Attitude Indicator points wrong way on iPad

One advantage of circling for ages in a thermal in a paraglider is you get very used to always knowing where everything is, especially where you are yourself, with a map in front of you that is in a fixed position relative to you.

I would LOVE to do this - but Youtube and my innate fear of dying prevents me from chasing this particular dream… :wink:

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I probably have the same desire not to die. Never an incident (to me - the wing caught over a tree on the Isle of Wight once), nor even the slightest injury - flown in India, Italy, Spain, France, Morocco, Switzerland, Austria.

If I still had my tandem rig I’d love to help you experience it.

As I’ve always said -
…It’s all fun and games - until someone loses a bollock…

They are also intact. :wink:

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And HUGE.
Brave

It’s not scary enough to need any. An amazing lady paraglider pilot, who only started in her late 50s (10 years older than I was at the time) and was WAY more talented and adventurous than me, taught me that.

I always get to know the area I’m flying in - If I’m flying in an unfamiliar area or at the limit of VLOS I, (genuinely), meticulously plan the route I’m going to fly with Google Earth before I get there so I know what’s nearby and at what height.
Recently, mainly after seeing this news story, I’ve also begun tracking aircraft, paying particular attention to low-flying aircraft with no flight plan via Flight-Aware, (helicopters mainly), going so far as to set up my own ADS-B / MLAT tracking station this allows me to see what’s in the air for 10 miles around me at below 500m - LIVE with no delay - this also shows ALL aircraft within range.
No problems so far. :+1:

Wow, phenomenal response guys. Reading them gave me some inspiration for testing.

I have a slim cover on my iPad which I fold back before clamping it the Mavmount and I wondered whether the magnets in the cover were causing the problem. Removed cover, tested again, no joy.

Removed iPad from Mavmount and used a long cable to physically separate it from the controller. No joy.

Tried my iPhone 5S for the first time and the Attitude Indicator (AI) worked perfectly. It works more smoothly and responsively in Aircraft Mode as you swivel and move about but it worked accurately nonetheless. A qualified success, I’ll want to test some more to ensure it’s a robust result.

So, that left me looking suspiciously at the iPad itself. I spent a long time moving around, twisting & turning, different orientations, quitting the app, restarting, plugging & unplugging, etc. Watching the AI whilst doing all that you can see it jump to an incorrect orientation quite at random, and then just as randomly correct during any one of the above-mentioned movements/procedures.

Basically, it works OK when it bloody well feels like it :face_with_symbols_over_mouth::exploding_head:

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Hugely nice bunch on here. Keen to share and help. Also, some incredibly knowledgeable folks with a wealth of information to share. There’s usually not a question someone here can’t answer.

I know it sounds like a stupid question but I’ve got to ask it - Did you do your testing outside - away from sources of magnetic interference? And somewhere with a CLEAR GPS signal?

The problem with the Attitude Indicator can occur in any location; tonight’s testing was done indoors due to it wazzing down outside. Will repeat tomorrow weather permitting.

Any calibrating or testing relating to the compass should be done outside in a reasonably clear space with nothing metallic nearby. You will generally get interference indoors, or next to your house - I’m speaking from experience here. Calibrate your compass in the garden if it’s big enough to be done several meters away from the house or anything metallic.

Calibrate your AC compass, (AirCraft), in the local park away from metal if you get the chance… IMU can be calibrated @home in the kitchen if need be as it’s not affected by magnetic interference.
This advice is based on my own experience - your Mileage May Vary
Cheers,
Dave

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I’ve got the same issue, scouted the web and someone said it was because the phone compass was out, so downloaded a compass calibration app to calibrate the phone, presto it worked, but it did put my mind to rest that the fault wasn’t in the drones compass. I’m using a Samsung A5 and the app is called GPS status, I thought it was the orientation marker

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No, you’re right. I’m pretty sure that unless your iPad is a cellular model, it doesn’t have a gps or a compass!

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Yep, non cellular model.

I knew it had no GPS but wasn’t sure about the compass.

Actually, I just checked it and the iPad pros have a compass - if you launch maps and rotate the iPad Pro, the arrow orientation will change. The older iPads, like my kids’ iPad Airs don’t show an arrow, only a blue dot and that does not change no matter which direction you point!

Hi everyone, I use the iPad mini 4 with a Mavic 2 Zoom and in some locations when using the Go4 app the compass on the attitude radar freezes so you can’t tell which direction the drone is located. The arrow in the middle works ok and it shows how far away it is but because the compass is frozen on the iPad you don’t know which direction the drone is from the home point. The strange thing is it doesn’t freeze until the drone has updated it’s location. I also have Litchi installed and that works fine every time so I’m mainly using Litchi.

Hi. Moved your post offer to this pre-existing thread on the same issue.

Cheers mate, I’ll have a read through that one

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Just been looking through the comments but still can’t figure it out, when I first start everything up the compass is fine but as soon as the drone updates it’s location the compass locks up and the map won’t rotate either. It must be a bug in the Go4 app because Litchi works fine and the map rotates according to which way you turn