool!  Here are the few seconds around the crash:

Crash

It looks like the quad definitely thought I told it to do that.

Duane Degn Posted at 4-19 17:09
"I'm about 90% sure I did not do that."

Based on the original video, I agree with you. It sure looks like the drone freaked out.

On airdata, my signal for that flight never dropped below 100%.

kdr83 Posted at 4-19 17:10
This airdata.com site is so cool!  Here are the few seconds around the crash:

"This airdata.com site is so cool! "
I agree. I upgraded to the least expensive paid version so I could get the computed wind data. It's been worth it to me.

"It looks like the quad definitely thought I told it to do that."
I doubt it's could really be an issue but I keep wondering if there any way a strong magnet could have come close to the controller. The controller uses Hall effect sensors with small magnets to monitor joystick movement. A very strong magnet close to the control could possibly cause the weird behavior you saw. Again, this seems unlikely but I thought I'd mention it just in case it helps.
In case you're interested, I opened up my controller and posted some photos in this thread. There's additional photos at the linked Hackaday IO site.

Hello there. I am sorry to read and to know what happened to your DJI FPV's previous flight and thank you for reaching out. Since there was a crash that happened to the said DJI Drone before. It would be best to contact our DJI support team at https://www.dji.com/support for us to be able to assist you further. We have a team that will do there best to assess the said DJI Drone and give out the best resolution for this issue. Again, I am sorry for the trouble and thank you.

In manual mode you need to be careful especially while new and in a panic.  I've never had one issue w/ the DJI FPV not doing what I want it to do or doing what I didn't want it to do.

Manual mode isn't worth flying imo.  Manual mode existed back then because atti mode wasn't good to fly in.  Sports mode is far capable of doing what you want to do in manual mode unless you want to do aerobatics but while learning to get good at aerobatics you will crash.  This is why people use DIY drones to practice and rebuild.  Also spend extensive time in a simulator before going out into the real world.

AntDX316 Posted at 4-19 20:45
In manual mode you need to be careful especially while new and in a panic.  I've never had one issue w/ the DJI FPV not doing what I want it to do or doing what I didn't want it to do.

Manual mode isn't worth flying imo.  Manual mode existed back then because atti mode wasn't good to fly in.  Sports mode is far capable of doing what you want to do in manual mode unless you want to do aerobatics but while learning to get good at aerobatics you will crash.  This is why people use DIY drones to practice and rebuild.  Also spend extensive time in a simulator before going out into the real world.

Well said.    

Duane Degn Posted at 4-19 17:33
"This airdata.com site is so cool! "
I agree. I upgraded to the least expensive paid version so I could get the computed wind data. It's been worth it to me.

I can't imagine how I would have had magnetic interference with the controller.  One of the reasons I asked about radio interference before is because I have a buddy who flys analog FPV on a DIY that quit flying in that park because he said he used to get weird RC and video feed problems there.

I'll check out your thread on the controller breakdown.  Thanks!

AntDX316 Posted at 4-19 20:45
In manual mode you need to be careful especially while new and in a panic.  I've never had one issue w/ the DJI FPV not doing what I want it to do or doing what I didn't want it to do.

Manual mode isn't worth flying imo.  Manual mode existed back then because atti mode wasn't good to fly in.  Sports mode is far capable of doing what you want to do in manual mode unless you want to do aerobatics but while learning to get good at aerobatics you will crash.  This is why people use DIY drones to practice and rebuild.  Also spend extensive time in a simulator before going out into the real world.

I will admit it is possible I did that, but I really don't think so.  I have put many hours into Liftoff using the FPV controller.  Since my phone is an Android, I unfortunately, can't use the DJI simulator.  I will say that Liftoff seems really good!  When I finally did try manual in real life, it flew almost exactly the same.  I will say that I was not prepared for the wind, though.

There is a 3rd party drone in the Steam Workshop that simulates the FPV in Liftoff.  It's pretty awesome.

