Is DJI Avata at Risk of Tumbling?

There is a lot of talk online that DJI Avata falls out of the sky uncontrollably. We want to clarify this here with everything you need to know.

Is DJI Avata at Risk of Tumbling?

DJI Avata is a fantastic FPV drone, the second released by DJI after the utter success of DJI FPV. But DJI Avata is a cinewhoop drone with some reported issues. 

Is DJI Avata at risk of tumbling when flying?

Yes, DJI Avata can effortlessly tumble when taking sharp turns, freestyle, or in high winds, making the drone riskier to fly above the water, far away, aggressively, or in non-favorable weather conditions. 

But why is DJI Avata at risk of tumbling, and what can we do to avoid this issue? But mainly, what is tumbling for an FPV drone? 

How an FPV drone can tumble, detailed.

By tumbling or tumble, we understand the loss of equilibrium mid-air of a drone, in special FPV drones, where the drone loses control and falls uncontrollably toward the ground. 

This can happen for a few reasons, mainly a poor center of gravity and motors/propellers set too low on the drone compared to the weight exercised on top of the drone.

That specific weight cannot be sustained by weaker motors or when flying aggressively, and the drone will lose control.

Imagine a tall truck taking a sharp corner at high speed for better understanding. As we mention here with the drones, this will likely fall on the side or tumble.

But the worst side of a drone tumbling is that restoring it before crashing into the ground is impossible.

It is harder to manually restore a custom FPV drone when tumble as you will fly it in acro mode with no sensing or leveling system enabled.

But with DJI Avata, there’s a chance the internal sensors to restore it before crashing into the ground.

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DJI Avata Tumbling: What do we know?

DJI Avata has the motors set too low on the frame and the battery on top of the frame.

A drone battery, including the DJI Avata’s one, is heavy. 

Just by following the basic logic here, we are dealing with a bad center of gravity. 

Avata may and can typically fly with no issues. 

But if you take a sharp corner (as in the example of the truck), is high wind, and so on, the DJI Avata can tumble and lose control.

Before this happens, the motors will always try to stabilize the drone.

This is because the internal components and sensors are always actively sensing this issue, which is probably well-known by DJI about Avata.

And because of the quick response time, the DJI Avata’s motors will restore the drone before it is flipped over.

But this will be problematic if, for instance, we freestyle with the DJI Avata.

Moreover, DJI Avata’s motors are pretty weak compared to many FPV drones, thus limiting its own power to stabilize.

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What are the factors to contribute to DJI Avata tumbling?

Quite a few factors can contribute to the tumbling issue of the DJI Avata.

Flying the DJI Avata in high winds

This is one of the main factors that can contribute to the DJI Avata tumbling. 

Although the drone is level 5 wind resistance, it will not stand at high winds and in special wind gusts or strong currents.

And contributing to an aggressive type of flying and some other factors, you can nearly guarantee that the DJI Avata will tumble at risk of being unable to self-recover.

» Related: What is the DJI Avata Wind Resistance?

Taking sharp turns with the DJI Avata

When taking sudden turns with the DJI Avata, the drone will likely not drift as an FPV drone should, but it will flip over because of the bad center of gravity. 

I often love my FPV drones to drift when taking aggressive turns, as it is normal with an FPV drone. But Avata is unable to do that same as other FPV drones; beware!

Therefore, once more, taking sharp turns with the DJI Avata increases the risk of tumbling and crashing. 

Normally, the drone will attempt to stabilize itself. But don’t rely on that.

Putting a load on top of Avata (GoPro) 

Putting a GoPro on the top of DJI Avata drastically increases the chance for the drone to tumble and irrecoverably crash.

You simply changed Avata’s center of gravity from bad to worse.

To do the opposite and place a GoPro below avata is simply not possible, though this may, in fact, stabilize the tumbling issue a bit more. 

But anyway, beware if you intend to place a GoPro on top of Avata, as you will likely crash it by tumbling over the drone.

Read 27 FPV Tips to Know if you want to get a few extra FPV tips

What are the reasons DJI Avata tumble?

Bad center of gravity: This is the main issue reflecting the current motor’s placement and the battery on top of the frame. The center of gravity for Avata is way above the motors and propellers, hence the risk of losing control.

It is a cinewhoop, the drone’s aerodynamic: The second reason DJI Avata may tumble is as well related to the simple fact that it is… a cinewhoop drone.

Often, cinewhoop drones have issues with tumbling. The aerodynamics of a Cinewhoop drone, also of the Avata, creates a lot of air friction with the duct guards and frame, but it is not the main reason.

But Avata’s aerodynamics contributes a lot more. The air friction with the frame and battery is too heavy, and flying at high speeds and taking sharp turns will instantly flip the drone over uncontrollably.

How to reduce the risk of tumbling when flying DJI Avata?

There are a few steps you can do to reduce the risk of tumbling for your DJI Avata:

  • Fly smoothly – stop taking sharp turns with the drone and take smooth ones where the drone, although will a bad gravity center and a lot of air friction, will continue to fly stable.
  • Don’t freestyle – it is difficult to hear these words, but no, DJI Avata was not made to freestyle, and in doing so, you will risk tumbling the drone. You can do instead slow, controllable, less risky flips, but it’s all related to how aggressively or not you control the drone
  • Don’t add anything on top of the drone – we already talked earlier about not adding a GoPro on top of the DJI Avata, but yes, don’t add any weight on the top of the drone.
  • Fly at lower speeds – This will ensure not much air friction will happen when taking sharp turns with your DJI Avata and reduce the risk of tumbling
  • Don’t fly in high winds – Flying your DJI Avata in high winds will almost guarantee that the drone will tumble, and flying it aggressively will guarantee it.

Is there anything else to know about DJI Avata tumbling? 

  • The DJI Avata was created to fly smoothly, at lower speeds, indoors, and close to people. It was not created to freestyle or fly very long ranges, at high speeds, or aggressively. For that, we have the DJI FPV drone. What is the DJI FPV drone wind resistance?
  • As many will consider the risk of tumbling a fault for DJI Avata, flying the drone as it is supposed to be flown will eliminate this risk. In the end, don’t forget, Avata is a cinewhoop drone.
  • This risk of tumbling is drastically increased if DJI Avata is flown in manual acro style. Flying in normal mode, you are almost safe, whereas sport mode is a risk but not compared to manual mode.
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