The DJI Mavic Air drone has two flight modes you can manually select, plus an additional flight mode the drone will fall back to in certain circumstances. Each of these flight modes affect the drone's behavior and performance. Understanding them can help you select the right mode for the environment you're piloting the drone in and prepare you for potential performance issues or hazardous situations. The three flight modes are:
P-Mode (Positioning): P-Mode is the standard flight mode for the majority of pilots. In this mode, all the sensors on your aircraft are active, including GPS and any available vision sensors. This results in precise hovering of your drone, even if you stop controlling it with the remote control. P-Mode requires a strong GPS signal to function and will disconnect if lost. This mode is best for safe flight and navigating between obstacles. Large stick movements must be made on the remote control to achieve high flight speeds.
S-Mode (Sport): S-Mode is a more advanced mode of flight. In this mode, the drone uses only GPS signal for positioning. While this increases the available speed of your drone, obstacle sensing systems are disabled. As such, the drone is unable to sense and avoid obstacles on its own. S-mode is designed for agility and speed in the air, making it more responsive and sensitive to stick movements. This means a small stick movement on the remote control translates into a large travel distance of the drone. Maximum speed, descent speed and breaking distance are significantly increased. Greater care must be taken when flying in this mode.
A-Mode (ATTI or Attitude): Your drone will enter ATTI Mode when the vision systems are disabled or unavailable and either it loses GPS signal or if there’s compass interference. ATTI mode is designed only to maintain the altitude and attitude of the drone and does not use any GPS or vision systems. Therefore, this allows the drone to drift and move in windy conditions and needs to be carefully controlled manually.
While ATTI Mode is available on all drones, it cannot be manually selected on the Mavic Air.
To select the flight mode you wish to pilot the drone in, slide the flight mode switch in the middle of the remote control to the left for P-mode or to the right for S-mode.
By default, the drone is locked in P-mode regardless of the switch position. To be able to switch between flight modes with the remote control, the Multiple Flight Modes feature needs to be enabled in the DJI GO 4 app. Here's how to do it:
Launch the DJI GO 4 app on your mobile device.
Go into the menu (three dots) in the top right corner.
Then go to the drone tab on the left.
And enable the Multiple Flight Modes option.
4. Restart RC & Drone
To complete the following steps, you will need both your remote control and drone handy.
On the Remote Control
To turn off the remote control, press and release the power button then press it again quickly and hold it until the lights turn off.
To turn it back on, press and release the power button then press it again quickly and hold it until you hear it make the initialization sound.
On the Drone
To turn off the drone, press and release the power button then press it again quickly and hold it until the lights turn off.
To turn it back on, press and release the power button then press it again quickly and hold it until you hear it make the initialization sound.
5. Reseat/Replace Battery
To reseat or replace the battery you have to follow the same steps:
Slide the buckles on the sides of the battery towards the rear of the drone to release it.
Pull the battery downwards to remove it.
Insert the same or replacement battery with the rear end first then snap the end with the contacts into place.
6. Charge Batteries
Plug one end of the charging cable into the battery.
If you have more than one battery, plug them all into the charging hub.
Attach the Micro USB adapter to the provided USB cable.
Plug the small connector of the USB cable into the left side of the remote control.
Connect everything to the charging adapter and plug the adapter into a power outlet.
You will see the lights on the batteries and remote control scrolling until they will turn off meaning they are fully charged.
7. Additional Information
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8. Repair Issues with Your DJI Mavic Air Companion App