I'm on the fence if acro mode is worth it or not.  I will agree that sport mode is tons of fun on its own.  This is my first DJI; one of the reasons I finally pulled the trigger is the hybrid of the two drone worlds in this product.  Loving it so far!

AntDX316 Posted at 4-19 20:45
In manual mode you need to be careful especially while new and in a panic.  I've never had one issue w/ the DJI FPV not doing what I want it to do or doing what I didn't want it to do.

Manual mode isn't worth flying imo.  Manual mode existed back then because atti mode wasn't good to fly in.  Sports mode is far capable of doing what you want to do in manual mode unless you want to do aerobatics but while learning to get good at aerobatics you will crash.  This is why people use DIY drones to practice and rebuild.  Also spend extensive time in a simulator before going out into the real world.

I have come from FPV 5" kwads and it's more than capable of doing most things. Not tried to do an inverted yaw spin yet though....Practice is key to getting that all important muscle memory written to the old brain cells. I didn't use sims when I 1st started and it took me 3 months daily practice. It then clicked and the rest is a distant memory. You still make stupid mistakes now and then though. This is what a lot of people flying this rocket just simpy are not doing.....Getting the practice in on the sim if they have never flown FPV before. It's an expensive drone to crash due to impatience people. Not to mention the danger aspect of flying this without knowing A - What's it's capable of and B - Without knowing fully how to fly it.

kdr83 Posted at 4-20 05:00
I can't imagine how I would have had magnetic interference with the controller.  One of the reasons I asked about radio interference before is because I have a buddy who flys analog FPV on a DIY that quit flying in that park because he said he used to get weird RC and video feed problems there.

I'll check out your thread on the controller breakdown.  Thanks!

Yeah, the magnetic interference was a long shot.
While I agree with those saying it's easy to get mixed up when controlling a drone, that video sure doesn't look like it was a mix up on your part. It sure looks like the drone just freaked out on its own.

I'd take the advice of @DJI Stephen and see if the support at DJI have any insight into what happened.

Duane Degn Posted at 4-20 06:47
Yeah, the magnetic interference was a long shot.
While I agree with those saying it's easy to get mixed up when controlling a drone, that video sure doesn't look like it was a mix up on your part. It sure looks like the drone just freaked out on its own.

Yep!  I opened the ticket a little while ago.  I appreciate your time.

I do enterprise WiFi networks for a living.  I have the hardware to do a spectrum analysis for the 2.4 and 5.8GHz space.  Thinking about taking my tools out there to see if anything noteworthy is going on.

kdr83 Posted at 4-20 05:07
I will admit it is possible I did that, but I really don't think so.  I have put many hours into Liftoff using the FPV controller.  Since my phone is an Android, I unfortunately, can't use the DJI simulator.  I will say that Liftoff seems really good!  When I finally did try manual in real life, it flew almost exactly the same.  I will say that I was not prepared for the wind, though.

There is a 3rd party drone in the Steam Workshop that simulates the FPV in Liftoff.  It's pretty awesome.

I've flown with Liftoff w/ my Spektrum DX8 way back when no other simulators existed besides that and RealFlight.

CoreyB10 Posted at 4-20 05:07
I have come from FPV 5" kwads and it's more than capable of doing most things. Not tried to do an inverted yaw spin yet though....Practice is key to getting that all important muscle memory written to the old brain cells. I didn't use sims when I 1st started and it took me 3 months daily practice. It then clicked and the rest is a distant memory. You still make stupid mistakes now and then though. This is what a lot of people flying this rocket just simpy are not doing.....Getting the practice in on the sim if they have never flown FPV before. It's an expensive drone to crash due to impatience people. Not to mention the danger aspect of flying this without knowing A - What's it's capable of and B - Without knowing fully how to fly it.

upload your DJI FPV aerobatic footage

AntDX316 Posted at 4-20 10:41
upload your DJI FPV aerobatic footage

It's up already buddy. New one arriving in a bit