Had a CLOSE CALL today!!!

[Meluk]

Again, your a v good narrator

Did u try the radar function as someone else suggested?

Also I don't see many flyers do this but I ALWAYS test that my P1 has a solid home (GPS) lock on. I do this by as soon as taking off I simply fly out over 20ft away and switch to HL. Then pull back on the right stick. If it flys back while facing a different direction then I know it has recorded the home location. Only takes 5 seconds to do and if it doesn't fly back then I land and diagnose.


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That's excellent advice, but it has to be over 30 feet away... (I know this from painful experience)

-slinger

20ft / 30ft, what's a few feet I don't get the tape measure out but just fly outside what I think is the min distance. Hehe. After watching this video it's going to make me do it without fail on very flight!


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[Jebus]

Good idea!

 

[gunslinger]

Again, your a v good narrator

Did u try the radar function as someone else suggested?

Also I don't see many flyers do this but I ALWAYS test that my P1 has a solid home (GPS) lock on. I do this by as soon as taking off I simply fly out over 20ft away and switch to HL. Then pull back on the right stick. If it flys back while facing a different direction then I know it has recorded the home location. Only takes 5 seconds to do and if it doesn't fly back then I land and diagnose.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's excellent advice, but it has to be over 30 feet away... (I know this from painful experience)

-slinger

20ft / 30ft, what's a few feet I don't get the tape measure out but just fly outside what I think is the min distance. Hehe. After watching this video it's going to make me do it without fail on very flight!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My experience was that I thought my HL mode wasn't working and was paranoid that it wasn't working because it hadn't locked down my home location. It turns out I was inside of 30 feet. Went through that cold sweat for nothing... :shock:

After that experience, and before I realized I wasn't beyond 30', I asked this group the best way to test to be sure my P2V had locked onto my home location. Someone explained that It probably had locked onto the home location but wasn't far enough out for HL mode to kick in... so... I forgot about my original question. Which you just answered.

Good solid advice, bro and I'm going to follow it...

-slinger

 

[MagicMarco]

I didn't read all the posts so my apologies if this has already been stated, but I haven't spoke to one other P2V pilot that knows the DJI iOS app has a 'Find My iPhone' - like function that pulls up a Google map for fly aways just like you experienced. To access this function: from the app and in FPV mode, press the back arrow in the top left corner and it's the fourth function from the bottom. I always check this the moment I plan on losing LOS and verify it's updating correctly before going back to play.

GL!

 

[ZonComGMZ]

I didn't read all the posts so my apologies if this has already been stated, but I haven't spoke to one other P2V pilot that knows the DJI iOS app has a 'Find My iPhone' - like function that pulls up a Google map for fly aways just like you experienced. To access this function: from the app and in FPV mode, press the back arrow in the top left corner and it's the fourth function from the bottom. I always check this the moment I plan on losing LOS and verify it's updating correctly before going back to play.

GL!

That was gonna be the next thing I did if I didn't see it on the Radar. Thank goodness I didn't need it.

 

[Pull_Up]

I didn't read all the posts so my apologies if this has already been stated, but I haven't spoke to one other P2V pilot that knows the DJI iOS app has a 'Find My iPhone' - like function that pulls up a Google map for fly aways just like you experienced. To access this function: from the app and in FPV mode, press the back arrow in the top left corner and it's the fourth function from the bottom. I always check this the moment I plan on losing LOS and verify it's updating correctly before going back to play.

GL!

Sad indictment of most iOS users then that they didn't read the manual (pp 48/9)

The thing to be aware of, of course, is that Find My Phantom will only show the last transmitted GPS co-ords before wifi reception was lost...

 

[rfernandez]

After reading and watching the video I took some notes and this is how I broke down the event (this is just my opinion and perhaps someone else with more experience may shed more light.)

1. After you lifted off i noticds a pronounced lean into the wind as the bird was trying to hold position (should have been a red flag and flight should have been discontinued at that point. your FPV should have warned you of this.)

2. Since it was evident that it was too windy I also noticed at the first upwind position where you first hovered what it appears heavy control inputs, at this point I am starting to think of the Naza starting to overload.

