Sunset and other things

[Northwood Mediaworks]

So, many little cool things went on with Spark and me this weekend. First the flight tonight, decided to take it up and hover whilst the sun dipped below the horizon... Have to process the video still, and will upload once I am not on satellite internet. Here's a frame grab....



Next on the list, I ordered a few things last week, such as the parabolic range extenders, a tablet holder, and an OTG cable for my Android tablet. So far I have only flown iOS. But I wanted to see if my old Tab 4 could cut it with DJI Go4... seems to have worked, but in bright sunlight, going to need the hood. I was a little nervous about flying with the Android version... but so far, so good. Next thing is my neighbor to the north gave me permission to fly over and perhaps get him some photos of areas on his property he has not been too for a long time. He and his wife are both cancer survivors, and cant get around like they used to. Of course I am happy to help. They talked about a pond or two at the back of their land.. this morning I took a flight over, but went a little off course... I know where to go next. ( hopefully Sunday morning). Here's a grab from that video...



His property us much flatter than ours... so refreshing to get to fly somewhere new without concerns.

Will post my sunset video early next week. Cheers to all. R

 

[graywoulf]

Great sunset picture! Nice that your neighbors do not mind your flying there but it sounds like a mutually beneficial agreement. Looks like their pond is a bit bigger than your beaver pond. I'm glad that you have gotten positive results with your Tab 4. I might try my Lenovo 10" tablet now.

 

[pmshop]

Awesome shots!

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

Thanks fellas. I went out this morning and did some more exploratory flights in that direction, but it was just a little too windy for me to feel comfortable pushing father than I did. I have permission to take the ATV out to the middle of his property, I can easily cover the 200 acres from a central point ... just got to wait for the right perfect weather.

On another note, I had my first ATTI mode experience this morning. First, I accidentally snapped one of my landing gear legs, so now have to order something new. I use them to keep from getting Gimbal overloads... my tile is velcro-ed to the battery at the back of the bird, so it wont sit flat now. Well, no problem I thought, I will hand launch... done it a few times before, no sweat. However, (and this is 100% stupid pilot error) Whilst I was fiddling with the controller, I set the Spark down, while it was running, on the top of our old dug well head (you can see it near my barn in many of my videos) and it has some metal handles and rebar within its cover... So, when I picked up the Spark to hand launch, I checked the sensors, the compass was fine, but the IMU said it was "moving" and could not give a reading. I was holding it really still... I had 16 sats.... so, I thought I would go up anyway, thankfully I chose to fly out over one of my open fields... about 30 meters out, it started to wobble and act really strange, then bingo... the controller said "Atti Mode"... it was pretty windy, I was only up about 4 meters... so I was easily able to bring it back and hand land it. I admit, my heart raced a little.

Moved well away from all structures, and found a way to prop it up on the ground. repeated my pre-flight checks, all seemed normal, and I went for a careful test flight, about 8 minutes worth.. like normal again.

So back to Amazon.ca I go... might try a different style of legs.... I found that they do reduce overall flight time, when added to the tile and battery clip I am already carrying... so sometimes I take them off, and of course for transport.

Thats it for my flying this weekend, looking forward to reading about and seeing everyone else's.

Cheers

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

Here's the flight log from the ATTI experience.... DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

All comments welcome.

 

[pmshop]

Be careful, you are starting to get that inflight YAW issue.

About the log viewer:
I think the new graphical representation of the artificial horizon may not be ready for prime time.
Just looked through one of my files and it said I was at a 90° to the ground on several occasions

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

Be careful, you are starting to get that inflight YAW issue.

Are you suggesting that there is some sort of deterioration going on, or is it just a one off scenario I should not forget. I have never seen this happen before but I attribute it to my own error, should I be looking deeper? It was too windy this weekend really, but I had to scratch the itch!

 

[pmshop]

Are you suggesting that there is some sort of deterioration going on, or is it just a one off scenario I should not forget. I have never seen this happen before but I attribute it to my own error, should I be looking deeper? It was too windy this weekend really, but I had to scratch the itch!

It is the onset of bigger issues ahead.
Starts with Yaw error then goes to one of the following: Compass error and/or IMU error
Then ends in an uncontrolled aircraft.
Not sure what causes it but look up all the entries to YAW Error.
A lot of them an 99% of the un-recovered fly-aways are being COVERED by DJI warranty

 

[Poletramp]

I know this YAW problem is a reality but is it widespread or is just a bad batch of drones that DJI won't admit to. Its kinda making me want to abandon Mods and Litchi . BTW Litchi is awesome.

 

[pmshop]

I know this YAW problem is a reality but is it widespread or is just a bad batch of drones that DJI won't admit to. Its kinda making me want to abandon Mods and Litchi . BTW Litchi is awesome.

MODS and Litchi are not the cause.

This includes straight off the line, new Sparks and untouched DJI GO 4
And I share your belief, but together - a wide spread bad batch that DJI will not admit to.

I do not have these issues with pre '18 March New & pre '18 May refurbished models for me personally.