So this just happened......NFZ Forced Landing

[bkushner]

Well,,guess what? This just happened again...First off I went to the DJI site and it's not showing the NFZ anymore, also yesterday I received permission to enter the temp nfz....did the same mission today and the bird stopped in almost the EXACT SPOT as the other day. This time I raced to the location and found the bird hovering. Couple of things. It was slightly off course from the waypoint mission, it had dropped from 300 feet to 65 feet and I could not control the bird at all. Nothing I did worked although I had 100% connection. I even made sure mission was ended. As a last ditch effort I hit the RTH and that worked, the bird started to fly. I ended RTH and flew the bird to me on the side of the road near the field. Here is a map...can anyone surmise what might be happened here. I'm almost sure this is NOT a NFZ and plus I had cleared the zone. Also there was no warning on screen. It's just stopping dead at 300 feet, dropping to 65 and hovering..I've flown this same Waypoint mission many times before with no problem.

 

[With The Birds]

You should expect the same thing will happen if you attempt this again. You are 2/2 now. Probability 100%.

 

[bkushner]

Yes but surely I'd like to find out what is causing this since it could happen anywhere any time...

 

[JonEQuest]

I just had something similar happen to me today. I live in New Orleans and flew over the Superdome a few months ago but had interference that day so I did not get good footage. I go back out today to fly. Fire up my bird, waited for GPS lock, then start flying to the EMPTY dome stadium. All of a sudden I get a NFZ warning that says "landing now". I had to fight the DJI GO app and keep my stick up and try to return home. I even had my return to home set at a high altitude but DJI already had me at low altitude and would not let me gain altitude so I had to fly back blind using the map hoping I would not hit the buildings and other stuff it was behind now. It was scary as hell and I just cleared a warehouse on my return flight. RTH was ignored. Then after landing I turned it back on with Litchi to see what they said about the NFZ zone. There was NO indication of any NFZ zone but the notors would never turn on. That is fine. The thing that sucks is that DJI GO let me take off and let me get into the NFZ zone, then tried to land me in a bad area that could have made me lose my drone, crash into somthing, etc.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[With The Birds]

Yes but surely I'd like to find out what is causing this since it could happen anywhere any time...

The cause, according to Litchi, is that the SDK doesn't support the NFZ implementation well and there are bugs In the firmware (DJI) with NFZ reporting to third party apps. It is discussed on the Litchi facebook page.

So.... There are issues, as you have demonstrated. Until such time as the issues are resolved it would seem sensible to avoid sending your AC on LCMC missions other than in areas where an unscheduled decent is unlikely to cause harm to life or property.

 

[bkushner]

The cause, according to Litchi, is that the SDK doesn't support the NFZ implementation well and there are bugs In the firmware (DJI) with NFZ reporting to third party apps. It is discussed on the Litchi facebook page.

So.... There are issues, as you have demonstrated. Until such time as the issues are resolved it would seem sensible to avoid sending your AC on LCMC missions other than in areas where an unscheduled decent is unlikely to cause harm to life or property.

For what it's worth the NFZ was gone. Secondly I don't think this is a NFZ because it doesn't land. Posting a video soon you can see what it does. That's not NFZ behavior I don't believe.

 

[bkushner]

In the video you will see the P4 flying along the mission normally, then it stops, immediately drops from 300 feet to 65 feet, hovers for a minute then slowly drifts to the right about a block, block and a half where it sits and hovers again at 65 feet. I arrive (I'm on the ramp to the bridge), I make contact with the bird, take it out of waypoint into FPV but have ZERO control, you will see the camera jolting right and left as I try everything to move the bird, it just remained hovering. Last ditch effort I hit the RTH button and bird turns, raises to the 100 feet I have it set and begins to fly back to home. I intervene and fly the bird over to where I was on the highway.

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[With The Birds]

For what it's worth the NFZ was gone. Secondly I don't think this is a NFZ because it doesn't land. Posting a video soon you can see what it does. That's not NFZ behavior I don't believe.

Whether you think the NFZ is gone or perhaps should exist at all is irrelevant. Litchi has revealed that there are issues with the current DJI firmware and the SDK that make NFZ reporting and AC behaviour, with the litchi app, unpredictable.

Anyway, you have posted in Litchi's facebook page so hopefully you will get some form of clarification from them.

In the interim night flights over populous areas outside VLOS are risky enough at the best of times. I would seriously consider whether you want to continue attempting this with LCMC given you are aware of the issues.

 

[bkushner]

I'm obviously not going to continue. I only flew tonight because I thought I had the issue cleared up. But if this was an NFZ it would have landed..Not hovered. Litchi needs to get a handle on this before selling software that you are telling me now doesn't work so well. In my previous messages to them they claimed no responsibility for this happening.

