worried about my new spark and loss of GPS

[Virtual1]

I've flown helis for years and last year started getting into quads. I've got two SYMA X10 and one C as well as a hexi and one other larger cheap mav lookalike. Anyway I decided recently I liked it enough to get a better unit, and bought the Spark Fly-More and some other accessories.

Weather's been poor, this was probably NOT a good time of year to buy this but owell. I did get it out yesterday in the park and was happy with its performance. But I've been spending a lot of time on youtube watching all the beginner tip videos and explanations so understand how some of the automatic behaviors work and I don't make a rookie mistake.

So here's my concern: I've ran into several people that have lost (or nearly lost, or damaged) their Spark because it suddenly lost GPS lock and did something both unpredictable and uncontrollable. I hate that idea, of it deciding to slowly commit suicide and there being *nothing* I can do to prevent it. One guy coasted off a bridge and found he didn't have (or just at that moment LOST) his gps lock and it went into OTI mode. Over water. As far as I can tell, if this happens, you are completely screwed unless you jump in the water to catch it because it's now going to try to drop down to 5 (or 30) meters in a place where the ground camera isn't working and can't give an elevation, so it's just going to slowly descend until it's in the water, and DJI is like "too bad!"

Alarmed by this, I looked around and found several other users that had basically the same thing happen... loss of gps and their Spark either accelerated off in some random direction or started to land, and there wasn't a thing they could do to stop it - and either ended up landing in water or crashing into something. The same kind of problems seem to occur for people that have triggered (manually or automatically) RTH. Numerous people are discussing "how to manually get control back" when it's taken over and is headed for disaster, but I wasn't able to find anyone that got a useful answer. (image in my head of Kahn yelling, "Manual override, WHERE IS THE MANUAL OVERRIDE?!" and then he also lost his ship!)

edit: I've also flown indoors a bit and have since read that if my unit suddenly finds a gps lock, and the LOSES it, I'm going to be picking up pieces of my Spark off the floor because again it's going to go full-auto on me and do something it shouldn't that I worry I may be powerless to interrupt. How do I prevent that from happening indoors?

 

[Sparkbart]

So you obviously know who to fly without GPS. That’s all ATTI mode is. Your drone won’t hold position. It’s not going to magically crash or fly away cause its in ATTI mode. I’ve even flown my expensive Inspire in ATTI mode with no issues becaus I know how to fly...

Take those videos with a grain of salt. You don’t know if they did everything right before the flight. You may not know their skill level.

Whether intentional or not, I’ve flown my DJI drones in ATTI mode with ZERO issues... You just have to know how to fly...

 

[Virtual1]

Yes I have no real problems flying without GPS, this is my first quad to HAVE gps. I'm still trying to get completely comfortable flying in other than "tail-in" mode as it's referred to with helicopters. With helis we call it "nose-in" when it's facing you and the sticks are 180 degrees off. It's a bit more dangerous with a flying lawn mower like that if you get nervous its drifting too close to you and you jam the stick forward thinking its going to back off and instead it "comes to try to take your head off".

Anyway, I have very little concern as to my *skill* in controlling it, *so long as I am in control*, and that's what worries me is an unrecoverable LOSS of control. These videos and reports I watched and read were cases where something happened that wasn't anticipated by the user, and the Spark reacted by going into some automatic mode that stole control from the user and began taking actions that were going to crash it. It looks like if your Spark is in OTI mode (or something causes it to suddenly *go* into OTI mode by itself) and it's above water, you have a serious risk because if it fails to detect its elevation (a common issue if you are above water) then it may try to lower itself to a safe height, all while ignoring your sticks. (or is there a way to take back control?) And so being above water if this happens means your Spark may be going for a swim. I want to know how to avoid this problem, or what I can do to salvage the situation should I find myself in it.

There are other times it may do something like this also... lets say I have hit RTH and see that I neglected to set the altitude and it's headed for a tree. Can I take control back so I can just land it where it is before it gets to the tree? Will that also work if I am in RTH due to a battery failsafe?

I'm taking the videos and reports with a grain of salt, but I'm also not going to dismiss them. I just want to know I can grab back control of my Spark if it has gone rogue on me and is going to do something dangerous to others or itself.

While I'd like to be able to fly over water, I can just avoid it for now until I have an answer about how to deal with the OTI monster lurking under the hood.

 

[MAndrews]

All I can add to this is if you are in RTH, yes you can override. Either press the stop or flight cancel button on remote, or pull the sticks the opposite way to flight. More details in the manual. Also even if it's on 1% battery you can keep it in the air with the left stick, but let go and it will descend.

 

[freedomsoftware]

Yes, next time you are flying, hit the RTH button with it semi close to you and try to control it like you normally would. In my experience, when an automatic feature is active it will still attempt to do what it was doing but the controls are still there so you can still tweak its landing or adjust the way its moving.

 

[freedomsoftware]

All I can add to this is if you are in RTH, yes you can override. Either press the stop or flight cancel button on remote, or pull the sticks the opposite way to flight. More details in the manual. Also even if it's on 1% battery you can keep it in the air with the left stick, but let go and it will descend.

This is exactly what happens.