This morning I was executing a Litchi "mission." As my Phantom approached the end of the mission, I moved the function switch from "F" to "P."
Instead of stopping, my P3P started drifting downwind - toward a huge tree! Instinctively (and incorrectly) I pulled gently back on the right stick. My bird moved just a tad faster in that same direction - i.e., downwind and still toward that tall tree. Fortunately, before disaster struck, I realized (a great deal of ATTI practice really helped out!) what I had done. The phantom was pointing at my last waypoint - which was directly opposite that nasty tree. For about two seconds I watched the phantom continue drifting toward the tree. Then I pushed forward - very gently! - on the right stick and the phantom moved slowly away from the tree.
Once I was convinced I was safely away from the tree, I maneuvered (yawed) the phantom until it was obvious it was pointing at me, rotated it 180 degrees (so it was pointing away from me), then lowered it, backed it up and few feet and hand-caught it.
When I reviewed the recorded Litchi screen (love that screen record function) I saw that my mode was in P-GPS, which is what I expected it to be when I ended the mission and flipped the switch back to the P-position. So why did my phantom drift downwind instead of just "freezing" in place?
I forgot to look at the recorded screen and see how many satellites I had captured. My assumption is that if I had enough for the display to show me "P-GPS" I should have had more than enough satellites working.
Art - N4PJ
Leesburg, FL
Instead of stopping, my P3P started drifting downwind - toward a huge tree! Instinctively (and incorrectly) I pulled gently back on the right stick. My bird moved just a tad faster in that same direction - i.e., downwind and still toward that tall tree. Fortunately, before disaster struck, I realized (a great deal of ATTI practice really helped out!) what I had done. The phantom was pointing at my last waypoint - which was directly opposite that nasty tree. For about two seconds I watched the phantom continue drifting toward the tree. Then I pushed forward - very gently! - on the right stick and the phantom moved slowly away from the tree.
Once I was convinced I was safely away from the tree, I maneuvered (yawed) the phantom until it was obvious it was pointing at me, rotated it 180 degrees (so it was pointing away from me), then lowered it, backed it up and few feet and hand-caught it.
When I reviewed the recorded Litchi screen (love that screen record function) I saw that my mode was in P-GPS, which is what I expected it to be when I ended the mission and flipped the switch back to the P-position. So why did my phantom drift downwind instead of just "freezing" in place?
I forgot to look at the recorded screen and see how many satellites I had captured. My assumption is that if I had enough for the display to show me "P-GPS" I should have had more than enough satellites working.
Art - N4PJ
Leesburg, FL