Flying Near or under Large Steel Structures

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This is a warning to all budding drone pilots out there.
Keep your drone well clear of large metal bridges, as I have experienced just recently at my home in South Queensferry, Scotland
I was intending to take some video of the Forth Rail Bridge, the drone behaved perfectly on the near side of the bridge, but after flying beneath it to the other side, I lost control and had a flyaway, resulting in my drone and go pro ditching in the river forth, resulting in total loss (sickening)
Fortunately I can claim from my Household insurance

So be warned, stay clear of large metal bridges, as it screws up the signal
 
The problem is most likely with the compass.

I've flown non-magnetometer reliant aircraft around metal structures for years on various control frequencies and modulation types with no issues.
 
Sorry to hear that Woosie. Did you still have line of sight with your Phantom when it went mental? Nice to hear from a fellow Scot with a Phantom btw, thinks that's three of us on this forum now!
 
I'm insured with Direct Line with personal possessions away from home covered, which I need working away from home in Aberdeen.
Hi wattage, yes I did have line of sight when it went down, but couldn't regain control, it decided it was going for the water and nothing I could do, oh well **** happens
 
woosie54 said:
I did have line of sight when it went down, but couldn't regain control, it decided it was going for the water and nothing I could do, oh well **** happens

Weird. Maybe a low battery auto-land happened but guess we'll never know :-( Hope your insurance sorts it out, good shout with Direct Line, think I'll give them a try.
 
Sorry for your loss and thanks for letting us know your experiences with the metal bridge. Can you keep us posted on whether Direct Line actually payout on this. Would be nice to know if they do as I'd be surprised as a Phantom is such a high risk item of loosing/crashing compared to other items away from home.
 
A guy I know was flying through a VERY short railway tunnel - calling it a tunnel at all is a bit of a stretch. As soon as it got under it, it did a 90 degree turn directly into the concrete wall.
 
This also happened to a guy from Edinburgh he was flying next to the forth rail bridge and his phantom had a fit and went crazy , he was very lucky and fail safe took over and brought it home.



Hello from Scotland
 
Been over the bridge many times going to Aberdeen. Was thinking of flying near it, but will skip that thought now.
 
There are likely three factors at play here:

1. When you fly under something, the field of satellites in view by the GPS antenna will change very rapidly and will likely drop. As the field changes, your likelihood of a "jump" (a sudden change in GPS position) goes up and your precision goes down.

2. The compass will be influenced by large ferrous objects (in this case steel). It will cause the compass reading to deviate and if it is significant enough and you still have a GPS signal, you will get TBE.

3. If you allow a metal structure with lots of interconnecting metal parts to come between you and the Phantom, the structure could interfere with the RC signal. This depends on a lot of factors. A fence, for example, can in some cases act as a Faraday cage blocking signals from reaching their destination.
 
Well Guys, thanks for all your concern on my loss, but the good news is that my insurance company (direct Line) paid in full for my loss £750 - £200 excess.
Go-pro has been replaced arrived yesterday, all I need now is a replacement drone, working on it now as I speak
Anybody out there in the UK got an FC40 spare, due to them upgrading ? if so I would be interested in buying it
When I am flying again, it wont be near the water for a while LOL
 
This is a warning to all budding drone pilots out there.
Keep your drone well clear of large metal bridges, as I have experienced just recently at my home in South Queensferry, Scotland
I was intending to take some video of the Forth Rail Bridge, the drone behaved perfectly on the near side of the bridge, but after flying beneath it to the other side, I lost control and had a flyaway, resulting in my drone and go pro ditching in the river forth, resulting in total loss (sickening)
Fortunately I can claim from my Household insurance

So be warned, stay clear of large metal bridges, as it screws up the signal

Sorry to hear about this, I'm just Googling "metal" and "Phantom". Yesterday I took off from an old steel road bridge crossing a fast river. The copter had 7 satellites, all checks were as normal. I lifted it up about three feet then all of sudden I lost all control. It darted off diagonally down and to my right. Narrowly missing the bridge railings and as it flew towards the river it hit a tree then fell onto the rocks smashing my H3-3D. Does this sound familiar or do you think the metal/steel bridge made this happen? Here is the video, would welcome any thoughts? Cheers
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wow, good to hear. I was flying close to the big tall water towers getting a shot of the county name painted on it.
I was a bit away, now I know to stay far away.
 

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