My last calibration (also my first since this is brand new)was yesterday in a "park like" setting followed by a problem free flight. Today I flew in a large open space without issue before flying at the lake where the problem occurred. Again, I thankfully was able to bring her back safely, I did do another calibration after the error occurred and the following 2 flights were fine. FWIW, all 3 of these locations are within a 5 mile radius.
A near loss of my Inspire 1, advice requested from this forums great members
- Thread starter CCDD
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2014
- Messages
- 1,393
- Reaction score
- 539
I had practically the same thing happen to me tonight with my P3A. The only difference is, I know why I had a compass error- I took off from a sidewalk within a parking lot, chock full of rebar for sure. I have taken off from many different parking lots along the way, but always on the blacktop of the lot itself, never the sidewalks. I honestly don't know what possessed me to do it tonight. To the systems credit, I got the compass error close by and not very high up and very fortunately, before my real lengthy flight mission was begun. I was looking down at my tablet to begin a litchi mission when I heard what sounded like the bird drifting away, and sure enough it was, lol! It was in atti mode with a compass error. Thankfully the winds weren't too strong. I flew it back in and landed and left the area, pissed more than anything. Once I got back to base and took off to fly down the battery, all was well without even needing a compass calibration.
I seem to remember in one of the recent firmware's that DJI made the compass more sensitive, or something to that effect. I hope your new Inspire gives you trouble free flights from now on. The sheer cost of it is why I couldn't be comfortable flying. With this, you gotta spend as much as you can afford to lose. A phantom is the most I'm prepared to take a loss on.
I seem to remember in one of the recent firmware's that DJI made the compass more sensitive, or something to that effect. I hope your new Inspire gives you trouble free flights from now on. The sheer cost of it is why I couldn't be comfortable flying. With this, you gotta spend as much as you can afford to lose. A phantom is the most I'm prepared to take a loss on.
I had something very similar happen a few days ago on P3a.
Once warm up is complete I make a point of checking sensors. Sometimes
I have found the sensor screen with no numbers in it. I have found that restarting the app
and control fixes it. Numbers appear. All is normal.
2 days ago I was flying in a new place and forgot to check the sensors.
I took off and within 100ft had to come back because of compass error and it switched
into ATTI by itself. I managed to get it back and land. Then switched to sensor screen and found it empty. No numbers. Restarted rc and app. Numbers back to normal.
Later checked log in Msinger log viewer and found COMPASS ERROR followed by YAW ERROR.
It also show ATTI MODE..
Ther was no indication of problems on camera screen before takeoff.
It said SAFE TO FLY GPS.
I think it pays to check that sensor screen right before takeoff.
Once warm up is complete I make a point of checking sensors. Sometimes
I have found the sensor screen with no numbers in it. I have found that restarting the app
and control fixes it. Numbers appear. All is normal.
2 days ago I was flying in a new place and forgot to check the sensors.
I took off and within 100ft had to come back because of compass error and it switched
into ATTI by itself. I managed to get it back and land. Then switched to sensor screen and found it empty. No numbers. Restarted rc and app. Numbers back to normal.
Later checked log in Msinger log viewer and found COMPASS ERROR followed by YAW ERROR.
It also show ATTI MODE..
Ther was no indication of problems on camera screen before takeoff.
It said SAFE TO FLY GPS.
I think it pays to check that sensor screen right before takeoff.
Last edited:
alokbhargava
Premium Pilot
Thanks Alok, I appreciate it. What just occurred to me is the fact that it may not have been actually doing a flyaway. It's more likely that it entered into atti mode and the strong winds were just causing it to drift, giving the impression that it was flying on its own. The winds were gusting a bit stronger than I usually fly in.
msinger
Approved Vendor
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2014
- Messages
- 31,960
- Reaction score
- 10,786
- Location
- Harrisburg, PA (US)
- Website
- phantomhelp.com
Your log does show it entered ATTI mode around the time you noticed the problem, so that is certainly a reasonable explanation.
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2016
- Messages
- 1,052
- Reaction score
- 318
- Age
- 39
Looks to me like you lost GPS for a bit, which means you were in atti. There was a decent wind it seems, and without Gps lock the inspire was drifting without your control. Also possibly a bad compass calibration on top of that.
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
Now that you mention it, I had a similar problem on my P3P. I started it up last week as I normally do: phone on main screen, controller on (opens the app), then P3P on, wait for app to show the P3P is available, then press "Camera" and wait for the warmup cycle. When I did, it said the compass was "abnormal" and it wanted a calibration. I didn't think to look at the numbers on the calibration screen, but I realized this was the first time I had forgotten to put my phone in airplane mode. Thinking that could be it (controller/phone were right next to the P3P), I turned everything off and back on and sure enough, everything showed normal. Of course, I recalibrated the compass again just to be sure. But it made me wonder about what sort of interference can cause a compass calibration error and I guess the answer is... just about anything electronic... or metal.
Mike
alokbhargava
Premium Pilot
What could be the reason for loosing GPS lock in that area? Do you fly between high rise buildings? Or did you manually move it to ATTI mode? Was it highly overcast that day?
This area is a small town, no buildings above 4 stories and nothing but homes that surround this lake that I fly at. There is a high school located approx 1000 ft directly behind from where I was standing other than that, only homes that surround the lake, the closest being > 500 ft away and a snack bar and restroom facilities maybe 200 ft from where I was. Perhaps this will never be solved however, I will keep a very close eye when I fly here and may choose to calibrate just before taking off from this location again.
