Dji Spark went crazy and crashed into the worst possible place

[Den33142]

I moved to a new area a week ago and decided to fly my Spark to look around the area, I have had the Drone for over a year and have never had this problem.

As soon as I took off the Drone started flying by itself at full speed and doing random circular turns all over the place, I tried doing a RTH which did not work, The only thing I could control was the altitude, Eventually it ran out of battery and landed around 6 blocks away.

I used the Find my Drone feature and guess where it landed? In the outside perimiter of a Federal Prison, It landed right on the Fence just outside my reach, I didn't even know there was a prison in the area, I went inside through the visitor area and was able to get the Drone, The officers took pictures of the drones and a copy of my State ID, I don't know if anything will come of this or if I'm in any trouble here, The Drone itself received some damage in the form of a broken propeller and a broken Led cap.

What do you think could have happened, Is there a way I can attach the flight record so you guys can take a look at it?

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

Welcome to the forum... sorry you had a bad experience. Follow the instructions here.... DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help and then paste the resulting URL back here, we can take a look. You leave out a lot of details... were you in ATTI mode all of a sudden, did you take off in an open area clear of metal and strong wifi interference? Did you check Airmap (the app or airmap.com) to see if there were any flight restrictions? Did you check your sensors before taking off? Was it too windy?

I hate to be preachy but you need to pay attention to all of the things I asked above before each and every flight. If you had the Spark for a year, surely you are aware of the safety that needs to be observed?

Anyway, we'd all be glad to help. Gotta keep everyone safe and not hating drones.

 

[Den33142]

Here is the link to the flight record: DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

I do always perform a pre-flight check, The home point had been updated and i had the green light to go, I also looked at the map and did not see any no fly zones around the area.

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

Well, you should have looked at Airmap... https://app.airmap.io/geo?25.618577,-80.408632,12.615781z but thats beside the point of why the spark went nuts... looking harder at your logs now.

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

Okay, in my limited opinion, you were flying in high winds in sport mode near lots of wifi. There are times when flyaways can happen when the GPS and compass get out of sync with each other... looks like this might have been the case. Truly the wildest log I have seen. I am sure some others more knowledgeable will chime in here. When you moved to your new location did you recalibrate the compass? Were you near anything metalic if so?

 

[Den33142]

I never recalibrate the compass and even when going to other states it has never been a problem, This place is only 8 miles from my previous home.

There was nothing Abnormal about the preflight and I was not near anything that would cause any obviouse interference, In fact this place has much less homes/buildings then the last place I lived in.

As stated after the Drone started going haywire the only control I had was altitude, I did not have any directional control whatsoever.

 

[JoeDimwit]

I am pretty sure there are no fly zones around prisons. There may be some sort of jamming device at the prison to keep people from flying contraband into the prison.

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

I am pretty sure there are no fly zones around prisons. There may be some sort of jamming device at the prison to keep people from flying contraband into the prison.

I suspected this too, but here in Canada I dont think we are so intense just yet. However, that is a Federal prison, so must be some hard core nasties in there.... Hopefully some of the deep experoenced bunch will chime in on this one. That log is crazy OMG

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

I never recalibrate the compass and even when going to other states it has never been a problem, This place is only 8 miles from my previous home.

There was nothing Abnormal about the preflight and I was not near anything that would cause any obviouse interference, In fact this place has much less homes/buildings then the last place I lived in.

As stated after the Drone started going haywire the only control I had was altitude, I did not have any directional control whatsoever.

Well, I feel for you, Sparks can really be unpredictable. If it were me I would not fly anywhere around there. Too much warning zone/controlled airspace. I wonder if your controller crapped out in some odd way.

 

[JoeDimwit]

What do you have to do to get put in federal prison in Canada? Make an unsignaled lane change? Spit on the sidewalk? Y’all are too **** nice up there.

 

[Den33142]

You are correct there seems to be a lot more controlled airspace in this area, There is also a medium sized airport about a mile away.

I am definitely not flying around here again, The prison takes up a huge mass of land and it would not be difficult for it to end up inside the property again, At least it landed in the outskirts and not where the inmates are located.

They were definitely not happy about the situation, I didn't think they would make a big deal about it but I guess they thought I had ill intentions or something.

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

You might hear from the FAA. Depends on the judgement of whomever you dealt with most likely. It has been documented that weapons and narcotics have been delivered by drone to correctional facilities, which would be why they would be not happy with you, despite that not being the case in this instance.

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

What do you have to do to get put in federal prison in Canada? Make an unsignaled lane change? Spit on the sidewalk? Y’all are too **** nice up there.

LOL.... Well, sadly we do actually have murderers, rapists, etc. here. (mind you they are polite ) and also those who would fiddle with sovereignty, national security, etc. I think its aligned with the length of sentence, anything under 2 years is non-federal, and whether or not its an indictable offence. Gladly I have never been a guest.

And thank you for asking , LOL

 

[pmshop]

I agree with the assessment of the flight log.
RTH was activated but obviously it didn't know where it was at.
I would say WiFi interferenace got it as well as maybe the Compass going south after a year?
It is possible.
I would turn it in to DJI for full analysis and repair.

And no, that is not the worst place to land - that big house on the hill in DC is

 

[Rendlesham UAP]

I never recalibrate the compass and even when going to other states it has never been a problem, This place is only 8 miles from my previous home.

There was nothing Abnormal about the preflight and I was not near anything that would cause any obviouse interference, In fact this place has much less homes/buildings then the last place I lived in.

As stated after the Drone started going haywire the only control I had was altitude, I did not have any directional control whatsoever.

I did a flight in the UK over the weekend it went fine. I am based in Ireland. GPS took a bit longer to settle down and did not get a calibration request.

Acid test comes in July when I visit Iceland. I would never chance Spark in high winds. Wanted to do some filming over raf Woodbridge which is disused air base. Winds too high over the forest so I decided rapidly that it was a no go.

Hope your Sparky is ok.

 

[Deleted member 16857]

I am pretty sure there are no fly zones around prisons. There may be some sort of jamming device at the prison to keep people from flying contraband into the prison.

BOOM!

 

[Deleted member 16857]

Yeah.. I have to say.. you flew in or very close to a NFZ and your Spark flipped out. That could have been to a couple reasons. Jamming is certainly a possibility. Although, the jammers on the market generally just force drones to land.

Sorry man. Hope you get your drone back and don't get fined. However, there is a strong possibility you're going to get a call from an FAA inspector soon. I definitely would find a new place to fly.

 

[Rendlesham UAP]

Yes, I would think that jamming was probably in operation. Any damage to Sparky ??

 

[JoeDimwit]

You are correct there seems to be a lot more controlled airspace in this area, There is also a medium sized airport about a mile away..

Ok, this actually make more sense to me. If your spark got hit with the radar from the airport, that could have caused it to lose its positioning and possibly even control link. Could have just been overloaded on the radio.

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

A case of Flyer Beware next time.