UPDATE 02.08.2017:
Today, I received an email from DJI Support that this will be treated as a warranty case and I will receive a Spark Alpine White.
Thanks to DJI Support team for the quick response time!
But, question remains whether it is identified and will be fixed or if this might happen again?
From one second to the next Spark lost GPS signal mid-air: I lost the drone and could not find it. It was drifting away too fast at the altitude. After one minute i lost signal to remote because it was too far away. This has to be a serious bug!
Here is what happend in detail:
Firmware was updated to the latest version. Compass was calibrated.
1. I started the Spark, waited until it got a strong GPS signal, then took off manually and slowly with RC to have it record the Home Point safely.
2. After 23s, when I was hovering at about 5m height - for a split of a second there was one warning: "atti mode" which disappeared immediately and all was green and fine again.
3. I went up to 33m - hovered a bit, to see if all is well.
4. Went then further up to 50m. Halted to check again if all is well.
5. Finally went up to 100m. Turned the Spark slowly around to record the view.
6. Flew then approx. 20m to the front and flew 10m back when it suddenly switched to ATTI mode. Battery was at 71% and the second before it was seeing 15 satellites with very good signal strength. The app showed a warning about magnetic intereference and right after that RTH will pass an NFZ, but actually it was hovering only 5 meters away from Home Point, so there was no point to pass a NFZ which was way farther away. Additionally, together with ATTI mode the app showed a red title bar saying "Aircraft disconnected", but I was still able to see the live preview. At this time I was not sure if it was still reacting to the remote or not.
It started to drift away quite fast. It made 360 meters in 60 seconds. I was going after it and trying to initiate RTH, but this was rejected due to ATTI mode.
At this height it was impossible to see the orientation of the drone and impossible to gain back control. At a distance of approx. 400m I lost signal completely and shortly after this I also lost sight of the Spark. It just flew away with 60% battery at approx. 20 Km/h.
I was already quite cautious and alarmed flying the drone, after reading other reports about it flying away or fall from the sky the days before. This is why (thank goodness) after each flight I copied the videos to the laptop - because I was never sure if the next flight is going to be the last flight. And now, after 4 weeks flying the Spark it happend to me - "Flyaway Spark".
In my opinion something like this should not happen. It had good GPS signal and still it switched to uncontrollable ATTI mode at high altitude.
