DJI has dominated consumer drone market some time ago and since then have been a market leader in the consumer drone sector. And for a very valid reason, that is ease of use. Their drones have so many sensors and smart features that anyone can pick one up and learn to fly it in less than an hour.
Typically – they all fly in default “position” mode (among many other modes available), which relies on compass, barometer and GPS. But, at the time of disruption of GPS, compass or barometer reading – they have capability of kicking into more basic modes – ATTI mode being most usable of them all.
What is ATTI mode?
ATTI mode (short for Attitude mode) is a flight mode where the GPS positioning and other visual positioning systems are either not available or disabled. In this mode, the flight has to be done almost completely manually. If the barometer and compass function correctly, it will maintain altitude (although not accurately) and direction, but it will drift with the wind. This means that the drone will not be able to hover without the input from the pilot.
In some DJI drones, especially the older ones or the ones for commercial use, ATTI mode is one of the standard flight modes that pilots can manually switch to. This has been discontinued in consumer and prosumer drones, such as all Mavics – I suppose to prevent “fly aways”. The drone will still switch to ATTI when GPS is weak though, to allow the pilot to, hopefully safely, bring it back.
Why should you learn to fly in ATTI mode
Basically, ATTI mode is the “emergency” mode that gets activated when your drone loses GPS signal. It may happen due to interference, if you fly indoors, under a bridge or in a tunnel. Couple of times I lost GPS flying in mountains. Your drone is still fully responsive and controllable in similar way as any FPV drone. Even though some FPV drones do have GPS, they usually do not use it while flying. This is because FPV flying requires very accurate manual control, and the last thing FPV pilot want is drone readjusting it’s position in middle of a complicated maneuver.
Additionally, many professional filming pilots like to use ATTI mode and let wind carry the drone a little to obtain smooth footage (again – the drone does not adjust it’s position). The pilot will let drone drift only tracking the focal point and reposition when needed. Even if you chose not to fly ATTI for filming, practicing in this mode helps to recover from many otherwise dangerous situations.
How to get ATTI back
Sadly, DJI seem to be oblivious to the fact that some pilots would like at least to practice flying in ATTI mode and does not allow switch to ATTI mode on their consumer/prosumer drones. The safest way to fly in ATTI mode would be to buy an FPV drone or even one of the “toy” drones that often don’t have GPS mode. Alternatively – you could use one of the older DJI drones, such as Phantom models that have ATTI switch on the controller. Phantoms are used in some countries (including South Africa) by fly schools as learning to fly in ATTI mode is a requirement for drone pilot certification.
One other alternative is to “mod” your drone. Modding your drone can be risky and can void your warranty. It involves 3rd party software (one very good one that I know and used is Drone-Hacks. This is well tested, amazing tool that obtains root access to many parameters (not only ATTI mode). The software is safe (it will not damage your drone) but you may need to “flash” your firmware to older version.
Should you mod your drone then?
Modding your drone comes with some risks. First of all, you should be comfortable with installations of software and firmware and understand the parameters that you want to change. Exposure to object programming helps but you do not need to be a programmer. The Drone-Hacks manuals are actually very good and you can get help on drone groups.
There is risk that you may “brick” your drone if installation fails, it’s pretty low though. It can also happen with installation of new DJI firmware, but in such case DJI will help you fix it. You can’t really expect them to do so, if you attempted to hack into parameters they locked…
Bear in mind, that you will void your warranty if you interfere with firmware (although if you are able to roll back, DJI may not be aware). If you choose to force ATTI on your drone, you should also note that your insurance may not pay out as they will most likely examine your drone and controller and are likely to figure out what you did.
Modding your drone is STILL better than covering your drone with tape and aluminium foil to block GPS (yes, I know this hack too!). If you map ATTI to one of your easily accessible switches (I mapped mine to tripod mode) you retain all the normal functionalities of your drone, including obstacle avoidance and return to home. When you need them, you just flip the switch.
WITH ALL THAT IN MIND – HAPPY FLYING! And… always do your pre-flight check!