I had a drone disaster today that resulted in a total loss of the P3……somewhere. I am still a bit stunned by the experience, but after reading some blogs I have at least some idea what happened….maybe. I drove out to Eisenhower S.P. this afternoon when I knew the park would be as empty as possible. I checked the rules in advance and went to a secluded area to do some FPV flying. I followed a normal procedure of installing props, installing battery, turning on battery, mounting iPad on controller, connecting cable, turning on controller……waiting for warm-up and GPS signals. Calibration came back OK, etc. When P3 reported ready to fly, I started the motors and lifted the P3 up to about 25’. I maneuvered around at this altitude (above the trees) in close proximity for a couple of minutes and contemplated flying over near the edge of the nearby cliff by the lake. Everything seemed totally fine, however, in retrospect, a couple of simple movements seemed a bit jerky, but that wasn’t noticeable at the time, but it must have been significant. All of a sudden, the P3 began to spin, then wobble wildly, then it took off straight up in the air and climbed as fast as it was capable of doing so to over 1,400’ (at last count)……I tried everything I could think of to regain control, but to no avail. I could see in the screen that it was spinning and gyrating out of control, and no matter what I did, it kept climbing. I checked the altitude stick and it was free (not stuck)…..I checked the F/P settings and they were correct…..I pushed the Return Home button……it just kept climbing and spinning. Then, it lost signal and I assumed that it might return with the automatic Return Home if signal is lost, but that didn’t happen. I never saw it again. It literally went out of sight and out of hearing…..in a matter of seconds.
Since it was a fresh (85+%) battery when it took off out of control, I can only assume it flew for 15 more minutes and, because it was blown off course at altitude, that it crashed somewhere far away. Needless to say, I was stunned and very disappointed.
I have since Googled this issue and found that I am not alone with this experience. Several reasons are given……1) broken gyro, 2) not calibrated, 3) software glitch, etc. Frankly it acted like a broken gyro. If it were a broken prop, it wouldn’t have climbed at high speed. If not calibrated, why would it go straight up? Why wouldn’t my controls have made some change in the direction, speed, etc. of the P3? It quite literally would not respond at all. This was a very disappointing day and I am now droneless. Wow.
Since it was a fresh (85+%) battery when it took off out of control, I can only assume it flew for 15 more minutes and, because it was blown off course at altitude, that it crashed somewhere far away. Needless to say, I was stunned and very disappointed.
I have since Googled this issue and found that I am not alone with this experience. Several reasons are given……1) broken gyro, 2) not calibrated, 3) software glitch, etc. Frankly it acted like a broken gyro. If it were a broken prop, it wouldn’t have climbed at high speed. If not calibrated, why would it go straight up? Why wouldn’t my controls have made some change in the direction, speed, etc. of the P3? It quite literally would not respond at all. This was a very disappointing day and I am now droneless. Wow.
