First encounter with the dreaded ATTI mode with my Spark

[windryder]

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Flying my Spark at the local park the other day the Spark went into atti mode. When I launched I was connected using the OTG cable from controller to my iPhone. I had 17 Satellites and hovered until the home point was recorded. There were no power lines around and only a couple of people in the other part of the park. After I made a right turn a second later my Spark took off like it was in sport mode. I heard the voice ATTI MODE! I had been reading the posts on here the night before and all I could think about was watching the drone go farther away and losing it! I tried to control the spark but it would not respond. As you can see in the video it was spinning and heading into the trees! It went into one tree and somehow survived, then it hit or came close to hitting another tree before I was able to get it to go into a low hover. I caught my breath and flew it back to me so I could check for damages! Luckily not a scratch! That was unbelievable since it hit one tree pretty hard.
When it went to ATTI mode I had 19 satellites. I got the weak GPS warning, and then a compass error. The spark traveled 200 + feet when I lost control in a second!
I had flown it in town taking a video of our City Water Tower with no problems just before heading to the park. Now I'm a little weary flying it especially around buildings or anyplace that isn't wide open.

 

[charliespark]

I can not give you an answer just wish my Spark video was that clear/sharp.

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

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Flying my Spark at the local park the other day the Spark went into atti mode. When I launched I was connected using the OTG cable from controller to my iPhone. I had 17 Satellites and hovered until the home point was recorded. There were no power lines around and only a couple of people in the other part of the park. After I made a right turn a second later my Spark took off like it was in sport mode. I heard the voice ATTI MODE! I had been reading the posts on here the night before and all I could think about was watching the drone go farther away and losing it! I tried to control the spark but it would not respond. As you can see in the video it was spinning and heading into the trees! It went into one tree and somehow survived, then it hit or came close to hitting another tree before I was able to get it to go into a low hover. I caught my breath and flew it back to me so I could check for damages! Luckily not a scratch! That was unbelievable since it hit one tree pretty hard.
When it went to ATTI mode I had 19 satellites. I got the weak GPS warning, and then a compass error. The spark traveled 200 + feet when I lost control in a second!
I had flown it in town taking a video of our City Water Tower with no problems just before heading to the park. Now I'm a little weary flying it especially around buildings or anyplace that isn't wide open.

Sorry to hear this... can you share your flight log with us DJI Flight Log Viewer - Phantom Help ? Paste the resulting URL back here and we can see what happened possibly....

 

[graywoulf]

What a ride! I'm glad you regained control and didn't have a fly away. Please do post the flight log. I'm curious as to what happened as well.

 

[ron77584]

My spark also went into atti after compass interference warning at 385 ft in a place I have flown hundreds of times and then drifted for 30 scds before back in gps mode.
I believe I could prevent this from happening by increasing the amount of magnetic interference the spark will accept before it ignores the compass and gps.
It is my understanding that enough mag interference and it ignores or resets gps. I am looking for the parameters to change to prevent it ignoring gps so u can at least see its location and if u cant get it back to you u could at least drop it in altitude and crash knowing its location rather than have it fly away.
any ideas???

 

[Hayuatma]

My spark also went into atti after compass interference warning at 385 ft in a place I have flown hundreds of times and then drifted for 30 scds before back in gps mode.
I believe I could prevent this from happening by increasing the amount of magnetic interference the spark will accept before it ignores the compass and gps.
It is my understanding that enough mag interference and it ignores or resets gps. I am looking for the parameters to change to prevent it ignoring gps so u can at least see its location and if u cant get it back to you u could at least drop it in altitude and crash knowing its location rather than have it fly away.
any ideas???

Mine have intermittent "compass interference" out of the box. In flight, I just make 360 rotation to resolve the issue temporarily. Resolved permanently by compass calibration. I think calibration is just increasing magnetic power threshold, adjusting with local magnetic power.

