Mighty is a VIO module which works great indoors and at low altitudes, but VIO struggles once a drone flies too high.

I’m now working on a VPS mode that uses onboard maps to localize using just the camera, without GPS.

The crazy part? All of this runs on a $67 module.

Woke up early Sunday AM and saw a streak of red at the dawn horizon. I had already planned to go out and shoot the fall color at Promontory Point that morning morning, but when I saw that hint of color in the sky, I rushed out in hopes of catching a fire sunrise....it was absolutely spectacular.

Hi,

We are having trouble connecting our simpleRTK3B Pro to a MicoAir H743 V2 flight controller with a 72A stack.

The receiver works in the Septentrio interface and detects satellites. However, MicoAir Configurator does not appear to recognize the GPS and displays “No Fix.”

The simpleRTK3B Pro receives power and is connected to the flight controller’s GPS port. We have checked that the TX and RX wires are connected correctly. The IOREF LED stays blue, and the RTK LED stays red.

We are not using an RTK base station or correction data. We only want to use the receiver as a standard standalone GPS.

If anyone could, please advise which communication protocol, baud rate, and settings are required on both the receiver and the flight controller? Is there any additional configuration needed for this setup?

Sometimes being in the right place at the right time makes all the difference.

I’ve been having some pretty concerning issues with my DJI Phantom 3 Standard over the last few days, and I’ve grounded it for now. I’m hoping someone familiar with older Phantoms can help me figure out what’s happening.

It started during a flight where the battery was extremely low. The rear LEDs were rapidly flashing red and I used the S2 switch sequence. Instead of doing what I expected, the Phantom suddenly climbed to roughly 70 ft and started flying forward pretty fast, generally back toward where I originally took off. I managed to regain control and landed safely.

Since then, I’ve had much more worrying navigation problems:

• P-GPS has switched to ATTI by itself multiple times.
• I’ve received Magnetic/Strong Interference warnings, including outdoors.
• Position hold in P-GPS became noticeably unstable.
• It drifted toward my house and then corrected back.
• During another short test, it started drifting toward a car.
• It also appeared to move left and upward without me deliberately commanding that movement.
• I immediately landed whenever the behavior became abnormal.

Troubleshooting I’ve already done:

• Recalibrated the compass more than once. Unfortunately, position holding actually seemed worse afterward.
• Performed an IMU calibration in DJI GO. The progress jumped from around 20% to approximately 93%, but it reached completion and DJI GO reported the calibration as successful.
• After the IMU calibration, I restarted everything. The aircraft initially displayed ATTI for roughly a minute before eventually changing to P-GPS / Ready to Fly.
• I let it establish GPS before attempting another very short test.
• Even after the successful IMU calibration, the aircraft remained unstable during the test flight.
• I have seen Strong Interference warnings outdoors, not just while testing the Phantom inside.
• I checked the flight battery in DJI GO.

The battery is approximately 9 years old, although DJI GO only reports 16 charge cycles. At approximately 83% charge, DJI GO showed:

• Cell 1: 4.12 V
• Cell 2: 4.12 V
• Cell 3: 4.13 V
• Cell 4: 4.12 V
• Remaining capacity: 3711 mAh
• Reported full capacity: 4472 mAh

The cells therefore appear closely balanced, although I’m still suspicious of the battery simply because of its age.

There was also a separate incident afterward that I want to make completely clear did not cause the original flight problem.

After the final unstable test, I landed, powered the Phantom completely off, and was carrying my equipment inside. I temporarily placed the powered-off aircraft on a car so I could grab everything else first. It fell approximately 5 ft and landed mainly on its shell.

A black aftermarket/add-on piece attached across the landing gear popped off. It appears to be some kind of landing-gear/shock-protection attachment rather than part of the stock gimbal itself. I’m now inspecting the aircraft for cracks, damaged landing gear, loose parts, gimbal damage or anything else caused by that fall.

Again, the Strong Interference warnings, P-GPS → ATTI transitions, poor position hold, and uncommanded drifting were occurring BEFORE the fall.

I’ve now stopped flying it completely.

I’m also trying to retrieve the aircraft DAT logs because I want to see exactly what the flight controller recorded during:

1. The original low-battery ~70 ft climb/fast movement event.
2. The spontaneous P-GPS → ATTI transitions.
3. The Strong Interference warnings.
4. The abnormal drifting and apparent left/up movement.

For experienced Phantom 3 Standard owners, what would you investigate next?

• Compass module or compass wiring?
• GPS module/antenna?
• IMU despite the successful calibration?
• Remote-controller/stick calibration?
• Flight controller?
• Battery voltage sag despite the cells currently appearing balanced?
• Something else I’m overlooking?

Also, does the original low-battery incident where it climbed and headed toward the takeoff area sound like it was actually entering Return-to-Home when I used S2?

And if I manage to obtain the DAT files, which parameters/events should I look at first?

I’m not planning another flight until I understand what’s going on.

Short version: noob with crappy no brand solder. Attempted removal of old wire led to connection breaking off. How can I repair this?

I’m very pleased with the score! I was stressing a bit about the changes that happened yesterday, but if you know how to read the charts you’ll be good.
I had a few, completely new charts that I’ve never seen but also the ones from the booklet - everything imbedded in the question. I still had an access to the paper book. Good luck to everyone with their test!

Shot on my DJI Lito 1

I am currently looking into jobs, and one that keeps coming up is as a pilot and technician on an Aerosonde Flight Crew. I've done some research into it, and the pay usually seems somewhat lower, but still at least acceptable. The drone itself, and it's capabilites seem pretty good, and definitely look like an interesting piece of hardware to work with in the field.

