1st Solo Flight..low battery and shut down Questions

[pianoflyer]

Hello fellow pilots. I did my first solo (unsupervised by experienced pilot). Have a couple of questions.
Thank God for PropGuards...When I landed, I pulled both joysticks to inside corner and released, like start up...I mowed the lawn as it didn't stop and started rotating around. Finally held throttle down until it stopped. Did a whole bunch of take offs and landings and shut down practices (now on pavement) and same thing happened...Finally think I got it...pull to corners and KEEP them there until shutdown...correct?
Then, I got a little freakout...Was using a timer and got to 20 minutes but still had 2 bars on battery and NO red flashing lights, so I kept flying (at about 30 feet and pretty close to me)...kept looking for slow blinking red leds. Suddenly I lost all control...freaked out...noticed the red leds were blinking quickly and realized it was landing itself...yay! and glad it was close...
So first of all, should I STOP flying at 2 bars? Manual says 25 % to 50% left...that's a big range...And why did it seem to go so quickly into fast flashing red...What is the safest way to be careful with power, but not have ridiculously short flights.....Flying Phantom 2 (non-vision) so no OSD with Battery level...
Advanced new controller with annoying throttle lock..which makes start up a little weird...
THanks so much...sorry such a long post!
Steve

 

[msinger]

Finally think I got it...pull to corners and KEEP them there until shutdown

That's what is known as CSC. After your Phantom is in the air, you should only do a CSC in order to kill the motors in an emergency. After landing, always hold the left stick down for about 3 seconds and your motors will shut off. This will prevent your Phantom from tipping over.

 

[DaveGray]

Anyone know what csc stands for? Scratches head!!!

 

[Meta4]

One thread would have been enough - no need to start a second one to say the same thing.

 

[fuziduck]

Anyone know what csc stands for? Scratches head!!!

Combination Stick Command.

I generally land my phantom at 1 solid and 1 flashing light on the battery. This is before the slow flashing red lights on the phantom.

 

[TeamYankee]

Finally think I got it...pull to corners and KEEP them there until shutdown

That's what is known as "CSC". After your Phantom is in the air, you should only do a CSC in order to kill the motors in an emergency. After landing, always hold the left stick down for about 3 seconds and your motors will shut off. This will prevent your Phantom from tipping over.

+1

 

[PTCX]

So you have been flying under the supervision of an "experienced pilot" but they have failed to show/teach you how to properly shut down the motors after landing or how to recognize battery warning lights,maybe they need some tuition before supervising a novice.
Perhaps more could be learnt from carefully reading the whole manual than from this experienced pilot.

 

[Jacob]

To perform a shutdown, you can either use the CSC shutdown or hold the left stick down for 3 seconds. When doing the CSC shutdown, you might push the left stick to the right which will cause a Yaw turn. I usually just use the 3 seconds or I hand-land.

 

[pianoflyer]

Thanks for the help..I now know to post only once with the same topic, appreciate the heads up.
In defense of my friend who showed me to use the phantom, he showed me the CSC shutdown method, and that's why it was yawing to the right. I will stick to holding throttle all the way down until the motors stop.
As far as the battery, we didn't fly long enough for the low battery warning to be an issue. I thought I knew (from the manual) what to look for, but didn't notice it going from two to one bar, and never saw the slow flashing red leds before it started to descend. It may be possible that the wind and my frequent take-off and landings (for practice) caused the power to drop off more quickly than usual at the end.
I will take all of your helpful advice and be more careful in the future.
Thanks again

 

[docramage]

"Advanced new controller with annoying throttle lock..which makes start up a little weird..."

If like me you've been used to RC Helis or cars etc, the throttle lock certainly seems odd. However, unlike helis and cars you will spend most of the time with the throttle mid-stick - even while on the ground.

The low-stick lock is a safety feature to discourage you from lowering below about 10% throttle except to stop the motors. The manual really doesn't make it clear enough that although there are two methods of stopping the motors, the CSC command is totally unsuitable for a routine stop after landing - as I found out the hard way.

The other oddity in the controller is labelling of the switches - most RC radios label left switches with the lower number. Very Chinese I suppose . . .

Philip

 

[Marlin009]

Thanks for the help..I now know to post only once with the same topic, appreciate the heads up.
In defense of my friend who showed me to use the phantom, he showed me the CSC shutdown method, and that's why it was yawing to the right. I will stick to holding throttle all the way down until the motors stop.
As far as the battery, we didn't fly long enough for the low battery warning to be an issue. I thought I knew (from the manual) what to look for, but didn't notice it going from two to one bar, and never saw the slow flashing red leds before it started to descend. It may be possible that the wind and my frequent take-off and landings (for practice) caused the power to drop off more quickly than usual at the end.
I will take all of your helpful advice and be more careful in the future.
Thanks again

There have been multiple reports, and I have seen it, where the phantom will increase throttle and tip over after landing and just sitting there.