Part 107 UAS pilot reported while ascending they lost control of the UAS. After control was briefly obtained an uncontrollable sink rate caused the UAS to crash.
Synopsis
Part 107 UAS pilot reported while ascending they lost control of the UAS. After control was briefly obtained an uncontrollable sink rate caused the UAS to crash.
Narrative
I had just completed the Scanlink portion of the drone capture so I landed the drone and replaced the battery. After booting the drone back up and reconnecting to RTK (Real Time Kinematic Processing); I switched from the Scanlink to the DJI Pilot 2 App; and took off. At this time the drone was responding to my controls like normal; and I captured the cable run of the tower. Once I was at the top of the tower; I let go of the up stick; but the drone kept going up. Initially there was a gust of strong wind; about 40 mph or so; which may have messed with something. But the drone kept gaining altitude; not responding to any of my actions; the pause button; or RTH. Eventually; once the drone was at nearly 1900 feet in altitude; I switched to Sports mode which did do the trick; and I was able to take manual control of the drone again. The drone began descending; and around 1000 or 1500 feet; I saw the camera POV start spinning. At this point; I had lost visual contact of the drone; so I was only going off the camera POV. I saw a few near-attempts by the drone to re-stabilize mid-fall; but eventually it came back down to Earth; and I was able to recover it. Not sure what caused the sudden ascent or the sudden spiraling to the ground; it's not an abnormally windy day; and the weather is nice.Controller firmware version 02.01.0518Drone firmware version 10.01.0503
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.