3. Now basing myself on the theory that at this point Naza is getting overwhelmed and no longer knows where home is, when you flip the RTH with the ioc lock further overwhelming it and now lost total control.
She hovers and starts to spin as if the bird is trying to find home. indication of the Naza just can't keep up and possibly lost of data. At about 9:40 in the video in it appears it becomes stable as you get closer and unknowingly regain communication with you remote controller, Had you had site of it you could have brought it down.

I also feel too much time was spend trying to regain FPV. The TP-Link antenna at this point is useless since you have to have it pointing directly at it at taht distance to work because of the narrow beam, And at this point the extender is is out of range to reset the communication to restore FPV.
After that the bird slowly begins a slow descent to its final landing spot.. suggesting that is where that is where home now is after it regains its composure (for a lack of better words) (did you scratch the paint on the red car? .. LOL!)

Seems like the most common thread of fly-aways as i have read in the forums is:
A. Flying beyond visual range with TP-Link antennas using FPV and perhaps beyond range of the remote controller. 300m CE (984 Ft or 500M FAA (1640 ft.) Straight line
B. Heavy wind conditions Perhaps exceeding 10 mph overwhelming the Naza
C. heavy control inputs trying to make corrections.
D. Unknown on other fly-aways is the presence of high tension power lines that could induce interference.
E. intermittent connection on the boards. (which should be checked at regular intervals)
f. Excessive vibration that can be caused by rotors flexing under quick heavy control inputs trying to correct a path (it is well documented that Naza does not like vibration) keep in mind that rotor blades are not solid and and will flex which may cause vibrations when rapidly shifting position within an axis in space.

So never fly BVR and if you insist on doing so perhaps have another pair of eyes and possible with a camera with a good zoom capability to keep track of its position.
Resist the urge to fly in windy weather or at the first since of heavy winds at altitude after lift off.
I hope this will give insight as to what causes these fly-aways.

Richard Fernandez

 

[PetePerrim]

That's one hell of a story, thanks so much for sharing. I guess we will get a clearer perspective of how lucky you actually were once you're able to edit and post your video. I'm still waiting for my new P2 to arrive, supplier in Hong Kong emailed me last night to say that due to some issue with tracking label it was being returned to them before being resent to me. I'm getting a little nervous to be honest because my Visa has already been charged and I paid an extra $100 USD for rapid freight a week ago!

You're very lucky to get yours back, I might be lucky to get mine at all!

 

[ZonComGMZ]

You're very lucky to get yours back, I might be lucky to get mine at all!

I'm sure if you keep looking to the sky you will see a FLYAWAY pass by. Just snag it :lol:

 

[ZonComGMZ]

1. After you lifted off i noticds a pronounced lean into the wind as the bird was trying to hold position (should have been a red flag and flight should have been discontinued at that point. your FPV should have warned you of this.)

I had just flown a previous flight at the same location without any problem and I didn't think the wind was that bad aloft. Guess I was wrong.

2. Since it was evident that it was too windy I also noticed at the first upwind position where you first hovered what it appears heavy control inputs, at this point I am starting to think of the Naza starting to overload.

I had no idea about this NAZA overload thing until just recently. I guess I gotta watch my temperamental P2V.

3. Now basing myself on the theory that at this point Naza is getting overwhelmed and no longer knows where home is, when you flip the RTH with the ioc lock further overwhelming it and now lost total control.
She hovers and starts to spin as if the bird is trying to find home. indication of the Naza just can't keep up and possibly lost of data. At about 9:40 in the video in it appears it becomes stable as you get closer and unknowingly regain communication with you remote controller, Had you had site of it you could have brought it down.

I never intended to fly BVR. It pretty much just got away from me with the tailwind and when I noticed I couldn't see it or lost FPV that's when I put it in IOC HL which probably didn't know where home was.

