Increase in Spark Fly Aways.......why?

Eljay · Mar 2, 2019

It's remarkable how many people have posts like my drone went into ATTI mode and I pressed RTH and it didn't do anything. Well, yeah.

I've had two scary moments. One was a "flyaway" except I left into the wind so the wind blew it back to me. I'm not sure what happened but watching the video after the drone suddenly lurched and there was a flash of white and it basically fell out of the sky. The wind pushed it back to me and it ended up crashing into some tall grass, no harm done. At the time I thought it was flying under its own power, and only reviewing the video later did I realize it had actually cut its motors.

The other was really weird. Great GPS signal, no problem, wasn't far from me at all and it went into ATTI mode... for maybe six seconds, then boom great signal again. Go figure.

Sparkster Marc · Mar 2, 2019

AlanMS said:
I had a Spark “fly away” recently, not a pleasant experience. In my case the connection between the drone and controller was lost (something that has happened many times and never been an issue as it usually re-establishes connection after a short while or initiates RTH) and never reconnected. In addition to the connection issue there was a simultaneous GPS failure which meant the drone went into ATTI Mode and literally blew away (by this time it was already out of sight). In my case even the best drone pilot in the world would not have been able to steer the drone back (unless there were Superman and could fly up and pluck it out of the sky). I would be interested to know how many others have had this happen?
I have sent the flight logs etc to DJI....I await their feedback.....

What I'm wondering here is you lost connection, but then you said the GPS failed and it went into ATTi mode. I haven't had this happen yet, thank God, but if you still have Atti mode, technically you should be able to control it somewhat. Again, not having this ever happen to me, yet, I can't say that for sure, but I have read where guys have been able to bring it down or home by flying manually. It's rough, but I've heard them say you can. If that's true, you should also check out your little radar circle with the arrow inside, if it still works in atti mode. That could tell you what direction it's pointing to. (at least hypothetically). The other little trick is to note the distance whether it's increasing or decreasing. I wish someone would comment on this about whether you can fly and land in atti mode. Marc.

Sparkster Marc · Mar 2, 2019

AlanMS said:
I had a Spark “fly away” recently, not a pleasant experience. In my case the connection between the drone and controller was lost (something that has happened many times and never been an issue as it usually re-establishes connection after a short while or initiates RTH) and never reconnected. In addition to the connection issue there was a simultaneous GPS failure which meant the drone went into ATTI Mode and literally blew away (by this time it was already out of sight). In my case even the best drone pilot in the world would not have been able to steer the drone back (unless there were Superman and could fly up and pluck it out of the sky). I would be interested to know how many others have had this happen?
I have sent the flight logs etc to DJI....I await their feedback.....

The one other thing I'd like to mention is you might look into a tracking system. I have the Marco Polo and it works pretty good, depending on the terrain your in. Even in bad terrain, people have found their drones, by gridding their site and/or getting higher up to get a better reading. Also, I'm wondering if the "find my drone" feature is available for the Spark. I think I found a you tube where a guy found is Spark that way. Marc.

Eljay · Mar 2, 2019

You can fly it in atti mode. The big problem is that if you can't see it, it's difficult, and if you've never flown a drone in that mode, it's difficult, and if you waste time mashing the return to home button that's bad. And if it's windy you may not have a lot of time until it's blown into something or out of range.

There's another issue which is that sometimes the drone will just stop responding to signals entirely, so there's that. No guarantees.

"find my drone" does work on the spark although again if it doesn't have good GPS that's not going to help if you got blown well off course.

AlanMS · Mar 3, 2019

Was It perhaps not a bird strike that brought your drone down?

JeeHaa · Mar 3, 2019

To sum it up:
- There are many, many Sparks out there!
- Entry level, so more inexperienced pilots
- No redundant HW (compass/gps)
- Relatively unstable wifi connection doesn't help either (although no reason for a flyaway it could increase pilot error)

Spark is still my favorite though (only in FCC mode).

My Self Relief · Mar 3, 2019

In Fcc mode it works. In the other mode its a disaster. [emoji846]

JeeHaa said:
To sum it up:
- There are many, many Sparks out there!
- Entry level, so more inexperienced pilots
- No redundant HW (compass/gps)
- Relatively unstable wifi connection doesn't help either (although no reason for a flyaway it could increase pilot error)

Spark is still my favorite though (in FCC mode).

Chuck Halfacre · Mar 6, 2019

Mark M said:
I've been a Spark owner since May 2018. I have over 15 hours of logged flight time = 950k feet. I follow a detailed pre-flight checklist every time and have had solid performance from the Spark.

I also drop in on this forum occasionally and have noticed what looks like a spike in Fly Aways. Is there a consensus as to what is causing it?

Out of curiosity, I hopped over to the Mavic forums and began digging. In the 25min I spent combing through Mavic Pro / Help discussions, I could not find any mention of Mavic Fly Aways. Am I missing something?

Is this really a Spark specific phenomenon? I don't buy the 'user error' line. I'm thinking there is more to it, DJI may not be fully transparent on this matter.

What your missing is Dji knows about this issue but refuses to do anything about it! Fly a ways happen out of nowhere I still say it's a software issue. My fly away Happened when I had 65 hours in flight I knew right where it was but when I got there it was no where to be found? regardless of some people saying I'm not aloud to fly at the Height I was at there was no reason for the spark to disconnect but it did. It's just a matter of time someone is going to open a law suit against DJI for the fly aways and the way they treat people like there trash. When I was dealing with DJI it was all about when you receive an email and you have to wait 24 to 48 hours before they will do anything then after you wait all that time and you call them to say I never got an email from them they tell you all over when you receive an email from us again you have to wait another 24 to 48 hours! Then whenever you get all past that they start a new line of CRAP your told you will receive another email telling you that you will get an email telling you how to buy another drone at whatever price they want you to pay I got 50% off just so I can wait for there 24 to 48 hours for there email that I'm told it was sent to me 3 time's but I never got! When I did get the link so I could buy a drone it was not the right link. I've keep all the phone calls and all the emails from them to prove all this is true! They also want you to pay with pay pal the reason for that? Ever time you sync you flight log or turn a battery on DJI knows everything we are doing with these drones BUT they have made the spark drone a throw away drone like a disposable camera but more expensive.. I've got all kinds of RC stuff and I have never had an airplane fly away or I have never had my RC cars or my RC truck take off an not be found? So you ask your self why is it that the mavic or there other drones don't fly off and not be found? Because there other drones are more expensive an DJI wants us to buy them along with they don't really have any competition so they can do this and get away with it! I think thats called theft and bait an switch. If any of this is wrong they would tell me to stop saying what I am but they can't because they know I'm right! My to cents