 

[auen1]

It may not a Litchi issue.
I had a similar problem last night with Go

Drone was 1/4 mile away, VLOS.
I lost all control and video feed.
Reviewing the drone video, the drone stopped, turned both ways, looking around, gained alt. and then flew in a different direction for a few hundred feet.
Dam near ran into something....

Finally, RTH kicked in.

 

[With The Birds]

I'm obviously not going to continue. I only flew tonight because I thought I had the issue cleared up. But if this was an NFZ it would have landed..Not hovered. Litchi needs to get a handle on this before selling software that you are telling me now doesn't work so well. In my previous messages to them they claimed no responsibility for this happening.

They (litchi) told you their recent software updates where mainly UI related and unlikely to have impacted NFZ behaviour. They have also made it clear, in responses to other users, they are aware of firmware and SDK issues preceding the last update that it seems, from your recent experiences, remain with respect to NFZ reporting and behaviour when entering an NFZ. You are entitled to believe your problem is NFZ related in some way as on the earlier occasion you had an incident at the same spot you were prompted, by the Litchi APP, to enter you CC details to proceed into the NFZ.

Hopefully DJI will release a FW/SDK update to resolve the issue.

 

[bkushner]

I'm not sure it's Litchi either but I ran the same mission hours before the first fail, only thing that changed was the new Litchi update that came out.

 

[SoCalDude]

Wait!? You're flying in U.S. national airspace at night *and* outside your visual line of sight?

Do you have an FAA waiver for doing both of those?

 

[bkushner]

They (litchi) told you their recent software updates where mainly UI related and unlikely to have impacted NFZ behaviour. They also made it clear they were aware of firmware and SDK issues preceding the last update that remained with respect to NFZ reporting and behaviour when entering an NFZ. You are entitled to believe your problem is NFZ related in some way as on the earlier occasion you had an incident at the same spot you were prompted, by the Litchi APP, to enter you CC details to proceed into the NFZ.

Hopefully DJI will release a FW/SDK update to resolve the issue.

They (litchi) told you their recent software updates where mainly UI related and unlikely to have impacted NFZ behaviour. They also made it clear they were aware of firmware and SDK issues preceding the last update that remained with respect to NFZ reporting and behaviour when entering an NFZ. You are entitled to believe your problem is NFZ related in some way as on the earlier occasion you had an incident at the same spot you were prompted, by the Litchi APP, to enter you CC details to proceed into the NFZ.

Where does Litchi discuss the SDK issues? They didn't respond to me with that information.

 

[With The Birds]

Indeed you are correct, my apologies. I have edited my post accordingly.

 

[auen1]

Honestly, last weeks internet attack may have something to do with it.
I think the DDoS attack was a diversion from the real attack.

In any case, our drones and our tablets could have been affected.
As well as DJI's site.
All my devices have been wonky and some websites I visit have been shut down.
Google servers went down here and else where, yesterday.
Today, one of Stanford University sites, F@H, is causing BSOD's and other problems on many peoples computers.
Including mine. (My computer crunches numbers for scientific research.)

Wearing my tin hat, but I think many people are infected and the attack is still on.

 

[Mark The Droner]

I just had something similar happen to me today. I live in New Orleans and flew over the Superdome a few months ago but had interference that day so I did not get good footage. I go back out today to fly. Fire up my bird, waited for GPS lock, then start flying to the EMPTY dome stadium. All of a sudden I get a NFZ warning that says "landing now". ...

My understanding is, stadiums are "special areas" which require permission to fly over.

DJI - Fly Safe: No Fly Zones

And then there's this...

Fly with caution: DJI increasing restrictions on where customers can fly their drones

 

[BigAl07]

Honestly, last weeks internet attack may have something to do with it.
I think the DDoS attack was a diversion from the real attack.

In any case, our drones and our tablets could have been affected.
As well as DJI's site.
All my devices have been wonky and some websites I visit have been shut down.
Google servers went down here and else where, yesterday.
Today, one of Stanford University sites, F@H, is causing BSOD's and other problems on many peoples computers.
Including mine. (My computer crunches numbers for scientific research.)

Wearing my tin hat, but I think many people are infected and the attack is still on.

Did I read that correctly... F@H? That's awesome I used to participate in that project. I had almost 50 computers "folding" for them at one time LOL! I had actually forgotten about that project until I saw your post.

 

[bkushner]

My understanding is, stadiums are "special areas" which require permission to fly over.

DJI - Fly Safe: No Fly Zones

And then there's this...

Fly with caution: DJI increasing restrictions on where customers can fly their drones

I went online and cleared the area on the DJI site..it was I was good to go..also I was going no where near the stadium.. I would be 2 miles away at least.

 

[mmtphoto]

I went online and cleared the area on the DJI site..it was I was good to go..also I was going no where near the stadium.. I would be 2 miles away at least.

Just me, but you're flying outside of VLOS, at night, and I could be wrong but aren't you within 5 miles of Philadelphia International Airport? I'd like to enjoy my drone, hope you can stay out of the news.