I also feel too much time was spend trying to regain FPV. The TP-Link antenna at this point is useless since you have to have it pointing directly at it at taht distance to work because of the narrow beam, And at this point the extender is is out of range to reset the communication to restore FPV.
After that the bird slowly begins a slow descent to its final landing spot.. suggesting that is where that is where home now is after it regains its composure (for a lack of better words) (did you scratch the paint on the red car? .. LOL!)

I wasn't just trying to get FPV, but also Telemetry & GPS location. I know the TP-LINK has a narrow range so I drove to where it was last sighted and pointed where I thought it was. Unfortunately I was under high tension wires and I couldn't see it even though I was pretty close to it and it was spying on me. I'm thinking about putting a strobe on it to make it more visible just in case. There was no scratch on the car.

Thanks for your insight. I'm really glad I had the video to see what really happened as opposed to what I thought was happening. Lesson learned.

 

[rfernandez]

I am glad I could offer a third party opinion.. video was a tremendous help in trying to figure out the true cause of the fly-aways.

Just a note to all who read this posts... don't exceed the range of your controller and always verify a ioc home lock if Naza is enabled.

 

[ZonComGMZ]

I am glad I could offer a third party opinion.. video was a tremendous help in trying to figure out the true cause of the fly-aways.

Just a note to all who read this posts... don't exceed the range of your controller and always verify a ioc home lock if Naza is enabled.

I also suggest that you try Failsafe and make sure HomeLock works if there is any possibility of the craft getting out of your line of sight.

 

[MedX172]

So glad you were able to find your P2V! I must agree with many of the other posts that winds on the surface vs. winds aloft can be very very deceptive.

I learned this the hard way once, but it was in a Cessna 172 while I was a student pilot. Less than 3 days before a hurricane had passed into Florida's Gulf. I was already signed off for solo flight and had arrived at the airport with the intent to just do practice on Touch & Go's. I had listened to the local ATIS and the winds reported a unremarkable 5-7 knots. What I was unaware of though, was that there will still major winds aloft that at times dipped down to surface as a result of the influences of this hurricane which was still in the Western portion of the Gulf.

Imagine my surprise, rolling down the runway near takeoff speed, only to feel the tail of the aircraft rotating to the right, leaving me no choice but to pull her off the ground a bit premature in ground effect and climb out with nearly full right rudder! I decided it would be a one trip through the pattern moment, but as I passed through 1,000ft the winds were nearly 40knots. I came down wind in a crab and had to make 2 passes before the winds subsided enough for me to land. One approach, while descending through 500ft, gusted so bad, it moved me completely to the right of the runway.

You can always check winds aloft near you. Try http://aviationweather.gov/products/nws/winds/

When I finally stopped and went to bring the engine to idle, it was only then that I realized that my hands were shaking, hehe.

 

[klausdim]

Did you figure out why the RTH Failsafe did not work? I thought the the phantom would have returned home after it lost the WiFi connection, or at least when you turned the remote off.

 

[phantomi]

For what I read you were in naza and with the s1 down position for rth. Why you did not use it?

 

[DattaGroover]

Today I experienced my 1st and hopefully last CLOSE CALL. The good news is I was able to retrieve the P2V without any damage to people, property or itself. I fault myself for most of these events. Hopefully someone else may learn from this event.

I have the P2V in Naza-M mode. I have IOC enabled and the 3rd position on the S1 switch set to "FailSafe". Failsafe is set to "Go-Home and Landing". I also have the repeater modified with a TP-LINK TL-ANT2414A to get more range from the FPV.

It was a little windy at surface level (15 mph) but I didn't think it was too much to overwhelm the P2V. I did some tests on a previous flight about 10 minutes prior experimenting with IOC, FailSafe and setting a new Home Point etc... and everything seemed OK.

