Just scared the hell out of myself!! Help appreciated!

[Xenomorph]

Hey all! Just had an interesting (and frightening) experience! Just have a few questions for those of you who may know what happened.

Ok, so I just took the P4 out back (it's dark in my backyard) to see how the camera/ lights look at night. Prior to going out I attached DJI landing gear to the legs. I've never used landing gear before.

Prior to liftoff I noticed that I received an "Ambient Light too Low" message on the display that disappeared a second after I saw it.

Anyway, while out back flying at extremely low altitudes (10ft) I noticed that the craft would slightly raise and lower itself. Well, with a bit of panic setting in for fear of a fly away I decided to take it down to land. That's when things got hairy! I held down the left stick to slowly lower to the ground for a nice soft landing but just prior to touching the ground the craft began to go up and down about 6" rapidly before finally hitting the ground and shutting down the props.

While looking at the display I noticed that the underside sensor radar signal was red. I noticed that it was also red when it was acting funny both during flight and landing.

Is it possible that the landing gear was causing some interference or could it have been the blackness of my back yard? It's seriously dark out there and I'm wondering if the sensors just saw the blackness as a "repeating pattern". I'm attaching a photo of the red signal that was displayed throughout the flight for your review. Thanks everyone for their help in advance!

I'm running DJI GO4

 

[GrammatonxXXxCleric]

Anything blocking a full view of the bottom positioning sensors will interfere.

 

[Skipholiday]

Can you post a picture of the "DJI landing gear" your talking about?

 

[Xenomorph]

Can you post a picture of the "DJI landing gear" your talking about?

Here's the exact landing gear I attached:

 

[gosports1]

I would think that the 6 inch quickly -up and down would be the air under the aircraft. I notice mine will do this when I try to land and also if there is wind it blows it away from my landing pad ( card table )

 

[Xenomorph]

I would think that the 6 inch quickly -up and down would be the air under the aircraft. I notice mine will do this when I try to land and also if there is wind it blows it away from my landing pad ( card table )

I agree with you that it's very possible that wind could cause the effect. I suspect that it may have been from the sensors though because there was no breeze when I was flying/ landing. Just the odd landing behavior coupled with the strange yo yo behavior leads me to believe it was the sensors.

 

[jiggyb21]

Just throwing it out there but from everything I've read GO 4.0 isn't running very well causing people tons of issues. With a P4 you're not mandated to use it, you can still use V3.

 

[Xenomorph]

Just throwing it out there but from everything I've read GO 4.0 isn't running very well causing people tons of issues. With a P4 you're not mandated to use it, you can still use V3.

Interesting. Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to run some tests today during daylight hours and see if I get the same strange behavior. First I'm going to fly with no landing gear as I've been and then going to attach landing gear. If I don't get any issues then that will narrow it down to either the black ground at night at such low altitudes or maybe even the DJIGO4 app.

 

[Xenomorph]

Ok, so an update.

I just went out back, nice and light out right now with a little bit of overcast but sunny. I first noticed that I didn't get the "ambient light to low" message before takeoff. Also, the sensor radar symbol at the top of the screen was all bars, not red like last nights squirrelly flight. I also did not attach landing gear.

So I took off and did a few laps around the yard with zero problems. No yoyo effect and no up/down shakes while landing. In a bit I'm going to attach the landing gear again and try a flight. If that goes well then maybe it's possible that the back yard being pitch black could have been playing games with the sensors underneath?

But I've seen plenty of night flights. Maybe flying at night is similar to flying over the ocean if the area is not well light and the drone can't detect the ground? I'll update as I experiment.

 

[F3honda4me]

Just throwing it out there but from everything I've read GO 4.0 isn't running very well causing people tons of issues. With a P4 you're not mandated to use it, you can still use V3.

I'd say most users have no problems with GO 4.

 

[jiggyb21]

I'd say most users have no problems with GO 4.

2.9 stars in the play store might say otherwise. I've never seen so many 1 star reviews for an app. I personally haven't used it though. V3 had been fine for me.

 

[tevek]

I use it on an iPhone 6+ and have had no problems at all. As for landing, I hand catch due to the amount of crud on my driveway that flings dirt and small rocks if I try to land on the deck. Day or night.

 

[glen e]

A week with go 4, no problems.....

 

[stones]

I'd bet the "Yoyo" affect was because of the low light condition with the sensors.

 

[Xenomorph]

I,d bet the "Yoyo" affect was because of the low light condition with the sensors.

I suspect you may be right. I flew yesterday in daylight without landing gear and had a flawless flight. I was going to fly today with the landing gear to rule that out but it's raining on the east coast. Maybe I'll get a chance if the sun breaks for a minute. But as far as the DJIGO4 app, I've had zero problems. I'm running on an iPhone 7 Plus.

 

[stones]

I have the polarpro landing gear which look identical to what you posted and have never had a problem as far as flight characteristics.

 

[RW-1]

Low light levels was your culprit, plus what kind of surface were you over when landing?

 

[Xenomorph]

Low light levels was your culprit, plus what kind of surface were you over when landing?

I was attempting to land in my grass backyard. Pitch black back there and some dry leaves scattered around.

 

[jwt873]

While looking at the display I noticed that the underside sensor radar signal was red. I noticed that it was also red when it was acting funny both during flight and landing.

FWIW, That red sensor icon in your screenshot means that your obstacle avoidance is turned off. It's red to remind you to be careful... If you turn OA on, the sensor will change to white.

And yes, some bouncing while landing in the dark is common.

 

[Xenomorph]

FWIW, That red sensor icon in your screenshot means that your obstacle avoidance is turned off. It's red to remind you to be careful... If you turn OA on, the sensor will change to white.

And yes, some bouncing while landing in the dark is common.

Hmmm... that's strange because I never turned it off.

I flew again today in daylight with the landing gear and didn't have any issues at all.