107 exam question: "flyaways"

[skyeboysteve]

This is the only question I got wrong on this last 60 question practice test, but I was kind of surprised that the FAA seemed to have reached a consensus on what the common cause for flyaways were. Granted, their answer is probably better for drones in general (which of course the test is about)--since not everyone is using digitally keyed signals like us Phantom pilots; where a jamming signal is only going to send our Phantom home (assuming GPS is locked and accurate). However, I've heard more theories that many flyaways are caused by corrupted GPS data streams.

I haven't found any "official" information in the FAA study guide or their online course for current 61 pilots regarding this question. In fact I'm finding half the questions in these practice tests aren't covered by either source.


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[Meta4]

This is the only question I got wrong on this last 60 question practice test, but I was kind of surprised that the FAA seemed to have reached a consensus on what the common cause for flyaways were. Granted, their answer is probably better for drones in general (which of course the test is about)--since not everyone is using digitally keyed signals like us Phantom pilots; where a jamming signal is only going to send our Phantom home (assuming GPS is locked and accurate). However, I've heard more theories that many flyaways are caused by corrupted GPS data streams.

I haven't found any "official" information in the FAA study guide or their online course for current 61 pilots regarding this question. In fact I'm finding half the questions in these practice tests aren't covered by either source.

Interference is never going to cause anyone's Phantom to fly away.
At worst it might swamp your control signal which would only trigger RTH.
Theories on corrupted data seem unlikely.
By far the major cause of what gets called flyaways is operator error and confusion.

 

[ExcObs1]

There was a statement in the FAA material that spoke specifically of this. (somewhere?)

It may have been in the actual 107 document. I remember reading it.

, their answer is probably better for drones in general (which of course the test is about)--since not everyone is using digitally keyed signals like us Phantom pilots

Spot on.

I had quite a few "fix wing" UAS loading questions, etc. There were none that referenced a DJI Quad

 

[kenundrum]

My guess is that they are assuming that loss of control signal is the primary cause of fly-aways. I would agree with that statement.
Some UAVs don't have gps capability and for those that do, loss of gps lock does not do anything as long as control signal is still present. If a Phantom loses GPS, it will revert to other sensors to keep stable. It would make it more difficult to fly, but wouldn't instantly zoom away. Even if it did zoom away because one second it thought it was in Boston and the next it thinks it's in Bermuda and wants to go back, applying controller input should stop it.
A person standing too close to an antenna is unlikely to do anything of note unless they are wearing a lead suit.
Signal interference could cause the UAV to stop responding to controller inputs, which would trigger a return to home (if available) and if the home point is incorrect that would cause a flyaway with no way to stop it. On UAVs without GPS, they may either attempt to hold position, shut down, continue with whatever input was last received, or something random, most of those options would cause unintended flight.

 

[Pharm]

I wonder if "Persons standing too close to the control station antenna" includes the operator. I think I'll try standing at least 10 feet away from my RC. Hmmm...Now Where did I put my arm extensions?

 

[GMack]

http://gizmodo.com/surprisingly-pilot-errors-not-the-main-cause-of-drone-1785673966

 

[Meta4]

My guess is that they are assuming that loss of control signal is the primary cause of fly-aways.

They only provide 3 options and that isn't one of them.
The "correct" option would be loss of GPS.
There are many cases of pilots being disoriented and not bringing the Phantom home because they were unable to deal with atti mode.
It's not a case of the drone flying away though, but that's what it gets labeled by pilots that didn't understand what happened and how to deal with it.

 

[Meta4]

http://gizmodo.com/surprisingly-pilot-errors-not-the-main-cause-of-drone-1785673966

What a dopey article.

It wasn’t my fault that I crashed my drone. It was the drone’s fault!
This probably wouldn’t be the case every time, but according to a new study released by the RMIT University School of Engineering and published in Aerospace, it’s more likely that technical errors with the drone itself will cause a crash, compared to human error.
The researchers looked at 150 reported incidents between around 2006 and 2016, and found that 64 percent of incidents were because of technical problems. In most cases, they found that broken communication links were to blame. ​

Most of the time broken communications links are pilot error.
If you fly behind a building or too far away and lose signal, that's pilot error - not a technical problem.