Spooky, first time i've almost lost it, what happened?

[neven]

Nah, no Heliport anywhere nearby , and I also checked with UAV forecast prior to launch in case I was missing one (not that it couldn't be wrong, but it's usually pretty good).

I suspect the reason is as BudWalker was suggesting, heavy interference from the metal structure in the parking garage threw the compass off during initialization of the bird. Then once it cleared the interference and started producing accurate compass readings, they didn't jibe with where the GPS thought it should be so it started failing over into ATTI.

Still bothers me that Litchi didn't indicate any errors onscreen until it was a few hundred feet up.

DJI Go would act same. I took off from a terrace with lots of rebar reinforced concrete and got compas error/atti/drone tilt when I was 600ft/2 minutes out.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[outflyin]

...

Recently I was on a deck at a lake. Before taking off, I checked the sensor readings and the compass, that while not showing an error, had a higher reading than normal. I picked up the drone for a hand launch and the readings went back to its normal range.

Probably metal screws or hangers in the deck. My deck has them. I take off from and land on it all the time. The readings are a little off sometimes when it is on the deck, but clear up a very short distance away. Never noticed any problems other than an occasional little uncommanded jump up just before touch down, but even that rarely happens. My deck is very small with railings and lots of obstacles, but the only thing that stops me from using it is wind.

 

[pomonabill220]

Oh ok about the heliport... kinda thought it wasn't because of no H marking on the platform.
What is that then? In the Google earth view it is to the East of the parking garage on the corner of the Westmoreland County Industrial building. just curious....

 

[skipilot1]

Probably metal screws or hangers in the deck. My deck has them. I take off from and land on it all the time. The readings are a little off sometimes when it is on the deck, but clear up a very short distance away. Never noticed any problems other than an occasional little uncommanded jump up just before touch down, but even that rarely happens. My deck is very small with railings and lots of obstacles, but the only thing that stops me from using it is wind.

I figured the deck has nails and hangers. That is the point of the post. Lifting it up above my head gave me normal readings. No normal readings means no takeoff. You don't need a flashing compass error to determine if your compass is out of whack before take off.

 

[outflyin]

I figured the deck has nails and hangers. That is the point of the post. Lifting it up above my head gave me normal readings. No normal readings means no takeoff. You don't need a flashing compass error to determine if your compass is out of whack before take off.

I thought I was supporting your point with my experience.

 

[Erised]

First of all I want to thank all you guy's for sharing your issues in this post. I am aware of most of the situations that can cause compass's to cause havoc, thanks Bud for your explanations with the graphs as this for me was very enlightening as what and how are birds compile the info. For me this post validated what I tough I knew and then teaching me a better understanding of the avionics involved in flight with our quads.

 

[Flintstone]

WOW..

Just to be clear, I parked one block away, with the intent of flying one block over (where the P3P was only above buildings, I picked the launch spot specifically because it didn't involve passing over anything busier than an alley) and shooting a panorama from above a building.
And with that, after launch I hovered for a moment and watched for any errors that would have indicated any issues. Once the P3P got to altitude, it became apparent that there was a problem, so I put it in ATTI and brought it quickly back down. Aside from some clenched cheeks, there were no issues, and even if it HAD dropped from the sky at ANY point of the flight, the drone would have been the only casualty.

Oh, and then I came here to ask for input (which I got, thank you) on what caused the issue so I could avoid it in the future.

You know, I'm quite careful when I fly, and take steps to NOT be "That guy".. We were at an event tonight that would have made an awesome drone video, and I left it in the car because there were crowds.. Be careful who and how you judge..

Like I said I did not want to stir the pot! I hear all you think was safe but you know as well as I do you are not the only one there by yourself. Just takes one observer (citizen) to think you are a pervert or invading their privacy to bring unnecessary awareness to the hobby. Watch some of the YouTube flyaways and you can imagine one slamming into your head. We had some nut go flying over a freeway here and ran out of battery the quad came down on a lady in a shopping mall. Your only as safe as that piece of questionable quality engineering. Watch the YouTube videos they are called flyaways...there are always people who want to risk it to get the biscuit.