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Lost spark

Malc

Well-Known Member
Join
Jan 1, 2019
Messages
51
Age
79
Spark directly overhead at about 90 Mts. Went into attitude mode, tjen said disconnected and cleared off, in spite of correct rth settings. I used lost drone to try and locate it to no avail. Told me last position was about 130mts from home, but after a long search no luck.
 
Seems GPS signal was weak, or the there was compass interference with the vision system unavailable. Was your spark shifting horizontally downwind? Analysis of the data files or cached movie may help to explain the cause of the loss.
 
Sorry. I've lost a few quads, but only recovered a couple. :) Hopefully she turns up OK.
 
Atti mode typically means that there was some GPS error or compass error. The Spark cannot RTH in this mode. As soon as it lost connection with the RC, it would have attempted to auto land. But at 90m altitude, I guess there would have been considerable amount of wind and your Spark would have simply drifted with it till you lost sight of it.
 
How long airborne @Malc ?
It sounds similar is some ways to a compass error (with no error message) causing a flyaway.
Usually home point before take off shows deviation to actual direction, in the air when it tries to correct anomalies, it makes adjusts away from where it's supposed to be / go, the bird flies off.
Haven't read about Sparks doing this, but LOTS of other DJI drones do !!
 
If it dropped into Atti mode then RTH is not available. As mentioned, positioning is also not available and the Spark will drift in the wind which could be substantial at 90m AGL. Directly overhead is a terrible place for the RC to try to stay connected to the aircraft. The only remedy in Atti mode is to control it with the RC which was likely still connected and functioning. Magnetic distortion at the launch point may have played a roll.
Only posting and analysis of the flight logs would give the complete answer.
Sorry for the loss of your Spark, hope you can find it.
 
Searched for a couple of days no luck. As I have a lot invested in a controller and several batteries, plus other accessories I will be on the lookout for a used Spark for sale on its own. I am sure one will turn up, setting a price limit of £250, so see what happens.
 
The same thing just happened to me with my spark also. Was at a state park getting some footage. Out of nowhere it switched to att mode and started saying compass error and took off full speed which said I had a speed of 56 mph. For some reason it did not record home point so when the battery started getting low it just landed. Last glimpse I got was of it landing by a fence 12000 feet away from my location. I used find a drone searched for 4 hours and trust me it was no where even close to the coords it said. Dji would not cover it for a fly away. It's my 3rd spark now with almost everything for it. At the end of my rope with dji on this.
 
The same thing just happened to me with my spark also. Was at a state park getting some footage. Out of nowhere it switched to att mode and started saying compass error and took off full speed which said I had a speed of 56 mph. For some reason it did not record home point so when the battery started getting low it just landed. Last glimpse I got was of it landing by a fence 12000 feet away from my location. I used find a drone searched for 4 hours and trust me it was no where even close to the coords it said. Dji would not cover it for a fly away. It's my 3rd spark now with almost everything for it. At the end of my rope with dji on this.
I wouldn't mind so much if I was trying some huge distance flight but I was in my garden!
 
I think you can probably blame wind gusts at that altitude. Did you check the wind speeds before you went up that high? A sudden strong gust is capable of disrupting the relationship between GPS/Compass/IMU and knocks you into atti mode. Can you upload your flight log here and we can have a look.


We might even be able to tell you where to look ... we'd need the date/time/location as well.
 

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