I took off from my backyard and went up about 400'. I flew the P2V downwind at 400' until I got a warning on the iPhone saying "Phantom 2 Vision Connection Broken" which means I lost the link to the FPV. Right before I lost contact the P2V was pointing away from me and the camera was facing forward. My 1st instinct was to pull back on the right stick and try to get the P2V closer. I did this for about a minute and I still didn't get the connection restored like I have in the past. So the last time I saw it on FPV it was about 1/3 mile away. After about a minute and not seeing the P2V connection restored or at least trying to get restored I get a little nervous and I flip on IOC Home Lock. At that point I start pulling back on the right stick to get it to come back to it's home position in case it yawed while it was out of sight. I'm still listening to see if I can hear the P2V and checking the FPV all the while pointing the antennae to it's last know position hoping I still have a control link and only lost the FPV. After about 2 or 3 minutes of pulling back on IOS Home Lock and not seeing or hearing the P2V I begin to panic. Where the heck is this thing? So I then do the last thing I could think of which is turning of the controller to trigger a "Return to Home". Still waiting for FPV or hearing the whirring of the motors. Nothing. Try for about 5 minutes. Nothing. Now I'm getting sick in my stomach knowing I might not see my P2V again.

Recovery
My next step was to try to find the P2V. I don't really care now about getting it to come home but I want to know where it is exactly before the battery dies completely. It is about 15 minutes in so I know I have to act fast as I may only have 10 minutes at most to try to find this with assistance from the DJI app. I hop in my car and roll down the window with the transmitter pointed out the window toward it's last know location and towards downwind thinking maybe it can't make it back home because of wind overwhelming it up at 400". So I drive to the end of my subdivision to the main street which is about where I lost contact with it. I get out of the car to try to find it and establish a connection. Nothing. So I go to a cornfield where I think I might get a better line of sight if it indeed did fly downwind and can't make it back. I then remembered there was a compass and position range overlay in the DJI app. I turn that on and I'm seeing my little RED mark of the P2V outside of the range of the furthest range marks. Now at this point I don't know if this was the last known location or if I am getting a live feed of it. I then run closer in the direction of where it is pointing me too and try to get FPV. I then wanted to see if I was indeed getting telemetry data so I turned off the WiFi on the iPhone and turned it on after about 15 seconds. I was able to see the Phantom WiFi signal but still wasn't getting any FPV or seeing or hearing the P2V. Then I point the Antennae in the direction of where it shows it on the Range Marker map and get a little bit of a connection enough so that I can see a photo of where it is at. It looked like it was about 50 ft up on the FPV and I see some houses. I then take a screenshot on the iPhone in case I need to go looking in backyards etc.. so at least I might be able to match up a house color or something to what the frame of FPV saw. I then run back to my car. I am now thinking since the WiFi was showing I was connected to the P2V and I am seeing the Phantom on the Range markers I might be able to use this like a location beacon. I started driving around again with the controller out the window and start driving. I then start seeing the P2V icon on the Range markers getting closer. I had to drive into a different subdivision. I drove for about a minute until I had the P2V icon in the center and start looking around. I am still not hearing the whirring motors but I assumed it autolanded since the last frame I saw was it at about 50 ft and it has been close to 25 minutes into this. So I am now thinking I may be close to this thing or at least close to where it was when I got the second of FPV showing it about 50' up. Then as I'm driving looking left and right at peoples house to see if it on a roof I see my P2V sitting in the center of the street. The last bar on the battery was flashing and it looks like it landed perfectly with no damage. I'm thinking I got there within a minute of it landing. Nobody was around so I picked it up, hopped in my car, Thanked God repeatedly and went home.

So what I learned is that even though winds on the surface may not overwhelm the P2V, winds aloft may. I usually fly upwind, so on the return trip when the battery is at a lower state, I get a tailwind to get me home faster. Today I didn't do that as the wind shifted and I won't do that again. I also will remain vigilant in making sure I can see it at all times and not rely on the Failsafe mechanisms built into the P2V. I thought I had a good home lock before I took off but now I don't know for sure because of all the confusion about what was going on in the moment. Luckily I was recording video the entire time and I will watch it to try to figure out if what I was thinking was happening at the time was indeed happening. BTW it showed Distance as 3073ft.

I welcome comments and discussion about what you would do or what I should have done differently as we are all learning and the more information that is shared the better it will be for all of us.

I now need to go change my shorts from this ordeal

What a story. Thanks for sharing that with us!