 

[Gavieboydgi]

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Flying my Spark at the local park the other day the Spark went into atti mode. When I launched I was connected using the OTG cable from controller to my iPhone. I had 17 Satellites and hovered until the home point was recorded. There were no power lines around and only a couple of people in the other part of the park. After I made a right turn a second later my Spark took off like it was in sport mode. I heard the voice ATTI MODE! I had been reading the posts on here the night before and all I could think about was watching the drone go farther away and losing it! I tried to control the spark but it would not respond. As you can see in the video it was spinning and heading into the trees! It went into one tree and somehow survived, then it hit or came close to hitting another tree before I was able to get it to go into a low hover. I caught my breath and flew it back to me so I could check for damages! Luckily not a scratch! That was unbelievable since it hit one tree pretty hard.
When it went to ATTI mode I had 19 satellites. I got the weak GPS warning, and then a compass error. The spark traveled 200 + feet when I lost control in a second!
I had flown it in town taking a video of our City Water Tower with no problems just before heading to the park. Now I'm a little weary flying it especially around buildings or anyplace that isn't wide open.

Had this happen to me the other day in really bad wind so you can imagine how bad mine was and mine stayed in atti mode for ages. Normally what I do as soon as I hear atti mode I rise my altitude straight away and then try and sort control out.
I really think DJI needs to change the lights because in atti mode all the lights turn red so it totally disorientes you straight away you don't know which way is pointing towards you. Anyway glad you survived your first atti mode hahaha I wish DJI would give it as a intelligence mode.

 

[windryder]

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com That is cool that everything is recorded! What does yaw mean?

 

[windryder]

If you watch the video and then look at the red flight path in the log the path doesn't match! On my phone, it shows the actual flight path,

 

[windryder]

So what do we do about this problem? I can't afford to see my Spark just fly away!

 

[ron77584]

we need to prevent atti mode somehow. I think changing the amount of magnetic interference allowed might work, but
I'm not sure what parameter to change.

 

[Haggi]

I have no good answers, sorry

Spark went Atti

 

[windryder]

I wish I had known about this problem before I bought the Spark. I saw one guy on youtube tethered his spark with kite string!
I read this on the DJI forum: Check to see if you have 10 or more satellites
Check GPS signal
Make sure Home point is good
After launch hover at 8' for 20 seconds
Move forward 2'
Hover
Move backwards 2'
Hover
Move left 2'
Hover
Move right 2'
Hover
Move up 2'
Hover
Move down 2'
Hover
Yaw left 2'
Hover
Yaw right
They said this will only take about 2 minutes, and that should keep the Spark from going into ATTI mode and loss of control! I will try this today and see what happens.

 

[windryder]

we need to prevent atti mode somehow. I think changing the amount of magnetic interference allowed might work, but
I'm not sure what parameter to change.

I still don't think that M.I. is our problem! Remember that Earth is magnetic!

 

[ron77584]

I still don't think that M.I. is our problem! Remember that Earth is magnetic!

mag interference or deviation is almost always the reason it goes Atti mode. I think the M.I. detected is probably false or only last a few seconds but when the drone flight software thinks it is experiencing to much interference it ignores the compass and GPS.
I believe it even reboots GPS and all this takes time to come back and get locked on to GPS while the drone drifts with the wind.
Mine certainly didnt exp M.I. at 380 ft alt but it thought it did and was 1/4 mile away in 30 seconds before comp and GPS were functioning again.
There is no reason why it shouldnt keep giving GPS position so you could at least see it on the map. Lots of people are loosing the drone because of the way it handles fdi (fault detection and isolation) of the compass.
Why not have atti mode with GPS and let it ignore only the compass in these situations?
Somebody must know what parameter controls how much magnetic interference is allowed. Increase that allowance or make it wait 5 seconds before it goes atti or prevent it from resetting GPS.

 

[windryder]

I wish I had known about this problem before I bought the Spark. I saw one guy on youtube tethered his spark with kite string!
I read this on the DJI forum: Check to see if you have 10 or more satellites
Check GPS signal
Make sure Home point is good
After launch hover at 8' for 20 seconds
Move forward 2'
Hover
Move backwards 2'
Hover
Move left 2'
Hover
Move right 2'
Hover
Move up 2'
Hover
Move down 2'
Hover
Yaw left 2'
Hover
Yaw right
They said this will only take about 2 minutes, and that should keep the Spark from going into ATTI mode and loss of control! I will try this today and see what happens.

I followed the list today and had no problems! I went through two batteries and never had any glitches. Satellites stayed between 12 and 19, no video lag all went well. I was using the OTG cable with phone in airplane mode and I tried out my range extenders. Will fly again tomorrow to see if this list helps.