Not Quite a Flyaway.. But it still ruined my day....

[SkysTheLimit]

so after flying this P2V+ over water, around buildings, thru my parking garage... haha.. been using it every day since I got it about a month ago... Never had an issue, that is until the other day......

I was a an park at about 175 feet up.... hovering and snapping some pictures... Then I was coming down to land... when I was at about 30ft I stopped to hover again and take a few more picts... at that point when I started to descend the Phantom sounded like it was revving and slowing, revving and slowing... the unit was wobbling left and right in the sky and then started to descend on its own... the controls were unresponsive in any capacity... At that point I just watched as it pancaked into the grass.... The camera came off the gimbal and tore the ribbon cable.... everything else was ok.....

Very strange.... I have flew this particular unit in places with much more going on then this park.... I cant even begin to figure out what went wrong here....

Any thoughts??? What should I do? lol.. I really want to get back up in the air again.

 

[dragonash]

vortex ring?

 

[SkysTheLimit]

vortex ring?

it would appear that is what happened... (and I have tested that at a higher altitude)..

But it started to wobble just as I moved the throttle down a little, it was only about 30ft up... It felt as if I lost total control.. like someone else pulled the throttle straight down...

 

[AndysAdventures]

I'm really sorry to hear about your +.

This is my worst fear every time I've flown my + these last few days.

Can anyone confirm that you can escape VRS by pushing the right stick hard in any direction (left, right, forward, back) to get in to "clean" air?

I've read that trying to ascend with the left stick is the worst thing you can when in VRS.

So far I haven't seen any VRS like problems with my +. But I always try to descend slowly while moving in any direction.

 

[srandall25]

so after flying this P2V+ over water, around buildings, thru my parking garage... haha.. been using it every day since I got it about a month ago... Never had an issue, that is until the other day......

I was a an park at about 175 feet up.... hovering and snapping some pictures... Then I was coming down to land... when I was at about 30ft I stopped to hover again and take a few more picts... at that point when I started to descend the Phantom sounded like it was revving and slowing, revving and slowing... the unit was wobbling left and right in the sky and then started to descend on its own... the controls were unresponsive in any capacity... At that point I just watched as it pancaked into the grass.... The camera came off the gimbal and tore the ribbon cable.... everything else was ok.....

Very strange.... I have flew this particular unit in places with much more going on then this park.... I cant even begin to figure out what went wrong here....

Any thoughts??? What should I do? lol.. I really want to get back up in the air again.

I know this sounds like a dumb unrelated question, but by any chance did you have prop guards on at the time of this incident?

 

[dragonash]

vortex ring?

it would appear that is what happened... (and I have tested that at a higher altitude)..

But it started to wobble just as I moved the throttle down a little, it was only about 30ft up... It felt as if I lost total control.. like someone else pulled the throttle straight down...

similar to this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3FqlN6AlE0#t=88

 

[DrJoe]

There are plenty of topic on this board covering VTS (Vortex Ring State). Do a search.

To answer your question, yes, by all means, right stick control input will fly the Phantom out of the vortex and stop the descent. Throttle adjustment will worsen the problem. Prop guards do make VRS much more likely.

 

[N017RW]

"Can anyone confirm that you can escape VRS by pushing the right stick hard in any direction (left, right, forward, back) to get in to "clean" air?"

As others have said, that is the only option you have, but it is not guaranteed!

Also, avoid lateral motion downwind or with the wind if possible to be sure the prop wash remains behind you.

 

[dragonash]

"Can anyone confirm that you can escape VRS by pushing the right stick hard in any direction (left, right, forward, back) to get in to "clean" air?"

As others have said, that is the only option you have, but it is not guaranteed!

Also, avoid lateral motion downwind or with the wind if possible to be sure the prop wash remains behind you.

I guess the higher up you are, the better the chance to get out of it since you have more "free fall time" to catch fresh air to produce lift

 

[N017RW]

In loss-of-control situations you can never have enough altitude! :lol:

 

[dragonash]

In loss-of-control situations you can never have enough altitude! :lol:

It's a vicious cycle!

No one wants to fly high anymore in fear of a vortex. But the best chance in getting out of a vortex is to have as much height as possible!

Oh the humanity!

 

[PB30X]

Possible Interference?? Satellites move also!! Been flying high @500m-distance@1200m over mountain ranges.. Clearly away from interference and had several VRS (prop wash experiences) without prop guards on... To answer your question, and possible wind shear, Yes right stick forward or back and "slight" side to side have cleared things up... I have flown in 30mph wind gusts and I have seen it allツ!!! Then again I fly allot in ATTI mode also.. I'm still learning manual mode as it is feared by many, I have to playツ!! Follow the warmup procedures and make sure you have full contact (TX/GPS Lock) and control before liftoff... Good Luck


Via smoke signalsツ.

 

[offtosleep]

vortex ring?

it would appear that is what happened... (and I have tested that at a higher altitude)..

But it started to wobble just as I moved the throttle down a little, it was only about 30ft up... It felt as if I lost total control.. like someone else pulled the throttle straight down...

similar to this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3FqlN6AlE0#t=88

Totally sucks!

 

[SkysTheLimit]

so after flying this P2V+ over water, around buildings, thru my parking garage... haha.. been using it every day since I got it about a month ago... Never had an issue, that is until the other day......

I was a an park at about 175 feet up.... hovering and snapping some pictures... Then I was coming down to land... when I was at about 30ft I stopped to hover again and take a few more picts... at that point when I started to descend the Phantom sounded like it was revving and slowing, revving and slowing... the unit was wobbling left and right in the sky and then started to descend on its own... the controls were unresponsive in any capacity... At that point I just watched as it pancaked into the grass.... The camera came off the gimbal and tore the ribbon cable.... everything else was ok.....

Very strange.... I have flew this particular unit in places with much more going on then this park.... I cant even begin to figure out what went wrong here....

Any thoughts??? What should I do? lol.. I really want to get back up in the air again.

I know this sounds like a dumb unrelated question, but by any chance did you have prop guards on at the time of this incident?

Yep... Had the prop guards on.. its funny.. I didn't have them from the beginning....

 

[SkysTheLimit]

Since the mishap I didn't want to be totally grounded... So I waited a few days, dried my tears and put it back together.. Just needed a little tlc...

Fixed the legs, took off the prop guards, attached my GoPro without a gimble and gave it a nice coat of black paint...

I've been flying it for weeks without any mishaps.. Its not the same without all the fun PV2+ Features and FPV but I might have another one on the way.... lol..

 

[slothead]

In terms of the Phantom, what's a vortex? Sounds to me more like a dieing battery.

 

[HarleyRed]

Easiest explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vortex_ring_state

When I am descending from altitude and I get down to around 100' AGL I start using the right stick and just go back and forth, and side to side to diminish the VRS effect. It seems that a lot of these crashes seem to happen from about 30', and prop guards "may" contribute.

 

[SkysTheLimit]

In terms of the Phantom, what's a vortex? Sounds to me more like a dieing battery.

Basically its a phenomenon where a Helicopter falls out of the sky because the air around it / below it becomes unstable in a manner where the props cannot "grab" the air to get any loft...

 

[Kelso Kubat]

classic VRS

 

[mustangboxer]

The same thing happened to me today. The camera came off the gimbal and tore the ribbon cable - How did you fix?