What I'm wondering is if it is a good experience and helpful in building hours and skills that would improve a resume for the future? Does anyone here have experience with the Aerosonde, and if so, who did you work for, and what did you think overall of the platform itself? Is it a good experience?

One week after peek.

I heard that the throttle stick has to be not centered.. but still looking for a final verdict.

Shot on my first trip to Iceland this past Sept.

A Mexican TV host kicks a drone, resulting in a very bad outcome.

I just crashed my mini 5 pro thanks to a electric wire. It fell from 4 meters. It still flies normally: gimbal, camera or other things are intact. However the front part looks just like the photo. How can I fix this? Do you guys recommend anything?

I have a 5 inch quad running Speedybee F405 V4, with ELRS, and a Walksnail Moonlight VTX.  GPS is the NewBee M10 Remote Id unit.  The issue I'm trying to solve is that while I get OSD info in my goggles on battery status etc, I am unable to get any OSD telemetry on GPS data points. 

I am getting GPS info in Betaflight - so Betaflight recognizes the GPS and shows i have GPS locks (12 - 17 satellites, and shows 3D as True.

My build details are as follows:

- I have had a problem in the past with the Moonlight system pulling too much power for the F405 and the regulator goes out. That is the case with the current board as well.  I have circumvented this by powering the board through an external BEC, and powering the VTX directly from the Battery pad on the ESC.

Note - the quad flies perfectly fine, and the VTX is working fine - ie no issues flying FPV with the Moonlight and the Goggles X.

- The F405 V4 is updated through Betaflight to the most recent firmware. During the update, OSD was selected as an option, and Video was selected as Digital.

- The GPS shows a pulsing red light.

My settings are as follows:

Ports Tab:

UART1: MSP on, Peripheral = VTX MSP Displayport. Baud 115200

UART2: Serial RX enabled

UART5: Sensor Input = ESC, Baud rate 57600

UART6: Sensor = GPS, Baud rate 115200

Config Tab:

OSD selected in Other Features.

GPS Tab:

GPS for Nav and telemetry = Checked 

UBLOX protocol

Auto Config & Galileo = Checked

Set home point once = Checked

Signal Info: Shows satellites that have been acquired.

3D Fix = True

OSD Tab:

Data Elements selected that show in OSD tab and in Goggles: Battery Voltage, Batt Avg cell voltage, Flight Mode, Armed/Disarmed

Battery elements that show in OSD tab but not in Goggles: Long/Latitude, GPS sats, home direction...

Note, all the GPS data elements are currently in the middle of the screen, so they are not falling off the edges of the screen.

Active OSD Profile = 1

Font = Default

Video Format = HD

Goggles X OSD display is set to: BTFL

CLI Status command returns following:

GPS:connected, UART6115200(set to115200), configured, version = M10
sats:9,signal:24dBHz,hdop:2.80,vdop:2.80,pos:39.9488187-105.0042234,alt:1599.97m,2026-10-27T16:15:47Z
OSD:MSP (53x20)

Have spent many hours with AI trying to troubleshoot this. Appreciate any help on how to get GPS telemetry data to show up in my goggles...

I'm building a free web tool that decodes Remote ID broadcasts and MAVLink 2 frames.

To test it against real data I'd like:

- Remote ID pcaps or hex dumps, ideally from ArduRemoteID, Dronetag, or a retail drone

- MAVLink 2 .tlog files, especially from vehicles with signing enabled (PX4 or ArduPilot)

Happy to answer questions in the comments.

Enjoying the last warm October days

What software do you all use to enhance your videos before you upload them?

Jupiter Inlet

So, I'm a fan of all things flying and drones. I've designed and built helis, quads, and all that. I say that, to say that I'm not unfamiliar with drone builds, or operational limits and all that.

Having said that, I live in the Houston area. Twice, in the last 10 days, I've seen what appears to be a large drone flying near the IAH airport at a high rate of speed. The first time it happened, it wasn't the best lighting, so my dashcam didn't actually pick up anything of substance. I just saw it again this evening but can't find the vid so far on my dashcam.

What I've seen is:

• A LARGE aircraft, with a 5 or 6 prop setup. It had white lights, but no navigational lights that I could see. But here's the thing, it was flying horizontally, with the props all aligned perpendicular-ish to the ground. And it was MOVING. Well in excess of 100 knots, if I were estimating.
• It was substantial, but with no apparent payload ability. What I mean is, in between all the prop sets, there wasn't anything other than support structure to hold it all together. Like, it was just out looking for a airspeed record or something. lol
• It was just North of Houston proper, along the Hardy Toll Road, near IAH, if anyone wants to look it up.

The first time I saw it, it was just getting light, and I wasn't super sure of what I saw. This time, it was about 2:45 or so, so I could see it clearly. This thing looked BIG for a drone. Like maybe 15-20 foot in 'wingspan'. I'm still digging through my dashcam footage, so hopefully, I'll find it in there somewhere.

Anyway, I was just curious if any of y'all knew what this might be.

Cheers!

I bought my mini 5 pro from DJI USA not realizing it was an aftermarket seller. unfortunately i crashed it right away and broke a gimbal mount.

is the mini 5 pro a real DJI product? Why is it not sold on the DJI website? are there any better alternatives?

thanks for any advice.

Good day!

I doubt something capable of this exists, but looking for a small drone that can fly a pretty programmed path indoors in a fairly small room. The main use is to stream it's video to a streaming platform and tour the room over a set period of time. Following a path with some elevation changes of a few feet.

Is this possible? I've been looking through the reddit and not seen much that fits what I'm aiming for, so open to suggestions.