Fly aways

[Droneman Dan]

Hello everyone. Im rather new at this. I may have 5 hours of flight time with my new drone. Its the X-Star premium. Ive experienced two fly aways with one ending in a crash. The warning about magnetic anomalies came on and then it read, ATTI mode will soon be activated. Im a little unnerved now about flying my drone. Has this happened to anyone and is there a way I can keep that from happening. Thanks guys

 

[Jagerbomb52]

It could be the environment you are flying in, or it could be hardware related. Hard to tell.
Are both fly a ways as you put them in the same location?
Is there a lot of Wi-Fi in the area?
What firmware are you on?
Have you done a compass calibration?
I would say your first step would be talking to Autel customer support.

 

[ORANGE CRUSH]

Hello Droneman Dan, I had the same thing happen to me a year ago on my first day of flying over a school. I believe that the metal from a/c units on the roof caused this to happen, They (drones) do not like being on top of metal in Gps mode. I have only had this happen the one time,. I have changed my flying habits to flying at a higher altitudes (at least 200 ft.) and in more open spaces. Where were you flying at the time this happened? Altitude? The information you supply may help assist with your problem

 

[AutelToronto]

Change locations and beware of man made areas that are also full of steel scrap from buildings etc. I also never fly with my car key fob in my pocket. Always caused magnetic interference.
Always set your RTH altitude to be sure your going to clear obstacles should it decide to kick in. But having said all this the new beta release has solved the magnetic interference issues i dealt with for a year plus.
If you experienced ATTI kicking in it sounds like you could be flying in built up areas, for instance around/near tall buildings, condos etc. where the satellite signals are going to be all over the place, you could have 18 and then seconds later 9 and that will go ATTI mode. Watch your satellite count when flying and stay at least above 10. Get out in an open area with no obstacles and gain your confidence back.

Number 3 on the list of updates in Beta Firmware

3. Optimized compass algorithm. Fixed crash issue caused by magnetic interference/compass abnormal.

 

[Droneman Dan]

Thanks for the replies. I was flying over a school also at approx 50ft. when the worst fly away happened. The other time was minor and very quick. That was in between two houses in a vacant lot. Can anyone answer this question, If I experience erratic/ or fly away behavior can I over come it by switching to ATTI mode manually?? Also I have the latest BETA firmware.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Both times it sounds like you lost good GPS signal which should have automatically switch you to ATTI mode but yes if it did not switching it yourself you can regain control by switching yourself.. This is the reason we should practice ATTI mode to get comfortable flying it that way. When I started flying quads 4 years ago all I used was quads with no GPS. You learn how to fly using them or learned to climb trees to recover them LOL

 

[AutelToronto]

Thanks for the replies. I was flying over a school also at approx 50ft. when the worst fly away happened. The other time was minor and very quick. That was in between two houses in a vacant lot. Can anyone answer this question, If I experience erratic/ or fly away behavior can I over come it by switching to ATTI mode manually?? Also I have the latest BETA firmware.

I've experienced the same issue with flying around my own back yard. In GPS mode and you have to watch the satellites all the time. If you are not multi tasking and watching everything in GPS your going to have issues. I went from 15 to 4 satellites so quickly it was very hard to take over control in ATTI mode. Best advise anyone could offer is practice in ATTI mode away from any buildings and trees. You could have 10 satellites and only 5 good ones. Anything under 9 and you won't have GPS.

 

[Droneman Dan]

Thank you for the advice. I found out that you cant just switch to ATTI mode from the radio controller. You have to enable it in the Starlink app. first

 

[bjtap]

AutelToronto:
You stated " Anything under 9 and you won't have GPS". This actually got me very concerned so I went to Autel's website and found the following:
What is Failsafe mode and what are my panic buttons?
Failsafe mode helps your X‑Star automatically return home or land on site when necessary.

If radio communication is lost

• Failsafe will be triggered after five seconds when the communication between your aircraft and remote controller is lost.
• If GPS is available when Failsafe is activated, the aircraft will start the Go Home procedure automatically.
• If GPS is unavailable (meaning less than six satellites are found) when Failsafe is activated, the aircraft will hover for 10 seconds. If six or more satellites are found during this period, the aircraft will start the Go Home procedure; otherwise, the aircraft will land onsite.

I take from this that 6 satellites are necessary for GPS on the XSP, at least for Go Home procedure... but I sure would be concerned with that low of a number. I wonder what would happen if one was flying with only 6 good satellite connections.?

 

[AutelToronto]

AutelToronto:
You stated " Anything under 9 and you won't have GPS". This actually got me very concerned so I went to Autel's website and found the following:
What is Failsafe mode and what are my panic buttons?
Failsafe mode helps your X‑Star automatically return home or land on site when necessary.

If radio communication is lost

• Failsafe will be triggered after five seconds when the communication between your aircraft and remote controller is lost.
• If GPS is available when Failsafe is activated, the aircraft will start the Go Home procedure automatically.
• If GPS is unavailable (meaning less than six satellites are found) when Failsafe is activated, the aircraft will hover for 10 seconds. If six or more satellites are found during this period, the aircraft will start the Go Home procedure; otherwise, the aircraft will land onsite.

I take from this that 6 satellites are necessary for GPS on the XSP, at least for Go Home procedure... but I sure would be concerned with that low of a number. I wonder what would happen if one was flying with only 6 good satellite connections.?

Well having 6 and and they state 6 needed. But what if you only actually have say 3 good ones out of the 6. I said 9 because that was from my experience in the past with the same issues Droneman Dan mentioned. On more than one occasion in GPS mode with 9 or 8 satellites and it switched to ATTI mode without notice. No return to home. But having said that everyone's flying areas are different. Droneman Dan was flying between homes and I was flying near buildings. So i'm very hesitant on any GPS flying when i have a low count. I wouldn't even think of trying at 6 or even 7 satellites. I'm in ATTI mode under 10 always. And a lot can go wrong in 5 seconds so i wouldn't rely on thinking your safe at 6.

 

[bjtap]

AutelToronto,
Great information. I wonder how that all translates with the new beta firmware. From what I read, the beta firmware does not pick up as many satellites as before. Does that change the 'formula' at all?

 

[AutelToronto]

AutelToronto,
Great information. I wonder how that all translates with the new beta firmware. From what I read, the beta firmware does not pick up as many satellites as before. Does that change the 'formula' at all?

Not sure. I'm running beta firmware and don't see any change in the satellite numbers. At worst i see 12 and max i see 19. But this is open land, no buildings or objects around me lately.

 

[AutelToronto]

@bjtap

Interesting information about the beta firmware. Just asked a firmware beta tester and he says
Less show. It's because it only shows those with good signal, not every one it sees. Guess I'll be watching more often now and see what my max is in different areas.

 

[bjtap]

Again AutelToronto,
Some very interesting, and I suspect, important information. Thanks

 

[AutelToronto]

Again AutelToronto,
Some very interesting, and I suspect, important information. Thanks

We learn something new each day