@CCDD I looked at the converted .txt. I didn't see any indications of a compass error that others have been referring to. What I did see was the dreaded "YAW ERROR" that often occurs in flights with incidents that are hard to figure out. In this case the "YAW ERROR" caused the P3 to not trust the GPS info and then switch to ATTI. It was not the case that some compass error caused the switch to ATTI, which then contributed to the YAW ERROR.
For those members tired of seeing my flight controller gives up theory please skip this paragraph
To be brief, the YAW ERROR indicates the flight controller is seeing yaw values it doesn't expect, decides it can't navigate accurately and switches to ATTI mode to let the pilot do the navigating. This can be caused by gusty conditions (as well as other causes) where both wind speed and direction varies. From your description this may have been the case in your flight. Was it also the case when you had the same problem with your P3 at the same location?
I know it's a hassle but I'd really like to look at the .DAT for this flight. If you want to do that you can go here to see how to retrieve the .DAT. It'll be large so you'll have to post it via Dropbox.
For those members tired of seeing my flight controller gives up theory please skip this paragraph
To be brief, the YAW ERROR indicates the flight controller is seeing yaw values it doesn't expect, decides it can't navigate accurately and switches to ATTI mode to let the pilot do the navigating. This can be caused by gusty conditions (as well as other causes) where both wind speed and direction varies. From your description this may have been the case in your flight. Was it also the case when you had the same problem with your P3 at the same location?I know it's a hassle but I'd really like to look at the .DAT for this flight. If you want to do that you can go here to see how to retrieve the .DAT. It'll be large so you'll have to post it via Dropbox.
CCDD... you have a YouTube channel or something? Would love to see some of your Inspire 1 videos.
Mike
Mike
Nothing to show yet Mike, I'll post some as soon as I can.
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2015
- Messages
- 1,617
- Reaction score
- 747
- Age
- 70
I'm not saying it was aliens, but ....
Anyway, I'd try to do what Budwalker suggests and get the .DAT file. This might be a real live bug. Or it could just be the thing got temporarily confused (those alien motherships are really big), it went into ATTI automatically (like it's supposed to), you spent a couple of seconds working the ATTI thing in you mind - if you don't expect or know that the craft is doing that it might take a few secs to look at the screens, the switch position and make sense of what's happening - in the mean time the ol $4000 Inspire is busy cruising on the wind.
Crap like this happens quickly which is why the logs are invaluable.
Anyway, I'd try to do what Budwalker suggests and get the .DAT file. This might be a real live bug. Or it could just be the thing got temporarily confused (those alien motherships are really big), it went into ATTI automatically (like it's supposed to), you spent a couple of seconds working the ATTI thing in you mind - if you don't expect or know that the craft is doing that it might take a few secs to look at the screens, the switch position and make sense of what's happening - in the mean time the ol $4000 Inspire is busy cruising on the wind.
Crap like this happens quickly which is why the logs are invaluable.
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2014
- Messages
- 1,393
- Reaction score
- 539
Very true. When this happened to me last night that was the exact process. I'm looking at the screen, I hear it meandering away with no input from me, look up, flying in atti sailing away, look down and confirm it's atti, look to make sure I didn't switch into atti, fly atti back in whether you like it or not, lol. Atti from a compass error gives you no choice. You better be comfortable keeping control of your bird. I'm not an advanced flyer, but a year in does build up brain skill if you choose to work on it and you can, even in gps mode. I often fly box and figure eight circuits on the final minutes of battery. The simulator is good as well, to at least be familiar with atti mode in wind. Call the simulator crap, but it does at least give you a taste of flying atti at different wind speeds. It's about real flight practice and simulator time to at least expose yourself to the behaviors and how to fly. It can mean the difference between bringing the bird home in one piece or a bunch of pieces. It doesn't have to be a catastrophic fly away to incur huge damage either. It can happen almost right in front of you in a heartbeat. You're either prepared to fly or prepare to spend a lot more money.
Regarding losing the P3, did you retrieve the craft from the water? Another possibility is you lost a prop if it flipped on its way down. If you retrieved it you could eliminate that possibility if all props are intact.
Although startling when it occurred, it does force one to take immediate and proper action to avoid what could've been a very costly mistake, perhaps even worse. Although I've had nearly 150 successful flights with my former Phantom, this was a quick reminder not to ever allow complacency as things can go terribly wrong in just the blink of an eye. I read many posts of members taking high risk flights with their birds that could easily turn out catastrophic with or without a compass error, loss of prop, battery issues etc. Everyone should always fly in a safe manner and avoid distractions otherwise, choose another location or day when one can focus more on what they're doing in the event an emergency does occur causing us to think extremely quickly for taking the most safe actions to remedy the situation.
captainmilehigh
Premium Pilot
Thanks for sharing this experience with us. Scary stuff with an Inspire. Just as a note to this type area, I have flown near a school also, and had compass errors and loss of GPS with ATTI control errors. There are no towers or electronic issues in the area. But there IS a large chain link fence surrounding the area that I speculate has something to do with the funky control issues. So rather than risk a flyaway, I don't fly there anymore. Just a similar problem I thought I'd share.
Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app
Similar threads
